Daniel Flahiff Writing for  The Inhabitant has an interesting post describing the design of an Amphibious Trike invented by David Buchwaldek.

What makes the design interesting and fun is the rudder and propeller at the rear of the vehicle to propel and steer while navigating water.  A trike with shell make a very light and aerodynamically efficient vehicle that takes little energy to move from point A to point B.   This  fun design is one step closer to a really useful commuting vehicle with different design goals.

Weather keeps many people from commuting via bicycle a large portion of the year in many climates.      The shell serves dual duty keeping wind, rain, and snow at bay while reducing wind drag.   What this design is missing is lightweight versions of the basic luxuries found in a modern automobile.  Every item added would add weight, and thus the energy required to move the vehicle, thus any additions must have a clear purpose and make the overall design more usable.

The electric hybrid assist is brilliant, and is a must keep.  That one big hill on the way to work is no longer a problem.  Keeping the battery charged while pedaling makes other design choices possible.  Wrapping the body in lightweight solar cells might also help.  Adding a plug in to top off the battery while parked from AC is also a must.

As a commuter the first thing to delete is the rudder and propeller.  In the US anyway, there are not many people that need to cross small bodies of water, and this design is too slow to cross large bodies of water.  There existence is great in a fun vehicle (and personally would love to have), but simply dead weight for the majority of commuters.

Climate controls would make commuting viable many days with otherwise foul weather.  I believe very small heating and cooling systems that operate off battery power should be added, with a thermostat and timer.  Imagine having the vehicle plugged into your garage AC overnight, and a half hour before you leave for your daily commute the timer turns on the climate controls and warms up the cockpit for your use.

The design also needs a complements of lights.  LED turn signals would help mingle among other motorized traffic.  A bright flashing LED strobe mounted on the roof would make the vehicle more visible.   LED headlights and tail lights would allow night operation.

We have seen many vehicles that move a person very efficiently from one place to another.  The hybrid drive and weatherproof cockpit are one more step toward a truly useful mostly human powered everyday commuting vehicle in places that mass transit would not work.

One of the biggest strategic errors in recent history goes to the managers of the yellow pages.  They had a chance to become the go to source for local information, but lacked the vision to see how to turn this into a long term goldmine.

Before the web became widely adopted the yellow phone book was “the source” for local business information.  When people required the services  of a new business it was the first place they searched.

When the internet started gaining momentum and users, the Yellow Pages management viewed the web as an add on product to the big printed book that was the core of their business.  They lacked the vision to see the day that the web would replace a printed book for most consumers.  Instead of building for the future they took the immediate profits from add on sales, forgoing the long term strategic advantage.

With a lack of vision they asked businesses to pay an exorbitant monthly fee to show up in the online search results of their obscure pages.  Many  if not most refused, making the online version irrelevant.

Automobiles should come with several USB ports that provide the 5V pin to power or charge devices.

Most devices have standardized on USB for charging. It makes charging and data transfer a snap with one simple port. With the depth of penetration it only makes sense that automobiles also provide a means of power.

Creative manufacturers could provide additional interactions, for example allowing entertainment to play through the automobile stereo system.

The old power adapter designed to light cigarettes in automobiles is showing its age, and needs replaced with a new standard. Instead of developing something from scratch automobile manufacturers could easily adapt USB power outlets.

The primary problem with cigarette power outlets is their size and reliability. The large size limits the amount of adapters available and the possible suitable locations to conveniently locate them. The connection was not designed as a power source is often temperamental and unreliable in that role.

The auto industry or an interested third party could easily develop a new standard from scratch, but adapting the USB standard has many advantages.

• Designed as a power outlet and thus more reliable.
• Simple to implement for power only.
• OEM and Third party power cords readily available at low costs.
• Allows creative extensions (i.e. play music from mobile device).

When the auto industry stumbled many bloggers and zines penned articles stating that the industry needs a visionary driver similar to Apple’s Steve Jobs. If Jobs was at the helm of a manufacturer the legacy cigarette connectors would already be relegated to their initial purpose, and only as an expensive build to order smoking accessory option.

Steven Troughton-Smith writing on his High Caffeine blog this week describing how easily the Palm Pre is to jailbreak.

The entire UI and all the apps are written in javascript, which in essence means the source code is available for you to modify at will, without recompiling anything.

Hardware is easy to copy, especially when you have a working example to tear apart.  The expense is in designing and testing the hardware not the actual hardware itself.  Early tear down reports are estimating hardware costs in the $140 to $170 range.

Software is much more difficult to copy.  Witness the myriad iPhone copies that have equal and sometimes arguably better (if using a checklist to compare) hardware specifications, such as the Hiphone T32.  Without access to iPhone, software clone makers are relegated to using the aging Microsoft Mobil OS.

Apple’s iPhone OS, Google’s Android OS, and now the Palm Pre differentiate on software and the subsequent usability, not simply bolting on the latest hardware.  It is the concert of software, hardware, and services all working in tandem to produce a truly great usability experience that consumer’s desire.

Google has developed Android OS as an alternative but to date the hardware and software combination’s lack inspiration.  This may change soon with many phones under development.  Google has made the source code for Android OS downloadable with an open source license and customizable.  It certainly has the potential to dominate the phone market the way windows has on the PC side for this reason alone.  It also has the potential to splinter and destroy the user experience.

Palm has made the source code easy to copy and extend, although not licensed to legally do so via open source.  Personally, I’m curious if Pre clones will start showing up with genuine Pre software, able to use the same services such as the Palm App store.