Anti-teenager sound weapon in Wales

Howard Stapleton with the sound weapon
Boing Boing and MAKE note a New York Times story about the Mosquito, a speaker unit produced by Compound Security which produces a high frequency sound (less audible to older people) in order to drive away teenagers hanging around in front of shops.

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Self-enforcing speed limits, and control through deterioration

Interesting discussion at the SABRE roads forum on self-enforcing speed limits in the UK—current regulations mean that if a 20 mph zone can be created through a ’self-enforcing’ architecture of control (i.e. traffic calming) then it doesn’t legally need any signs to remind drivers, other than at the entrance to the zone.

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Motor insurance ‘black boxes’

Norwich Union Black Box

Last month, Norwich Union (one of the UK’s largest insurers) opened up its ‘black box’-based car insurance policy (see here) to a wider range of drivers, with a lot of publicity.

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Welcome : About this site

Audi A2 : The user cannot open the bonnet Bench designed to prevent lying down: 'redesigned to face contemporary urban realities' Some HP printers shut down the cartridges at a pre-determined date regardless of whether they are empty

Increasingly, many products are being designed with features that intentionally restrict the way the user can behave, or enforce certain modes of behaviour. The same intentions are also evident in the design of many systems and environments.

This site aims—with readers’ input—to examine and analyse the ideas and techniques of these architectures of control in design, through examples and anecdotes, and by keeping up-to-date with relevant developments. If you can suggest an example, please get in touch, or add a comment—all help is much appreciated.

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