Gizmodo
RCA began selling the Gem line of MP3 players, including the Opal. Creative introduced its Zen Stone. And today Acer brings us the Gemstone. Earthly naming conventions are nothing new, from the PEBL to the i-Stones, gadget makers have long tried to portray their wares as organic, natural forms instead of the mercury laden, toxic ones the really are. But if consumer electronics companies really want to mimic nature...
then they should heed these words from industrial designer and sci-fi gadget imagineer Branko Lukic, from his upcoming book nonobject:
Each natural "product" is a unique specimen; nothing else compares to one, after another, after another. Imagine if the manufacture of consumer electronics afforded such diversity! Imagine if consumers had the pick of an endless array of devices, each one its own distinct shape, size and color while keeping the internal components the same... The state of things now: sameness sits on assembly lines; sameness lives on shelves; sameness is in hands of consumers. Need it be this way - where color is the only distinguishing feature? Why not tackle design in more interesting ways? Rather than considering a product as one of many, diversify the multiple existing molds and consider product a little more freely. Need each be a clone of the other? Why not envision production methodology anew, as a result of more organic processes? Just imagine: a near future where we still make a single product in large volumes, but we do so more randomly, intuitively, eclectically. This way, with advanced manufacturing techniques, consumers are offered more choice within a single product category.Unless, of course, we are all electric sheep who want to own the exact same thing.
nonobject Design Fiction No 3: Pebble [Book Preview]
Comments
Case manufacturers will *love* that.
see my new player
so very like a real stone
it won't last as long
nice replicant reference.
The concept reminds me of Cabbage Patch Dolls, which were enormously successfull. It would be cool if someone took this approach with electronics.
Looking forward to the Pet Rock players.
I'd think there might be a market for his idea, except that 95% of people never even bother changing the default desktop background on their computer.
Pass. Being manufactured, it is a superficial uniqueness. "The difference that makes no difference is of no difference." I would much rather see a product that is designed to become a better personal fit during use, like blue jeans or an old pair of sneakers. If you could make an MP3 player that eventually molded itself to the shape of my pocket, now that would be cool.
some day we will pick out gadgets like fruit from the market..
i like the molding idea, go comma!
Just to make sure you've got a hard time using anybody else's gadgets, the control button in question will *not* always be in the exact same position relative to the gadget in your hand.
I really like the concept. This is the way music is already heading: Instead of having a collection of 10 to 12 songs and marketing the hell out of it, musical artists are now beginning to recognize the value of having a limited quantity of hard product available and marketing to a niche audience. This is especially true as creating new product becomes easier for musicians to create and distrubute without the help of the industrial machine.
I'd love to see gadgets marketed the same way, but somehow I doubt it can happen.
yes, but if every product was different, then how would all the pompous ass monkeys that are the fashionistas and trend setters know who's was the best or be able to drive up prices? if everyones' tech was different, then the only thing making one of more value than the next would be the owner, in which case once it was sold for some exhuberant price, it would drop greatly in price. this would finally end the trend of people buying things such as $1,000 purses to be able to say that they have the same one as (insert social icon here). this could cause the breakdown of the market for these, improving the actual ergonomics of the tech and eventually the economy, leading us in a more productive, less obsessively materialistic direction towards a future that might actually be a better place.
This is a sign the market is saturated. I don't think many people can ger excited over an MP3 player anymore.
Everyone knows what really makes their iPods unique, THE MUSIC. Maybe if there was a way to somehow have the outer casing change depending on what you downloaded... hmmm...
Nah.
When a popular person (soon robot) shows their unique player, people will make knockoffs and thus we will begin the cycle of sameness again.
Thats why I think the "Nothing" box is brilliant. It might be round when you buy it, but if you open it, it becomes everything. Sweet deal I say.
"Look to the cookie, Elaine. Look to the cookie."
These products would probably make Jerry vomit, too.
The problem is that say in the case of an MP3 players, people are just going to search through the piles trying to find the smallest / most ergonomic, slightly differently shaped player. Its kind of like, am I going to buy the player that looks like a cube, or the one that looks like a rounded candybar phone? I know some people would buy the cube, but most of them would buy the rounded candybar, simply because it is generally more ergonomic and therefore more desirable. Not to mention so many of players are at the same level right now, that you can choose from 10 different products which have a slightly different physical and gui shell, but are about the same thing underneath. I do really like the molding to the user thing tho.....
Imagine the manufacturing impracticalities of the idea though. I like it...it's nice to have an interesting and unique gadget but if they were difficult to produce, how expensive do you think they would be?
Baaaa.
Visions of the Nano-built world from Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" resonate here, with all of the Steampunky organic buildings springing up- built to order. It's coming one day. . . but . .
Currently, this is an impossible standard. I dropped my Canon Elph and had to completely disassemble it to fix it. Unless you've done this sort of thing, you would just not believe the sheer amount of engineering that goes into fitting tech into its form factor. Changing that form is not practical at all unless there's an awful lot of air in that case.
One thing's for sure, though: brick & mortar stores would love it, because you'd have to court your next gadget in person to get the one you want!
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