links for 2011-05-06

• Admiring the beauty of an iPhone ‘Aged to Perfection’
  “a blogger over at the design mind blog is admiring the look of gadgets like the iPhone that have been “Aged to Perfection.” In other words, gadgets that are well-used and that carry the mark of being carried around.”
  (tags: design_studies technology iPhone)
• Crafty Whovians!
  “Stylist.co.uk has published a new article all about Doctor Who Crafts and I have to say seeing the talent and creativity of fans is always a nice treat. Doctor Who has always had a way of inspiring those who grow attached to it to get a bit more involved than your average TV program. We collect things, we write things, we film things and we even create items that many of us might never have thought of. From crocheting dolls to sculpting charms of our favorite characters fan’s creativity knows no bounds.”
  (tags: design craft doctor who)
• Getting all the UK online
  At a sheltered housing complex in Skelmersdale, residents are enjoying their daily coffee morning in the communal lounge. Normally this is a chance for people to catch up with each other’s news but today is different. Today the conversation turns to dongles. Eleven elderly residents crowd around a laptop with their cups of coffee while a local volunteer plugs in a dongle. They learn how to use price comparison websites and send emails. Soon they are using Google Earth to look at a relative’s home in Australia.
  (tags: internet society UK)
• Fabrice Taylor: ‘Why Microsoft Should Buy RIM: To Take on Apple’
  “consider what innovation (or lack thereof) did to Eastman Kodak. Only 15 years ago, it was a $90 stock. It’s about three bucks today.”
  (tags: innovation technology)

links for 2011-04-24

• BBC News – Pinhole Photography: A Celebration

  “It is time to put aside your digital camera or phone and get back to basics.This Sunday, 24 April, is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, a celebration of the simplest form of photography.

  It seems to me there is a resurgence of interest in less complicated styles, where the technology does not overwhelm the end result or indeed the photographer.

  There is nothing simpler than a pinhole camera, a black box with a pinhole on one side that allows light to fall on a piece of photographic film or paper.”

  (tags: photography)
• Jemima Kiss: How I kicked my digital habit

  “Crouching down next to my small son, we watched the unmistakable shape of a barn owl until he disappeared into the wood. The look on my son’s face was part of a brief moment of magic, the kind of memory that we live for.Ordinarily, my next thought would have been to pull out my phone and take a photo, send a tweet or record a video. Connecting is something I do unconsciously now. Tweeting is like breathing and photos and video have documented nearly every day of my 21-month-old son’s life. The meaningful merged with the mundane, all dutifully and habitually recorded – my enjoyment split between that technological impulse and the more delicate human need to be in the moment. This is how we live.”

  (tags: digital society technology)
• The Parisian apartment code of conduct
  “Living in London I remember being driven mad by the music of neighbours and the bass beat pounding through the ceiling. Here in Paris, that is a much rarer experience.
  Even in summer, with all the windows open, it is normally quiet. People know not to break the rules.That is the point about apartment life. The rules.In Paris, people have always lived in flats. In the old days, the houses were divided so that the wealthier you were, the higher you lived. The gentleman in the upper storey, the humble shopkeeper down below.Today that spirit of social mingling – “la mixite” as the French call it – is very much alive, in theory at least, as every town-hall or “mairie” is by law obliged to ensure that there is a minimum proportion of social housing.And over the years, that proximity has led to codes of behaviour.”

  (tags: design_studies society France Paris interior design)
• BBC News – How bicycles help protect Zimbabwe’s girls

  “In rural Zimbabwe, many young girls have to walk miles through the bush to school each day, running the risk of falling victim to sexual abuse and prostitution.But now an international organisation “World Bicycle Relief ” is providing hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children with bicycles to shorten the journey and make it safer for them to travel to school”

  (tags: design_studies service_design)
• Norio Ohga, former Sony president, dies

  “In 1953, Sony’s co-founders recruited Ohga while he was still studying at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and hoping to pursue a career as an opera singer. They sensed his knowledge of sound and electrical engineering would benefit the firm.He was an executive by his 30s – a rarity in a Japanese company – becoming the president of CBS Sony Records (now Sony Music Entertainment) in 1970s.

  From the start, he recognised the potential of the compact disc, and personally drove Sony’s initiatives to introduce the format.

  During the development of the CD, it was Ohga who pushed for a disc that was 12cm (4.8in) in diameter, because it provided sufficient capacity at 75 minutes to store all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

  (tags: Sony design_studies music)