iPhone 4 :: iNokia 4

ついに発表。やはり先月のリークの通り全く同じヤツですな。ごく平凡なデザインだが、そこがまた受けやすいとも言えるので「うれしい」と「がっかり」の狭間でものっすごく揺らいでいます。レビューはネットでもう炎上しているのでデザイン視点で見ていきたいと思います。

クオリティーはかなりのものらしいが、もってみないとなんとも言えませんな。スペックはAndroidと比べるとやはり多少劣っているがそれも予想範囲内で、必要な機能はついているのでそれほど問題は無いかと。多すぎてもどうせ全部使いこなせないだろう。先ほど言ったように、LG PRADAや、NOKIA等のデザインを思わせる「どっかで見た様な」フォルムだが、その脅威の薄さ（９．３ミリ）で印象はかなり変わるんだろう・・・あれほどのスペックを詰め込んで９．３ミリは新しい形のボッタクリとしか思えない程の薄さ。中国まがいの購入したら三分の一の機能しか入ってなかったぜ的な。現在のiPod Touchより少し厚いぐらいと思って下さい。しかしやっぱり形が気になる。全体的なフォルムの他、外見的なアセンブリも他社と似ているのでどうしても平凡に見えてしまう。アルミの部分はアンテナとバックボーン的なサポートの二重構造らしいが外見からは見えない。しかしネットを見る限り支持者はかなりのもので、デザイン的にもべた褒めである。何故に。何故にだ。少々無い頭をひねってみたところ、ブランドしかないと、当たり前の事を思いつく。大体の機能にブランド性のある説明があり、やはりあの憎たらしいリンゴにも魔法は秘めてあるのだろう。

そこで比べてみた。アップルのロゴをノキアとすり替えたらどうなるのか。

ちょっと日記的にひいきな意見をしますが・・・本音なので聞いて下さい。やはりノキアの方は買いたいと言う気持ちがないのはオレだけじゃないハズ！画面やUIの影響もあるけど、やはりブランドの影響が大きいのは確かだ・・・同じ画像なのにアップルの方が完成度高いという気持ちにさせてくれます。逆にノキアの方は大陸のコピーに近いものを感じる・・・ちょっと卑怯な比べ方ですけどね、アップルの製品にノキアを貼り付くなど、コピー製品に似て当たり前か・・あくまでもブランディングの力を見てほしかったが、半分失敗したっぽいｗ旨を分かってくれれば幸いですがｗ

でもやはり何事もイメージが大事ですな・・・

人間も全く同じ視点でとらえられるのでみなさんイメージには気をつけましょう。

iPhone 4.0 :: Real or Bull

Here's a photo from Gizmodo, a blog I check everyday for new geeky techs.

Usually I don't really trust any leaks until the gold announcement by Steve Jobs himself but it's getting pretty close, so here's my brief take on this.

Why it's real: The design approach was something I assumed Apple will take after the 3(2?)years of the same fat iPhone. Was hoping for more of an iPad approach with a aluminum body that wraps around the back with a slight curvature (I don't care if it interferes with the signal) and I'll explain why later. The internal components were from real Apple parts and the quality of the whole aesthetic and assembly is spot on "Apple" (according to Gizmodo). That's about it for me. Looking at pictures only.

Why it's bull: This is the fun part for designers. The first thing that caught my eyes were the seams. How on earth did that approve. Maybe it was a first shot product for test? If this is the real thing I hope they take away the seams in the final development. Those buttons on the side look like works from a freshman design student. WTF? They're on par with what Sony Ericsson does with their phones. Making it more flush and edgy (mentioned above) kinda puts the iPhone in the same 'meh' category with the likes of HTC and Nokia, even knock off iPhones from PRC. I was gonna jump on the 2 screws at the bottom but there are 2 in the old iPhones too so I'll just leave it alone. Most of all it's all about the senses....When an Apple product is announced I always get a high quality feeling that tickles my senses convincing me it's an Apple product (except the iPads existence, no offense on the aesthetics though). This one was kinda weak. Maybe it's the seams. It might be there for a reason we don't know about yet. Maybe it can slide off to finally change batteries?? Gizmodo pried it open and didn't say a word about it so I assume it's impossible. If it's got no use hopefully it is eliminated later.

Gizmodo's got a long explanation of why it's REAL. Check it out here with more photos and a video for a 360 spin.

5 :: Cobalt

ちょっとこのCMを観てほしい。


Wrigley's 5 Gum: Cobalt

５と言う新しいガムのCMだが・・・・
一体何を伝えたかったのか・・
結構金かけて「感覚」を誘う設定、果たしてどれだけの人にその「感覚」は伝わったのか・・・
このCM観て全くの無感覚な訳ですが、私だけじゃないと思います。

で数日前コンビニでウロウロしていたら中々ちからを入れたディスプレイで販売していたので思わず購入。何故か少しドキドキしながら口にしてみたら

全くの










宣伝どおりのCMに笑うしかなかったある日の午後である。

Apple :: iPad"革命"

友達に触発されて何かをブチマケタイ気分なので、なんかブチマケます。

↑最近のパクリ疑惑の件はもうブチマケ済みなので脳裏の奥をさらに検索してみたら、あらあったわ。ちょっと前話題になったiPadである。


iPad :: A magical and revolutionary product at a unbelievable price.

携帯、ゲーム機、ミュージックプレイヤーなどの商品が縮小する時代の中、こいつらなにを血迷ったのか、拡大しやがった。結構前から各社がネットブックをおしてるので、それに対抗する切り口と思っていいかもしれない。ただどこかが間違ってる気が・・・・「家庭で楽に使えるサイズ」・「薄くてカバンに入りやすいから携帯出来る」・「いつでもどこでもネットと繋がっている」を餌にしているが一体誰が群がってくるのかが分からない。まずこの三つのポイントを検証してみよう。

１．家庭で楽に使えるサイズ：：家にいるんだったら何故マックを使わないのか！画面はさらに大きいしタイピングもしやすい。iPadはどれをとっても劣っている。

２．薄いから携帯しやすい：：一体どこで使うのか。画面が大きい分他人にプライバシーをみられるのは必死。見たくなくても目に入ってしまうと言うとんだご迷惑。iTunesも入ってるから音楽聴けるだろうが、こんなでけぇの持ち歩いて音楽聴くかボケ！

３．いつでもとこでもオンライン：：普通に金とってる。安くない。いつでも解約出来るらしいが、解約するならiPad自体いらないんじゃ・・・

とマイナス点はいくらでもある。機能に至ってはFLASHもないのでネットがおもしろくない。ただ、一つだけまだ希望はあると思う。それはプレッシャー感知。タッチ・スクリーンにこれが加われば全く違う製品に生まれ変わる。あくまでもデザイナーの視点だが、もしプレッシャー感知あったら即買いだと思う。仕事が出来るからだ。いわゆるWACOMみたいなもので、デジタルスケッチパッドとして使える。WACOMの馬鹿げた価格よりかなり安く、しかもApple特有の「家庭機能」もついてるので文句なし。ADOBEも協力して専用ソフトを出せば飛ぶように売れるはず・・・・・現在無いが２代目を考慮した作戦かもしれない。ただ今ないのでマイナスに変わりなし！！

自分で切り上げたい所だがこの前あまりにもすばらしい画像を見つけたのでそれでしめます。この画像一つで↑↑の文章は不要になるが・・・・仕方ない。もうここまで読んでるし（笑）。






お見事

Flavors.me :: gl

Stayed at home a day coz of the ridiculous humidity in hk recently. I swear you could see clouds float pass you on the 2nd floor of McD's. So I was home stumbling on sites and ran across a blog introducing Flavor.Me, a site where you can easily create your own "profile website".


"Create your own website" prolly makes you wanna wave the flag instantly but what's so cool about Flavors.Me is that it'll only take 2 minutes, 5 tops if you're picky. Just register and they will take you along the rest of the process. Just type in information, choose your layout and colors and you're almost done. The result is a simple and elegant profile site for others to view and share.

It's basically a personal portal or online identity you can introduce to others to share things about yourself. Like a business card but only online with a lot more content about yourself.

You can add services like Flickr, Blogger and even Facebook (for all the FB lovers) and it will automatically integrate the contents into your Flavor.Me website. All the info is integrated into the site so the user doesn't have to leave the page.

Best to check it out yourself. Here's mine:

Flavors.me/gl

For the 'portfolio' section I just uploaded renderings to my Flickr account and used the service in this site. It automatically integrated everything to complete simplicity. Gonna polish the background with a better image later but I guess this will do for now. Looks best on wide screens(↑). Not sure how mine will turn up on 4:3 monitors but hopefully it won't crop out much....

Check if you have time or really need a portfolio website to introduce yourself to others.

Beautiful Things :: Beautiful Site

Friends of mine have put up a site to share beautiful things they've found on the web, with various categories for your liking.

Checkitout here:

We Love Beautiful Things

VQ1015 :: 結果

VQ1015を購入して一週間。色々使わせて頂いた結果こうなりました。

予想範囲内ってとこかな。ウェブでみた画像とさほど変わらない、なかなか感じのあるうつり。しかし難点もあり。

A:ベランダで撮った中距離の建物-この距離と光具合なら結構バランスがいい。◎
B:ちょっと暗い部屋-光がちょっと足りないとかなり暗く写る。×
C:ベランダで撮った香港島-光がちょっと強すぎると対応出来ないがこの一枚はギリギリセーフ（とする）。手持ちで撮る場合かなり安定してないとボヤける傾向あり△
D:地下鉄内の路面-地面において安定した状態でシャッターを押すとかなりきれいに撮れる。でもやっぱり白（光）がちょっと目立つかも。○

とまあ良いとこあれば悪いとこもあり。

でもスクリーンが無いので撮ったあとはすぐに確認出来ない。これがまたいいところで毎回楽しみに撮らせてます。普通のデジカメは撮ったあとすぐ確認出来るから楽しみが無いっていうか、無くなったというべきか。撮った写真を楽しみにする遊び心を思い出させるいいトイデジですわ。ユニークな上、２GBSDカード対応なのでかなりオススメ。

New Stuff :: VQ1015 Entry

不覚にも心を奪われた一品、トイデジのVQ１０１５。友達に紹介されてウェブで色々調べた結果、画像に独特の雰囲気が漂ってて面白そうだったので購入。通常の値段より安かったので即決だったり。サイズも名刺を半分に折ったぐらいでかなりちっちゃめ。


こいつSDカード使用で２GBまで。手持ちのSD全部２GB越えだったのでいまだに試し撮り出来ず。動画も撮れるけどこれは期待しない方がいいかも。
今日買いに行くので後日画像をアップする予定。


スライド式。閉めたらファインダーも隠れる。

Collection :: Abduction

When you work in this field, you get all sorts of sweet deals if you have the right resources. I happen to work in the Industrial Design field and through a few cobs the resource happens to have some hookups with nice deals for watches……..
Nah I have my cap on sideways. To put things straight, just got them through a friend. lol


Alessi :: Kaj :: Designed by Karim Rashid (Abducted - 50%)


Appetime :: Pips (Abducted - 100%)


Nike Timing (Abducted - 75%)

Been waiting for these for a month since I ordered them. It was such a good deal I couldn’t resist buying 10, which sums up to the equivalent price of buying 1 digital watch only. NICE.

Enjoyed the collection for about a day maybe.

Then more than half has been abducted, as usual. or2…

東京零九 :: Shopping

今回接客とビッグサイトの展示会目当てで上京。ついでに市場調査という事で色々回ってきた。銀座のＴｏｋｙｕＨａｎｄｓ、ロフト、秋葉原そしてなにより表参道にある数々のデザイン店。腐るほどおいてあるデザイン雑貨の中で唯一違うオーラを解き放っていたのがこの丸い奴。Ｙｕｅｎ’ｔｏのスピーカーでございます。


「なにこれ、かわいすぎだろ！」が第一印象。気づいたらもうレジに・・・


グリーンもいいけどついでにレッドの替え玉ゲット。


iPod Touchにも着せてみた。なかなかだ。

でも考えてみたらこれを公衆でぶっ放してたら結構迷惑（笑）。ハイキングか釣り行く時使ってみるか。

Ultimate Ears :: SuperFi 5

Been hella busy recently but since it's 090909, can't resist to post. A very big THX to the ladies 'n foes.

Got these extremely fun pair of cans last week.

Looks great. Sounds great. Been using these ever since. These cans really push the level of a single armature to the limits.

Thanks a lot guys!

A :: M

Got myself some new AM's (alain mikli) to replace my current A-Look. Been looking for a pair a long while now...The ones that cut it cost a liver so there weren't many choices and this one wasn't an actual choice as well, but I'll explain later.

The ones in A-Look are cheap but...cheap. Not sure how they pull it off. Every single frame in there's got a factor that just bugs. A nice frame but ridiculous stripes. Nice colors with an absurd frame. Nice frames AND colors but they just HAD to stamp a bigass Logo on the side.

Mikli's got some nice frames and colors but most can be a bit too exaggerated in style. ....And Price. Some plastic frames can go up to 900USD (88,000円) or 490USD (48,000円) like this one...(frame only). I ain't in hell gonna pay that much for a plastic frame glued with metal pins, but out of a generous route (and limited choice) I was able to land this one with 9/10's of the pie cut out of the plate. The style is not exactly me but damn I can't ask for more.

MBP :: 13

Been looking for an alternative ever since my Vaio refused to turn on. Been using her for a good 4 years though, so I guess it's time for a rotation?

Then comes WWDC'09 at a timing that's just signaling the hell out of me to get one of these chumps. So I decided to check it out. This is the 2nd cycle for the macbook pro's (upgrade announcement since the 1st launch) and like the usual Apple routine it's better bang for money (which I think they screw over consumers). My butt cheeks were already itching from the offer, then the bulb told me my brother happens to be a university student so I can get a discount, with a free iPod.

That sealed the deal.



Not sure what the fuss was about regarding the glossy screen. It doesn't reflect at all when the screen is on. It reflects like a mirror when it's off but why the hell would you stare at a blank friggin screen? The gloss and black frame actually pops the color out really well and I was really surprised with the display quality. I haven't tried it outside yet so my fingers are still crossed, but so far so good.


And here's the free iPod. Chose a red nano coz I have a touch already and it's bound to land on the ladies hand. This thing's so thin you can slice cheese with it.

We'll see how long the MBP lasts with my bro's handling.

Check out the deal here.

Auto.Pilot :: 着.陸.

っしゃぁ亜あぁァア来たぁ～～！

このプロジェクトに関わってから約一年・・・３D段階でデザインしてた時からすでに欲しくてディテールを重ねながらずっと待ってた一品。CGの模型を回しながら思ってたのです、「これ製品化したらかっけぇえだろうな」って。そして数ヶ月前から生産が始まり、今週やっとクライアントからサンプルが届いたのです。

この造り、完成度。
改良に改良を重ねて作り上げたデザインなので愛着も半端ないです。しばらくはこの時計をつけてるんだろうなオレ・・・防水２００Mだけど、オレには出来ない・・



現在色も５色あって豊富。黒ｘ白か黒ｘオレンジでかなり迷ったんだが、最後は黒ｘオレンジのミステリアスなステルス感にやられた。画像にのってるゴールドもかなりかっこいいんだけど・・・アジアン・ボーイにはちょっと合わない・・・黒人かインド人にはハンパなく似合うだろうな・・・・

今年の前半にはShopNBCのビデオショッピングでクライアントの社長が自ら解説して注文が出来る模様。すでに雑誌にも取り上げられてるので期待していいのかも。詳細が明らかになったら画像やディテール、購入先をもっと乗せる予定です。もしよかったらどうぞ！

iPod Touch 2G :: 09-14-08 Unboxing

Thought I'd finally let my Shuffle go and try one of these. Had to think a while coz I hate Steve Jobs I don't trust Apple products much. After playing around with it for a month, I have to say the shuffle is much more convenient in controlling your playlist on the go. But the media you can stuff into the iPod Touch is quite amazing and that alone covers up for the messy music controls. Especially the new 2.1 software update.



The clear hard plastic packaging. The first generation use to come in a elegant paper box but Apple got bashed for it so they changed it to a way smaller plastic packaging. It's still a smart construction. Don't know how to explain you'll have to see for yourself.


Earphones. USB Connector. Dock part. Silk cloth. Manual. and the iPod mounted on a plastic holder.



Instead of a plain transparent sheet, the 2G comes with graphics. Which means I must peel off the sheet to use it before I buy any film protection for it. Honestly the glass is scratch proof and hard enough so protection is not necessary. It's just the chrome part. You can put a scratch on the surface by just glaring at it.

And yea it's insanely thin.

Lamy :: 深澤直人

先日Log-Onでみかけて金縛りに・・・・
カウンターへ直行してゲッツ。
Lamy x 深澤直人氏のコラボで出来たnoto。完成度がハンパない・・・
さすがメイド・イン・ドイツ。さすが深澤直人氏！
製作に約２年かかったそうです。


あまりにも気に入って写真を撮れずにいられなかったので早速何枚かアップしました。
ほかにも何色かあるので気になる方はこちらへ。自分は迷わずブルーでした。

Philippe Starck :: Why Design?

Philippe Starck talks about "why design" with a deep personal perspective and heavy accent. You can find the transcript on the website but I recommend you listen to it again. This guy's humorous.

New Year :: New Look

Felt like I just started 07 and it ended.

08.

To feel the reality I'm not even facing now, I changed the look a bit.

A few days late but NVM.

Happy New Years!
あけおめぇ～ッス

Starck Eyes x Alain Mikli :: Alux

Been craving for these for a while now. The joint is wired so it can be rotated like a ball joint and the inner surface of the frame is rubber for comfortable fitting.

US$900......I can go to Tokyo again with these.

Tokyo Trip 2007 :: Day ④

The day I've been looking forward to. We went to 築地(Tsukiji) already on the 2nd day for Curry Udon but this times for sushi. Wanted to get up earlier to check out the market but again, it's too hard to get off that bed.


@ 寿司大 (Sushi Dai) :: Got lost there a bit late (9am) so we had to line for about an hour. But it was well worth the wait. ↓


@ the counter :: they serve instant made sushi right on the table. There's no dish, the whole table is. We ordered the "We'll let you decide" course. They serve whatever they got best from the market on that day so the menu may be different another day.
I recommend clicking on the images for a closer look. lol
↓ What we had in order.














and a big ass oyster to end the meal.


People outside waiting were peaking in staring at us so we decided to take off and check out the market.....and...we couldn't resist...


After a satisfying breakfast(?) we went to 六本木ヒルズ(Roppongi Hills). Took a walk around to analyze the area damn this place is huge.....so we took a quick break afterwards.

Took another walk around and noticed it was lunch time. So...we had lunch.






Menu :: Soups from Soup Stock Tokyo / Pumpkin Fry / Cheese Croquette / Cutlet Sandwich

Energy charged. Time for the long walk. We basically searched every part of Roppongi Hills to find the designs laying around. Some were interesting, including the infamous Maman, symbol of Roppongi Hills.


Maman :: Louise Bourgeois


Roboroborobo (robo-en) :: Choi Jeong Hwa (L)
Where Did This Big Stone Come From? :: Katsuhiko Hibino (R)


Park Bench :: Jasper Morrison


Arch :: Andrea Branzi


Ripples :: Toyo Ito


sKape :: Karim Rashid


Evergreen? :: Ron Arad


Annas Stenar :: Thomas Sandells


Counter Void :: Tatsuo Miyajima



Chair disappears in the rain :: Tokujin Yoshioka


day-tripper :: Droog Design /Jurgen Bey with Christian Oppewal and Silvin v.d. Velden

All in all it was very cool. It was interesting to see the designs aging. Ron Arad's Evergreen? is good example of clever use of product aging. There were no vines when it was first built.


R-Burger :: another break


Made way to 新宿(Shinjuku) in the evening. Took a walk in Tokyu Hands. You can get almost anything here. Toys, bags, undies, toothbrush, stationery, compass, push up counter, suitcases, pug calendar, anything.




Had Soba for dinner. Ordered 天玉そば(Tendama Soba). The blokes there were eating really fast so we followed. I think I finished it in 5 minutes. Then we took a stroll in 歌舞伎町(kabukicho) and no nothing happened.



finally...this ain't mine. I had a つくね棒(Tsukune Bou)...