Top: An Ambassador, for decades the most ubiquitous vehicle in India, thanks to the British Empire. Bottom: A Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world

The Tata Nano is the cheapest car in the world at just 1-lakh Rupees ($2,500, £1,277). Mr Tata unveiled it today, saying:

I observed families riding on two-wheelers - the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors' engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realise this goal.

More here.

Hard to think one company could come up with design excellence like my old handycam as well as design crimes such as the jewel case (what an environmentally damaging design, aside from its aesthetic and functional problems), all in one decade.

I have a phobia of jewel cases. I had to encode all my CD's to digital format just so i could throw them away.

This handycam features a single battery pack that plugs into the 8mm tape player, the camera and the battery charger as well. That's modular design. The whole kit comes in a metal handycam briefcase. Testament to what was arguably a golden age in technology product design.

Still works to this day (more than 20 years of use). Try saying that of your Sony Cybershot in 2026.