Open-source cars? I like the idea, but ...

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and famous for his “Free” and “The Long Tail” books, has a provocative story in this month’s Wired magazine about an open-source car maker called Local Motors.

Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers is taking all kinds of innovative approaches in launching the new Rally Fighter off-road car. (Wired.com)Open-source car maker.

Think about that.

Local Motors is a few months away from releasing its first model, the $50,000 off-road Rally Fighter. Local Motors tapped real people to “crowdsource” the design and help weave currently available parts into the finished product. “Each design is released under a share-friendly Creative Commons license, and customers are encouraged to enhance the designs and produce their own components that they can sell to their peers, Anderson writes.”

Ok, that’s cool. Kinda like a big auto app store.

But here’s the real kicker: Customers will build the cars at “local assembly centers.” That takes the kit-car concept a step further, moving assembly out of home garages to larger places where more hands and advisers can pitch in. Could this lead to something bigger, where truly custom and unique cars (as opposed to personalized from a palette of fixed choices) become commonplace?

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Wired explores some wild business offshoots

Call me a geek (no, really), but I get a kick out of marketing surveys. I enjoy taking them, in large part to get inside the thought process of ideas banging around other media companies.

One of the questions on the Wired surveyCase in point is a recent survey I took from Wired magazine that explored the openness of its subscribers to different business ideas and rewards programs, such as Wired-branded retail products and stores, Wired restaurants or hotels, and even reader-loyalty clubs with benefits such as the “ability to offer feedback on content prior to publication.”

Wired is a magazine I have long respected for its innovative design, thought-provoking journalism and ability to stay ahead of trends. Its won tons of awards, yet hasn’t been immune to the falling ad revenue that has hit most print publications.

So I guess I should be impressed the company isn’t resting on its laurels and is testing how far its subscribers might flex in embracing new initiatives. But more than a few ideas struck me as being odd, even desperate, extensions of the Wired brand.

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My first book blurb

I’ve been fairly silent here in recent weeks, with just a simple update to my photo gallery and a travel bit posted Sunday. Between vegging on vacation, majorly swamped at work, traveling out of town and otherwise consumed at home, I’ve been tapped out (as if I’m “tapped in” most other times).

So, I was kinda stunned to see my site traffic had jumped overnight. Like in a big way. I know photo galleries are traffic drivers and sometimes the search bots can go nuts, but this was way out of the ordinary.

OK, let’s see what’s going on. ... Hmmm, that’s weird. What’s all this traffic from the Guardian newspaper in England? ... Wait, a second, they’ve linked to me? #@$% &!@#

Yep, Guardian blogger Steve Busfield, writing a post collecting reaction to the paper’s innovative “The Wire Re-Up” book, had quoted from and linked to my own review from back in November:

“The interaction of the blog and book was what attracted Logan Molen, the chief operating officer of The Bakersfield Californian. He says: "The Wire is so nuanced and full of layers that you want – and need – a crowd to help source the storylines. Kudos to the Guardian for recognising that." (Interesting that they substituted my American spelling of “recognizing” for the British variation. Note to my pitchfork-wielding U.S. readers: I remain thee patriotic American).

Boo-yah! Points too to Busfield for commenting on this site shortly after my original post went up.

I’m not so jaded to say it's fun to get some notice from one of the world’s most respected newspapers and websites, even if it's just cribbing my words to promote one of their own products. My little corner of the Interweb is an odd mish-mash of personal and work-related stuff, so it’s nice to have an outsider with some juice find some value in the junk drawer.