Archive for October, 2007
Industrial Design
I just received my first Apple Wireless Keyboard, and once again I am amazed at Apple’s mastery of the art of industrial design. This little piece of anodized aluminum is a thing of beauty, from the clean one-piece design (extruded profile), to the machined stainless steel cap for the battery compartment, and to the microscopic laser-drilled holes that make a green LED appear out of nowhere when the device is turned on. Absolutely, positively amazing. [Continue…]
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Dock Redux
Now that we have dramatically simplified our design for the Redux Model 1 tablet, time has come to focus on its accessories. Developing the concept for a magnetic keyboard was fun, but it’s not really practical, and there is no way we could bring that to market by September next year. Beside, we’re not convinced that blending the dock and the keyboard into a single accessory is that good of an idea anyway. Instead, we have decided to take a modular approach, and to develop a standalone dock instead, complemented by off the shelf matching accessories, such as Apple’s iPod Touch, Wireless Keyboard, and Bluetooth Headset. [Continue…]
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Revision Four
Over the past two weeks, we added many features to our marketing requirements for the Redux Model 1. This gave us a sense for what could be done. Then, we ruthlessly trimmed the feature set down, which allowed us to discover what should be done. Following this process, we researched which alternative chipsets could best support our requirements, and stumbled upon Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon. From the very little information currently available, it looks like we found a perfect match, assuming that we could source the necessary components, and follow an extremely aggressive development schedule. [Continue…]
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Who Needs Connectors?
Now that we got rid of all buttons, we’re taking a hard look at the connectors and slots offered by the Redux Model 1, trying to limit their number to the bare minimum, or to get rid of them altogether. This is a pretty radical approach, but our device is a pretty radical one anyway, so why not? [Continue…]
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Who Needs Buttons?
Yesterday, we reviewed some questions regarding the design of the Redux Model 1, including how many buttons we wanted to offer. Compared to Apple’s iPhone, we went from 4 to 2, then from 2 to 1. Today, we’re questioning whether we need any buttons at all. In fact, we’re convinced that we do not, and the Redux Model 1 might very well become the first personal computing device designed with no buttons. [Continue…]
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Bill of Materials and Open Questions
At Monolab, the company organizing the Office 2.0 Conference, we like to eat our own dog food and put our money where our mouth is. For this reason, the first two editions of the conference were organized using Office 2.0 tools only (more on our setup there). We will do the same for the third edition, but we would like to raise the bar a bit too. Quite a bit in fact, so much so that we have decided to build the Redux Model 1 using the very same tools. That should make for an interesting challenge and a good learning experience, which we will keep documenting on this blog. [Continue…]
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Computer on Module
The development of the Redux Model 1 is switching to overdrive. Yesterday, we found a partner for the industrial design and the multi-touch interface. Today, we identified one for the Computer on Module, which is the most complex part of the overall project. Here is what it will look like. [Continue…]
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Revision Three
The original idea for the Redux Model 1 Mobile Internet Device (MID) was announced less than a month ago. The first week was spent working on the overall form factor. The second week brought a first design candidate based on the OpenMoko platform. The third week lead to a second design architected around the OLPC XO. For the fourth week of work, we have a third revision ready, and this one looks very much like a winner. Not only did we identify most components for the main logic board, but we also found a suitable reference industrial design to house them. Best of all, we might even have a way to improve upon the iPhone’s already amazing design, by bringing the first Multi-Touch/Dual-Force device to market. Not bad, not bad at all… [Continue…]
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Software and Services
What can be learned from Apple’s iPhone is that what makes a device successful is not just the quality of its hardware, but the integration of hardware, software, and online services into an extraordinary user experience. The iPhone’s Visual Voicemail is a perfect example for such an integration. The same thinking process should be applied to the Redux Model 1’s design. Here are some ideas along these lines. [Continue…]
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Magnetic Keyboard
Now that the high-level design for the Redux Model 1 is nearing completion, we should focus our attention on the optional keyboard, or set of optional keyboards should I say, for we might build two of them, as indicated in this past article. [Continue…]
