Dieter Rams weighs in on THE BLACK CUBE – a “Perfect” Product

I heard that a Dieter Rams exhibit recently opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). I was happy to discover that the exhibit, titled “LESS AND MORE – The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams“, runs until February 2012. Phew, now I just have to remember to go!

In looking around for info, I ran across an interesting post over at Swiss Miss and followed the trail to THE BLACK CUBE project.  The project looks to have been an interesting study by a group of designers to create the “perfect product”. They invited other designers and artists to participate and/or provide comment.

Below is a video of Dieter Rams weighing in. He opens with the proclamation that “The term ‘design’ is worn out and has lost its attraction.” He offers up some opinion on ‘The Black Cube’ briefly making reference to his 10 design principles, which I wrote about last year when the topic of comparing Apple Sr. VP of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive‘s work to that of Dieter Rams was all the rage.

But I digress.

Rams concludes his thoughts on design impact with a question: “Do we have a chance to improve the world, to make it more humane, to make it more ethical? We do!“

CUBE Dieter Rams (www.the-black-cube.com) from Andreas Unteidig on Vimeo.

The Story Of Eames Furniture – Interview with Marilyn and John Neuhart

The Story of Eames Furniture: Marilyn Neuhart with John Neuhart – Interview from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Not sure how I missed this exclusive interview with Marilyn Neuhart, author of “The Story of Eames Furniture“, and her husband John. It’s an amazing invitation to their close experience working in the Eames office for nearly 30 years, closely with Charles and Ray Eames.

Someday, I’ll get my dream chair, the Eames Lounge Chair, check out the attention to detail and reverence in manufacturing this classic piece of furniture.

“Ethnographers are a kind of somewhat exotic breed of scientists” – Victoria Bellotti

Tech Evangelist, Blogger and Social Media Master Robert Scoble had a chance to visit what he referred to as the “first church of technology“, PARC, the innovative lab behind much of the technology that we use every day.  He conducted four great interviews in his signature style.  I was most interested in his talk with Victoria Bellotti.

“Ethnographers are a kind of somewhat exotic breed of scientists, we study people.” – Victoria Bellotti.

Bellotti, who manages PARC’s Socio-Technical and Interaction Research team at PARC, studies people to understand their practices, problems, and requirements for future technology, and designs and analyzes human-centered systems, focusing on user experience.

She explains how ethnographers analyze data to determine how technology can help, or get in the way, of tasks being studied. The research helps to build successful products and services or address problems. This sounds particularly useful for technology-centered business ventures that are clients of PARC’s Opportunity Discovery research and strategic investment targeting program.

Scoble mentions that this practice is missing from most start-ups, but notes that it is part of larger companies such Microsoft Research and Facebook. Bellotti agreed, adding that most startups learn as they go along and some entrepreneurs do [this] by nature – look at people and ask lots of questions.

Below is Scoble’s video interview with Bellotti. You can see additional interview topics: “Future of Networking“, “Ubiquitous Computing Research” and “Keeping our Cloud Computing Safe” and read about the rest of his PARC visit on his blog.

iPad 2 in the Kindergarten Classroom

Living in a technologically progressive area and being in the business, our children are no strangers to computers and gadgets at home. They also have computer lab at school where teachers guide them to educational game and activity websites.

But this story is a little different. A school district in Auburn, Maine has decided to shell out $200,000 for the purchase of 285 iPad 2 tablets for Kindergarten students and teachers. The decision was based on a video that demonstrated the progress made by Kindergarteners who were previously struggling with literacy basics. The school committee immediately saw the benefit of the new tool in the classroom.

iPads cost less and are easier to maintain than laptops. The small size is more manageable and the touchscreen interface is intuitive for younger students to use.  There is also a broad range of inexpensive educational apps.

What are your thoughts on this level of technology in the Kinder classroom?

Props to the Geekbeat.tv Podcast where I first heard this story.

Animatable – A Promising new CSS3 Animation Tool

A first look at Animatable from Andy Clarke on Vimeo.

Animatable is a promising new CSS3 tool to create animations deployable across Webkit browsers on any platform or device – this means web browsers and mobile devices such as Android, BlackBerry and iPhones!

Guy Kawasaki speaks about his new book “Enchantment”

Guy Kawasaki is a wonderful technology and social media icon to follow. Check out this recent talk he gave on his new book “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions”.

Also check out my blog from Guy’s “Entrepreneur 2.0 Tips for Success” talk from last year.

I want the Eames Lounge Chair!

Ever since studying industrial and furniture design in school, I’ve been in love with the Eames Lounge Chair. Until I actually acquire one, I can at least enjoy the care shown in this assembly video!
I agree with Casey Chan over at Gizmodo: I would also like to see the entire process including the wood preparation!