Darkness...

The Caster & Momander blog posted this wonderfully twisted reflection of the apple logo. Quoted with the pic is the words: "Am i the only one who sees the boogeyman?"

You fat little piece of.... Oups...

Today Engadget just confirmed what looks to be yet another possible dent in the armour of a company gone wild. Yeee.... the white Iphone 4 is finally here...... crowd going crazy.... shops going $$$$$$.... though.... just one tiny problem: It's not the same size as the black iphone. Essentially we're only talking about 0.2-0.3mm, but issues might still be lurking just around the corner. If that's the case (ahhhh), we're looking at several iphone vendors getting screwed, since they're waiting to serve and protect every iphone out there. Soooo which case will fit? Well, i guess you gotta try your way.

Read all about it over at Engadget.com

A non-ugly iphone.

Well... Apparently it´s custom and it´s gonna cost ya. Some dude is selling it on ebay, check it: here . Shame that this isn´t how they would have made it look from the beginning, cause this actually looks good.

Apple... Who are you? Part 4 of 4

In 1958, designer Paul Giambarba was hired as a freelancer by polaroid, in order to revitalize and polish up polaroids brand. Giambarbas work over the next 25 years was to become some of the most important work polaroid could ever attain. As polaroids plastic fantastic wonderland invaded supermarket shelves everywhere, no eyes went unhypnotized by these delightful dazzling striped packages.

The original 5 rainbow stripes of polaroid met consumers for the first time already in 1968. Wrapping itself around, not just film packages, but also camera packaging. It was to become nothing less than a one of a kind commercial revelation beyond comparison. A simple concept of razorsharp honest appeal, that within a multifarious 1960´s and 70´s design revolution, still managed to both hug and smash consumer familiarity in its tiresome face (simultaniously).




In 1969 a 6th color/stripe was added to the Polacolor and Colorpack range of polaroid. Like seen here on the Polaroid Colorpack II camera packaging.


The sixth color also made it to the front decor of the Landcamera 1000. (1976/77).


According to Paul Giambarbas own blog (and several other sources), the golden years of Polaroid stretched from the years 1958-1977. It has not been possible for me to discover when Paul left Polaroid and where the Polaroid brand really went from there.

But none the less- As i stated in my part 3 of "Apple: Who are you?"- The Polaroid camera was indeed the ipod of the 60´s and 70´s. A statement that i cant spare reinforcing with the quote from Grafik magazines John Weich in his article on polaroid in 2005- "Like Apple today, Polaroid supplemented its superior product with superior branding. . . .". So i guess this means that polaroid and apple fairly obviously share more than just a simpler side of consumer electronics.

Remembering last weeks post on polaroid and apple packaging. Heres the deal: As Polaroid rode out its final years of "bigger" wave of godliness, late 1970´s (presumably around 1976/77). California based apple computers brought out an rather interesting new logo in about the same time, to be exact- 1976. Aside from rainbows being somewhat popular back then, what possessed a "simular" thinking company like apple to use the exact same amount of stripes, within the exact same colorrange, just a year after (or same year) Polaroid ends its official hotstreak?

Let me show you. Here ive taken the exact colors from the Giambarba polaroid logo, made them run into the first "official" brand Apple logo.


So from all of that trouble, all of that fuzz.... them doing what they do best. What am i getting at? Well, my philosophy is that Apple design appeals to us thru Deja Vu. You might not know its origin from the first moment you cast your eyes on an Apple device, but none the less- they have managed to replicate, parallel and concentrate all the greatest actions in design history and squeezed it in to one little affordable dream. A dream we all partially used to recognize fragments of growing up. A dream that today is the very pinnacle of our very society, not just as consumers but as developed consumers. The dream of being able to afford it, understand (without understanding) and live a nice and neat life (without having to pay too much for it).

And my god, we all succeeded.

Apple... Who are you? Part 3 of 4.

Believe it or not, being minimal, and straight to the point via package designs, is a very rare thing. And being unique.... rewards. Its no secret that apple over the years have won alot of admiration (and awards) for their absolutely minimal and yet stylish packaging. Often apple packaging, especially for ipods, show the item in hiding, by a 1:1 scale around the outside of the packaging. Like seen here with the u2 5th generation Ipod.

Front. Actual product size on the outside of the box.

back and side.

Most significant and greatly typical for apple packaging is also, the actual size of the complete box, compared to the item inside. Especially with apples ipodline, its crucially important to underline the evermore smaller sizes of their devices, so they limit the packaging to being not much bigger than the products itself without too much glorification involved on the outside. What you see is what you get!. A very admirable "marketing strategy", that absolutely (unlike mcdonalds menus) radiates an honest image of the object in question. Isn´t that something even the dumbest consumers appreciate? honesty and trust?. And, yes! i personally agree- Apple makes trustworthy products wrapped in honest "no nonsense" packaging. So, lets conclude that all our mommies were right. Honesty does go along way.

Oddly enough another trustworthy yet fashionable company had a simular concept during the 70´s and 80´s. The Ipod of cameras- Polaroid. Like seen here on the box of a Polaroid lightmixer 630.

Front. Actual product size on the outside of the box.

Back. Same thing.

Side.

Hey wait a minute....... what am i getting at?.

To be honest theres absolutely nothing wrong with being one of the few companies that like and adore polaroid cameras. Everyone loves polaroid cameras. So lets just leave it at that. But have in mind for part 4, that Apples Senior Vice President of Industrial Design- Johnathan Ive was born in 1967. So he was a teenager in the late 70´s into the 80´s. Wouldnt it be plausible that he (and/or his co-workers) had a big crush on polaroid already back then?........................ Well, more about that very soon, so dont miss out of the final chapter of "Apple: Who are you?". The chapter where i will take one last big bite at the apple of ive. (let me give you a hint. "North west" ).


Chapter 4 of "Apple: Who are you?". Coming soon.

Apple... Who are you? Part 2 of 4.

1970´s was the beginning of the consumer electronics ecosystem . The remnants of revolution along a "healthy" appetite for a new decade, left alot of artists ( not just rockmusicians), designers and engineers hungry for more than just the popular shapes and colors of the 1960´s. With the first home video tape recorder coming out mid 60´s, public color TV transmitions hitting Europe in 1967, and personal computers like ataris claiming livingroom space globally from 1973. The foundation was set for alot new creative influences aiming to retrace design inside the home. With mentors like danish furniture designers Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen and last but not least finish Eero Aarnio setting the pace. Alot of consumer design evolved into more than just a comfortable vision of the future.


Eero Aarnio´s Ball chair, also known as the "Pod chair". The Ball chair was exhibited in 1966 and became a huge commercial hit thru the 70´s. Together with Arne Jacobsens "Egg chair", the ball chair is one of the most popular and desired objects in design history.

Companies like German Telefunken, which in the beginning of the 60´s engineered the standards for European analogue televison PAL* ( *Phase alternating Line), quickly became one of the more popular affordable tv set fabricators, adapting fractions of the very same bold shapes and rich contrasts of Scandinavian furniture design. Even down to the trumpet feet details.


(ads courtesy of Gizmodo) Another significant detail about Telefunken tv´s, which tech site Gizmodo also pointed out two weeks ago, are the black trimmings around the tube on telefunkens Pal series tv´s. These trimmings are not a just a one time design fluke, no...


The very same type of black trimmings, also assisted this classic Brionvega Doney win the Compasso d'Oro (Italian industry design award) aldready in 1962.

"Thee black trimmings"- A fascinating phenomenon which ever since, strangely enough have become a semi-must within the more luxurious television design communities. A simple search on the phrase "design tv" on google images will emphasize my point, by showing not just retro noname italian travel tv´s, telefunken highlights onto newer Jvc 2005/2006 series, but also point out german Loewe (who are quite known for their know how) with their "black trimmings". Like on this late 2006 Xelos series.



What your search on google wont show, is computers (mostly because you searched on tv ofcourse), or computers that look like fashionable tv´s (both of the past and present). Computers like the 2007 Imac creature. A creature that just like all other creatures in its brand family, had its edges shaved off.



Yes, Inspiration (and trendy design) is a constant fleeting moment. In times like the late 60´s and 70´s where global consumerism got its very first technologically enhancements like cheap synthetics (for mass production) and television marketing, designers and companies faught each other greatly with loads of fun games such as: "impersonate this, impersonate that" and "I did this...Oh, me too". Both vast games of great corporate stamina, that obviously reaches far into the predetermined freedoms of the very simular future which is today. A today where quality design, originality and modifications there off, dominates discount outlets of every streetcorner, of every city, in every country. At very affordable prices. So.... Yeah baby, cheap shiny fascinating white plastic, black trimming remnants, retro design and globalization, can co-exist together in eternal harmony. Its just a matter of.....eh.... inspiration?

Part 3 of "Apple: Who are you?" (and 4), coming sooner. Believe me.... You aint seen nothing yet.

Apple... Who are you? Part 1 of 4.

(photo courtesy of jcdecaux)

"Silent Bob here's an electrical genius. He won the science fair in eighth grade by turning his mom's vibrator into a CD player using some chicken wire and shit.The mother fucker's like MacGyver. No, the mother fucker's *better than* MacGyver." (Quote from the movie "Mallrats" by Kevin Smith).

Pretty impressive. So... in that case, what came first?- Silent bob the original thinker, or Silent bob "the guy who got inspired by the right thing, in the right place, at the right time" and then... Cdplayer!. Its a tough one. The movie makes it seem like, that even the most common pothead (as Silent Bob) can modify/engineer cool things, with a little inspiration. Well ofcourse, Kevin Smiths character in the movie Mallrats, is just as fictional as a 20$ Hummer. But the essence of the situation comedy film quote in the beginning of my post, is absolutely relevant when it comes to me attempting de-bunk the grey areas between infinite layers of corporate inspiration, original thinking and re-invention. Again, theres a long walk from a sexual device (such as a vibrator) to a real functioning cdplayer. But having that walk in mind and putting fiction aside. I wonder..... How easy would it be for a reasonably intelligent well travelled designer (or company), to convert a basic, but wellknown shiny "pictureframe" design into an "original" mobile phone design? Well...

First of all lets focus on fx. Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Oslo, Chile, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Malmö... and the many more cities, that Jcdecaux, a world wide outdoor advertizing company are present with their products (and have been for years). To narrow it down, lets lock on to the french town of Plaisir, a city not far from Versaille. Here you will find the Jcdecaux designers who are responsible for the neat worldknown looks of the "Paris 3".



Yes, it is indeed an outdoor display with very smooth looks. A simple square, with nice rounded corners, cool chrome finish... all of it together, almost too classy, for being a passive display. I really wonder how this french design would look if it was to be the size of a hand. "A tiny billboard in your hand" (or pocket). A tiny chrome square, with oh so cute and shiny corners. That would be kinda cool. Hmmmmmm... (thinking).






Part 2 of "Apple: Who are you?" (plus 3 and 4), coming soon.

Zune party?

This post have been removed - since i was encouraged to take it down. Fair enough. I was a bit to fast on the trigger there, sorry. Anyhow, it was a pic given to me by a friend, who claimed that it was a live zune 2 in the wild at a Copenhagen party (at some office). To describe the pic: A guy and a girl was posing together, with some people in the background. The guy was showing of a videoplaying zune (i presume) in his hand, towards the camera. Though the pic was very small and not that good. I could not quite determine if it was real or not. But i was encouraged to take the picture down, so i did. The reason why i think it was a zune, was because the concept of it, very much looked like the zune 2 i posted about last week. That zune i recently discovered was a genuine fake, because it was entered as a part of the "design a zune" competition on engadget last year. Hopefully another "real" pic will manifest itself soon.

Be sure to come back this week and check out the posts on apple, the iphone and where apple get "their" ideas. I tell you, it is gonna be good/serious fun.

Pod people got it!

So... there it was. Not one, not two... but three new ipods (3 and a half if you count the new shuffle). Am i impressed? Well, to be honest im having a hard time figuring out what the big news is. Apple relatives always inherit the looks of their socalled parents, meaning... the classic ipod white on their computers got dropped for silver. So, was it unlikely to expect anything less than silver on the ipod series (instead of white)? Apple recently launched a touchscreen device (iphone). Would one not assume that this technology would be transferred to atleast one of their new devices? Anyhow, enough biggering..... what im trying to say is- From a technological standpoint, i am so far, not that impressed with apples "newest" ongoing beatsaga. From a design standpoint... i simply cannot contain myself regarding the new nano. It is directly hideous. Too fat for its own good, an epic eyesore of wellproportioned dimensions. Sometimes apples obvious visions for "music lovers" remind me of washingpowder commercials and cleaning product promises over time. Because the powers or "technologies" for washing things whiter, is so much better today, than 20 years ago. Havent you noticed? Our clothes are so white today that its beyond white, because... washing powder just keeps getting better. Right? Or perhaps i could even stretch it so far and say that apple is the new gillette... they just keep adding blades on those damn razors, and everytime you sit there...infront of your screen, suckerpunched and amazed... thinking- How the hell do they keep having room for all those blades? Right? Well you shouldnt be. Ofcourse a 5 blade gillette razor will, without a doubt, always outperform a 1 blade bic razor (the yellow ones from the same company that also makes pens... yeah). But is it fair to compare the same simple razor to a nice new pimped out philips shaver? Well......... my general question is? Has the ipod really become that much better?

Ipod touch notes - 8/16gb: Yeah its thinner and absolutely begging to be bent the wrong way one day or another. The ipod touch appeals to customers who insist on using both hands operating, while proudly attempting to impress everybody else in their school/work lunchbreaks with its wauvfactor.... and since it appeals to mostly "i dont know much about gadgets or music, and i dont care, but i want one too" and their ways of encountering everyday life. The thin ipod touch is most definently to become a fragile sucker in the wrong (apple=right) hands. Design wise, the touch is sleek and clean... apples patented circles on squares. Simple to the core, but perhaps a little bit too blingy for its own good. An all matt black ipod touch would have been nicer. Who knows, an "a chemical romance" ipod might be lurking soon enough.

Ipod classic notes - 80-160gb: Not many changes here. The screen is as always, brighter. Always good. Design has been tweeked a bit with some slopes up and over, into the ipod front itself. Acceptable, but not an actual inprovement that really ads more to the simpler design. I guess they were aiming for a "thinner" look. The big news- was 160gb of room for the biggest ipod classic. Ok? Somebody humour me- Who the hell needs 160gb space for apple related content?

Ipod nano notes - 4/8gb: So the rumours were right. Apple brought a fatty into the camp. Looks as if though, they tried really hard to squeeze everything into place. Probably the most obnoxious of apple devices ever. Be pleased that it fits in almost every pocket. Keep it there please.

Yep. alot words in one chop.... anyhoo, be sure to come back within the week and watch me track down, uncover, and document where apple found their inspirations. Yes, it will all be there... Soon enough.

Now vs. January?

Ok. Im kinda on hiatus... and along that preparing a few somewhat bigger controversial posts for next week. So far my cool detective skills have presented me some trails and brought me places i didnt even imagined existed... and besides that, it has demanded quite a bit of vast agressive research. But, im really enjoying this quest of tracking down the inspirations of last weeks "legend" and its infamous master (hint= "not pear"). Wanna know more? Yeah. Stick around, and i´ll toy with your senses soon enough. In the meanwhile, for you, who havent gotten around to it yet.... Click the pic. (and then..... shake some pics).

New nano - part 2

After quite some searching for the origin of the Ipod nano pic sent to me by a friend of mine (claiming not knowing the source). After several hours of searching, i finally found a bunch of pics claiming to be nano g3´s. Also being the source of my pic i assume. Let me just state one thing. THEY ARE ALL FAKES. I looked closer at the real pics and pointed out the photoshop mistakes. Just in case you got youre hopes up.

pic 1:

The shadow line on the top right side is photoshopped. The line is pixelated and has a too strong contrast compared to a realistic photo. Hence its added. Also the screen is a tad more to the right side of the player, crossing into the curves of the actual device.

pic 2::

The surrounding textures of the clickwheel is too blurred compared to the texture of the normal surface on the device. Which also screams PHOTOSHOP, apparently he either couldnt find a matching color good enough or he used a bad click wheel copied from another pic. Besides these flaws, MacFranky´s flickr page reeks of "i love mocks".

These 2 pics along more fake nano pics can be found at MacFranky´s Flickr page. Check it out.

The new nano?

Alot of talk have been roaming the corners of the Ipod communities lately. Mostly regarding some suspicious Widescreen Ipod nano photos posted on Gizmodo, Engadget and other bigger gadget and consumer electronics sites. The 5th of september apple is having a major apple event and many fans/sources assume that this new Ipod breed will be making its appearance this day. My question is - Is this the Ipod we will be seeing on Wednesday?

Iriver unit 2 pics...

The new Iriver unit2. What is it and where to even begin? Its a dvd/cd player stereo with a massive 7" display. A display that doubles as a Portable media player supporting Divx, Xvid, mp3, photos etc.. Its wifi at its coolest, its a tv, its a widget (or hostage taker of widgets atleast)...... Its highend design wrapped in "Wauv".... and its all remote controlled with a delicious remote (standard remote on outside, Qwerty keyboard flips out from the inside). Bang & Olufsen eat your heart out, Apple cry your eyes out..... This is what the good life is all about (ehhh... the tech fetish part of it anyway).



As mentioned above, the huge 7" display comes of, claiminig a life os its own as a very nifty media player.


When the display/pmp is of the unit, the speakers slide together, melting into a new smaller unit, so to speak.


The remote doubles as a "standard" remote, but also folds out revealing the qwerty keyboard inside. Crisp, clean, nice big squary buttons, for your punching pleasure.


Along the unveiling of these fantastic pics, iriverfans forum suggests that 2 other units - unit 2a and 2b (3 and 4?) are in the process aswell.

Im seriously stoked about this general direction that Iriver has managed to thread. This is bright and refreshing news for, not just the design commuity, but also for consumer electronics in general. One can only guess that maybe a smaller device will be joining aswell, maybe one that doubles as a remote (which Iriver have done before). Enjoy the pics. Spread the good news.

What Iphone?

The apple Iphone.

Ok, here i go... What happens when you take one of the biggest and fastest growing (semi intelligent) companies in the world, with a fantastic patented clickwheel which enabled their socalled Ipod to conquer the world..... and you have them remove and forget their fantastic patented clickwheel, let them take a "couple" of years for thinking, and let them "reinvent/re-promote" the phone? Well... good question. Basically you get - Nothing. But... you also get a chinese company called Meizu and their meizu M8. An asian company with a vision and a phone that is, more Iphone (and revolutionairy) than the actual Apple Iphone itself. Hmmmm.... sounds crazy, right? Well basically what Meizu have done with their concepts around the M8 phone was to say... Why not approach (ok ok, borrow/adapt/adopt) what apple claims is so great and new. Clone it! and improve the hell out of it, all... for an even cheaper price. Scary, but none the less plausible. The Meizu M8 delivers 3g capabilities and a front view camera (which the Apple phone does not) which automatically makes it appeal to more customers, a 1mp upgrade on the backside camera compared to the Iphone, twice the resolution on the screen, almost (720x480 pixels), and if that wasnt enough, they even adopted the "white" that apple threw away or prioritized away in the process. Last but not least Meizu reduced the size of their phone a tiny bit.......... Numb yet?

Meizu m8


Ok. Let me just state, i do acknowledge to some extent that Meizu indeed are ripping apple more than a bit (on the material use). But seriously, can apple really expect to present a revolution thats not even a revolution (technologically that is). They threw away their prime values : the clickwheel from the Ipod, and they skipped their signature white. So what do they have left? Squares with round corners? Sorry Mr. jobs, you cant really patent that (yet). So... im intrigued to see the result of all this during a couple of months. A thing to remember in the meanwhile: Consumer products is all about capitalism, and capitalism is all about making money... so did anyone really expect a fair game here?

Meizu M8

To be honest, i really do think that the Meizu M8 is the "real" complete package, the whole hand, the extra milage, or whatever you could say. Facts are: Apple slept on the job (or atleast doze off), and abandoned their typical domain... They didnt create the revolution they promized.... and suddenly there was china.

Waiter! (apple).... I ordered fries with that!