The ‘DP[r]M’ Archive
Outside the box
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This week the reality of what I do on a day to day basis filled up my living room. 10 boxes of 2011 year samples fresh off the plane from Taiwan. All new 10 speed drive-trains from Shimano, wheels from Easton, and DTSwiss and more stuff than I can poke a large stick at. And no, you can’t have any of it, because 1. it’s not mine and 2. it probably is the only representation of these parts in the country. Ultimately though, for anyone into bikes, this is really like a bit of a fantasy follow up from being at the Taipei Cycle Show back in March and I know just how lucky I am to be in this position.
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Hands on is good…
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A while back I read “Shop Class As Soul Craft: An inquiry into the value of work”, the premise of which revolved around the idea that the intrinsic value, intelligence and skills gained through the ‘manual trades’ is rapidly vanishing, being replaced with the false notion that sitting at a desk, behind a computer is actually advancement; despite the fact that much of the so called ‘white collar’ jobs are really just a modern version of unskilled factory work.
While I didn’t quite finish the book – the last few chapters began to repeat themselves a little, it raised some very interesting points and in terms of my day to day undertakings, makes me think about Australia’s seemingly demented push for everyone and their dog to go to university and become, for many, the equivalent of assembly line keyboard pushers.
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Tags: professional, skills, trades, work
A question of imagination
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Mr Seymour raises some very interesting points and there are things I have touched on in my more feeble way over the years of blogging here. I feel and to a large degree, have no doubt that imagination in the 21st Century would have to be at an all time low. Certainly in the things I enjoy, look at and am inspired by, I see a increasing degree of ‘sameness’. As Seymour touches on in this snippet, the technology is now outstripping the imagination of those using it. As a designer and a hack ‘creative’, I find this to be a sombering thought.
In this wee bit he touches on applications that suck, email being one. He could not be more right and for the most part, even the best email app blows incredible sized chunks when it comes to being an inspiring piece of design. In a way this little bit has inspired me to mention a few apps I have moved over to on the Mac quite recently that seem to try and tackle this issue of imagination lagging behind technology and offers a nice little addition to that bit I did on my fave iPod Touch apps.
If you run a PC, I’m sorry this post is not for you. I’ll let you continue on in your pseudo Mac OS environment called Windows… 8? 
If you run a Mac, then I don’t have to tell you that you do so because the interface is just so easy. There’s no fuss you can use it as simply or as complexly as you want to. I have found over the past year as I have become busier and busier, I am tapping into more and more of the features built into the Mac OS that makes my time spent in front of it simpler. What amazes me though is how so many applications continue on in their old school ways and while the base OS continues to rocket ahead, the applications that run on it somehow lag behind.
Recently, as some of the applications I have been using for years have started to need to be upgraded, I have been looking for alternative options that do the same thing but in a more thought out and cleaner manner. These have rapidly become some of my fave applications on the Mac because using them is so seamless…
If you do a lot of web stuff you will have your fave editor. Many use Dreamweaver as I used to for many years, but simply put it’s stuck in the stone age. Coda is a ‘holistic’ editor for the Mac that does everything you want and then a whole lot more – in one window. Once set up a ‘site’, you can create, edit and upload/download the code of any site you manage in….. one single window pane. It’s so easy you have to ask yourself why can’t everything be this smooth? There’s all sorts of built in nice stuff too, such as code guides
Perhaps my fave little feature of Coda is the site selection window that actually shows you the live home page of each site you manage. This feature seems trivial but when you have a lot of sites and want to find one without trolling through a long list, this live time visual menu is so very sweet.
If you just need an ftp program to upload and download from servers, the crew at Panic also make ‘Transmit’. Like Coda it’s Mac based and takes full advantage of the OSX native architecture. At its base is a clean and simple ftp program but the extras, such as creating ‘hot discs’ of any site (or directory within that sit on your desktop and menu bar site access, put it so far ahead in terms of ease of use of any ftp application I have used to date it’s not funny.
Transmit’s packed with features and I’m still learning what it can do.
I did a write up of Pixelmator here, after I first started using it. I still stand by what I said and Pixelmator is working its way through replacing all of my everyday imaging work.
Nope, don’t use it. That will soon end though as I am jacked of anything Microsoft. We have a copy on another machine but I have not fondled it properly yet. Regardless, from initial impressions it works a whole lot better than anything Mr. Gates’ crew have been able to come up with in terms of being actually good to use. That’s enough of a reason right there.
The economy of crap
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I have to say I am a prudent shopper…. I just don’t buy stuff! Seriously though, I like to take the time to research what I buy and make sure that I am buying from an informed standpoint. So the in the back of my mind, a little “I told you so” keeps on playing on infinite loop.
Recently we had the very odd experience of having to spend money. Something about receiving gift vouchers last Christmas, a lot of them, and then something about the retailer in question going tits up. Through a bit of persistence I managed to cash in the vouchers on a 12th hour situation, so ended up spending a Saturday morning walking through a store trying to find things to buy. It was very strange indeed.
So we ended up with a new TV, which we didn’t need but actually really like now, as well as a coffee machine and bean grinder. After going around and around, those were the only three things we could think of spending the ‘money’ on and it’s the last two choices that are the source of some angst.
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Tags: coffee machine, consumer products
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture: James Dyson circa 2004
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I was clearing out some old files and found this hidden amongst an old archive for the original Mag100. It’s well worth reading as it still has much relevancy today…
James Dyson, yes, the same name behind the vacuum cleaner, is a person that in one way or the other we around here respect for not only what he has done but also what he believes in.
In the BBC’s 2004 ‘Richard Dimbleby Lecture’, Dyson delivered a speech that touches on many things that not only affect the UK but any Western country but more so designers working within these countries. Certainly reading through it, he could have been delivering a lecture to an Australian audience.
As a small, dedicated company that works hard at designing and making products that break ground in one form or another, reading this lecture touches deeply on many of our own thoughts and though some of it might be pushing it, the body of what Dyson is saying has a powerful message.
Tags: James Dyson