"If I were required to guess off-hand, and without collusion with higher minds, what is the bottom cause of the amazing material and intellectual advancement of the last fifty years, I should guess that it was the modern-born and previously non-existent disposition on the part of men to believe that a new idea can have value."
I don't know how I managed it, but somehow I had never heard of the Technology Review until a few days ago. Yes, I know, shoot me now. Thank goodness I was bored and wandering around the magazine aisle in the library, because I knew instantly upon gazing at their sexy cover of the Helio Ocean that it would become a staple of my tech diet. But this post isn't about the Ocean, though I covet it so, rather I wanted to point to an excellent piece by Daniel Turner about Apple's much-lauded focus on industrial design.
It's long, but ...
Earlier this month Steve Jobs posted a response, entitled "A Greener Apple", to the various allegations against Apple's eco-friendliness by Greenpeace. In the article, Jobs lays out a more transparent view of Apple's current and future plans towards being green by noting their efforts to remove toxic chemicals and recycling of older products. He also spends an inordinate amount of time saying that their processes will only get better in the future. (Somehow, I think this is obvious, but no matter.)
It's certainly nice to see Jobs finally responding to Greenpeace. The group has been dogging Apple with environmental complaints since ...
I've invited my friend, fellow geek, and former college roommate David Chen to discuss Apple's recent announcement of the iPhone. Dave also blogs at More Than Fine. If you have been away from civilization and haven't heard about Apple's latest, you can read more at Wikipedia and ogle pictures at Engadget.
Devindra: So first reactions: Wow. Of course this is usually my first reaction to every major Apple announcement though (see the unveiling of the Core Duo computers, the potential of Boot Camp). The device is shockingly futuristic-it's the sort of thing we expect in science fiction, not real life.
David: ...
Engadget has a good writeup on the differences between Apple and Windows on how they want to please their users. Basically, the writer says that Microsoft has historically wanted the love of their users. They go out of their way to listen to their users and develop functionality around what their users want. While I don't find this to be consistently true (I don't know anyone who wanted those annoying "personalized" menus), I have noticed that MS is much more empathetic to their customers than Apple.
The author goes on to mention that Apple tries to do the same, but ...
A blog dedicated to the insight and clarification of technology of all sorts. From consumer tech, to upcoming topics such as green tech and the Singularity--no technology is taboo. More about Devindra.