smitty777's Journal: Toyota Linkz: Half Car, Half Facebook, Half Hockey Stick

(apologies to Yogi Berra for the title) So as part of the 2009 LA Car Show Design Challenge, Toyota created a cool concept called LINKS, which is an odd looking...well, vehicle. The most interesting aspect of it is that you link two of these together so that you can interact with fellow students as you travel; exchange notes, download music, or whatever. You pick up your LINK at a HUB, which appears to be the place where all the cool people meet to drink coffee, play bongos and recite poetry...while they're waiting for their LINKS to recharge.

It's interesting to me how the car companies are jumping on the social networking bandwagon. This seems a little extreme to me, though. One last thought - students don't seem to be a highly mobile lot to me. Most seem content to stay confined within a somewhat small geographic location. Pinning the hopes of this project on that particular target group might make this one a non-starter. Besides, they look like pregnant hockey sticks.