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The Chair

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181–186 of 186 posts

Re: The Chair

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the higher screen resolution is great - I can RDP into my work PC and use it all day. The hardware is top notch, and battery life is plenty. I worked out a way to do this with my iPad. And you know what made me say "wow"? The way a triple head 1920x1280(ish) 24" desktop was so usable on a 10" 1024x768 iPad because I could zoom out . You're not going to get desktop resolution on a tablet any time soon, and not properl…

The way a triple head 1920x1280(ish) 24" desktop was so usable on a 10" 1024x768 iPad because I could zoom out. Years ago I remember playing around with a proof of concept for Archy[1], a new user-interface concept by Jef Raskin. The basic idea was that all the contents of the computer were on a great big canvas, which you could zoom in and out of. One "folder" of pictures, might be little specks up in this corner, w…

I know that idea, does it now go by the name The Humane Interface (THE)? I haven't played with it in practice, but the way OS X does spaces+expose is similar.

Re: The Chair

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way a triple head 1920x1280(ish) 24" desktop was so usable on a 10" 1024x768 iPad because I could zoom out. Years ago I remember playing around with a proof of concept for Archy[1], a new user-interface concept by Jef Raskin. The basic idea was that all the contents of the computer were on a great big canvas, which you could zoom in and out of. One "folder" of pictures, might be little specks up in this corner, w…

I know that idea, does it now go by the name The Humane Interface (THE)? I haven't played with it in practice, but the way OS X does spaces+expose is similar.

THE is actually the original name and Archy the new one. I hadn't considered spaces and expose as a similar idea; interesting, thanks.

Re: The Chair

#183
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get these stats? There are a lot of people who prefer other products over Apple's in the same way that there are still a lot of people who still prefer a feature phone over a smartphone.

http://www.businessinsider.com/through-may-apples-ipod-had-7... Ok - so I was off by 4% - 24% of people pick non-Apple mp3 players.

24% of people will not buy an IPad.

So what's your point again?

Re: The Chair

#184
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's perfectly reasonable - the only similarity between Android and iPhone is the form factor, they can still hate the differences, and there are important differences.

> the only similarity between Android and iPhone is the form factor That's a huge similarity, though. Didn't the original Android plans have a keyboard and look like a Blackberry? And what about the talk about using a stylus with a touchscreen - that talk didn't die until after the iPhone came out.

There's current Android phones still being announced with keyboards that look like a Blackberry (plus other's with various kinds of slide out keyboards). And the new HTC 7" Android tablet has a stylus.

Re: The Chair

#185
post #154
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, the modern desktop OS is patterned after the work of Xerox PARC. Second of all, that form factor was used before Apple introduced the Powerbook. Last but not least, best phone doesn't equal slab of touch-sensitive glass that drops calls when you hold it wrong. Touch screens in general aren't a great fit when it comes to phone use. If we're talking phones, models like the Nokia E52 beat the pants off of…

Can you find an example of a pre-PowerBook laptop that has a form factor with these traits? * Clamshell with hinge at the back of the case, not in the middle. * Keyboard at the back of the case. * Blank area in front of the keyboard to rest your wrists. * Pointing device centered in this blank area, with mouse buttons below pointer. There were earlier laptops with some of those elements, but I'm pretty sure the Power…

The items you have enumerated are not essential to the form factor in my opinion.

Depending on how deep you go into details you certanily can't find any other laptops because you're describing an exact copy of the PowerBook.

Re: The Chair

#186

Just a note from a design nerd: it's a Le Corbusier LC3 chair. They're terribly comfortable.

It's interesting to hear you say that, but slightly depressing that it's four oblongs of leather coated sponge in a right-angle wireframe holder, designed in 1928 and selling for a thousand dollars. It should be comfortable, and it should be more like $200 and out of copyright by now. Where's the innovation in furniture that would make that chair look like technology from 1928?

Sorry, delayed response!

I would say it very much looks like technology from 1928. Compare it with the minimalist forms of Gio Ponti's Superleggera Chair, or side-by-side against the sinuous curves of a Rio chaise by Oscar Niemeyer. The LC3 looks downright old & Bauhaus-y.

Re. the innovation: This is a fascinating topic. One difference might be a result of value retention. A furniture model from 2006 won't have compatibility issues with the latest upholstery. I'm being silly to a degree, but knowing my iPhone 3GS will soon run at the speed of snot does not endear the thing's design to me. So old style could stick around without seeming too outdated, reducing the need for innovation.

Second, related thought about design innovation (again, from my very non-authoritative perspective) Furniture design seems have two extremes in innovation: A) periods of minor & incremental developments, essentially stagnation. B) Radical developments based on changes in artists' context.

The long periods where innovation is noticeably absent generally parallel times when artisans have no new medium in which to elevate their craft. During these periods, they're generally relegated to small changes: modifications & cosmetic variations on mostly-optimized forms.

Same as in vehicle design or computer hardware, the real magic happens when you develop new materials for medium & new methods for construction. (Esp. when those materials that improve fundamentals, a material's increased load-bearing ability will radically enhance what is possible in chair design.)

A good example are the years after bentwood techniques are pioneered, where designers for firms such as Thonet and J.J. Kohn produced radical new forms - the organic curves of Thonet rocking chairs look decades ahead of their mid-1800s origins, and they anticipate Art Nouveau by more than a quarter-century.

The same innovation groundswell appeared when synthetic materials (Lucite, plastic laminate & other petro-products) are introduced to the consumer markets post-WWII. A generation of design names like Charles & Ray Eames, Verner Panton, Charles Hollis Jones & Ettore Sottsass seized on these materials, creating parallel expressions of the abstraction & geometry in post-war architecture.

Recommend reading on hotbeds of design innovation: The Sevres Porcelain Manufactory: Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847 pub. by Yale University Press for the Bard Graduate Center Italian Lighting Design 1945-2000 by Alberto Bassi

P.S. Apologies for rambling.

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