So Shawn Blanc wrote a thoughtful post today on stuff.
He starts his post responding to Dustin Curtis, where Dustin explains how people don’t buy computers because of their specs anymore. People select computers because of how they define them. Like cars.
Shawn “generally agrees” with Dustin, but explains how you really need to look beyond the physical “stuff” someone owns to really understand who they are and what they value.
This is true. People are more than their stuff. But it’s not just stuff. Stuff is but one facet of a person, but stuff can be a very important facet.
Shawn intimately understands how important stuff can be as the creator and curator of Tools & Toys, a site which describes itself as, “a collection of items for the pickiest of gadget geeks, software aficionados, snowboard junkies, music lovers, writers, coffee nuts, and all around collectors of fine paraphernalia.”
Shawn strikes me as the kind of guy who’s very selective with his purchases. Someone who might not have tons of amazing products lying around his home. Maybe just a few well-made, possibly expensive items he thought long and hard about before he bought because what he buys is going to stay with him for a long time. I can respect a man who spends his money thoughtfully.
The thing is, assholes can have great taste in stuff too. There’s lots of assholes carrying iPhones out there. There’s lots of assholes carrying Android phones too. This is why stuff and a person’s taste in it is but one facet that defines him or her. Who you are is a constellation of characteristics.
My wife loves our dog. Loves it to death. Every now and then, when she’s in the midst of smothering the little guy with kisses I like to ask her if someone offered her a million dollars for the dog, if she’d give it up and every time she says, “Never.”
So yes, I get it. In the face of what’s really important, the stuff fades away.
After our dog (and I think me), my wife loves fashion. She loves fashion and probably knows more about it than most people. Regardless, she’d kindly give up her Manolo Blahnik heels she bought for our wedding, or one of her Diane von Furstenberg dresses. The same way I’d give up my signed Shepard Fairey poster of Iggy Pop or my collection of Emigre magazines from the 80’s and 90’s.
But make no mistake. It’s never just stuff.

I agree with Alexis Madrigal over at the Atlantic, Tesla’s letterhead was way better than Edison’s.
Not to mention his stance on AC versus Edison’s on DC.

At some point in 2011, after Volkswagen announced the new Beetle, I was talking to my brother about how ugly it was and how it seemed like it would never reclaim the iconic status it held by the original. Everything that was innovative, unexpected and fresh about the original Beetle was not present in the 2011 version (or the New Beetle of 1997 for that matter).
Then he made the astute observation that the Mini Cooper has taken the place of the original Beetle as an automotive icon.
Now Volkswagen has introduced the E-Bugster Beetle Concept and it seems that not only is Volkswagen trying reclaim the iconic status of the Beetle, but doing it by aligning Beetle’s image more closely with the Mini Cooper.
Judge for yourself:
Mini Cooper

E-Bugster Beetle Concept

Enrique Allen on The Designer Fund:

For the last few years, I was teaching start-ups to think like designers. But I eventually realized that you can’t simply teach this stuff. If you don’t have a designer in your founding group, you can’t have a culture of design. You see the reasons why all the time: A consultant comes in to improve a design and when they leave, the transformation eventually dies.

This was my aha moment; it challenged whether I was making an impact. My solution? Do the opposite of what I’ve been doing. Rather than spending as much energy training nondesigners, I figured I’d help designers succeed as part of the founding DNA of startups, thus making great design a natural expression of their operations.

The Designer Fund via Co.Design

The Smarty iPad Cover by Yanko Design (via Techabob)

Ben Brooks responding to MG Siegler’s post on why he hates Android and how Google doesn’t put the customer first like Apple does:

The relationship Apple has with carriers is fascinating to me — Apple seems to outwardly despise them, while knowing that carriers are (currently) necessary for Apple.

I wonder if Mr. Brooks remembers when Steve Jobs was interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at D8 Conference in 2010 (around the 4-minute mark):

Mossberg:And another time you talked about, you weren’t going to do a phone because you had to sell them through, I think you called them, ‘The Five Orifices’ at the time.

Jobs: Four, I think.

Good times.

via Modern Mechanix

Mr. Lead Screw via Northcoast Zeitgeist

Today is has unexpectedly turned into an Influence day.
Influencer: BMW 1 Series, introduced 9 July 9 2010

Influenced: Chevy Code 130, announced 9 January 2012

via Motoriginal

Jim Dalrymple mocks up the home page for AcerCloud, free of charge.
Looks about right to me.
What a gentleman he was to do that.

Influencer: Apple iCloud, introduced 6 June 2011

Influenced: Acer AcerCloud, introduced 8 January 2012

Yes, Apple’s competitors continue to rip off their ideas, but I give them credit for understanding it’s not just about the devices, but the ecosystem in which they live.
But could Acer have made a shittier looking cloud? Jeez.
Images via The Verge

Starting off the week with some exhaust on two of the worst new car model names:
Volkswagen Beetle E-Bugster
Hyundai Veloster
Are the marketing people doing this to appeal to the hipsters? Do they think adding ster to the end of everything is the silver bullet to success?
News alert – it’s fucking lame.