New Cars for a Net Generation

"According to Toyota COO Jim Press, the company developed the Scion brand to meet the unique needs of the Internet generation. Press said that by 2010 there will be 60 million potential car owners who grew up online, and they won't accept the status quo in vehicle design or the buying process....

Kids who grew up playing PlayStation and instant-messaging with their friends need "personal expression" and want to "make a statement" with their car purchases, Press said.

To address this audience, Press announced the bbX (for black box) car, which emphasizes right angles and headroom and looks like a futuristic Volvo. To get the attention of what Press said is the "smartest generation of buyers ever," the company has partnered with Pioneer for what appears to be the car's main selling point -- a custom audio system.

The base model will include a six-speaker stereo system that has a 1350-watt maximum output, which Toyota said was specifically designed for the acoustics of the large interior. A CD player will be able to play MP3 discs....

Bolain said Toyota decided not to add Internet access to the vehicle because youngsters want drive time to be time away from information overload....The ccX has a navigation system, DVD player and removable cooler that plugs into its electric outlet. To make the vehicle easy to clean after a day at the beach, the rear of the ccX has a waterproof floor and four drains."  [Wired News]

Unfortunately, I had to buy a car at the wrong time. I bought mine last November, hoping to find something new and different on the market. But nothing had all of the toys I wanted, and I couldn't bring myself to buy an Aztek. I couldn't even get a car with a pre-installed stereo that played MP3s.

However, it's good to see auto manufacturers starting to shift, though. It's pretty savvy of them to start accommodating the Net Gens now because as a market, they're going to be bigger than the Baby Boomers ever were.

It's too bad the entertainment industry doesn't realize this.

Preparing for the Coming Era of Participatory News

"Meet the Millennials, the 71 million children of Baby Boomers who are coming of age. They download music into mobile players. The expression "You sound like a broken record" means nothing to them. On their cell phones, they never hear a busy signal or fail to get an answer. Pearl Harbor and Vietnam are the stuff of movies; September 11 is a defining event. MTV informs them the way the Big Three Networks informed their parents. They don't read newspapers. Computer use and Internet connectivity are mainstream activities. They consider the special effects in the vintage film Star Wars bogus.

The Millennials are acoustic. They respond to graphics, sound, action, interaction, and immersive activities. Through their experiences, they begin to shape the future of news on a small, inter-connected planet....

As an interconnected society moves toward participating in the news, the Brotherhood of News seeks to protect its values and exert its control. Just as zero changed the equation shaping humanity's vision of the universe, accessible media changes the equation that shapes news and informs society. Everyone is a journalist in the age of access. But for most news organizations, collaboration with their audience is an irrational concept, a dangerous idea" [Online Journalism Review, via Tomalak's Realm]

A tad over the top, but it's still a good explanation of where news may be heading.