Category Archives: Physical

Fast food trash bin too posh for plates

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 21 September, 2009
Look, jerk. I’m made of brushed steel. I have bevels. Ground smooth, not a rough edge on me. My refinement is as plain as day. I was designed by a very famous firm in the Hoboken region of New Jersey, and it shows. Not only do I look fabulous, but I’ve got the goods on the [...]
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13 year-old uses Walkman for a week, doesn’t know tape has second side

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 20 September, 2009
An interesting piece from BBC news begins, “When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years ago this week, it started a revolution in portable music. But how does it compare with its digital successors? The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week.” It took me three days to [...]
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Coffee machine apparently unsure user really wants coffee

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 28 June, 2009
Here’s a funny post from F My Life: Today, at the bank, I went to get some coffee from their machine. I gave it my money and pressed the buttons but nothing was happening. After banging on the machine for ten minutes and calling a teller over, a little boy reached up on his tippy toes [...]
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Giant UPCs Make For Easy Supermarket Checkout

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 28 August, 2008
This just in: the bigger a target is, the easier it is to hit. Hats off to whoever designed this box for Trader Joe’s! I’m sure it speeds things up for both their cashiers and customers by providing a huge target for the price scanners. This is a perfect use of otherwise-wasted space. I’m curious to [...]
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Ambigous Spin Cycle Selector Switch

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 7 April, 2008
This is the spin cycle selector knob on a Frigidaire Gallery washing machine. I’m not sure what this means: does “fast” spin the clothes faster and remove more water, or does it spin them at the same speed for less time, making it finish faster? These two possible interpretations are opposites in terms of the effect [...]
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iPhone Camera & Keyboard

By Nick Morrisson | Published: 28 March, 2008
I just got an iPhone. This thing is pure user experience: it doesn’t let you do anything you couldn’t already do with other mobile phones before (except being able to interact with voicemail messages individually, which is great), but it makes using those features easy, intuitive, and fun, which in my opinion is why people [...]
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