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No... Mini

Don't forget the Mini-E either.

http://www.miniusa.com/minie-usa/

100-150mi/charge, $850/mo lease

What? Are you mad? There's no reason for discussion. The answer is obvious. The nanobot OS would be a monolithic unix derivative stripped down to the bare essentials with all drivers statically linked - like a custom Linux or BSD build. Tiny nanobots are like a Mini. You need something that will fit the form factor. You would need something like a a href=http://www.fordvehicles.com/trucks/f150/>Ford F150 to run Windows. Windows Doesn't even enter the nanobot market....

more seriously though, if we built nanobots, and each nanobot ran its own version of an OS, could we count this in marketshare research?... wait, what were we talking about again? Oh yes, fear. Let O'Reilly do a piece on nanotech and terrorism and the numbers will do a 180 and the public calling for a ban on research.

I'm no Flash advocate, but this is a site done all in Flash that has some very cool features. Unfortunately, they are buried in a front end that I don't particularly care for, and I know you won't like at all.

Mini USA Web Site.

To see the example of Flash where it really added value, click on the models menu and select one of the models. Then pick interior features and there's a very nice thing where you can click on aspects of the interior and read about each feature. You could do this in DHTML as well as Flash but it would be a browser compatibility nightmare.

Of course the lack of any way to link within the content so I could show you what I like directly is a major bummer and a huge disadvantage of the all-Flash approach ...

D

So what's the total for a tricked out mini?

I was able to configure one up to a surprising $40,553!

A better example would be the MINI

You could get a Mini.

But really, a demonstration of Flash being useful - I still haven't seen it.

You can check out the MINI configurator online at MINI USA. Note that it's all Flash - but I have to admit it's fairly impressive, and well built. I think it's the first use of Flash I ever saw that I didn't say "Why they hell do they have Flash here?".

What I like about the system is that you really can have just about any option with any other option - the only artificial limit is some interior and exterior colors are not available on both models (which is not to say they couldn't do it, they wanted to keep some colors exclusive to each model). You can opt for traction control, auto AC, sunroof, etc etc etc and get a car with just the features you want and without the features you don't (like big heavy wheels - who needs them?)

It really is very close to JIT...

They really have almost no inventory, just a chain of trucks coming in as you say. They have worked out deals with all suppliers to keep material coming on demand, so they have almost no stock to speak of.

Yes they build some base specs for dealers. That's still BTO though, as they just decide what base specs are popular and then put in some orders for them. I don't think the dealers had a say though, at least at first... there are some MINI corporate just ships out so there's a good "Mix" at the dealer. Just because it's MINI specifying a config and not a customer does not make it BTO...

The MINI line goes beyond color, in that you not only have the body color but also the roof color (which can differ) and a lot of custom accessories.

Somewhere on MINIUSA is a factory tour, take a look - very impressive. Also you can configure cars there and submit an order for one.

the new cooper mini s has a built in "audio jack" up front in the car. you can plug anything with an audio out in with the appropriate cable from the shack or wherever.

I don't want a car that's cool from a geek perspective. I want a car that's cool from a motorhead perspective.

I tend to agree. I don't like power/electric everything either... it's hard to find a decent car anymore that doesn't have power windows. I also much prefer a manual transmission to an automatic one. But, I do want a radio/CD/MP3 player.

The Mini Cooper S is pretty cool, btw.

What is with this incessant desire to make things ever smaller and smaller? I'm just going to take my teeny tiny Motorola V. Series 66 phone, my ultra slim Fujitsu LifeBook S-4510 , which of course is running with QNX as the operating system, viewing the worlds smallest website and neatly set them all in my Mini Cooper S and drive off the nearest curb, falling to my death while transferring all my life's memories onto my IBM Microdrive.

Are you for real? I love the bit about the road deaths, and the vision of oppressive governments forcing people into tiny cars.

I'm glad to say that there's currently a long US waiting list for the BMW Mini, which is a truly fun car to drive (hint: it doesn't roll over when you go around corners).

To return to matters vaguely relevant to Kyoto, the nihilist "it's hopeless so why bother" argument IS dealt with by the treaty - Kyoto is part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, not a single set of regulations but a mechanism to establish fair rules as required. The hard part is establishing the level playing field, not playing the game.

The USA is the world's biggest polluter, both in total and, by a huge margin, per capita - it has a responsibility to lead. Do you really think that the US, Europe and Japan would be unable to bring remaining countries into line when necessary?

I can see why, if the interface was designed by the same people who designed their website. [bmw.com]