- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2380
In my early 20's I had the idea for "Zen Wristwatches", which were essentially faceless watch dials mounted upon straps. Of course they wouldn't be plain faceless, we'd do a whole variety, out of different materials, jade, onyx, clear crystal, stainless steel, hundreds of possible materials, big, small, whatever.
The genius wasn't so much in the watch, it was in the marketing of it: "Zen Watches - for the Here and Now" or "No Time Like the Present: Find Your Zen" and there would be a whole bunch of irrelevant quotes about the meaninglessness of measuring time and the importance of Now and Living in the Present and Bullshit and all. Pretty much like every other product on the market...
I think that I got the idea because I was getting into collecting wristwatches, and I couldn't get why people would pay enormous sums for brand names...
Anyways the marketing was good, only I didn't have the product or the budget to bring it to fruition. It's still there, I think, in a notebook someplace in the locker. There wasn't any Kickstarter in those days. There is now, though, and I was a little surprised that someone else had a similar idea...
Link: "Jesper: Minimalist Wristwatch"
It's not actually all that minimalist, with all the pointless crowns and crystals and all...
For an excellent article on Minimalism read this: James Altucher - How Minimalism brought me Joy and Freedom. I don't think he's wearing a watch. Certainly not a Jesper...He does seem to have a surprising number of bright ideas, though, if you browse through the rest of his blog...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2427
Long read in which Gay Talese meets with Gerald Foos, a motel owner in Colorado who has taken his voyeurism to a bit of an extreme...
Rather intriguing, and a good long read...
Link: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-the-voyeurs-motel
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2864
And this article following the Panama Papers leak on how Mossack Fonseca assisted it's wealthier customers in hiding and laundering money through Art purchases. Wondering why that Picasso is breaking all records? It might not be as straightforward as you think...
Link: Panama Papers on How and why the very rich buy art, Nazi Looted Modigliani
Previously: Art as Commerce
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2713
Bricking. From the Wikipedia:
"The word "brick", when used in reference to consumer electronics, describes an electronic device such as smartphone, game console, router, or tablet computer that, due to a serious misconfiguration, corrupted firmware, or a hardware problem, can no longer function, hence, is as technologically useful as a brick."
Bricking can also be used to intentionally disable computers or hardware that have been modified to play "Unauthorized" content or run unauthorized apps. Consider Apple's "Error 53" - which ruins all iPhones repaired by unauthorized dealers. I'm not making this up. They are, apparently, well within their legal rights to do so. Do you own the phone?
And an interesting article on Google's acquisition of a tech company, and product, and then subsequent announcement that upon the end of the warranty on the product it would "Brick" it. Meaning Kill it. Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@arlogilbert/the-time-that-tony-fadell-sold-me-a-container-of-hummus-cb0941c762c1#.1lfxbvyf5.
This type of corporate ethos makes me increasingly uncomfortable, and raises some interesting questions regarding ownership. Do you really every own the product if the company that sold it to you (or it's subsequent acquiring company) can destroy it at will and without repercussion? What does ownership now mean? Do you own things, or are you owned by the companies that sold them to you? Consider Keurig, the idiots choice for mediocre coffee. Or GM's claim to own the software inside your car, or John Deere's ownership of your tractor. Or Monsanto's ownership of your farm, crops and grain. Three links here: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130513/12113523062/monsanto-wins-case-seed-patents-planting-your-own-legally-purchased-grown-seeds-can-be-infringing.shtml && https://thegranddisillusion.wordpress.com/monsanto-vs-farmer/ && http://www.cnbc.com/id/100464458. In fact the evils of Monsanto are far too long to be listed here, and would require months of your own research and hair pulling. It's good to be aware, but be warned you're treading now the thin line between awareness and insanity...
The intrusion of technology into our lives, increasingly, daily, has raised some complex moral and ethical dilemmas that are consistently being resolved in favor of the companies selling us these products. We own less, and in a way, after the companies fashion, rent more of our lives. For the company, this is great, we are now the lifetime consumer. But for us, maybe, not so good...
Think about it. Do you want to own your life, or merely rent it from a company?
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2506
And there's the "Drone Prix" in Dubai, I had no idea there was such a thing. Probably there wasn't, but now there is, and that's the new way of the world and if you didn't know you're an idiot...
I say that in Irony. If you knew I'd tell you you need a life...and that, sincerely...
And Drones, they're cool and all, and drone racing, well, I appreciate it, but imagine...
What if we gave out prizes for self-driving car competitions, and AI competitions, evolving AI, or genetic engineering, green energy, or other cutting edge technologies, where would we be? These are the things that deserve our attention...
Not drones, superficially cool, but autonomous drones that can interact with their surroundings, with convincing AI - Human interfaces, so many deserving endeavors and the basest of them get their own grande-prix...bloody hell...