In our first “wordcast” episode, Tom brings us the infamous term Luddite. Is there such a thing as a neo-Luddite? Tim hazily yet fondly recalls Neil Postman’s classic book Technopoly and its warnings against technological determinism. Is your life enhanced or hindered by technology? We all have choices. Finally, the Design Critique “house band” makes its debut.
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Tim and Tom review the originalApple iPod Shuffle. Tim explains Design Critique’s “longitudinal review” approach. After we praise the Shuffle’s strong design points, Tim rages against MP3 players’ tendency to insert gaps of silence between tracks that are seamless on compact disc. The righteous indignation continues as we discuss customer experience with regard to digital rights management. Is the music industry at war with its own customers? Hold onto your hats, folks…
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Tim and Tom debate the merits of the Sony Shower CD Radio, model ICF-CD73V. Topics include the difficulty of designing for a complex audience, and the need for buffers in electronics so they remember things like point last played on a CD, settings when batteries are changed, and a few seconds of buffer memory to cover bump-induced skips during playback.
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