A New Era for Design | Hacker News Reader

A New Era for Design

blog.kickstarter.com

92 pointshornokplease21 comments

This made me think of an article in the NYT the other day. Here's a short excerpt:

Symbols, metaphors, analogies, parables, synecdoche, figures of speech: we understand them. We understand that a captain wants more than just hands when he orders all of them on deck. We understand that Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” isn’t really about a cockroach. If we are of a certain theological ilk, we see bread and wine intertwined with body and blood. We grasp that the right piece of cloth can represent a nation and its values, and that setting fire to such a flag is a highly charged act. We can learn that a certain combination of sounds put together by Tchaikovsky represents Napoleon getting his butt kicked just outside Moscow. And that the name “Napoleon,” in this case, represents thousands and thousands of soldiers dying cold and hungry, far from home.

Brilliant design seems to works in a similar way. A product that reveals something masterful about its creator evokes a human response on a level most marketing departments will never understand.

So true... (but maybe it's just better that they don't? now that I think of it)

I've wanted one of these since the new Nano's came out (and this is certainly THE incarnation of the iPod Nano wristband I was dreaming of) but I have reservations.

It's not water resistant, much less water proof. I don't want to have to take my watch off to wash my hands or do the dishes or when it rains. Another thing is watches are tough. Most people don't realize how tough. I don't know what the glass on this thing is, but I don't it can stand up to the abuse I dish out to my Timex.

Having said that, I'm probably going to get one anyway. I'll get a Luna-Tik and wear it as my dress watch. :-)

I think its really cool. This is how wearable computing finally creeps up on us. "Wearable computers" in the past were a non-starter because, lets face it, they were dorky looking.

This has style enough to be worn without seeming too moronic and really does put a lot of power on the wrist. Better battery, tight "PAN" integration with the iphone and ipad... can awesome cyborg-ery be far behind?

Isn’t wearable computing all about being able to carry around a capable computer with you at all times without even noticing?

An Android phone or an iPhone certainly fit that bill. Those are not really wearable or they are at least not what you would have imagined ten or twenty years ago when thinking about wearable computing but they are just as useful. I would even argue that they are more useful. You get all the benefits without the downsides. We could have made all those gadgets much more durable and waterproof and we could have even mated them with clothing – that doesn’t seem technologically infeasible – but why should we? A small lightweight slab of glass we can just slip in our pocket seems much more practical.

As for watches, I'm not sure what’s going to happen to them. I know many people who just ditched their watch altogether because all their gadgets have clocks, but the wrist is certainly attractive real estate for technology or fashion or both. The problem is size, I think. There is no space for a 3.5" or larger touchscreen on the wrist, even the 1.5" screen of the nano is a stretch. That 1.5" screen doesn’t allow for rich interaction, it can at most be used for very basic things (like in the case of the nano) or as a conveniently located remote for a larger interaction surface somewhere else.

I think, however, that it’s very questionable whether a setup with a watch as a remote is very convenient or practical. Why would you want to take care of two gadgets (charge them, be careful so that they don’t break and so on) when you can just pull your smartphone out of the pocket with about the same ease as looking at your watch?

Hopefully it's not too irrelevant to ask...

Does anyone know what music was playing in the background of that video? I really liked it.

Exactly what I (and probably everyone) wanted when I first saw the ipod clock.

BTW Sony Ericsson made something similar (with more of course). http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/15/sony-ericsson-liveview-no...

“in clock mode, the iPod Nano battery would last a week on a single charge.”

Really?? This is cool. I want one!

I love the idea that in 2011 we'll have the technology to be able to build $200 watches that require charging weekly :)

And are touchscreen and can run software on it.

I haven't used a Nano, but I assume that's with the screen shutting off after a few minutes?

Not being able to check the time with a quick flick of the wrist would be a deal breaker for me when it comes to watches.

How exactly do you use this thing? Do you have to have the earphones cord running from your wrist to your head to actually use any of the nano's intended functionality? That, to me at least, looks like you're being brain monitored or something.

Their servers are not doing well from the extra publicity. Getting a bit of extra attention from HN on a Friday night does have its downsides.

Not convinced at all. Who would wear that ?

I don't have an ipod nano and I don't wear any watch since I have cell phone, but I can definitely see the appeal to it. It looks beautiful.

People pay for looks, even if they are not practical.

The 2680 people who have pledged a total of over $200K to the project. I'm sure that more will follow in the coming weeks.

I would in a heartbeat.

As of right now 2,649 people have pre-ordered 2,742 wristbands. In 27 days the creators will receive $190,812 (Kickstarter takes a five percent cut) to manufacture and ship those 2,742 wristbands. It took three days for all this to happen, 27 more to go.

I don’t know whether 2,649 people want to wear it but they at least want to buy it. It’s definitely a Kickstarter success story. What’s the point you are making?

I'm one of the 2500 backers. I plan on wearing my red-anodized LunaTik.

Agreed - it also feels like the omission of any useful in-context product shots (actual people wearing the watches at different angles) is subconscious admission the major design failure is that the product will simply be far too 'chunky' for your average 2010 MacBook-Air-wielding consumer.

There is one in-context product shot in the video which quickly moves to a carefully-framed, front-on shot.

For a high-brow piece on design I'd say (at the risk of taking this all too seriously!) that removing a wearable object from its context in almost all the product shots is a 'teeny' bit of low-brow design deceit.

The model arm wearing the watch was not a small arm, and the watch looked big. I don't know the size of a nano but it looked too big to be worn on the wrist to me. I do have fond memories of calculator watches though.

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