Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns • Hacker News Board

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#21

Post by jbail » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 9:28 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #7

Have you ever had a really, really good hamburger bun that set the burger apart from almost any other burger you've ever eaten? If you have, why not describe it as "artisanal"? Some bread really is good enough to warrant a special description. Likewise, the iPhone 5c is a really, really nice plastic object. I know next to nothing about plastics, but I do know that the 5c is set apart from, say, this Handspring Visor…

You have a Handspring Visor on your desk? Have you just not cleaned your desk in 10 years? I kid, but I am genuinely curious what exactly you use it for these days?

I cleaned out my bin of extra cords and random electronics this weekend. I found my Visor and promptly put it in the "give away" pile.

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#22

Post by arrrg » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 9:32 PM UTC

zachrose wrote: post #17

I've had phones that were apologetically plastic. They had a metallic finish that wore off to reveal the bone-colored ABS underneath. "Unapologetic" here corresponds to the notion that materials shouldn't imitate other materials, a practice that gained steam during the industrial revolution and irked the Modernists something awful.

Exactly. There are so many phones out there that are apologetically plastic, I think it’s a very good idea to point out that one does not share that approach if that is the case.

I like Apple’s honest use of materials and I like that they increased it over the years. Silver keys on the MacBook Pro, made to look like the aluminum shell (but actually plastic)? Gone and replaced by black keycaps which are unmistakably plastic.

(That is not to say that Apple uniquely has this approach. I also like Nokia’s unapologetically plastic phones very much.)

Those words are not completely meaningless. Apple could have made a plastic phone that tries to look like the iPhone 5. That is apologetically plastic. And it would have been awful. There is a difference.

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#23

Post by nsxwolf » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 9:32 PM UTC

jbail wrote: post #21

nsxwolf wrote: post #7

Have you ever had a really, really good hamburger bun that set the burger apart from almost any other burger you've ever eaten? If you have, why not describe it as "artisanal"? Some bread really is good enough to warrant a special description. Likewise, the iPhone 5c is a really, really nice plastic object. I know next to nothing about plastics, but I do know that the 5c is set apart from, say, this Handspring Visor…

You have a Handspring Visor on your desk? Have you just not cleaned your desk in 10 years? I kid, but I am genuinely curious what exactly you use it for these days? I cleaned out my bin of extra cords and random electronics this weekend. I found my Visor and promptly put it in the "give away" pile.

It's basically that I haven't cleaned out my desk, but this thing made it to the top of the pile a bit ago because I was curious if I could get it onto the Internet and what that would mean exactly in 2013.

Sadly I cannot find the wireless module.

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#24

Post by noonespecial » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 9:34 PM UTC

They need to try harder. 3 times in the last week when I've told people I'm thinking of upgrading my iPhone(4s) they're said "Are you going to get the real one or that plastic thing?" or something to that effect.

Its going to be an uphill battle.

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#25

Post by pyrocat » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

In other news, copywriting is a valuable skill when selling a product.

Re: Unapologetically Plastic, Artisanal Buns

#26

Post by mc32 » Tue, Oct 01, 2013, 3:04 AM UTC

mrxd wrote: post #20

Some other fun examples: soft Corinthian leather, Lucky Strike ("It's toasted!"). These fit alongside Madagascar vanilla and artisanal hamburger buns. But "unapologetically plastic" clearly doesn't. The pattern we should look for is a modifier that creates the appearance of a nonexistent competitive difference. Not a regular bun, an artisanal bun. Not regular vanilla, Madagascar vanilla. So... not regular plastic, bu…

You have a point about "It's toasted" (as they were all toasted) --it'd be like selling "cholesterol-free water". Madagascar vanilla, however, is a variety distinct from Tahitian or Pompona. So, depending on what characteristics you're looking for in the vanilla, you might choose one over the other variety. Kind of like how vintners choose one grape variety over others for specific reasons.