We’ve got our eyes on the road ahead this week on the GeekWire radio show and podcast.
Our guest in the studio is Joe Justice, a leader of Wikispeed, a project applying the principles of agile software development to auto manufacturing.
The project is developing 100 MPG vehicles using lightweight modular components, rapid prototyping and high-tech fabrication, building on its original entry in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition.
Wikispeed is currently in the midst of a fundraising campaign to take a commuter-friendly version of its vehicle from prototype to production. We talk with Justice about the future of the project and its implications for modern car production.
To get a visual sense for it, check out this rendering below of the Wikispeed roadster.
That conversation starts at the 12:30 mark, following our weekly news roundup.
Stories covered this week include a new smartphone based grocery checkout service called QThru, my early thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S III, reports of Amazon coming out with its own phone, and Vanity Fair’s story on Microsoft’s “Lost Decade.”
App of the Week: Can I Stream It for iPhone and Android.
Name that Tech Tune: Our latest contest turned out to be a huge stumper, but we do have a winner, Amal Graafstra, who will be going to ToorCamp, the hacker camp, Aug. 8-12 on the Washington coast. The answer: BlackBerry. The tune was an obscure BlackBerry ringtone called BBGrooves_Interlude.
Listen to the show above or directly via this MP3 file.