Further blurring the line between cell phones and digital cameras is the new Samsung Memoir. Equipped with an 8 Megapixel camera – now you can have a full features point and shoot high resolution camera with you all the time. For the first time, photography enthusiasts can consider leaving the digital camera at home if they have one of these. How soon before Nikon or Canon come out with a phone? I’m sure Olympus will do it first!
The fusion of product categories continues… just as GPS navigation takes off with cell phone users, just as camera phones are hitting 8 megapixels, the dedicated navigation device is fighting back. Now Garmin has a navi phone so you can have truly remarkable navigation (and a phone and camera too). The merging and blending of product features goes on and it will be interesting to see where it ends up. Will we truly have a single mobile device that is just as good as multiple dedicated devices?
SEMA 2008: Camaro GS Race Car Concept LIVE — Autoblog.
Here’s last years blue and yellow sports car… something about this color combo that looks good on racing cars!
From Cobra to Corvette: Superformance to introduce 1963 Grand Sport replica — Autoblog.
If you like blue and yellow sports cars – and who doesn’t – check out the new Superformance replica. This is the same company that does the replica Shelby Daytona Coupe.
Of modern day muscle cars, the Shelby GT500 is a lust inspiring paradox of a machine. You have the brutal supercharged V8 propelling the rear wheels and solid rear axle on the hand. You have a relatively compact car with an up to date interior and exterior design on the other hand. The exterior being arguably the best Mustang design ever. Throw in a boy racer stripe or two and a gaping front intake and you’ve got a thrilling ride. That huge upper and lower grill opening really sets the GT500 apart from lesser Mustangs and truly makes the design. It reminds me of Indy race cars and jets of the 50′s. It also communicates a massive thirst for air for combustion and thrust!
MiG-15
The Mig-15 looks like what an early jet of the Soviet era should look like. It’s amazingly pure and simple, compact, and memorable with it’s early jet age aesthetic. From the circular front intake to the swept back wings to the bare metal surfaces, this MiG reminds us of an era when jet technology was new and airframe design for jets was rapidly evolving. Small and looking slighty brutish next to the American F-86 Sabre, the MiG-15 is like a caricature of what a black and white TV era jet plane might look like. The structure and the paint or camouflage added to the Soviet “proletariat” look while the F-86 had the look and image of an American movie star.
C-17 Globemaster III
Military transport aircraft aren’t sexy and sleek but they are impressive due to their sheer bulk, mass, and awesome load carrying capability. It was during this past weekend’s NASCAR race at Dover that I watched a C-17 do a fly and my interest in cargo planes came back. I remember the old C-5 Galaxy which was so huge that it was almost ungainly. Then there’s the tried and true C-130 Hercules – the AK-47 of cargo planes. But watching the C-17 on TV moving through the air, I thought it was time to write a short piece on Creativity is Free. From the gigantic gaping fuselage designed clearly for maximum volume to the broad wings and huge engines, the Globemaster is designed for pure purpose. The canopy windows look tiny in comparison to the plane’s total volume further emphasizing the massive scale of this airlift heavyweight. External pods for landing gear clearly communicate a big and slow feel. It’s interesting too that several science fiction air/spacecraft seem to be inspired by this airplane including the Transformers Cargo Plane below.
Just caught this today and I must admit that the Mini Coupe Concept is quite an attractive and distinctive design! The green house execution is unique, intriguing, and even provocative with a silver accent color and a cleverly integrated roof spoiler. While the standard mini is iconic and the Clubman is awkward, this Coupe Concept is dramatic yet whimsical and shows how a roof line can completely alter a car’s persona. I’m sure we’ll see a Speedster version too if the Coupe goes into production.
And after the Crossman SUV (not!), maybe we’ll see a Mini Sedan and then a Mini Coupe/Sedan like the M-B CLS… Imagine a 4 door version of the above car! You can see the story and full gallery at: http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/mini-coupe-concept/full/
After many years of missing my 1996 Impala SS, it’s time to relive some rear wheel drive, V8 glory! But now that I’m a little older, I was looking for something with a more panache and sophistication – so here it is – a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series. 1997 was the last year of this body style before changing to the more curvaceous design that still lives today albeit with a few exterior and mechanical updates. But the 1997 and earlier Town Cars have the presence and formality of a true limousine without the Greek Temple style of the previous generation. The handling and ride are of course marshmallow soft but comfort is king in a Lincoln. The interior is expansive comfortably seating 6 adults - and several more in the trunk depending on your occupation. The look is classic, elegant, and tastefully sophisticated. It was a truly timeless design built when luxury needed only to be luxurious.
You may have heard of Lean Manufacturing and Lean Design – how about Lean Living? The same principles from the factory floor can be applied right in you very own home. Whether it’s the laundry, taking out the garbage, doing the dishes, or handling the mail, you can improve the efficiency of your household by applying Lean principles as if your home were a factory.
Let’s study the laundry process as an example. First, dirty clothes are removed and stored in a buffer (hamper, floor, bedpost, closet). Then, dirty clothes are sorted (usually) into lights and darks or whites and colors. These sorted piles act as buffers but are eventually transferred to the laundry station and washing and drying. These clothes are sometimes stored in the washing machine or dryer for extended periods of time so these are also used as another buffer or storage location for ‘inventory’. The clothes then folded at the dryer before being transferred back to another holding station in the form of a closet or dresser. Sometimes, the clothes are transferred to a separate folding station in front of the TV or to a bed if there is a lot of folding required. From the start of this process to the end, the clothes have been stored in up to 4 different buffers (closet, hamper, dryer, folding station) and handled as many times.
To improve the efficiency in the laundry process, there are several improvements that can be made.
Many of the above principles can also be applied to dish washing. Instead of using the cupboard, sink, drying rack, and dishwasher as potential storage and subsequent handling/transferring locations, simple eliminate all of the above for your most frequently used items. When you need a dish, take it from the dishwasher. When you are finished with a dish, place it back in the dishwasher. This eliminates the extra process steps of placing dirty dishes in the sink, for later later transfer to the dishwasher and back to a cupboard.
By now, you’re probably imagining many other applications for Lean Living around your home. Just a few include:
Garbage – eliminate as many waste baskets as you can in the home. The more waste baskets, the more garage you will generate and the more time you will spend sorting and getting rid of it.
Mail – open it and action it immediately to avoid generating mail storage piles that will later need to be sorted and filed. In general, try to touch mail only once. The more times you have to handle a piece of mail, the less efficient your home will be. If you get a bill in the mail, you should open it, pay it, and file it immediately. Otherwise, you may put it in a pile, forget about it, find it later, wonder if it’s paid, pay it late, put it back in a pile, and finally sort it and file it.
Some think that Lean Living is just a sophisticated form of the bachelor lifestyle and you may be right!
