New Daylight Saving Time to Disrupt Electronics

Shades of Y2K! The recently enacted expansion of Daylight Saving Time that will take effect in 2007 (beginning three weeks earlier in the spring and ending one week later in the fall) will not be kind to electronics that are programmed to switch between time modes automatically. Without patches or upgrades, such devices will not switch from Standard Time to DST on the correct date.

The effects of this will range from minor annoyances (incorrect VCR/DVD recorder start/stop times) to major headaches (missed appointments due to incorrect clocks on PDAs and PC calendars). However, no one is anticipating any catastrophic disruptions such as were feared in the months leading up to the Year 2000 bug. The most adversely affected are those industries whose processes are highly schedule driven, such as airlines and shipping... and they're already on top of this. For the rest of us, software manufacturers will have plenty of time to issue patches. Furthermore, devices that rely on phones, atomic clock radio or PBS time stamps to set their time will operate as normal. Or, we'll just have to do things the old fashioned way, personally making sure that each of our clocks either "springs ahead" or "falls back."

Source: CNN.com