Posted by on under samuel morse, iry, best thing since sliced bread, panics, phe, hysteria, thoreau, typewriters, backlash, aces, pencil, brains, critique, telegraph, waves, peoe, attitude, memory | 
Salon has a refreshing take on the effect of the net on wider culture, courtesy of Dennis Baron, author of the new book A Better Pencil. Baron places hysteria about the net's supposed dumbing-down in context with other panics of years gone by. Historically, when the new communication device comes out, the reaction tends to be divided. Some people think it's the best thing since sliced bread; other people fear it as the end of civilization as we know it. And most people take a wait and see attitude. And if it does something that they're interested in, they pick up on it, if it doesn't, they don't buy into it. I start with Plato's critique of writing where he says that if we depend on writing, we will lose the ability to remember things. Our memory will become weak. And he also criticizes writing because the written text is not interactive in the way spoken communication is. He also says that written words are essentially shadows of the things they represent. They're not the thing itself. Of course we remember all this because Plato wrote it down -- the ultimate irony. We hear a thousand objections of this sort throughout history: Thoreau objecting to the telegraph, because even though it speeds things up, people won't have anything to say to one another. Then we have Samuel Morse, who invents the telegraph, objecting to the telephone because nothing important is ever going to be done over the telephone because there's no way to preserve or record a phone conversation. There were complaints about typewriters making writing too mechanical, too distant -- it disconnects the author from the words. That a pen and pencil connects you more directly with the page. And then with the computer, you have the whole range of "this is going to revolutionize everything" versus "this is going to destroy everything." Is the Internet melting our brains?...
Tagi: samuel morse, iry, best thing since sliced bread, panics, phe, hysteria, thoreau, typewriters, backlash, aces, pencil, brains, critique, telegraph, waves, peoe, attitude, memory
Posted by on under eberhard faber, mirado black warrior, lifework, brian greene, sharp point, ebay, awan, illustrati, herman miller, black cherry, root beer, kuru, smencil, essences, pencils, toga, clutch, pencil, icic, jordan |
Herman Miller's Lifework blog today turns the company's impeccable eye to a design object most of us take for granted: The lowly pencil. Blogger Brian Greene highlights five models, from the Mirado Black Warrior (probably the closest pencil in the bunch to the iconic, schoolbus-yellow Ticonderoga #2) to the exotic mechanical Kuru Toga, which "has a tiny clutch mechanism built into the point, and as you write, the pressure from writing and then lifting the pencil off the paper engages the clutch mechanism that rotates the lead for you. This auto-rotating mechanism not only ensures a constantly sharp point, but it also results in far fewer broken points." The rarest is probably the Eberhard Faber Blackwing (out of production, but available on eBay and elsewhere at prices approaching $40 per). The most delicious is certainly the $1.20 Smencil, which is fabricated from newspaper and scented with essences of root beer, watermelon, cinnamon and black cherry -- although Greene, who also blogs at OfficeSupplyGeek, does request that readers don't chew pencils, because "I don't want to get sued." Fair enough. (Illustration by Jordan Awan for Lifework.)...
Tagi: eberhard faber, mirado black warrior, lifework, brian greene, sharp point, ebay, awan, illustrati, herman miller, black cherry, root beer, kuru, smencil, essences, pencils, toga, clutch, pencil, icic, jordan
Posted by Mark Frauenfelder on under japan sugoi, hanko stamp, karate teacher, japanese reader, digit dial, somee, printed name, wards, rk, pencil, fraud, certificates, pers, signature |
In Japan, contracts are signed using a hanko, an engraved stamp. (I bought one for the name "Mark" just for fun when I was in Japan. We also bought one for my daughter's karate teacher and he loves it, and now uses it on the certificates his gives his sudents. You can order a hanko online.)
Japan Sugoi writes that Mitsubishi Pencil has announced a hanko with built-in fraud protection:
Non Japanese people usually sign legal contracts or other important documents in ink, but Japanese traditionally prefer an engraved stamp called a hanko. One concern though, is that the stamped signature, usually the owner’s name, can be easily forged. Mitsubishi Pencil’s Security Enhanced Personalized Hanko stamp ダイヤルバンク印 alleviates the risk of fraud by adding a two-digit dial that creates a series of marks around the printed name, making it difficult for an unauthorized person to copy someone’s stamp. It also wards against theft by requiring a code to be entered before use.
I'm not sure how people can tell whether or not a correct combination was used, though. perhaps a Japanese reader can explain.
Mitsubishi Security Enhanced Personalized Hanko Stamp
Tagi: japan sugoi, hanko stamp, karate teacher, japanese reader, digit dial, somee, printed name, wards, rk, pencil, fraud, certificates, pers, signature
Posted by on under memory card slots, whlt, dual memory, rumor mills, morsels, nik, price tag, megapixel, pencil, nikon, nbsp, hd |
With the
Nikon D3100 now official and
out in the open, it's time to tilt the rumor mills back towards a successor to the company's much-loved
D90.
Nikon Rumors has a few morsels, including what it's confident is the official name: D7000. (Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) No source is provided, so until we get something official, just use pencil to write it down on your wishlist. Got that? Good. The site also has a few other details that it's less sure on... but just to tease: 100 percent viewfinder coverage (in contrast, the D90 has 96 percent) and dual memory card slots of some sort. Last we heard, the whispers pointed to a mid-September reveal with a 16 megapixel sensor, 1920 x 1080 HD video, and a $1200 price tag -- tempting, but then again, that D3100 is looking mighty nice for the impatient consumer in us.
Nikon D7000 to be the D90's spiritual (and actual) successor? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tagi: memory card slots, whlt, dual memory, rumor mills, morsels, nik, price tag, megapixel, pencil, nikon, nbsp, hd
