Ba-donk-a-donk!

Now what I'm about to share with you is either a testament to marketing genius or my stupidity. But if loving this stuff is wrong, I don't want to be right. I came across this site by NAO Design, who describe themselves as, and I quote:

"...a multidisciplinary design firm with a focus on automotive design, architecture, pyrotechnics, lighting, furniture, electronics, signage, and web and graphic design, and often the fusion of several such diverse elements."

Wow, there's a mouthful. So what makes these guys so special? One word, "Badonkadonk". The Badonkadonk is a personal motorized, armored transport with head/tail lights, turn signals, accent and underbody lights, 400 watt premium sound with PA system, and... Oh yeah, and an optional pyrotechnic system that shoots flames out the top. This product became so popular(how?) that it garnered its own web site. I think the inception went a little like this:

Designer 1: I'll bet I can fit my fist in my mouth.
Designer 2: I'll bet I can sell a go-cart on Amazon for 20 grand.
Designer 1: How the hell are you going to do that?
Designer 2: Easy, I'll just armor plate it and throw in a stereo.
Designer 1: You know what would be cool? If it shot fire.
Designer 2: eh, eh... fire... sweeet.

SideNote: I can't not talk about the PneumatiPak 2, also found on the NAO Design website. Basically a pneumatic powered handheld cannon. So what makes this so much better that your average nail gun that you could pick at Homedepot? I swear I'm not making this up. "With a removable 1.5L liquid reservoir for shooting water, paint, beer, etc. New rotary reloading breech-loader mechanism allows for very rapid reloading of solid ammo, such as hotdogs, marshmallow, batteries, tampons, and carrots. With a maximum range of 100 yards." Priceless... Speechless...

Back to the Badonkadonk and why it inspired this blog. The Badonkadonk is cool, but I don't need all that stuff. Have you every used a piece of software that made you feel the same way? Have you every coded software that made you or the client feel that way? We sometimes have the tendancy to gravitate towards flashy things with lots of cool features that we never use because we don't need them. Gordon Moore recently noted that software has become so complex that it prevents the users from making effective use of the underlying power of their computer. It may be too late for a new years resolution, but the Badonkadonk and my Badonkadonk project, have me picking up and dusting of the old development ethos: "Keep it simple stupid."