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 Finally
got a look at an iPod
Nano in the Apple Store
in the Galleria Mall in Cambridge. Surprised at how tiny it actually
is, in real life. Way too small, in fact, for a lifestyle as chaotic
and broad brush as the Dowbrigade’s.
Although the drive to miniaturization sometimes seems
inevitable and unstoppable, technologists and interface designers have
for some time recognized that in every product category lifecycle there
is a point of diminishing returns, so to speak, in diminishing dimensions.
This affects a wide variety of devices, from cell phones, to cameras,
to music players and computers.
The point of diminishing returns is different for
every device and every user. It depends on user’s finger size,
manual dexterity, visual acuity, the complexity of the device and the
complexity of its interface. In the case of the Dowbrigade, there
is one more factor – the shirt pocket slippage test.
Over the years, we have had many bad experiences related
to our shirt pockets. In our personal world of pockets, the shirt
pocket is the Bermuda Triangle of storage. A great number of these experiences
also involved washing machines. Entire editions of the Dowbrigade wardrobe
have been permanently tinted pink or purple thanks to pens left in said
shirt pockets. Two telephones, a calculator, and a pen flashlight have
similarly taken the final plunge. Not to mention several small
bags of herbal remedies, assorted capsules and tablets, and a variety
of dry white powders.
So now, when we are swept away by techno-lust, we always
run prospective purchases through the shirt-pocket laundry test: Arriving
home, late at night, in the dark, tired and hungry and moderately intoxicated,
could you possibly slough off your shirt without noticing the device
in the shirt pocket? If the answer is yes it is almost a mathematical
certainty that sooner or later it will come to pass. The Nano absolutely
fails this test. Perhaps not impossibly small, but impractically so.
The test is not limited to the laundry room dangers. For
anyone who carries their devices around on their body at all times, especially
if they travel, the danger of dropping, forgetting or having your devices
stolen is ever present. If the device does not have sufficient
size or weight to immediately notice when that size or weight is absent,
it WILL be lost, probably sooner rather than later. No, no Nano.
On the other hand, we believe we have selected our next
digital camera. The previous model, an HP 310, with 3.1 megapixels,
has done yeoman work over the past 3 years, recording dozens of classes,
several international road trips, and news events which eventually reached
the Dowbrigade News, but it is time to retool on the digital photography
front. For one thing, the flash in the old 310 no longer works, rendering it a daylight-only
camera, and for another it is so impossibly clunky and bulky, especially
when compared to the credit-card-sized marvels we have been seeing lately
in the pockets (often shirt pockets) of our Japanese and Korean students that we have twice now kept it in our pocket (pants, not shirt) out of techno-shame and embarassment.
 In
fact, these new credit card cameras fail the shirt-pocket laundry test. However,
today at the camera store we saw the Nikon
Coolpix 790. With 7 megapixels, it has the power to produce publication-ready
photos today’s citizen journalist needs. At the same time, it has
the pre-sets and automated controls to hand-hold the non-expert, without sacrificing the adjustable controls to manually manipulate the settings
if you have the time and inclination.
Plus, in keeping with our Zorro and nilist inspired
fashion sense, we love its stylish black metal body much more than the
oh-so-common trashy brushed aluminum. Best Buy has them for $399, but
they seem to be available on the web for low $300’s. We plan
to keep researching, but if we don’t find out anything bad, will probably
pick up the 790 later this month.
After all, it fits in our shirt pocket, but noticeably so….
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