Goodbye Hardware, Hello Groovyware

Computers used to be purely about their internal design with little thought given to appearance beyond the beige boxes they sat in.  After all, they were almost exclusively hidden away under geeks' desks.  Then slowly came a period of more innovative machines such as Psions and Palm Pilots which went by the uninspiring catch-all 'devices'.  But they were still clunky, unloved hardware.  However, as computers became a primary way to stay in touch and organise life, their corresponding social status gradually improved - along with their design values.  Today, we have a set of groovy machines which are as interesting on the outside as they are on the inside.  The obvious star is the iPhone but a broader group of innovative machines that give people access to their online lives is steaming ahead.  For example, there's Microsoft's remarkable table-top Surface computer, Google's G1 phone, Sony's Rolly, TV devices such as The Slingbox and Apple's TV, networked gaming machines such as Nintendo's Wii, Nokia N-Gage, and Playstation Portable - to name but a few.  All high-design machines that allow people to connect to each other through funky interfaces that go beyond the keyboard.  And as the network improves, particularly wi-fi, open-source spreads and Moore's Law powers on, the innovation and range of connected devices looks set to continue.  In short, goodbye hardware, hello groovyware.  How long before a brand commissions its own special networked device to hand out to consumers I wonder?

Comments

[Rory MacDonald]

Ahh, the old Palm Pilot. One of the best bits of inadvertent branding ever. An old IT journo I knew used to use the term "Palm Pilot" to describe the type of corporate, well, 'Palm Pilot', that used them.

And the Sony Rolly, that has to be the most pointless thing I have seen in a long, long time. I really want one. It is like the C21 version of those dancing flowers with the sunglasses that were all the rage in the 80's.

As for well designed computers, it baffles me how Apple can have a monopoly on elegant hardware. I would dearly love to buy something else, but I honestly cannot find anything that looks as nice. Anyone with notebook suggestions who would like to prove me wrong, I would be delighted.

Lenovo produced a prototype notebook called the Yoga a few years back: http://tinyurl.com/57rzzx
But all that ever came to light was a feebly pale imitation in the form of the thinkpad reserve edition.

I saw a couple of Yogie (assuming that is the plural) at the China Design Now expo at the V&A earlier this year. They were stunning. So if they can design this type of stuff, why do Lenovo continue to make such pig-ugly machines?

[James Cherkoff]

It's not difficult to see how clever, good looking networking devices will explode in coming years as wi-fi goes bonkers and every object can be connected. Personalised devices for every occasion will flourish, including perhaps brand objects that people will use, maybe in exchange for data about their lives. The hardware thread has certainly become more interesting in the last 12 months...