The invention in question is a CD Slot mount, which pretty much does what it says on the tin; it’s a mount on which you can rest valuables (even loose change) which fits snugly into the CD Slot.

CD Slot Holder

Now my first worry here was that, as great an idea as this is; what happens when I want to listen to a CD at the same time? However, you can still listen to your CD’s, which really made me warm to this product; I mean, yes, a holder which fits into the CD slot is innovative, but it’s the little bits of extra thought and the ability to hold back until it’s ready for market that will really see a product blossom in the long run.

It’s something I appreciate with this product, alongside the obvious improvement from a safety perspective, and the overall versatility the accessory provides; it’s much easier to carry and install than a conventional holder. Best of all if it doesn’t fit in your CD holder they’ll even give you a refund.

This has the possibility to take off in the future, so definitely warrants a ‘watch this space’ in my books.

Parkbud v2.0

The new version will be separated into two options, a free option – Parkbud Pay, with some fantastic features as standard, and for those who are seeking a little more; a paid addition – Parkbud Plus, which will cost $0.99 or £0.69 and will really push the boundaries of what you can expect from a parking app.

So what are we getting from the app? Well Parkbud Pay (the somewhat confusingly named free part) gives you a lot of handy features that, considering it’s free nature, is 100% worth downloading. The simple, but brilliant starting point for this app is the ability to pay for your parking ticket no matter where you are in the world as long as mobile payment is accepted; meaning you no longer need to worry about falling 10p short when parking.

A crucial pitfall when having paid for your ticket is not returning in time, Parkbud allows you to set reminders; to ensure you never get back to your car too late again! To increase ease of use you can even store payment information and payment history on the app if you wish, along with your favourite places to park. The app also has the handy ability to form a pre-populated text which you can send to parking providers in order to pay; the app can now be used to renew tickets without having to be anywhere near your car!

Now consider the fact that this is simply the features you can expect from the free part of this app, and then you begin to realise the scale of what this app has to offer.

Parkbud Interface

With Parkbus Plus you get more freedom and interactivity. On top of its standard ability to find nearby parking, you can now also find Fuel Stations, Restaurants, Garages, Banks and points of interest all with “1 tap”. You are given the freedom to create, save, edit and rearrange your own favourite places and save your parking info even when GPS is not available with the parking spot widget. On the tracking side, you get a compass, and parking spot widget’s ability to track parking level, colour and number as well as a rotating map you can follow. The most potent point with the paid version is its ability to find your car even if you cannot find a GPS signal! For a little extra fun the paid version comes with rotating wheels, sliding doors, animations and sounds to increase overall user experience and even comes with a flashlight!

Add all this on top of the digital clock, minute-to-minute directions back to your car, 5-sheet notepad to write reminders of any kind, and camera tool with the ability to edit photos, and you really do have an app to be seriously considered.

This app has the potential to soon to become one that we see on the majority of iPhones, in whichever form, in the future. The greatest thing of all, is that the app has taken things we didn’t think about improving, and offered us a great way to do so.

Although maybe I should say the second greatest thing; the greatest thing being that the wonderful people behind the app will be offering it completely free for a limited time to celebrate it’s release!

Just to make it easy, here’s a QR Code for you to find Parkbud.

QR Code - Parkbud On Itunes

Well, how about if you could get a mint condition brand new VW Camper for just £300?! It might not technically be the same, but this tent version of the famous camper looks just like the real thing, and is even the exact same dimensions!

It's almost the real thing...

This is, of course, all very well and good. However, when it comes down to it, picking from a small number of pre-chosen options isn’t really a fountain pof creativity. With the technology we have I am surprised that we don’t have more “free” creativity – allowing even buys of budget cars to really and truly “customise” their vehicles.

Take, for example, body wraps. And no, not of the deep sea mud and worm variety. I’m talking about the kind of body wraps that can allow you to have a leopard print smart car if you so desire. A matte black Range Rover. I am surprised that no hip and funky car brands or models have made the move to offer truly customisable straight-off-the-production-line body wraps, where customers upload their own images or create designs using special software when they order. The work is more butobviously car brands could charge a premium, the body wrapping could be automated and it is just the printing/making that is individual.

With interiors too, I wonder why we can’t do more. Why are out choice of interior leather limited to brown, beige and multiple shades of grey. WOuld it not be worth the invesment to supply a true range of fabric options and mulitple tickable boxes allow an interestior that is as individual as you are. If the process es are created intelligently, it could be a real marketing piece that can still be automated (albeit with morecomplicated stages).

The point is thus. The customisable nature of the new Mitsubishi i-MiEV may be news worthy (and it is certainly more flexible than most!), but as an ever-demanding customer I would want the ability to kit the car out with a floral exterior wrap I put together myself, multiple pieces of random body kit, a spotted clashing leather interior and wheels with pink alloys. Pwetty please?

You see, lots of the things that make normal gas-powered cars work don’t have to exist in an EV like the Nissan Leaf. As such, it seems like these futuristic cars have potential to look different. To be different. To have fun with all the stuff that happens beneath the bonnet, rather than to be boring and engine-like and dull like every other car that has ever existed. I wonder if the fact that many EVs are only available on long term car rental options effects the design?

OK, I’ll be honest with what I mean – electric vehicles should glow. I’m thinking, Warp drive looks. Pulsing blinking panels. Glowing lights, blue bits and bright white bits and the sort of futuristic LED driven styling that would make Jean-Luc Picard get all lathered up. You should lift up the bonnet and be assailed by the very alien nature of the thing, by how exciting and new and fancy it is. And if the whole thing can’t look like that (because, if we get technical about it, we do still need the thing to drive – and anyone who’s ever coated an entire uni flat in fairy lights will know that it doesn’t deliver much in terms of movement) then surely we could just have a little bit? A little magic in the mechanics?

Just a single LED, blinking and flickering away?

However, most of these car seats are designed for babies over 3 months, and in particular they are not suitable for the really ickle babies amongst us. If your child is just tiny, or premature, then transporting them safely in a car can be a real pain, and obviously is a worry that many many new parents have to go through. And this, let’s be honest, is the last thing you need on top of all the other stresses and new-parent-paranoia.

As such, it is a bit of a relief to finally see someone addressing the problem, with some proper research into the area. If upright seats can, as suspected, cause breathing problems to small premature babies, then the evidence can be used to design better car seats that carry less medical risk.

The evidence itself will come from Swindon’s Great Western Hospital, who are using a specially developed vibrating seat to simulate the conditions found in a car driving forwards. The equipment, developed by Southampton University, allows the doctors to keep track of the babies heart rate and blood 02 levels, thus seeing if the upright position does actually have any effect on their breathing and vitals.

Bring on the results!

Each of these works of art are made from watches, from the handlebars to the steering wheel, from the seats to the wheels. It is all a strange fusion of steampunk-meets-1980s gold bling, and the end effect is actually really smart – not to mention the fact that they are bound to be quite collectible.

So, if you’re looking for a reasonably expensive one off gift for a car or bike lover, this might just be the place to go.

Bike

Pick Up

Golf Buggy

Quad Bike

The iPhone app

So, what does this app actually do? Well, lots of things it seems, amongst which are a car locator, parking finder, specialized camera, and journal. Particularly cool for gentle idiots like myself is the fact that Parkbud gives up minute by minute directions back to your car, including how long and how far it will take you to get there! In addition you get reminders before your meter expires; the ability to take notes on parking restrictions, errands and more; as well as facilities to take, edit, and save photos of that obscure parking spot. All in all, if it works as well as they say, this has potential to be a really handy app.

What do you think? Would you download it? I suppose the fact that it is currently free might make a difference…

Jaguar XF

Evoque

Which is perhaps why I have lost patience with the horrific livery of the Jaguar and Landrover prototype cars. They are out on the roads for the final stages of testing, and of course they are also trying to attract the attention of people who drive past. That said, I fail to see why such a blinding and unattractive pattern had to be plastered all over the body. It was one thing in the Evoque, which is pretty ugly to start with, but now we are starting to see fancy-pants Jaguars with the black and white psychedelic print all over them – it is like seeing an ugly mutant driving around trying to blind people, or at the very least permanently scar their retinas.

JLR, heed our call – your cars look stupid when covered in that print, so why not change it?

VS.

A laptop-off… who wins?

[Header image: here]