links for 2008-07-29

Infrastructure and Modernity: Paul N Edwards [PDF]
“…infrastructures simultaneously shape and are shaped by — in other words, co-construct — the condition of modernity… To be modern is to live within and by means of infrastructures, and therefore to inhabit, uneasily, the intersection of these mul
(tags: architecture defaults infrastructure society technology)

Unnatural Selections – New York Times
Barry [...]

links for 2008-07-15

Salon.com Technology | Ask the pilot
“Are guards not answerable to those they’re supposedly protecting, and who are paying their salaries? How about a sign that cuts to the chase: “Don’t question us, just do as you’re told.””
(tags: airline airports control bureaucracy security ridiculous arbitrary TSA)

Seth’s Blog: Scarcity
“Waiting in line is a very old-school way of [...]

links for 2008-07-08

SABRE – Forums – The naffest traffic calming scheme in the country?
The upside-down signs are inexcusable but the painted ‘chicanes’ are an interesting feature – much like ‘fake’ (paint-only) speed humps.
(tags: spatial trafficcalming roads design driving painted chicanes signage)

links for 2008-07-05

BBC NEWS | Business | Pringles ‘are not potato crisps’
“The manufacturer had insisted that their best-selling product was not similar to potato crisps, because of their…’regular shape’ which ‘is not found in nature’.” Auric Goldfingeresque phrasing!
(tags: Goldfinger JamesBond Pringles Procter&Gamble tax)

links for 2008-07-04

RepRap – The Guardian
“[Adrian Bowyer] doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in court trying to prevent people from doing with the machine the one thing it was designed to do. “You are brought to the point where you have to say ‘this is a self-replicating machine, the onl
(tags: reprap fab selfreplication copying [...]

links for 2008-07-03

BBC NEWS | Technology | Letters go to music file-sharers
“We believe that the idea that 95% of content on the net is free is not sustainable. We don’t believe that society can allow the free consumption of content to persist.” The BPI’s chief executive. He doesn’t really understand the world he lives in, does he?
(tags: [...]

links for 2008-06-27

Vox Popoli: The importance of condescension
Amazing stylised rant about ‘other people’s incompetence’ interacting with a ticket machine in the Paris Metro…
(tags: rant usability interaction interactiondesign interface ticketmachine Paris design)

TDWTF Forums – The importance of condescension
…inspiring this wonderful riposte. I have some sympathy with both points of view, but fundamentally, I’d rather design a system that [...]

links for 2008-06-24

BBC – Mark Easton – Nudge
Some interesting readers’ comments, many fundamentally opposed to the idea of ‘nudges’, at least in the government-led way suggested by the article.
(tags: nudge BBC behaviour libertarianpaternalism)

links for 2008-06-23

Tomy’s new piggy bank rewards savings with in-built RPG – Boing Boing Gadgets
Persuasive games? “Every coin you pump into the bank is translated into gold, which can be used to buy weapons, items and armour for your character.”
(tags: persuasion persuasivetechnology games saving money)

Tomorrow Museum
“A collection of interesting ideas curated by Joanne McNeil and Jerry Brito.” [...]

links for 2008-06-12

Rhizome – Prison Inspection
“Proof of the jail cell’s status as unspoken spectacle and insight into the architect’s ethical and personal relationship to the places they create.” Thanks to Eugene McHugh for the link.
(tags: prison panopticon foucault architecture intent)

Good Experience: Deception considered helpful
“I often think of “good experience” as being straightforward, honest, forthright, and so on. [...]