Not sure if any of you read The Oatmeal, but this is one of the reasons that I do.
If you are one of those sensitive types, are at work where people are offended by the displayment of middle fingers and curse words, then skip the click. Otherwise, enjoy!
This is what my car needs – The Oatmeal
(0) CommentsI’m a geek. That is a pretty well known fact. Wil Wheaton, too, is a geek. Another well known fact. Turns out his wife drives a MINI and when he gets to drive it, he gets excited about the chance to do the ‘MINI wave’.
“I’m totally going to do the Mini wave,” I said. The Mini wave is something our friend Troy told us about when Anne got her car. He said that, by owning a Mini, we were granted admission to a secret club with other Mini owners who will park next to us, wave at us, and let us change lanes in front of them in traffic.
I waited until the appropriate moment, and lifted my left hand off the wheel, shaking it quickly to one side and back. It’s a very cool move that I may or may not have practiced a few dozen times to get just right.
I waited for the oncoming Mini driver to return the gesture, acknowledging and thus solidifying our mutual relationship in the secret Mini club, but it passed us without so much as a glance, much less the Mini wave I’d been so excited to receive.
A fun read if you have the time. via.
Nice to know that even Hollywood types don’t get the wave either. I was starting to think it was me.
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For those of you that missed the latest AMVIV update.
First, the basics, in case you haven’t heard. AMVIV8 will be May 19 – 22, 2011 at Palace Station. Second, our new website is online and operational. Many, many thanks to DB for his hard work and patience, and to Craig of COOPERation for a fantastic new banner. Finally, we’re sending a shout out to the artistic folks in our community. It has worked out so well in the past, we are asking again. If you’d like to see your designs on the merchandise for AMVIV8, here’s your chance. The AMVIV 8 Design Contest is now open. This year we’re looking for four designs – 1 each for the front and back of the event shirt, 1 for the front of the event hat, and one for the grille badge. Full details can be found on the website. The deadline for artwork submittals is December 1, 2010 – the address for submittals and for questions if you have them is: SCMCAMVIV@gmail.com.
Sure it’s self-serving on a couple of different levels since I built the site. I don’t normally share these things with you here, but I’m very pleased with how this turned out and I’m excited for the features that will be coming in the near future, including a way to keep AMVIV attendees updated during the event. It will be magical.
And, yes, White Roof Radio will be there.
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Did you read the MF Review yet? Go ahead and do that first. You might also see my comment:
So, much like AppleTV brings iTunes to your home entertainment center, this, essentially, brings iTunes to your car with a few other features?
Too bad other platforms aren’t being supported at launch. I’m guessing it only supports IOS4 as well, which even limits iPhone compatibility to 3g(s) and 4g models. It also appears that a data connection is required to take advantage of most of these features, which also eliminates using a current iPod touch.
That means that if you want to take advantage of MINI Connected and don’t have a current iPhone, you will need to get one. And that will add an additional $200 to the price of this option.
So for me, this is going to be a pretty spendy way to bring iTunes and Twitter to a MINI. When AppleTV is only $99 and a Mac Mini is only $700, that is a huge jump to bring that functionality to a car.
Not sure I could justify the expense and will keep my fingers crossed for support on other devices coming sooner than later.
Gabe cleared up a few things for me here.
From what I can tell from this review (and since I haven’t seen this system in person yet), it’s nothing more than a fancy layer on top of the nav that gives you access to web radio (like iTunes), Twitter and RSS feeds. Do I really need my MINI to tweet? Do I really want to try to go through my RSS feed in the dashboard of a MINI? My answer to both of these is no.
My objection isn’t because I don’t have an iPhone. It’s also cost. It’s also functionality. And finally, value.
This is a system that, in it’s current form, is extremely limited in my opinion. It doesn’t bring any functionality that I don’t already have using any smart phone with an Aux port adapter. Oh, wait, it will tweet my location automatically. Fancy.
This is also a system that is going to be carrying a pretty steep price tag, even if you already have an iPhone with an unlimited data plan. According to the order guide posted last week at Motoringfile, price for MINI Connected is $1,000, $1750 with navigation. Add $199 if you don’t have an iPhone (like myself) and this is an option that will cost close to US$2k and provide functionality that I can get from any smart phone and the aux port adapter. Nav, web radio and RSS I can do from my current phone and it only cost me $200 (on contract).
Is integration and OEM warranty worth $1500? I don’t think so, at least not right now. Hopefully MINI will make this work with more devices in the near future and add features that will make this a more compelling option. A price drop wouldn’t hurt either.
Until then, I’ll pass.
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Imagine my surprise a few weeks back when Todd posted photos on his Facebook page of a Clubman with a white roof. I was pretty excited about this to say the least.
Then I moved, and kinda forgot about it. Until I logged into the configurator for the first time in a few months. And, guess what I found there? A Clubman with a white roof. But, there is a but.
It is part of a package called the White Silver Package. With that you get spiffy 17″ wheels, Xenon headlamps that are blacked out, white silver paint and the ability to select a white roof. Just like you see above. Cool, right? I think so. I don’t think it’s $2250* worth of cool however.
What if you want BRG II with a white roof? Or Horizon Blue? Nope. Only with the white silver and only with the White Silver package. At least that’s the only way to do it using the configurator.
Dreams of a white roof’d Clubman from the factory have been dashed. It’s not like I’m going to buying one anytime soon, but it would have been nice to have the option of a white roof no matter what body color I picked.
*Clubman Cooper pricing. Clubman S pricing is $1750
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