Elegant Technology

The other day I was watching the LUXE.TV channel here in the UK.

Along with the images a background soundtrack played. This sounded good and I wondered what it was. I had my iPhone to hand and launched the Shazam application.

After I had tagged the music (from about 4 feet away from the TV) I learned that the artist was Lux and the track name was Secret Fish.

Later, whilst at work, I looked up the track on iTunes (from within the Shazam application). Over a 3G connection I sampled the tracks and then I started to downloaded the album.

A few minutes later I had my earphones ‘in’ and was enjoying the Northern Nights album by LUX.

Years ago I imagined a time when I would hear music on TV and, by interacting in some way, would be able to download it. This is now a reality through the use of an iPhone.

UPDATE
The playlist have been created and the sync is complete. As we have a pair of the high-end Apple ear-phones we used these and the sound quality is very good. On a par with an iPhone at least. The voice-over function also works well and after the remote has been used a couple of times we do not think the control scheme is that complex (as others claim). The most important features of the remote require the least ‘clicks’

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Finally we are back up. Our previous domain name registrar decided that they would not offer this service and so we had to migrate to another provider.

Although a few months have passed we wanted to start off with the Apple iPod 3rd Generation.

Recently announced, and despite having received mixed reviews, this iPod is very appealing to those who seek out the minimalist aesthetic in product design.

As soon as possible a visit to the Apple Store allowed us to procure one. After comparing the two options; anodised black or anodised silver, a black model was selected.

The iPod Shuffle was beautifully packaged, as usual with the minimum of waste.

The design itself is oft described as bland. To the minimalist this is ‘music to their ears’ (pardon the pun). We think the design is distilled to the essentials and with the remote now integral with the RH earphone cord the overall look is further refined.

This model introduces playlist support which, with the right combination of presses on the remote, speaks the playlist names to the user. We have decided that the following five playlists would support our listening requirements;

1. Ambient
2. Exercise
3. Hotel
4. Minimal
5. Techno

Suitably minimal – what do you think?

Recently I purchased a copy of one of the most elegant and innovative games for PS3 that I have seen or played in a long time. The games title is Mirrors Edge.

Mirrors Edge is set in a city of the future complete with blue skies, clean streets, and stunningly realised modern (futuristic) environments.

The game play consists of running, jumping, climbing, and sliding through these visions of perfection as the story unfolds. You play the character Faith, who is a runner; a courier of sorts, who delivers packages around the city whilst avoiding police attention.

More details of the game can be found elsewhere. What I wanted to focus upon was the look of this game. Its stunning. Especially when high up and looking down onto the streets and buildings below.

The interiors (those I have seen so far) are, for me, what we should enjoy now in real life but seldom do.

Perhaps if I weren’t a fugative in the game I could move about this clean and bright city of the future and imagine what life could be like.

In a couple of months I will have owned my MacBook Air for a year and I can honestly say that no other laptop (or desktop) has ever delighted me so much. Well perhaps the original 512k Mac and Cube I owned come close.

Why am I so satisfied? What is it that ‘delights’?

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Air is a thing of beauty. Beautiful to look at, beautiful to handle, and beautiful to use.

I use it at home. The furthest it travels is a few metres from a desk to the sofa or bed. Most of the time it rests in a white InCase sleeve. The single USB (lack of more) has never been an issue for me. I occaisionally transfer photos or sync my Nano or iPhone but never seem to do more than one thing at once. I use the headphone jack now and again but never the video out port. Even this could be removed as far as my usage goes.

The Air is so pure – so esential that everything else seems excessive.

Spend a few hours with Apple Inc. products and you will really start to appreciate the thought that goes into the design.

Recently I purchased a white iPhone 3G and have been impressed with the quality and design of the hardware and the software.

I like the colour white so quite often I place my iPhone face down on the table in order to look at the back (BTW the back of this phone is “better than the front of other phones”).

As I looked at the phone’s back I considered the design and the shiny Apple logo. It then occurred to me that I could use this logo area to take a self portrait.

I could see my face in the logo and took a picture. When I checked the results my face was framed perfectly.

I reckon that Apple deliberately chose this design in order to support self-portraits.

What do you think?

This post is a bit tenuous I know but here goes.

Based on the information relating to availability in the States from the web site…
http://www.topmuffin.com/3g-iphone-availability
… a quick analysis shows that, of the three models, the 16Gb Black iPhone is the most popular followed by the 8Gb Black model. In last place is the 16Gb White model.

The figures work out as follows;

• 8 GB Black – Available in 85 Apple stores.
• 16 GB White – Available in 97 stores.
• 16 GB Black – Available in 76 stores.

What conclusions can we draw from this?

• White is more exclusive (Less people own one).
• People have not realised that black iPhones show finger prints and scratches more than white.
• People do not appreciate the colour white.

The snob in me might say that when I see someone with a black iPhone to their ear I might think it’s an 8Gb version. However when I see a white one I know it’s a 16 Gig.

Of course it could also be because I own a White iPhone and that I am biased.

Having been a dotMac subscriber in the past I had, like many, allowed it to lapse. Luckily Apple retained my ID so that when I bought my MacBook Air I was able to reopen my dotMac account (I actually got a deal from the Apple Store that reduced the cost of dotMac).

Having said all of that I was never very happy with what dotMac gave me. I liked the email address I got and used the web mail feature from a PC at work. The other features I just didn’t use because of my circumstances (Mac at home – PC at work).

Bookmarks didn’t sync from my Mac to a PC via the web and the calendar from the dotMac home page was a static display.

Now that MobileMe has been introduced and has replaced dotMac my usage is slowly rising (When I get my white iPhone it will really make sense).

Now at my PC, using the beautiful web interface, I am able to manage my contacts, calendar and mail and find that when I get home everything is synced.

Obviously when I update items on my Mac at home these changes show up at the PC. I have even added a photo to my MobileMe gallery and am planning to try-out the iDisk feature.

In future when I am not at my Mac (or PC) I will rely on my iPhone but for now I will have to be content with a beautiful, and now useful, solution to organising my life.

I have owned a white PSP in the past and never really ‘got on’ with the form factor because of the games that were available. However, when I saw the a demo of the game flOw and found I could download the game from the Sony online store I went out and got a PSP Thin and Lite (in white of course) and downloaded the game.

Not as straight forward as you think for a Mac user (I needed to use a PC as the Sony store software is not Mac compatible).

The flOw game is a beautiful, ethereal experience where you guide a life form around an underwater environment all to the sound of ambient music.

EchoChrome is another downloadable game from Sony. This time my download experience was a lot better thanks to the fact that I used a PS3 connected to the Sony store.

The game is another minimalist affair that uses a white background with black, line drawn, three dimensional puzzles that you guide a small humanoid figure around. This time the soundtrack is one of classical music.

Both of these games are elegant, simple, and very playable. In my opinion, just what the PSP was designed for.

If only we would all take some of the definitions for the word serene like clear and un-obscured and apply them to technology we could achieve a calmer, unruffled existence.

What is the brief for designers? Imagine if it was “Produce the most serene design possible”. Just think about the technology we might be able to enjoy.

Of course there are a few companies that seem to get this serenity thing. Apple Inc. seems to have it nailed. Using their products is a calm, clear, and pleasant experience. I think they purposely take the harshness out everything they do for us, the user.

In a way it must be like first class travel; as the customer moves through the travel ‘channel’ everything is smoothed over, cars wait until needed, doors open automatically, queues are removed, food is made to order etc.

Technological serenity is all about removing the harshness from the product; from its design, from its interfaces.

Some Serene Elements;

• Rounded corners
• Hidden complexity
• Progressive disclosure
• Smoothed surfaces
• Calming colours
• Clear intention
• Indicative functions
• Proportion
• Appropriate Contrast

What other technology fits with the above?

I was re-reading a book I have from 1996 called ‘London Minimum’ by Herbert Ypma when I came across the phrase ‘permitted intrusions’. This related to the objects found in a minimal living space but is equally applicable to other areas of a minimalist lifestyle.

The phrase has resonated in my mind ever since.

Everything I see around me, within the spaces I control, I permit.

I would be the first to agree that I permit too much.

My eye falls upon my MacBook Air and I think about that phrase, Permitted Intrusions. Now if I assume that a minimalist started out to design the purest laptop they could by stripping away all the unnecessary switches, sockets, latches, vents, screws, colour, and pattern they would arrive at the MacBook Air without the socket bay along the right hand lower edge. Then I imagine key decision makers calling for these features to be added back into the design.

With a strong will the Minimalist permits a few features to be added back but sees these really as intrusions to the overall form of the laptop. In order to mitigate against this, the Engineers and Designers at Apple came up with a clever storage bay to hide these intrusions away.

When I look at the interiors in the book I also see hidden storage used to hide away intrusions (those not permitted) in order to improve the form and clarity of the spaces.

The MacBook Air is truly a minimalist and beautiful object.