The Old VW Beetle is New Again

Well, according to VW the new bug design is going to tap into new buyers:

"VW, which wants to triple its U.S. sales of cars and trucks over the next decade, says the changes will appeal to more buyers, especially men."

But I just don't buy it. I think they should've designed a new vehicle for men if that was their goal. My husband loves his GTI - and it doesn't look like that! Why not release the Corrado in the US? This is a man's car!The Beetle is only a Beetle because of it's visual brand language. They seem to have dismantled that in a search for new market potential. If anything they should've moved back to classic lines, with solid metal body and details. They should've celebrated their heritage instead of throwing it away. Just looking at the new Beetle makes this designer sad.

Sodastream, now with more Fizz!

The latest Sodastream model has some bells and whistles that'll hit the sweet spot for many consumers. The Fizz boasts the revolutionary "FizzChip" which tells you when you're running low on gas and lets you set your perfect customized gas level. If you like to set it and forget it, and don't want to be surprised when you run outta gas, this model is for you. The older models, still well worth the money, only provide for manual adjustment of the gas-i-ness, which takes a little practice. Watch and learn - the gas is gonna getcha!

The Flip is Over!

I'm both surprised and not surprised that Cisco is shutting down Flip. The designer in me is frankly shocked - that they're willing to throw away the wealth of good brand faith that Flip has earned in such a short time. The strategist in me says, why on earth did Cisco buy Flip in the first place? It's a shame that the great PD that went into the original Flip will die with this company - although the ID work was outsourced, so maybe not so much. Smart Design was responsible for the ground breaking user interface, and for much of the population this technology is still relevant. Yes, smart phones abound, but much of the population can't afford those - the Flip brought simple video capture to those who couldn't afford more expensive products, or who had limited familiarity with computers. It was one of the first video cameras that almost all users could understand how to download.

Why's it going away then? Well, a product line (and a company for that matter) have to be loved to succeed - you have to fight for your brand these days, and have the vision to lead it. Cisco doesn't have that vision for consumer products and frankly they shouldn't have tried to buy it like a commodity. While it makes sense for their bottom line to drop Flip now, it's a waste of brand potential. Overall it's sad that the original Flip owners sold to a bidder worth $40B who would never really have much stake in a $40M company.

Beaba Next Gen Keeps it Rolling

Williams Sonoma is promoting the new Beaba products that accompany their baby food cooker/processor. I love, love the new Stackable Formula & Snack containers! Practical, realistic, still fun - someone who's familiar with the daily process of schlepping small amounts of many things for babies designed this. After trying it, they could stand to improve the screw threads - a simple quarter turn to lock would've been more solid, but more expensive to manufacture.Now if only they'd re-visit their food portioning freezer trays. Yes, they're cute, and I get the whole flower thing, but they're completely impractical to fit into your freezer or fridge. Give us the right shape, Beaba!

Skip the Pots this Year

Biodegradable plant pots abound! The Home Depot sells many of its veggie and herb varieties in peat pots, and also sells empties for those of you who start from seed. Local garden clubs tend to be even better about this. As the growing season gets underway, consider what you're buying when you choose your plants - who needs a bunch of cheap plastic plant pots?

Baby Needs Cool Kicks TOO!

Are you kidding me? Trumpette has the absolute coolest baby socks I've yet to see. I wish my boys could revert just so that I could put these socks on them for a while! Great styles for girls and boys, check them out!

Apple Patents a Stylus for iPad

For those of us who love a pen on paper, the iPad is going to get a little more attractive. Apple has filed a patent for a stylus that includes an accelerometer, to pick up all the nuances of putting pen to pad. Interestingly, while Jobs has repeatedly dismissed the idea of a stylus in the past, Gates has advocated for the idea for some time:

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, made this observation last year when he said students needed a pen to be able to interact with a tablet in a school setting. Mr. Gates said the iPad was good for reading, but not necessarily for creating.

I have to say I agree with him. Looking forward to trying it out one day!

AT&Who? Verizon Hits the Ground Running with iPhone

What's the biggest reason most users report for not owning an iPhone? Having AT&T as their service provider. Well, that's all over. And for me, this is all happening in the family - my husband's responsible for the Verizon commercials currently barraging you with this info. My brother in law will be selling hundreds of the phones to you.

And already, yesterday the iPhone broke Verizon's 24hr sales record in 2 HOURS. That's just the presale folks!! There's nothing new about the phone - no new software, new hardware, in reality it's an 8 month old phone. There's nothing new about this iPhone - except the service. Just goes to show, it's not only what you make but how you sell it that counts! Strategic launch partners and distribution should be a page on your brainstorming wall from Day One.

ReUse? Yes, Please!

For awhile I was a recycling zealot. I really gave people a hard time when I couldn't find a recycling bin at their home. But the more I learned about recycling and it's limitations - only certain materials, only in certain amounts, and often while expending more energy than it takes to create new materials - I opened my eyes to the greater picture.

All of your stuff matters. Not just the stuff in the recycling bin. Think about owning something forever before you buy it - think about your trash can disappearing forever. If there's no trash, you have a lot more stuff than you thought! So, buy less, and what you do buy, plan to keep in your life.

ReUse is the more efficient, overachieving cousin of ReCycle. Think about objects as transitional tools - what holds your flatware one day may organize your garage tools a few years down the road, and end up housing seedlings or sorting sand in the sandbox. Check out MadLab, featured in this article, a local-to-me shop that produces beautiful examples of ReUse in MontClair, NJ.

Xooming at CES

Motorola premiered their answer to the iPad at CES this year - Xoom, featuring Google Android. Well, all the names associated with the product are way cooler. Seems like the man's version of the iPad, inherently female. Let me know if it's awesome.