We really didn't need postings on Microsoft's Careers page to tell us that a successor to Windows 7 is in the works. The only information in those job ads is that there could be some focus on Internet Information Services (IIS) and Windows Live Mail integration. Other than that Microsoft just plain appears to be setting everything up for testing future development builds. Please page me when there's a leaked version of the builds, until then these are just job postings. [Ars Technica]

Like most concepts designs, this Carpool LED sign is great in theory. You're supposed to stick it on the top of a car (or even a cab) to show that you're willing to carpool and how many seats remain open. That's fantastic except it doesn't take into account that some of us don't want to pick up creepy, smelly strangers in the same fashion we would hitchhikers. The Halloween movies I've watched today even further prove this as a bad idea. [Yanko Design via Uber Gizmo]

A company called Cereplast decided that making plastic junk out of tapioca, corn, wheat and potatoes isn't gross enough. So now they're making flimsy cutlery out of that green gunk that builds on on water. Frankly, I don't care how much petroleum is saved in comparison to traditional plastic, I just plain don't want to shove something made of algae into my mouth. [Pop Sci]

Ideum has made yet another ultra-wide touchscreen surface and this one's designed to be capable of recognizing up to 50 different simultaneous touch points. I guess it could be fun if I had a few extra fingers or if a bunch of people crowded around and used all their toes. Geez. Can we just plain skip overdoing it with the touch points and work on getting one of these into my office? [Slashgear]

His collection of 30 hauntingly similar shots show what adult birds are feeding to their young: bottlecaps, lighters, spray bottles and, in one case, a piece of what looks to be a headphone.

From the photographer:

On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

It's gross stuff, to say the least. Hopefully, if you're buying every USB foot warmer cigarette lighter that Brando releases, you're disposing of your plastics in a more sustainable way. (But really, in case it wasn't clear, we don't expect you to actually buy any of this junk.) [chris jordan via Treehugger]

Last month, an Apple Insider source said the MacBook update would also include a "restructured internal architecture". It's now believed that could include Apple's latest internal battery technology.

Definitely a lot of maybes there, so don't get too carried away. With that in mind, though, refreshed low(er)-cost MacBooks and iMacs would make sense going into end of year shopping season. And with it all supposed to go down any time between this week and mid-October, it might be worth waiting if you're in the market for one...just in case. [Apple Insider]

The process is the same as the one used in the Lego factory, but instead of Lego, these guys make things you touch pretty much all throughout your day. [RGS]

Simply put, the Teflon-coated back just feels and looks a lot better than the iPhone's—now crappy looking, I admit—plastic back. The Hero's polytetrafluoroethylene—the technical name for DuPont's Teflon—coating feels perfect in your hand. It doesn't appear to get any skin oil at all. No greasy fingerprints, just a perfect matte finish no matter how much I touched it.

It feels and looks like a white thermal tile out of NASA's shuttle.

The iPhone's plastic finish, on the other side, is a fingerprint magnet that looks as cheap as any Chinese knockoff after holding it for a few seconds. The Hero wins hands down on appearance, even while its front is too complicated for my taste. For a company like Apple—which takes such pride in their design and manufacturing—this is bad. For a consumer like me, this sucks.

"They are getting so boring"

Once upon a time Apple used to be innovators in the use of new materials. Those were the times in which they experimented with the iMacs and PowerMacs, which finished with the arrival of aluminum. Today, apart from the unibody manufacturing—which is just a form of aluminum manufacturing, a material that has been used forever in consumer products—their use of groundbreaking materials has stagnated.

I'm not the only one saying this. About a month ago Matt Buchanan and I asked the top executive of one of the most important industrial design firms in the world about his thoughts on Apple's design. After seing Objectified—and watching a legend like Dieter Rams glorifying Apple as the only consumer electronics company that counts when it comes to industrial design—I was expecting an ode to Jon Ive and his team. Instead, he replied:

They are great, but we [him and his colleagues in the industrial design world] think they are getting so boring. I mean, don't get me wrong, they got the use of aluminum perfected now... but what happened with the excitement that they used to generate with new materials? We all expect a lot more from Apple.

He is right. Their use of plastics in the iMac spread to every single consumer appliance out there. And Kara Johnson, materials expert from IDEO believes it'll be going out of style any day now (Maybe yesterday.) But now, even aluminum is the new beige. (Even if some experts believe there are few alternatives, there are a few.)

So yes, Apple should use new materials. Not for the sake of it, of course. They should use whatever materials fit the product technical needs. And for me, one of these needs as a consumer is that the product should look great at all times, and not just look great in the box or behind a store glass.

The need for new materials

The iPhone has this problem. It looks like crap with little use. They have tried to fix part of it with the oleophobic coating on the front glass—something that the HTC Hero also has—but the overall effect keeps being the same: Its back still looks cheap after some time.

One thing to note

For this reason we were all hoping for a matte back in the iPhone 3GS, but apparently Apple decided not to release it for one reason or the other.

I don't know and I don't care. What I do care about is that, after playing with the Hero, my iPhone now feels like cheap crap. And I don't even like Android.

Related reading: What Beautiful Gadgets Will Be Made Of

Do we want tens of plastic guitars, skateboards, drums, balance boards and light guns cluttering up our living room space? No, of course not. But ponder these simple questions.

1) Would you rather be pushing buttons in time to music with your Xbox 360 controller, or strumming along with your fake guitar and hitting a drum pad?
2) Would you rather be pushing buttons to make your character do a 720, or actually tilt your body on a skateboard?
3) Would you rather be pushing buttons and tilting a stick to shoot something on the screen, or point a gun at the screen and physically shoot the screen?

It's simple; most everyone would rather be simulating the act because it gets them closer to the experience of actually playing the game and mimicking what the character is doing on screen. And that's just the way we're headed. The first controllers had a joystick and one button, and technology's progressed along until we're actually getting 1:1 motion detection.

But where is this all going? The endpoint, in our minds, is something like the Holodeck from Star Trek. A room that, although finite in reality, has the mechanical and optical abilities to simulate just about anything you can program. But we're a long way from that. What we can do is take steps toward that goal, by simulating the experience with plastic instruments. But there are many steps between here and there, and hopefully the next one won't cause us to fall down because there's a plastic guitar in the way.

Boxed Water Is Better sells water in cartons, ditching the plastic bottles while reducing the overall carbon footprint of packing and distribution by 80%.

20% of the company's profits are passed along to reforestation (10%) and water relief (10%) while you sip on the sweet hydrogen/oxygen nectar of Minnesota and a few parts per billion of paper pulp.

But while Boxed Water is undoubtedly more sustainable than bottled water, I can't help but think the product's absurdity does less to open a new market than close an old one. In other words, Boxed Water is a ridiculous solution to an even more ridiculous problem—that we'd rather buy packaged water than drink it for nearly free out of the tap. [Boxed Water via Cool Hunting and image]

While the Blue Earth features a gorgeously rendered touch screen front, the entire back is covered with a solar panel. Samsung claims this panel produces enough electricity to place a call any time you want—which is a little tough to believe, given the battery draw of a touchscreen. (To counter these energy shortages, the phone includes an Eco Mode, which attenuates screen brightness while deactivating Bluetooth.)

Even if solar power isn't your thing (you Hummer driving, baby suffocating, evil doer), most of the phone is constructed from PCM, a plastic extracted from recycled water bottles. And there's a built-in pedometer that tells you how many trees you are saving by walking instead of driving (that part may sound made up but it is not).

We have no more specifics at this time, but the Blue Earth should be available in the UK during the second half of '09. [Pocket-lint]

Well, it's the RV of tomorrow as designed by Christian Susana. With its injection molded design, the vehicle is essentially a Tupperware container on wheels. But what's really clever about the design is its detachable cockpit—not so different from a semi or that prostitute's space ship on Firefly—that can cruise around unencumbered when you're not in need of a living room's worth of furniture dragging at your butt. [Tuvie via Jalopnik]

The Chaise Him and Her chairs are the brainchild of Italian designer Fabio Novembre, intended to be an updated response to the famous Panton S chair by Verner Panton. Should you be enticed show the world a rump that you may or may not be blessed enough to possess, the chairs are available for $340 apiece. Airholes are, sadly, not an option. [Amateur DeDesign via Le Journal du Geek]

It's not the plastic. I like plastic fine. And although I prefer solid molded colors, painting plastic with other colors is ok, too. It's just that the overriding reason for painting a plastic device silver is to make it look like metal. Which is stupid. This needs to stop as surely as wooden panels on station wagons needed to stop 30 years ago and why tofurky is a totally unacceptable replacement for either turkey or tofu.

Silver painted gadgets started rising in prominence in the cellphone world, and 8 years ago were thought of as a premium finish to those in design circles. "Blame Motorola or Casio," say some designers I talked to about the trend. Now the "tin man" treatment is reserved for the cheapest devices while the best get done up in real metal. I'm still confused as to why this was a good idea in the first place, and why companies, even some high-end brands, still maintain the facade. (I'm totally looking at you, Pentax, Canon, Dell and Sony.)

First off, it's insulting to buyer intelligence. Are makers trying to fool us into thinking a device is aluminum or magnesium or stainless steel when its actually a light piece of bent polymer? Maybe from 10 feet away, they'd think that we couldn't tell the difference, and they'd be right. Visually. Allan Chochinov from Core77, says:

Painting plastic objects so that they appear metallic is a fudge of course—and often convincingly so. But the lie becomes apparent soon enough; at the corners or wherever there's any kind of friction, the paint wears away to reveal the true plastic.

Industrial designers talk about the virtues of an "honesty of materials" in design practice, and when that honesty is expressed in the final product it's really great—but rare. With the almost-suffocating cost constraints and real pressure to pump things out quickly, the artifice is just too irresistible.

Yes, the methods of turning a hunk of plastic into a shiny thing is getting better, so these piece-o-craps look better than ever close up. But contextually, they're not fooling anyone with half a brain. Everyone, everyone, EVERYONE knows that when they see a huge silver TV, even from 30 feet away, it's probably not made of metal but rather coated with Pantone 877c. And that overly curvy designs are likely plastic sprayed with paint. And mainstream gadgets, like PSPs and DVD players made in China, well, those things are too chintzy to ever get the full metal treatment. They're not worth their weight in metal.

Which brings us to cost. Yes, like most commercial compromises made in the world, plastic made to look like metal for the most part comes down to saving dollars in manufacturing. Cormac Eubanks, a principal engineer from Frog design told me:

As a raw material metal (aluminum or zinc alloy) is many times more expensive than the same volume of material in plastic. In processing metal, parts need to be die cast, stamped, or (if money is no object) machined. Then one needs to finish them with brushing, tumbling and/or bead blasting. Lastly metal parts need to go through a plating or anodize process to prevent corrosion and oxidation over time. All these finishing steps add considerable additional cost. Painting plastic on the other hand can be inexpensively injection molded and painted silver in large volumes in a repeatable way.

Secondly, painting polymers to look metallic is insulting to plastic, which isn't hard and cold like metal, but has its own wonderful qualities and implications. Like translucency, as shown in Zune's cornershot multilayered finish and Samsung's red-tinted LCD TV bezels. And resiliency, flexibility, strength and lightness of weight. Or if you like, some plastics can be heavy and stiff, since there are so many ways to make it. Plastic can also insulate from heat and electricity, and when it's really cold, plastic won't stick to your hand like a piece of metal does. It can also be easily shaped into radical forms without having to be moved through an extensive finishing and forming process. Those qualities are totally undersold when a machine's plastic casing is passed off as being made from metal.

Leaving material qualities behind, I'm sure there's an aesthetic appeal here, too. At least in the minds of tacky Vegas-brained marketers. And maybe at first, the appeal works on those too stupid to catch the drift that they are being had. But as anyone who's owned a silver painted device knows, within months, if not weeks of heavy use, the thin veneer soon gives way to the gray/white/black plastic underneath. Which would have been fine and beautiful in the first place, had it not been covered up. Worn out silver colored plastic is uglier than the late Tammy Faye Bakker's make-up job after a tearful sermon. The Wii in white looks just as nice as it would in aluminum, to me. And because the color is solid, it'll look good no matter how often it gets scratched.

Eubanks says that companies should be "true to the material. That means making plastic look like plastic, metal like metal and rubber like rubber. Honesty with materials means you are being honest with your customers.”

I can agree with that. And look forward to the day silver-painted gadgets are no longer made.

Apparently over 6,000 Americans per year make hospital visits because of injuries (cuts, mostly) sustained by opening the damn clamshells. The design was created to curb theft, so it's no problem for Amazon to implement it; it's awfully tough to shoplift from an online store. But when Microsoft decides to sell its Explorer mouse at Best Buy in an easily-opened zipper package, you know times are a'changin.

Sony is implementing a package, for use at Best Buy and Walmart, that is easily opened but emits a loud noise, like Velcro tearing, to deter in-store thieves. Mike Fasulo, chief marketing officer for Sony, said, "None of us intentionally tried to make this a hassle for consumers," which is pretty nice for a total non-apology apology. Death to the clamshell! [NYTimes]

For now it's limited to a small number of items from makers like Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend, but ultimately Amazon wants its whole catalog in easy-open packages. And that sounds a heavenly idea, and as long as it is a greener solution, it should get the environmentalists happy too. The press release below explains more.

SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 3, 2008—Amazon.com has launched "Frustration-Free Packaging," a new initiative designed to make it easier for customers to liberate products from their packages. Amazon is focusing first on two kinds of items: those enclosed in hard plastic cases known as "clamshells" and those secured with plastic-coated wire ties, commonly used in toy packaging.

Frustration-Free Packaging is being launched in the U.S. with 19 bestselling products from leading manufacturers including Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and electronics manufacturer Transcend. The product is exactly the same - Amazon has just streamlined the packaging. The project will expand across Amazon's international sites beginning in 2009.

"I think we've all experienced the frustration that sometimes occurs when you try to get a new toy or electronics product out of its package," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "It will take many years, but our vision is to offer our entire catalog of products in Frustration-Free Packaging. We'd like to thank Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend for working with us in this effort - we truly appreciate it."

In addition to making packages easier to open, a major goal of the Frustration-Free Packaging initiative is to be more environmentally friendly by using less packaging material.

One of the first products to launch with Frustration-Free Packaging is the Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship, which is now delivered in an easy-to-open, recyclable cardboard box. The new packaging eliminates 36 inches of plastic-coated wire ties, 1,576.5 square inches of printed corrugated package inserts and 36.1 square inches of printed folding carton materials. Also eliminated are 175.25 square inches of PVC blisters, 3.5 square inches of ABS molded styrene and two molded plastic fasteners.

Small items, such as memory cards, are also good candidates for Frustration-Free Packaging. Typically encased in oversized plastic clamshells to deter shoplifting, memory cards are then placed inside larger cardboard boxes for shipment to customers. Working with Transcend, Amazon has eliminated the hard-to-open clamshell and the need for an additional box. Instead, the cards will now ship inside recyclable cardboard envelopes which use less material. Amazon is working to shrink the envelope size even further.

Customers can order select items from Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend in the new Frustration-Free Packaging for immediate delivery. The current collection of Frustration-Free products can be seen by going to www.amazon.com/packaging.

Created in South America, the sculpture is named "Inkuku," which translates to "chicken." And it's a bit more impressive than your standard, tacky, rubber poultry. [Ryan Frank via Curbly]

Says Rajiv Mongia, an Intel engineer:

"The fact that they've been able to develop a polymer-type material that can be used in a relatively thin film is worth a second look [compared with previous ceramic heatsinks that worked the same way]," Mongia says. "Also, it's working in a temperature range that is of interest to us."

[Technology Review]