On Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Apple
@SeanP hah, dude, it's actually the company's entire philosophy, which is the why people are having this little discussion in the comments. (the point of the design choice of the nonremovable battery is also to ensure the obsolescence of the product -- lithium-ion batteries have finite lifespans -- in time for the new model, but whatever.)
my original example of the thing that's ALWAYS bugged me about macs is fucking one-button mouses but it seemed less relevant.
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On Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Apple
@max bread Max!! Have you read this? http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ I'm curious about your thoughts, in re. designing things so that you can immediately tell that they're "meant to be used by humans."
The most inviting phone I can think of is actually this: http://www.mitchmagee.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/phone.jpg
The last time in my life when I actually had long phone conversations with anyone I was using a phone only marginally updated from that design. Rows of buttons to press plus it's actually shaped correctly for a human face!
The iPhone is a nearly perfect little content-delivery device but as a TELEPHONE it's less intuitive than a Model 500, as a text-based communications device it's less intuitive than even a BlackBerry, and as a gaming device it's less intuitive than a GameBoy. (Nintendo, actually, is my go-to example of a company that does this Apple "real people" devices thing right, for the most part? Tho I don't play video games so I could be way off base.)
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On Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Apple
@max bread IN OTHER WORDS "impersonal" doesn't just mean "lacking personality" (that fuckin smiley face) and a "human dimension" can mean prioritizing use by humans as opposed to making it SEEM more human?
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On Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Apple
@max bread this is wildly overstating the case, but I've always found the "only computers made for real people" line to be infantalizing and condescending. Real people can't change their own laptop battery without the help of a "Genius"? Part of the Apple philosophy involves placing restrictions on what the real person can do with their machines in order to make sure that the perfectly working out-of-the-box closed system isn't disturbed by the tampering of real people.
This is just semirelated but when it comes to "cheap plastic jagged-edged competition" I think it should be said that IBM made, to my mind, the best PC hardware for "real people" ever with the Model M keyboard, which is an absolute tactile delight to type on, and I've never used a Mac laptop that felt as "solid" as a ThinkPad (with its similarly wonderful keyboard).
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On Family Felidae, In Order
The placement of the Pallas cat leads me to believe that the author has never gone to the Prospect Park Zoo and looked at the Pallas cats because they are ADORABLE SIR
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On Martha's Vineyard: Trailer Trash Since 1642
@drufus there goes my Mark Lynton History Prize bid
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On Tom Waits, 1983-1987
@Dave Bry "A Soldier's Things" definitely in my top ten. And "Anywhere I Hang My Head"! So I very much fault this listicle. I FAULT IT.
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On Understanding Metropolitan Diary: Queens in Queens Edition
BUT DID ANYONE MISS A BEAT