Comments on: A Thought for an August Morning

By: Cheap Toilets

Cheap Toilets — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:26:25 +0000

Completely agree with your comments on this – thanks for taking the time to post.

By: david

david — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:21:59 +0000

check out the differences between the IPOD and the Zune
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine/10wwln-consumed-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=zune&st=cse&oref=slogin

By: Tom Osborn

Tom Osborn — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:28:00 +0000

Prof Douglas Holt (quoted in Judith Levine’s “Not Buying It”, paraphrased by me): It’s not really about status, but more about a process of open-ended self-creation and identity.

Ie, not social, but more self-centred. Not the appeal of recognition, but more personal. The appeal of the mechanical watch, because of what it “makes me”. Emphasis on “makes”. Emphasis on “me”. Maybe Freud and existentialism are making a revival… …tick, tick, tick…

Tom.

By: Jann Schwarz

Jann Schwarz — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:04:08 +0000

Isn’t it interesting how even popular iphone apps mimic analog things such as: a rotary phone dial, a snow globe, a lava lamp, a piece of wood to knock on for good luck, an abacus – the list goes on. And the whole Steampunk subculture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) is based on making new things look old – dialectic forces everywhere!

By: david

david — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:55:50 +0000

try the app for the rotary phone!!!!!! wild!!

By: Jann Schwarz

Jann Schwarz — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:31:21 +0000

Here’s something to replace the Swiss watch as the status symbol of the future: the $999 iPhone App…

http://valleywag.com/5033740/behold-the-99999-do+nothing-iphone-app-buy-it-because-you-can

By: Andreas Spielvogel

Andreas Spielvogel — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:58:08 +0000

I love my low technical “hand driven” watch. But watching out, I can see that glossy high-end brand watches everywhere. Of course, they don´t take that charisma and that spirit. Let´s say, it´s a different one. Let´s continue: Yesterday I saw the first electric motorbike, driven by “muscle power”. Looking like a high-tech endure-machine, but it´s just a bike. your own power, goin´up to 90km/h. perfect to drive the highways. but it´s just a bike, driven by muscle power. no gas needed, no co2-emissions, just a bike, driven by muscle power. cool, retro, hightech, low-high-tech.
http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_972149.html – have fun by watching that

By: Tom Osborn

Tom Osborn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:49:50 +0000

Well, the prestige brands versus commoditised timepieces. Post-Stoppard, the watch has been usurped by the mobile phone in a lot of cases, but the attraction of prestige still holds. Maybe the attraction of nostalgia as well. Blinking is in the now, but nostalgia is as long as anyone’s memory.

Trend watching is fascinating even in boring categories. Ever noticed the steady decline in supermarket aisles given to breakfast cereal? Must be 50% less in a decade. But where is the growth? More “health and beauty”, more “gourmet”, more product extensions, more soft drinks…

And more shopping trips with smaller baskets. Ie, simpler missions.

Online is like the simplest missions of all. One at a time, get the best price for the desired big purchase. In this country, online grocery shopping isn’t strong.

Tom.

PS: I have a Seiko Kinetic – which has an analogue face, a quartz movement, but a recharging mechanism that works like an old fashioned “automatic” watch. I feel a time schism on my wrist.

By: david sable

david sable — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:59:46 +0000

lets continue the thinking — high end glossy magazines still fill the racks at newstands; bicycles have made a comeback; organic..not hydroponic..veggies are the rage…radio — delivered over the web or via satellite is still radio and Batman rules the movie screens…what else??

By: Jann Schwarz

Jann Schwarz — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:18:43 +0000

A beautiful, inspiring and clever metaphor for the dialectic nature of the world we live in.

Dialectic = The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.

If the world is flat and rapidly globalizing, how come nationalism is alive and well and century-old analog tribes and instant digital ones (our social graphs) shape our identity? Without the cheap apples from China nobody would blog about the joys of eating local food…