Not all plastics are created equal.

This has been something I've had an issues with for some time, and Rui sums it up nicely in his analysis of Nokia's UI problems:

No, my first thought was “800 Euro for this cheap greenish plastic?”

The thing looked like it was made in China (in the dodgy sense, since some of them actually are these days), and, worse of all, felt like it too. And I’m not talking about pre-production samples (I handle plenty of those, and am used to unfinished plastics) – I was handling a commercial device.

Time was when I could go into Carphone Whorehouse and play with the dummy phones secure in the knowledge that the real things felt better - higher quality plastics, better fit and finish, more positive key action - generally all round more like something you'd want to pay money for and actually use on a daily basis. This, however, is no longer a given. In the case of the N95 I've even had salespeople tell me "yes, the real thing feels like crap too".

Technorati Tags: Design, gadgets, Nokia, phones, Product Design, Software, technology, UI, Usability

Kings of New York

Pundits may be citing Vista as driving PC retail growth, but that hardly accounts for the amazing sales at Apple's NY flagship stores:

Topping the list of highest-grossing locations during the quarter was Apple's subterranean outlet on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which sold over 5 Macs every hour and 1 iPod ever two minutes on its way to generating a whopping $45 million in revenues. Following in a distant second was Fifth Ave's neighboring store in downtown SoHo with approximately $23 million.

Jessops, take note. The Internet doesn't have to eat your lunch, unless you hand it over on a plate.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Business, puppy

Save is Broken

I'm planning on writing more about this very soon. This is only half of the story:

Once a user understands what a file is, there are still some hurdles to overcome. One of the biggest is the concept of "saving." In general, saving means "write the current document state to disk." Somewhat counter-intuitively, saving is typically a destructive operation; when you save, you are usually overwriting the previous version.

Technorati Tags: Computing, Future, Software, UI, Web

Andrew Orlowski is on a mission

And as usual it seems to involve rubbishing the iPhone:

Now let's compare this to the useful role performed by Apple's original Mac. The Mac UI appeared at a time of character mode interfaces where even getting the simplest job done required considerable investment and study. Computers at the time had several problems with accessibility, interoperability, and general ease-of-use - not to mention getting any kind of print-quality graphics work done - and the Mac provided an elegant interface to them all. By contrast the iPhone, along with so many smartphones, is classic technology "push" - an answer to a problem that doesn't really exist.

Now forgive me if I'm sucked in by the RDF, but from where I'm sitting the mobile phone and mobile data UI is one hell of a mess. Perhaps Andrew's just a lot cleverer than me.

Technorati Tags: Apple, gadgets, iPhone, phones, technology, UI, Usability

Power, Influence, Sex

Charlotte Carey at Creative Enterprise digs apart the Birmingham power 50 and unsurprisingly/sadly finds a gender imbalance:

Does this mean there are only 4 influential women in Birmingham? this is not my experience? where are the creative women in Birmingham, why aren't they listed here? and finally what can one do to redress the balance, to highlight and similarly celebrate their contribution?

Technorati Tags: Birmingham UK, Creativity, Gender, Media

Be in no doubt that Solid State storage is about to happen

For general purposes devices that is. Of course your iPhone/nano/DSLR already packs between 4 and 8GB, but at these sizes you can expect your next-but-one generation top-line iPod to whirr-no-more, and your low-end MacBook might not be far off either:

Sure, it's priced at ¥94,980 (around $783), which isn't exactly cheap, but if this trend continues these prices are bound to drop -- and just think of the possibilities of never having to hear a drive mechanism failing again.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Computing, Future, gadgets, iPod, storage, technology

That Revenge of the Sith feeling

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Fans finally receive Potter book:

Cahina Lewis, who joined the queue in a witch's costume, said: "For the last nine or 10 years it's been such a big part of my life.

"I've been talking to my friends about Harry Potter theories for so long, and I'm not going to be able to do that anymore. What will I do with my life?"

Kid, it's a tough life. Them's the breaks.

Technorati Tags: Books, movies