Elegant Technology

So Apple launched their iPad this week. Almost two years ago it was the Macbook Air.

When the Air launched opinion was devided; Many praised the refreshing lightweight design. Others complained about the lack of features (many argue that these features are never, if hardly, used – including myself).

I purchased the Macbook Air at launch and have used it at home ever since. At the time I reasoned that my main usage was internet browsing and email and this has been the case ever since. I have fired up Front Row a couple of times and used iWork occaisionally. Of course I store my pictures and music on the Air and sync to the iPhone and iPod units I own.

I often think of how Apple products can be improved, “what can they possibly do to improve this or make it more desirable?”

A year ago I wrote “The Air is so pure – so esential that everything else seems excessive” and yet I consider the iPad  to be the next evolutionary step for the Air.

Apple have minimised the Air hardware further to the point where the physical keyboard has gone along with the USB port, and the video out port. In terms of aesthetics the iPad represents an improvement over the Air being effectively the screen and enclosure with minimal switches and ports.

For the things I do with my Macbook Air the iPad would meet 80% of my needs. The only reason I cannot get rid of the Air is that I need to be able to sync the iPad with something. If I could backup the iPad to, say, a time capsule I could just get by with that. Once sync’d I could download music directly and transfer photos directly to it.

In it’s current spec the iPad will be a companion device. Perhaps in the future via the cloud or some other storage solution I could use the iPad as my only computer with a sync system over the air to my iPod etc..

There is something about the Fossil watches designed by Philipe Starck. The latest to catch my attention is the PH5030 model, known as the Palindrome Too.

Palindrome means a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward. In respect of this watch it is symmetrical about the centreline.

This watch has two dials side by side in a minimal design. These dials sit behind an amber glass and the wrist band is in a grey resin.

Setting and operation is simplicity itself. Each dial has a separate crown and because there are hours and minutes only it is simply a case of moving the crown out, setting the time, and pushing the crown back in.

I have one dial set to UK time and one set to the USA east coast.

Of note is also the unusual packaging that the watch comes in. It has a hole in the middle and the watch band wraps around this.

I think this watch looks retro futuristic with its twin white dials sat behind the amber face.

My favorite image search on Google at the moment is with the term “Futuristic Interiors“. I love the clean, bright, and smooth world I see there.

I have been using a pair of Nike Aero headphones for the last few days. I really like these. My initial interest was aesthetic; I liked the look of the headphones in the packaging. I also saw that Philips had made these exclusively for Nike.

In use they fit comfortably over the ear and deliver good sound. One feature I like is that they stay in place when my head moves whereas the in-ear ones supplied with my iPod nano tend to pop out (especially my right ear). A soft gel-like coated band connects the two ear speakers and the cable is routed to the back of the head to minimise interference.

The cable manager is useful depending on where you store your iPod when in use. This is also designed along the lines of the ear covers which are white shiny plastic discs with the Nike swoosh logo set dead centre.

Whilst these headphones are designed for sports use I think they work equally well whilst walking around the metropolis.

Technical Details

• Nike-branded headphones by Philips for use in active sports
• A 1.2 m long cable that is ideal for outdoor use
• 30 mm speaker driver delivers big sound performance
• Nike AirPad cushions ensure excellent sporting comfort
• Nike cable manager brings you easy cable management
• Headphone weight is only 300g

This blog text was written using the a new piece of software called Ommwriter.

With this editor the user is allowed to focus on writing as the tool fills the whole screen. A minimal amount of configuration is provided. The background image can be altered along with the ambient soundtrack (this can also be turned off). Font and edit  region can also be adjusted.

I love this software. Using it is a beautiful experience. A simple white background with black text and a relaxing ambient soundtrack. If only all life was as good as this.

Check it out at;

http://www.ommwriter.com

Have you ever tried to sever all connections with Google? It is possible but not without some effort.

I have been reading a lot about minimalism lately. Not the art – more the lifestyle. I considered a reduction in my on-line presence. I had multiple email addresses and multiple web-sites.

My Google account was linked to email, Adsense, the RSS reader, YouTube, Calendar, and Docs.

As I did not use the email account and had had enough of Adsense I took the decision that I would delete all of my Google services. It was then I discovered how much of a grip on me Google had.

This ‘blog had Adsense links that had to be removed. My other websites had the same issue.

A regular habit of checking RSS feeds through Google Reader no longer worked because I could not login any more.

The Google App on my iPhone was removed as I could not use many of the features without an account. I had used the RSS reader that sync’d with the cloud.

I still use Google Search but I am also trying keyboardr.

At the moment I still feel a little bit lost. I am having to find alternatives for the tools and features I used. This proves to me how reliant I was becoming on Google.

Time will tell if I can cope without it permanantely.

When I saw the new Apple Magic Mouse it immediately struck a cord. Just from the pictures I knew it was a beautiful product. The functionality was of interest but it was the design that appealed most.

In reality the mouse is even better. The picture above shows the mouse in its clear plastic case. Yes this is really how it comes. Once out of its case and on the desk it looks like a building of the future.

It is comfortable and the multi touch features work really well.

As I type I keep casting a sideways glance at the mouse. I imagine if a car our house were designed like this.

I first became aware of the documentary “Objectified” after I saw a related poster in the Design Museum, London.

I never actually got to see the documentary in a movie theatre as the showing was very selective. Recently, however, I noticed that the documentary would be released as a DVD.

In “Objectified” Gary Hustwit explores the subject of product design through interviews with some of the most recognized and, in my opinion, cutting edge designers today.

All of the DVD is interesting but I especially like the sections with Alice Rawsthorn, Jonathan Ive, Karim Rashid, and Chris Bangle.

Chris Bangle envisages that in the future we will manufacture our own products with through rapid prototyping type technologies. Perhaps in the future all we will buy is the ‘Design’.

Rashid is very interesting. He questions why we are obsessed with re-visiting archetypes and singles out today’s digital cameras as an example.

I also enjoyed the extras that come on the DVD where specific projects are also discussed.

Batman – Arkham Asylum on the PS3 is a brilliant game. Awsome as they say.

After the usual initial install (preceeded by a system update and followed by the PS3 specials) an hour later and I was into the game.

Hours passed without notice and yet I am only 5% through.

By far the best Batman Game ever.

After receiving my Snow Leopard disk from Apple by post on Saturday I quickly set about performing an upgrade.

Having recently carried out a Time Machine backup all I needed to do was to connect an Apple DVD drive to my MacBook Air and start the installation.

The software installed in about 40 minutes.

As the whole point of Snow Leopard is refinement and performance improvement, I took some measurements before and after upgrade.

On my MacBook Air 1.6GHz Rev A (Standard) laptop I saw improvements of up to 80% in some of the more common tasks. Just as important was the disk space I recovered – in my case nearly 4Gb (9%).

Using Snow Leopard I am noticing lots of small improvements and aesthetic changes. One example is when I took a screen-shot of the table below and cropped it in Preview – I saw size details as I selected the area to crop to.

This upgrade is like having a Porsche tuned and upgraded with modern materials.

Highly recommend for all Intel Macs.