Despite the fact that P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) looks a bit like Steve Urkel’s BMW Isetta I got to say that I really love the concept. I completely understand the rain of negative comments that appeared all over the net after General Motors and Segway announced that they teamed up for PUMA Project. Without any doubt the safety of the vehicle is definitely an issue to consider. Mainly if  you realize that its speed is 3 times higher than that of original segway and that it is expected to run alongside more traditional (bigger) vehicles.

I do understand all that moaning and reasoning! But still!  P.U.M.A  is  a great alternative to traditional vehicles for two reasons:

1.It protects the driver from exposure to weather conditions (Well not yet, but I believe soon we will get a machine looking more like the original  concept and less like a dune buggy), unlike other car alternatives like Bicycle and small motorbikes.

2.Segway works! And you can moan and argue as much as you like to, but I just can’t see all that flashy urban mobility vehicles around our towns and cities as much as I do see segways.

To go around the question of security of this type of vehicles forever is frankly getting trapped in chicken and egg situation. We cannot have lighter, more practical and more ecological vehicles, becouse there is no infrasturcture and safe roads to drive them. And there is not enough infrastracture, becouse there is not enough lighweight  vehicles. So what’s  next?

PUMA is a nice concept adding to ever increasing  spectrum of similar personal mobility solutions and unlike many others it is not just a CAD animation, but a working machine.

And talking about the security; “Do you prefere to be hit by a traditional car or by this little thingy?”

Alex Rivera’s Sleep Dealer is not trying to reach into a far future and we can painfully see the accusations (of) and hidden messages to our present society.

I just can’t wait to put my eyes on this-one.

Official Site

Al Jazeera launched an experimental  website based on Ushahidi platform to track and aggregate information, about the Gaza conflict. Ushahidi is a cross-platform mash-up that allows to aggregate geotagged information via sms, e-mail,twitter and web-forms and position it in Microsoft Virtual Earth. Ushahidi is an open-source initiative started by Kenyan bloggers during the escalation of violence in Kenya and it was also successfully deployed in conflict in DR Congo.

I was looking for this kind of platform for a long time, as it not only allows to position the aggregated information on the map, but also in timeline and it generates news categories. I’m only a bit disappointed about the circumstances. This kind of platforms are definitely a way forward to a new breed of citizen journalism and activism and can be used to support many different causes.

I would like to see a facebook plug-in developed in the future and mash-up the service further with facebook groups.This would allow not only to track the real-time-real-place information on ground of the conflict, but for example also to organize the protests around the world as well.

Check the AlJazeeras War On Gaza service here

or go directly to Ushahidi.com to find out more about the platform. Click here