Katherin Schwab has written an interesting piece on FastCompany about a new utensil called the Goûte. It is basically a wand with a tear-drop shaped end. Users dip the thick end into viscous foods like yogurt, swirl to get the food to stick, and then put it in their mouths to eat.
Mike Hanlon posted an interesting article centered on the upcoming auction of a 1952, Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle. This particular Beetle is distinguished by the fact that it has had only one owner since it was made and has been in storage for forty years. Thus, it is in good shape with just the sort of wear that would be expected from a few years' normal usage.
It is expected to fetch between €55,000 to €80,000 ($60,000 to $85,000), considerably more than it cost the original owner.
Mark Scott notes that use of ad blocking software is on the rise world-wide. The software attempts to prevent advertising on a web site from loading and displaying on a viewer's computer.
Recent research suggests that 11% of Internet users globally employ one kind of this software or another. That represents a 30% increase over its prevalence from a year ago.
The adoption of computers has profoundly impacted work. It gave rise to a new class of laborer, e.g., the "knowlege worker". It also replaced certain kinds of work, e.g., through automation. Trade-offs of this type are a normal result of technological changes.
Currently, artificial intelligence is assuming a greater role in work. Three recent article illustrate this trend and the sorts of trade-offs that come with it.
There has been much dicussion of self-driving cars and their pros and cons. How will they handle impending accidents? Who will own them? How will they affect traffic?
Developers of technology pursue efficiency relentlessly. This is done for a variety of reasons: Efficiency is readily quantified and lends itself to comparison between designs; a preference for efficiency seems simply rational (who wouldn't prefer a more efficient car over a less efficient one?); increases in efficiency increase sustainability.
Posts in this blog sometimes relate to a some design and pose the question, "Is this a gimmick?" A recent example concerned a speaker-battery combination pack for electric bikes.
I was interested to read in a recent Nature Genetics editorial that maybe the public could participate directly in pursuit of the genetic editing of agricultural crops.
This statement, in particular, is striking:
One of the most famous dictums associated with Modernist design is that "Form follows function." Typically, what modernists mean by this expression is that the design of a product should be dictated by the job it is to perform for users—and nothing else!
However, Modernists tended to take a narrow view of what a function is. In their view, this was limited to physical services that a product might perform for its users.
Amazon Canada got into some trouble recently when it was found that a vendor was using its web service to sell doormats decorated with the Indian flag. India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was alerted to the matter by vigilant Twitter users, who consider this usage an insult to their national flag.