My Curious Life

Reading about the healthy and growing European rail system the other day made me get a bit misty-eyed and sentimental. I have many fond memories of the convenience of rail travel throughout Europe from my days living in Vienna, Austria. Since then, the Channel Tunnel has opened Paris to London travel, even bringing with it a renaissance for some previously deteriorating train stations.

Jump over the pond to the U.S. and you have essentially one rail option, Amtrak: slow routes that only cover a few major areas of the U.S., worn out rails and trains, and customer service that’s none-too-stellar. Yeah, that’s enticing. (Don’t even get me started about local mass transit … that’s something else lacking in the U.S., especially the West Coast.)

In fact, many of the Amtrak routes are at least partially served by bus and not truly rail at all. Amtrak’s only true recent success has been in the Northeast, where population density has made it more financially advantageous to make frequent rail trips, even quasi-high-speed rail reaching speeds in some sections up to 134mph (over about 18 miles of track).

Even given Amtrak’s rocky history and their current financial stats, I think that a few truly high-speed regional rail lines built with the financial cooperation of the cities, counties and states they would serve might turn around the aging giant and bring to the U.S. some of the class and convenience of the European railroad. Take into account soaring gas prices, frustrations with current airline service, and extensive security measures and the number of reasons to revisit rail as an option start making sense.

Even U.S. juggernaut GE could be called in to develop a new, more eco-friendly high speed locomotive based upon their Evolution^TM series engines. Or we could simply adopt Bombardier’sthe ICE train, as Germany and the Netherlands have, built by Siemens AG and Bombardier. Or settle for the not-quite-as-fast JetTrain.

Alstom, maker of Europe’s successful TGV train, already has a very high speed train that has set a speed record of 574.8 kph ( ~ 357 mph ). Getting reliable high-speed service up around 180 mph should be feasible and attainable.

Amtrak takes over 40 hours to travel from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, the first 4 hours on a bus. What would happen to travel along the U.S. West Coast if high speed rail served the region? You could ride in an incredibly comfortable rail car for the same (or less) time and money as taking a flight. Would security have to be as tight? Would we be able to do high-speed cargo as well? Perhaps maximize the necessary infrastructure investments by taking fresh local goods and services from one region to another faster and more efficiently than by truck or conventional rail?

Admittedly, nationwide high speed rail might be a fantasy at this point, but isn’t a high-speed regional system possible?

It’s approximately 1400 miles from Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA. The trip by a conventional airline flight averages about 5.5 hours — 1 hour in flight from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA, then a 1.5 hour layover and another 3 hour flight to San Diego, CA. This doesn’t include the additional time necessary to check-in at the airport and go through security or pick up your bags in luggage claim.

What if we had a high-speed rail service that traveled the West Coast and stopped in these cities:

• Vancouver, BC
• Seattle
• Olympia
• Portland
• Salem
• Eugene
• Sacramento
• San Jose
• Los Angeles
• San Diego

A high-speed rail line operating at about 200 mph and making 20 minute layovers in each metro area, could make the entire trip from Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA in just over 10 hours (caveat: heavily averaged math). That’s about 1/4 of the time it takes now. That may still seem like a long time, but rail can offer things that air travel can’t, like dining cars, sleeper cars and no limitations on electronic devices (bring those laptops and iPhones). I know I’d gladly spend the night on a train in comfort on my way to California rather than waste an extra day at the airport on either end of my trips. Or gain the ability to actually get things done during the course of my trip, as well as eat a decent meal.

For now, I’ll just have to wait and dream. Amtrak’s FY2008 request makes it pretty clear that they are still trying to revitalize their fleet and bring the overall system into “a state of good repair” at this point, and they make no mention of the West Coast at all. Maybe, just maybe, their success in the Northeast can translate into something good for us in the West. And if you start looking for a place to start new experimental service, Mr. Kummant, we’d be happy to oblige.

About a month ago I got on my soapbox and made some suggestions about how Detroit needs to turn itself inside out and start anew.

Recently, though, I was reviewing concept designs and auto show prototypes from some of the big three U.S. auto makers (Chrysler, Ford and GM) and I’m feeling even more inclined to think that a newcomer to the industry is more likely to turn things around than an entrenched giant.

A couple of years ago Freeman Thomas, designer of the Audi TT and New Beetle, joined the ranks of Ford and there were several predictions that his design prowess could bring the company back from the brink. I had hopes that Ford would pull a miracle out of its hat with the hiring of Thomas, but alas, no. Instead, it seems to be pushing it’s more innovative designs into Europe and neglecting its U.S. audience and the growing need for smaller, more versatile and economical vehicles in the States. Ford’s U.S. auto designs are relatively stagnant, while Europe gets the Kuga and Mondeo and we in the U.S. get what? The Edge? The Flex?

Not surprisingly, Chrysler may be the one to actually make things happen for the U.S. auto market. It sounds like the privatization of Chrysler is bringing with it a new way of doing things. At least there are some tough decisions being made quickly at Chrysler, like paring down its lineup to reduce overlap, and a returning commitment to quality, even when this means taking an initial financial hit to do so. A glance at their current auto show vehicles still brings caution — there isn’t a lot of inspiring new design among the vehicles they’ve displayed so far. The Firepower is like a larger version of the Crossfire. The Imperial looks like a modernized K-car. The Nassau shows some promise as a smaller mid-size sedan, but takes a lot of design cues from existing Honda or Toyota models. Without something more exciting, Chrysler is doomed to repeat its recent past even with all its cost-cutting.

Lastly we come to poor, poor GM, whose almost complete and total dependence upon truck and SUV sales is contrasted by its relatively successful Flex Fuel vehicles. There seems to be an utter lack of anything inspiring coming from the GM fold, though. It’s all blocky and sharp edges.

With all this market turmoil, dissatisfaction with fuel economy, style and quality, I’m still anxious to see if some young upstart company will swoop in and come up with something inspired and take the U.S. market by storm. Now seems like the perfect time to do so. Otherwise, we might as well just ship our auto manufacturing to Asia with the rest of our goods. [Just watch out for a Chinese recall on carcinogenic parts.]

Last night’s inaugural Ignite Portland rocked! 18 speakers, each with 20 slides and 5 minutes to present before the collective buzzer went off. The topics ranged from knitting to rewilding, giving good TXT to free beef and clean bathrooms. Unicycling, chickens, and how to be Japanese. Kudos to everyone who helped organize the event and to all of the presenters … for a first time event, it was quite impressive.

Wieden + Kennedy hosted the event in their fantastic office space downtown. The architecture of the building is wonderful, and W+K have put some nice touches on the space to make it their own. I have some questions about that, though, like what’s up with all of the “mice” on the stairs? And who are all of the people in the black ‘n whites on the entry wall? If those are the W+K staff, no wonder they’re considered an exceptional company.

Ignite was essentially a chance to be with like-minded local folks and get the ol’ grey matter fired up. The diversity of topics made for some fantastic brain food. I came home buzzing with ideas and inspiration, and while I don’t think I’ll be raising chickens anytime soon, I do have some great resources and ideas to work with for the immediate future.

All in all, a great time in a great locale with some very interesting people. I regret not mingling a bit more, but my co-conspirator Ryan did introduce me to some of the PDX Web Innovators group and start putting names with faces for a change. I’d hoped to meet Rick Turoczy of the Silicon Florist at some point and tell him thanks for keeping tabs on all the local Portland happenings, but in all that time I didn’t spot one person with a name tag that said “Rick” on it. Hey Rick, were you hiding someplace? Rick has the best collection of posts and links from the event that I’ve seen so far.

Here are links that I’ve collected to sites and presenters that were mentioned … keep your eyes on the Ignite Portland site for upcoming photos and more presentation links:

• Adam Duvander’s Simplicity Rules!
• SkinnyWhiteGirl Crystal Beasley
• Bill DeRouchey’s History of the Button (check out his slidecast from UX Week 2007)
• Urban Scout on Rewilding
• Michael Jones of the Unicycle Bastards
• Audrey Eschright on Geeks Knitting

I can’t wait to see what’s up when Ignite fires up again in January!

Tara Hunt (a.k.a. Miss Rogue) made a request yesterday on her blog asking for answers to five questions she has about government. The answers so far, while few, are definitely interesting, and I hope that more people will comment (hint: that means you, dear reader!).

For those of you too lazy to link to Tara’s post, here are the questions she poses:

1. Do you trust government services? Local (municipal)? State/Provincial? Federal?
2. Can you name 5 government services? 10? Are they local, state or federal? (not a test)
3. Do you think it is more important for people to trust their government or for a government to trust its people? Or both? Why?
4. If you contribute to projects voluntarily, why? Would anything lead you to wanting to contribute time or effort towards government services projects?
5. What do you expect out of a government website?
6. What do you think Government Services 2.0 looks like?

So, what do you think? Please let Tara know. Oh, and if you work for a government agency, here’s an additional question that I’d love to hear the answer to:

What do you think is keeping government (local, metro, federal) from becoming Government 2.0?

I’ll forward any responses I get on to Tara in the hope that they add more character to her musings.

My friend and co-conspirator, Ryan Williams, has been putting together a little something he calls Local Signal for some time now. Even in its infancy, I thought Ryan was on to something, but after getting a few reviews and mentions, I’m sure of it.

There have been a number of comparisons with Goboz, even on the PDX Web Innovators discussion boards, but there’s something much simpler and more elegant about Local Signal that beats a crazy busy site like Goboz. (It’s got a cooler name, too, in my opinion, and Ryan even got help picking it out.)

If I’m traveling to a new city or just curious about what’s happening around town, I just want to peruse the news — serendipity is more useful than specific categorization and top 10 lists, as Goboz does. It’s like reading the paper … articles of interest can catch my eye that I might not otherwise have known to look for. Local Signal accomplishes that. And while I do use a feed reader (my old reliable is Bloglines), I don’t necessarily want to gather even more feeds in my feed reader than I already have just to keep up with local events and news.

I’m really hoping that Ryan sees some activity on Local Signal. With about 50 U.S. cities and counting, it’s already something I use as a regular tool. If you’ve got ideas for Local Signal, or just want to wish him well, stop by Ryan’s blog and give him feedback. You can read more about his “official” preview release on his blog as well.

First the GM strike, now Chrysler. Huge pension plans, guarantees of employment, and a market with a glut of new and used vehicles. Auto designs that haven’t inspired for years. Vehicle prices that seem to have shot through the roof. Fuel efficiency ratings that haven’t improved much in a couple of decades (at least). A lack of truly practical alternative fuel vehicles.

It’s time for a massive overhaul of the U.S. automotive industry.

I’m no expert in the issues surrounding the U.S. automotive industry, but from what I can tell, the current thinking isn’t working any more. The industry grew up in a time when the market was growing faster than production could keep up with, as more and more Americans came into middle-class incomes. The idea of a car (or two) in every driveway has, essentially, become a reality. In very simple terms, the market, at least here in the U.S., has reached capacity. The only thing left is to bank on vehicles becoming “lifestyle” items and being swapped out on a certain cycle in order to turn over your inventory and continue creating newer, more enticing vehicles. That might work in current culture if the designs coming out of Detroit every year were new, fresh and unique, but alas, they are usually minor iterative versions of past designs, tweaked for the next model year.

Here’s what I’m noticing … People in the U.S. are growing more fond of handcrafted items that are unique and designed to fit their needs. There is a growing subculture of “modders” who customize general mass-market items and make good money on doing so. More and more vehicles aren’t remaining “factory-standard” for long, with custom grilles, wheels, lightcovers and detailing becoming more mainstream (just look at the soccer mom’s with 24″ custom wheels and designer grille on their Cadillac Escalades — who would’ve thunk it?).

So my prediction is this: The next big auto maker in the U.S. won’t be a big auto maker — it will be a small car company that takes a page from Michael Dell’s playbook and starts building custom made-to-order vehicles from off-the-shelf parts with a handful of unique body styles that change every year.

A company that could pull this off would need some strong branding and a chance for consumers to get a hands-on experience with their products, without having a traditional car dealership in every town. Small, select showrooms with an online order and fulfillment system. A great online showroom with virtual models that let me see what I get for my money. A large set of aftermarket parts and accessories that could be used to customize or bundle with each vehicle. There’s a great deal of money in customization, and after-market parts often come with a much bigger markup. Why not get part of that profit in your pocket up front by customizing? It sure seems to help the computer manufacturers.

The pieces of the puzzle are all available now. Online banking and lending exist. Large order fulfillment systems are available. Transportation logistics systems are available. Build-to-order assembly line practices are out there. Parts and inventory management systems are accessible. The big risk is the initial outlay of cash to put them all together and build a brand.

A company like GM, whose attempt to start fresh with Saturn, would be a likely candidate for this type of industry overhaul. The burden of their recent commitment to the UAW and their sprawling investments in factories could shackle them, though. Chrysler, whose new status as a private company and desperate need to turn things around, might prove to be an even better candidate for starting over. Chrysler’s former dependence upon Daimler for design, engineering and parts means that they already have some sense of how to work with a separate entity for supplies and know-how. Their factory presence isn’t quite as great as GM’s, and retrofitting a factory or two to start an experimental new brand under the Chrysler umbrella might not be too difficult. Not too many years ago, Chrysler had some creative designs (PT Cruiser, Pacifica, 300, and some concept cars from 2001) as well.

It will be interesting to see if either company can escape the blinders of their own bureaucracy to start new and build for the future. Heck, even Ford could do something surprising out of a desperate sense of urgency. My bet, though, is on someone with newly minted wealth and a more entrepreneurial spirit to come in and revamp an industry that has been stagnant for too long.

Capping the whirlwind that has been the past couple of weeks, I’m in Washington, D.C. now for UX Week, which promises to be a pretty exciting and inspiring event. Adaptive Path has a great series of speakers lined up and the locale is quite nice.

I’ve followed a number of these folks’ blogs for some time now, but there’s a whole depth of communication that comes with in-person, live public speaking that you just don’t get in the written word. I’m always been amazed at how the personality of a speaker adds so much more to what they have to say … and once you’ve heard their voice in the real world, it’s easier to pick up the subtleties in their writing that you might have otherwise missed.

Come on people, let us hear your voices!

A number of weeks ago, Wired invited its readers to submit a photo for one of 5,000 individualized covers to be printed for the July 2007 issue of the magazine. Dumb luck had it that my submission got picked to be one of the 5,000.

After the initial glee and gloating (Glenn, na-na-na-na-na!), I had forgotten about the whole thing until the magazine arrived in Monday’s mail, with the photo of my wife and I on the cover.

Wired’s tie-in for all of this is the hyperlocal, totally personal geoweb. It’s an interesting read that does pose some complicated questions … questions that are already on the table as more devices become GPS-equipped, trackable and interactive. Just look at the security issues surrounding the new U.S. passports with RFID chips and you get a glimpse of how this new global geo-presence can be both a blessing and a curse. Pair it with something like OpenID, and, well, things get exponentially more interesting … sure, I can be found anywhere, but which part or parts of my identity do I disclose and to whom?

In all honesty, I’m more optimistic about the potential of these technologies than pessimistic … though I’m sure there will be bumps in the road. I think we’ll see some privacy issues come flying to the fore as we as a society become more aware of our movements, but it seems that the new generation is more willing to make their lives an open book and will simply push through the changes necessary to keep reaping the benefits of being hyperlocal.

Aside from feeling like I’ve been out of circulation (in the design community sense) for way too long, I’m also finding that the whole co-working thing is reminiscent of the time I spent in my high school years hanging out with other like-minded creative folks (shout out to Eric, Nabeel and Dean … why don’t you old farts blog?) and my time in Europe, where you didn’t know anything unless you hung out at the coffee shops. It’s really amazing how the presence of other inspiring people can bring out the best in yourself and the work you do.

I came across a great video on co-working thanks to Tara Hunt’s blog, and I’m shamelessly using a quote from the video by Chris Messina for the title of my post. I think that co-working (or any shared, in-person meeting of open minds) can be a great petri dish for growing new ideas or helping older ideas grow and flourish. Chris nailed it by calling it accelerated serendipity … a beautiful description!

So, waking from my collaborative slumber only recently as part of Fourio, I think I’m going to have to check out the local co-working place, CubeSpace, and see if the next Fourio group think should be held in a more serendipitous locale.

Leisa Reichelt poses the question in a recent post about whether there will be a decline in anthropomorphism with the rise in social software. Her question sparked a rousing discussion and got me thinking about how I’d argue that the opposite is likely going to be true as our tools and interfaces become more sophisticated.

It seems that when our tools or devices are operating well, performing their tasks in ways that we expect them to, we hardly notice that they are present, in which case they are quite enabling. When they fail us, though, we are quick to invent reasons for their misbehavior, giving our devices human traits or characteristics. We also tend to give them a personality based upon our positive interactions, too … pleasant surprises or reliable behavior can also endear them to us.

As our technology improves, though, I believe we’re only more likely to instinctually or programmatically give our devices human characteristics. While tactile interfaces, like touch and keypress, and visual interfaces, like folders and animations, are sometimes easy to anthropomorphize, voice interactions almost require more human-like interactions to be taken seriously.

Think of voice activated systems for “climbing” a phone tree. Initial reactions to these systems in the 80s and 90s were skeptical, with the text-to-speech reading of information limited to small interactions due to the halting and jerky speech pattern most systems produced. Without adequate human-sounding output, this type of interaction was often featured as a frightening thing. Shall we play a game?

As text-to-speech and speech-to-text software has improved, more and more systems are featuring near-human level inflection and ever better speech recognition (though there is still much room for improvement in the latter). Ironically enough, many of these improved systems use bits of recorded human speech in order to produce a more life-like effect.

Humanoid animations, coupled with this improved text-to-speech are appearing as news anchors, and as our homes become centers of more intelligence, it’s not too farfetched to imagine your home having a name and a voice, interacting with you in various ways … sharing the weather report, reading news headlines, giving an overview of your calls and updating you on your schedule.

Rather than decline, I think we’ll see the anthropomorphism of technology expand as we begin to expect more and more interactivity and assistance from our devices. Until then, though, if your tech wants to play a game, make sure it’s solitaire.