Tag / hardware
Attachment theory: the humble safety pin joins Hermès’ hall of fame
‘Efficiency, simplicity, history. The safety pin seemed a perfect symbol to turn into an Hermès object. I wanted to give it a new life,’ says Pierre Hardy, artistic director of the house’s haute bijouterie since it launched in 2010.This year, the designer has reimagined the ubiquitous domestic device as precious adornment, establishing it as Hermès’ new fine jewellery symbol.
Beguiled by the pin’s shape – ‘the result of an absolute function, minimal technology, without any concern for aesthetic’ – Hardy was also attracted to its conflicted symbolism: ‘Firstly, childhood, motherly love, protection, “safety” pin. Secondly, and to the contrary, the provocative symbol of the punk movement – an anti-decorative tool that became the sign of rejection of society.’
The designer’s somewhat sociopolitical pin has a deliberately sensual form. ‘I tried to make it more feminine, smoothing the surface and introducing more fluidity in the lines, more tension in the drawing,’ he says. Soft tangles o..
A Guide To Virtual Reality For Web Developers
Recently, there has been a proliferation of virtual reality (VR) web browsers and VR capabilities added to traditional browsers. In this article, we’ll look at the state of browsers in VR and the state of VR on the web via the WebVR APIs.
The web community has experimented with VR before, with VRML, but now WebVR takes a new approach to VR, one more suited to the modern web. We've accelerated 3D on the web since 2011 with the release of WebGL. Now the web can handle VR thanks to new web APIs that take advantage of VR hardware using WebGL.
The post A Guide To Virtual Reality For Web Developers appeared first on Smashing Magazine.
Do Your Customers Actually Want a “Smart” Version of Your Product?
There’s been a gold rush happening in technology these last few years, focused on the Internet of Things, or IoT. It’s even frequently been referred to as “the next Industrial Revolution.” The stampede to connect anything and everything in the home to a mobile app – a stampede that I’d argue has been driven by grossly inflated numbers and speculation – has the potential to lure companies into unfamiliar territory, with no guarantee of a safe or profitable return. I know because I’ve been there.
The company I lead, Big Ass Solutions, manufactures and sells fans, lights, and controls for commercial and residential use. Our products work with apps or without apps. And while we’ve found customers for IoT connectivity, the number of our customers who value the new technology has been much lower than industry projections led us to believe.
There are some useful lessons here for other manufacturers, especially those who haven’t yet “connected” and might be concerned they’ve missed the boat...
Advanced Analytics Are Crucial to Digital Transformation – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM DXC TECHNOLOGY
Organizations that thrive on change use data and analytics as a competitive asset. They adapt quickly and predict trends by continuously curating and analyzing data and developing insights that drive new value. These organizations have a high “analytics IQ,” and they will be the disruptors, not the disrupted, in the digital revolution.
Those that successfully harvest vast troves of data can improve productivity; make faster and more accurate decisions; reduce costs; increase competitive advantage; discover new business models and innovations; and better engage customers, employees, and partners.
IT has long played a critical role in helping organizations deliver better products and services, improve operations, better manage risks, and develop new business models to stay relevant. That’s still true. Core technologies such as cloud, mobility, modern applications, and networks continue to evolve. But IT’s impact on the enterprise is raised to a whole new level when an organization intr..
Australia’s Experiment in Restraining Executive Bonuses
Dave Wheeler for HBR The idea of incentivizing CEOs and senior executives seems reasonable to most people. Yet the large executive bonus is a relatively recent phenomenon. Executive pay grew more slowly than the average worker’s income during the 50s, 60s and part of the 70s. It was in the 1980s that the ratio of CEO to average-worker pay grew dramatically. It “exploded” in the 1990s. The astronomical rates of CEO fixed pay and bonuses that we are so familiar with today are only about 20 years old.
Some researchers have argued that they’re a failed experiment. At the organizational level, they can decrease morale and fuel cynicism, especially if CEO pay climbs while average wages stall or grow more slowly, as they have in countries like the U.S., UK, and Australia. Growing inequality has contributed to the decline in several social phenomena, including mental health, and has been cited as a threat to democracy itself.
Is it now time to redesign the experiment? If so, how? One approac..