DailyDirt: Cool Concept Designs

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Some people collect old cars that have a "classic" look to them, and a few people even collect old computers (not just because they want a backup supply of hardware that can read floppy disks). If you're one of these folks who like to reminisce about how clunky the Palm Pilot used to be -- or debate about how much better it was compared to an Apple Newton, check out a few of these links on old Apple products.

• Designers sometimes like to make mockups of re-imagined iconic products, and Apple's original Mac has been re-designed by Curved Labs as a cute little desktop-tablet device. It's not exactly practical because no one would want to use such a tiny screen on a desktop anymore, but it's a nice homage to Apple's (now obsolete) hardware. [url]
• Apple had a concept for a product called Knowledge Navigator in 1987 that wasn't too far off from Siri and the iPhone/iPad. The promo video mentioned a date in 2011, and Siri was actually introduced in that year. [url]
• The original Apple watch was actually just a regular wristwatch given away to promote Mac OS 7.5 in 1995. You can still buy one of these timepieces -- and wear one on one wrist and put a new Apple watch on the other wrist (once Apple starts shipping them). And then, you'll be able to tell the time even after the battery on the Apple Watch dies after 2 hours of constant use. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: apple watch, computers, concept, cool, design, gadgets, knowledge navigator, mockup, siri
Companies: apple, palm

Apple Publishes Petulant Non-Apology Apology To Samsung

from the you-don't-say dept

As a UK court recently ruled, Apple's UK website is required to post a notice about the court ruling that Samsung didn't copy Apple's design with its devices. Apple has now complied with a tiny link in the page footer: The notice itself is amusing in its somewhat passive aggressive tone. It first notes the court ruling, and then explains:

In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:

What kind of important points? Well, all the ones about how Apple's products are awesome, while Samsung's... not so much.

"The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design."

"The informed user's overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool."

And then... it reminds you that other countries have ruled completely otherwise:

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.

In other words, it's the petulant Apple "complying" with the UK judge, while at the same time making sure to add a "but, but, but... the judge is really wrong -- other than the part where he likes our design."

Filed Under: apology, cool, uk
Companies: apple, samsung