I will never be able to own one but boy it is thing of beauty. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolls-Royce 200EX.
Hat tip [Inqmnd Blog]
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Great space
I adore this space that I found on Design to Inspire featuring the work of Jeffrey King. The warm minimalism is something I really like. I'm seeing the roots of my future studio home.
Geek reclining
One way to use less space is to do double duty with the space you have. This solution by a Brazilian student designer, allows users to work on their laptops comfortably. I love that they thought of leg support, which is one of the most frustrating aspects to using one's laptop in bed. Not that I do it often. I hope it makes it to market.
Hat tip [Industrial Design Served]
Small spaces in the news
This week's Economist made mention of the growing small space movement that is rising the fortunes of a house that I blogged about. I love the stat cited. Between 1980 and 2005, the average American home grew from 1,570 to 2,235 square feet. Astonishing.
Hat tip [Prefabcosm]
Only one-third of Americans buy music digitally
Yes my tech friends. We the iTunes nation are a minority. A growing minority but a minority nonetheless. Two-thirds of all music purchases are still sold on physical media. I have a few friends that refuse to purchase anything other than CDs. Sound quality has a lot to do with that.
Hat tip [App Scout]
Great 'reader' post on Andrew Sullivan's blog regarding health care reform. It is from a Canadian who compares the American and the Canadian system. While there are flaws in both systems, the reader points out that there is not one person who prefers the American system. When more than half of personal bankruptcies are due to healthcare costs, it is not sustainable.
Unfortunately I have seen this in my family. Paying for my grandmother's health care caused significant financial strain on me and my family. My Mom has never recovered from it.
Youth unemployment will be a big issue soon
Ominous posting from NYT columnist Bob Herbert. His point is that this labor market is even worse for young people, ages 16 - 30. They are severely underemployed, which will lead to social problems in a few years time as they lag behind their employed peers. Plus their peers with good connections etc are taking jobs that normally require less education, pushing them even further behind. It's interesting that 30 Rock touched on the social implications of the crash in NY – a return to the very depressing 70s and 80s.
I've always wondered how Gen X and Y were going to be able to afford the life that the Boomers are leaving behind. Demographically speaking, there aren't enough high earning people under 45 that could have kept asset prices at their levels. The hoops that people needed to go through to afford a home on the coasts didn't bode well for those prices. I worry most about those who counted on high housing prices to fund their retirement. I don't think there will be enough people able to pay these prices. How far will asset prices drop? Who knows. But cash is ruling the real estate market now so prices will come down significantly.
Friday, February 27, 2009
House with a sliding frame
What a great idea. The frame basically slides back to reveal an inner glass structure that lets in a lot more light. Great invention.
Hat tip [Unplugged]
Thursday, February 26, 2009
New Deal - prolonged the Depression?
Fascinating conversation – in the comments section – taking place on Robert Reich's blog. The discussion centers around his taking on the conservative meme that the New Deal actually prolonged the recession rather than hastening its' end.
The argument is that the Depression did a valuable thing, which was to remove inefficiency from the economic system through the reallocation of resources. It's even better if what is causing that inefficiency are artificial structures like labor unions etc because those will buckle under the weight of that reallocation.
From an economic theory, it makes perfect sense. But socio-politically it doesn't. Human resources are also individuals and individuals cause trouble when under too much strain. Some of the worst tyrants were born out of grinding economic upheaval. During the Depression, there was palpable fear that the US could turn Communist since there were so many wildcat labor uprisings. Warren Buffett talks about them in his book, the Snowball.
I've always been conservatively minded but not as far as the current conservative mindset. I think conservatives forget people don't like being poor and unemployed for very long. Maybe a police state can keep that in check but I don't know how that would work in this country. I wouldn't want to chance it.
Fewer commercials = more revenue?
A few weeks ago, the NYT started the discussion on Fox's new ad strategy for some of its top-rated shows – fewer commercials that cost more. The idea is that commercials are more likely to watch a commercial when it's a break of only 60 seconds rather than the typical two to three minute commercial break that provides more of an opportunity to speed past it, mute it or walk away.
I hope it succeeds. One thing it may revive is the 60 second ad. I think one reason people tune out the advertising, aside from irrelevant or poor creative, is the barrage of advertising that pours from the TV covering so many different topics. It's an art to engage your audience for 60 seconds and one many creatives are losing.
Wow
I can't believe that I haven't posted since Monday. The week has flown by as I'm working on a couple of projects now and have been cooking for others a lot. Bad Gslash!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Netbook hurting Microsoft
The biggest seller in the computer category is the netbook, small low-powered laptops. I've written about them once before and I have been thinking about getting one forever; the portability just can't be beat.
The only one not excited about the netbook is Microsoft. Turns out these tiny systems are hurting their business more than Apple. Why? Because netbooks sales contribute very little to their bottom line.
- Roughly one-third of netbooks ship with Linux.
- Those that do ship with Windows tend to ship with the low-cost Windows XP, an OS Microsoft has been trying to bin since Vista came out.
- Most netbooks don't run Office, since the software costs as much as the computer itself.
A more detailed summary can be found here on Macworld via Computerworld.
The changing supermarket
Interesting Ad Age article about problems for the big brands in the supermarket aisles.
As in past recessions, consumers are shifting their spending from brand names to private label/store brands. Given today's price sensitive consumer, manufacturers are going to have a difficult time, just when they need consumers to spend more. Money quote in my book:
"Retailers have been talking about destocking, taking out the No. 3 or No. 4 brands, for more than a decade," said Clorox Co. Chairman-CEO Don Knauss at CAGNY. "We're finally starting to see that happen." Walmart, particularly, is aggressively looking to winnow brand assortments and category footprints in some cases, he said."
Read the rest of the article here at Advertising Age.
"Someone in Great Britain loses their home once every seven minutes"
Sobering article about the UK economy and dramatic reversal in fortune. Some ugly times ahead there. Read Der Spiegel (in English) to learn more.
iPhone AppStore Secrets - Pinch Media
Seems as though iPhone apps have a very short shelf lives. Head to slide 14 to data on this point.
Living richly on the cheap
One of the travel blogs I follow had an interesting article on how people cope with financial insecurity many miles from our shores. Argentina has been buffetted by at least four financial crises and yet the resolution is to survive. Give it a read.
Hat tip [Travel blogs]
Deluxe apartment in the sky
I live in a 5 floor walkup but I walk up another few flights if I had this apartment waiting for me. This small 'hut' is perched on top of a 4 floor walkup in London. Gorgeous space. Explore more of it here.
Hat tip [Small House Style]
BofA's iPhone/iTouch success
Earlier in the month, Bnk of America proclaimed that 40% of their 2 million mobile users logged into their accounts using either an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Pretty astounding when you think about how long the devices have been in the market.
Hat tip [Mobile Banking]
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Another amazing iPhone app
Another app in my arsenal may be a new one called ColorSplash, which allows the user to spot color selections of an image. This kind of image processing is Photoshop material – all available from the iPhone.
I admit that I underestimated the imaging capacity of this device. I have already illustrated the QuadCam, which I love. I only wish the resolution of the camera were just a little higher so that these type of pictures could be that much sharper.
UPDATE: I've started playing with this app. It's not the easiest to manipulate but it is great fun. I will be looking out for pics to modify.
Hat tip [TUAW]
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