Why you will probably be driving an electrc car soon...

One of the new, battery swappable EVs from Better Place

Electric cars have been around a while. You've probably seen a few plugged in on your college campus, you've probably driven a golf cart. Maybe your friend who is too smug to own a Prius has one. But there have long been obstacles in making these cars even close to desirable to own. That's all about to change.

Electric cars are finally fun to drive. Check out the Tesla Roadster, which I'm sure you've heard of if you follow the issue at all. The waiting period to grab one of these is enormous, but the point is, Tesla has brought the power and excitement to the electric car. Don't believe me? Check out the boys at Top Gear review it here.

At the end of the video, Clarkson mentions the biggest concern for the electric car- battery life and charge time. When you kill the battery for an electric car it can take 16 hours to recharge. Not a problem if you're just commuting, but totally eliminating road trips longer than a single charge can get you. Until now.

Shai Agassi, an Israeli entrepreneur has stumbled upon the greatest idea yet. Instead of having car recharging stations, why not have fully charged battery stations, and hot swap the lithium-ion battery out for a fully charged one? Common sense dictates that this action could take even less time than filling up your tank. Check out more about this simple, yet important change in strategy at his company's website.

So, all that coupled with more companies produce pure electrics that don't look like remote control vehicles, (See old Honda Insight vs. the New One) means we've really run out of reasons to not go electric. Mr. Agassi sees a wide infrastructure of these battery stations within 10 years, so your next car, believe it or not, may take no gas at all.

How to get an Industrial Design Job: my Whirlwind Tour of SF

As some of you may have heard I ventured to the Coroflot Confab in loverly San Francisco last Wednesday to see what I could see, get myself out there, so to speak. I had an uneventful flight, thanks to some Nyquil, got a free hotel upgrade and had my business cards shipped straight to the hotel. The whole thing was a complete success. Almost. (More on that later.)

I made a cool business connection with a programmer from un upstart known as Farm'sReach, and that was just on the cab ride from the airport. The conference itself was really helpful- the morning session regarding how to improve your web presence and get hired was very eye-opening. Some pointers for those of you who didn't attend: get your self on a wide range of sites, and get them all to link to your main portfolio page. Broad, thin range of sites, one single, in-depth site.

Then the panel discussion, which had IDEO and Google represented, revealed some interesting truths about getting hired in the design industry. Are you ready?

1. Be ready to wait TWO YEARS. Sometimes, even after initial contact, in an industry that considers its hires to be TALENT, not just an employee, the scout might watch you for two years to see how you are progressing as a designer to make you an offer. Although, sometimes its as little as a month.

2. Give a sense of who you are in your potfolio, or how you show your work. Since design is so collaborative, they sincerely care about what kind of person you will be to work with. Skills and programs can be taught. If you're not a decent, interesting, and effective person to work with, you probably will never be. (Time to undertake undertaking.)

3. Applying for jobs you are completely unqualified for is a GOOD THING! Believe it or not, in design, because the job description, usually written six months prior to the actual hire by someone in HR, is so different from the final job that you get hired for, you should go ahead and apply anyway. Its better the scouts know you're out there than have you sit on your hands.

Then after the discussion I got drunk at the reception, and proceeded to lose my new pack of 500 business cards on the streets of San Francisco. Well, I did give like 30 of them out. And I met some very cool design people, and exchanged some info over beers nearby!

Two days after my flight home the hotel calls me. Apparently, some good Samaritan found my business cards on the street and delivered them to the address on the box! They are due in the mail to me tomorrow.

Look for a homepage redesign @ www.MichaelWTaft.com with some help from my friend Jake Cohen.

New Droid Phone, is Everything the iPhone isn't. Like Ugly.

iDon't have a physical keyboard.

iDon't care.

Motorola's upcoming Droid has similar styling to the Motorola MicroTAC of 1989, or that its UI looks eerily familiar. I can't comment on the quality of it as a device, but from seeing it-

This appears to have very little character. A look at this and the keyboard, and it becomes clear that this phone, apparently one of the fastest ever made, will appeal to people who don't care what their phone looks like.

Now don't misunderstand, there is nothing wrong with caring about sheer functionality of a device, its just not enough to take Apple's share of the market. The Droid will most likely compete with the Palm Pre.

The most important point is not that one phone is better than the other, this is just like the Mac vs. PC debate- there are different types of people in the world, ergo there are different kinds of phones. SO STOP ARGUING.

This phone will appeal greatly to a certain sector. Probably everyone that bought a Voyager. Just not the iPhone users who, if you ask them, will tell you they don't miss a physical keyboard one bit. Who am I kidding, iPhone users will tell you about their phone whether you ask them or not.

iPhone Commits Suicide, Cites Constant Murder Threats.

In a surprise move, after getting beat up on the playground, teased for not having a physical keyboard or a decent digital camera, the iPhone took its own life yesterday because, as read in a note uploaded to its blog through its sweet wordpress app, "I cannot go on living like this."

Sources say those close to the cleanly designed handheld device were shocked to find out what had happened, especially with the huge popularity of the phone, and it's apparent resilience against phones that has tried to assassinate the phone before. "But this time was different," said Steve J., a friend and mentor to iPhone "people had really worn down his self esteem. I mean, have you seen what they write on those message boards?"

True, in just scanning one recent article in which he is mentioned, some libelous charletains have claimed "iPhone is totally gay." and "Whatever, the newest Nokia phones have like a bizillion gigapixel- camera or whatever. This phone sux at everything." People apparently unaware that there could be a phone that is good for some people and not good for others. Although, this doesn't seem likely to be the complete impetus for his death, as his supporters on there boards were usually just as numerous and stupid. "You f8ckers are fucing stpid. Stop hating and read a danmed history book!" wrote one concerned citizen.

More likely, pressure from the upcoming release of the Motorola Droid phone caused a great deal of new pressure, as the latest attempted iPhone killer presented himself publicly. "The Droid ad runs like a smear campaign. I mean, come on, all this guy wants to do is listen to the Ting Tings while snowboarding. Leave the little hipster shit alone!" said this guy I know.

With his ego bruised and new pressures to constantly be the best thing out there, iPhone ended it all yesterday by running a remote wipe on his own Mobile Me account. Which, let's be honest is a truly bitchin' feature.

He is survived by the iPod touch, which is just as good.

The 3D Printer YOU can (nearly) afford!

Welcome to the future. The year is 2030, give or take a year. It's Christmas Eve, and you forgot to buy young Timmy that remote control monster truck with the lightning bolts on the sides that he has been talking about for a month. 20 years ago, this would have been a problem. 20 years ago, you would have waited in line at wal-mart for this toy, and found none left. But its 2030, so you download a mesh, replace the low "rubber" cartridge in your rapid prototyping machine (RPM), and you print him one.

This Christmas story may seem a bit far-fetched, but moved a bit closer when a company called Desktop Factory released their first ever RPM for under $5000 new. That still seems a bit hefty for the average household, but when one considers the nearest competition is about the price of a small car, one realizes this is a HUGE leap in the right direction.

The device has a pretty small envelope, as it can only print objects as large as 5"x5"x5", and the smallest wall thickness is about .06" which is not great as industry standards go, but what is important is that there is a company out there that sees the potential for this product to sit on your desk at home.

"Hey Bill, I'm bringing my new girlfriend to your party. You'll need to print another chair."

This is a big deal to the design community as well. Designers may eventually no longer work with clay and foam prototypes, save for very rough ones, much in the same way graphic designers don't use as much of the pen and ink as they used to. The ability to make a clean working proto as early as your second attempt, that can be adjusted with the click of the mouse is not 20 years away. Some companies already do this. Soon, your clients will expect it.

Then your products will often be released as meshes, printable files that any old hillbilly with an RPM and the proper raw materials will be able to reproduce identical versions of your idea in his garage next to his moonshine still. All of a sudden, you will have a marketplace like iTunes selling meshes, and people trading them illegally on the web.

But this is impossible, you say. You can really only effectively print in plastic, right?

Not so. The circuit boards in your computer are metal printed on plastic wafer boards, and scientists have developed an amazing product called liquid wood. Being able to print in fabric and foam surely isn't far behind.

Think of the possibilities for product customization! Think of the jobs lost at manufacturing plants! Think how different are world will be! Think how being a CAD operator will be as much of a skill as being a toaster operator is now! Think how old you'll feel!

Now tell others what you think, and leave a comment.

Take Notice- The world trough a viewfinder.

How many times have you seen this: you're at a monument or other tourist destination and there are several families there, all of which have someone- not to promote stereotypes but this usually is the Dad wearing a yellow shirt and socks that are way too high- who is watching the whole thing through a camcorder viewfinder. In trying to capture forever those precious memories he has, with a device, excluded himself from them.

Or this: you're at a wedding and the bride is beginning to walk down the aisle. The couple have hired a professional photographer to capture - with some expert skill hopefully - this defining moment in their lives. Yet everyone in the botanical garden, even Aunt Gertrude who wouldn't know a horizon line if it bit her in the ass, and claims the soft focus was on purpose, is reaching over their heads to grab a snapshot.

The digital camera has become so simple and easy that we may be limiting our life experiences simply by trying to record them. Taking ourselves out of the moment so it is ours forever. It is really worth it? I have mostly always been a live in the moment kind of person, but I submit that things are getting out of hand.

Is it possible to conceive of a camera that doesn't cut the user out? What would a camera like that look like? Yes we all have camera timers, but those only work for posed shots. And what of making the photo process more collaborative? Photo sharing sites have started to make this easier, but the sheer quantity of photos everyone takes is just too many for the free sites to work on. Can we get to the point where people around the world start saying, "Let's just leave the camera at home, someone else there will be taking pictures."

Or am I wrong? Is all this amateur photography a good thing? What do you think?

--Take notice is a feature on IDoLOG regarding changes in trends relating to consumer products-

How to read a company by the last few letters of their name.

Root for the LLC, the LC or the Co-op - if you want to find a product or service company that is looking out for the consumer. A company that might not be as likely to be worried about what you think probably ends in I-N-C.

There is a lot of pressure on a successful company to "go public" or "incorporate" so that people may invest in the company, and become a shareholder. Basically because this company is making money, and greedy people want in on it.

Up until this point a product company only has an obligation to its customers- the folks who decide whether or not to spend their hard earned money with the company. And when the time comes where the company has to make a decision between the quality of their customer's experience and making more money, they CAN still choose the customer.

If a comapny incorporates, they now have an obligation to their shareholders- and a legal one at that- to choose the option that makes the most money. If a corporation makes a move that can be seen as making decisions not in the best financial interest of the owners, that company can be sued for damages.

Many corporations do manage to keep quality customer consideration in their minds, but it is a tendancy that a Co-op will handle this better.

Companies tag this "INC." surname to imply financial stability, but what they're really saying is that they're here to make money. Maybe I'm some sort of consumer idealist, but I happen to believe that there are still companies out therethat exist to provide a quality good or service to their customer first, and continue to make money because their customers reward them with increased sales.