Mac on fire

This afternoon I was alarmed to discover the power adaptor for my MacBook Pro was on fire. As one would be. Especially as I was plugged in and working at the time. Imagine if I had stepped out of the room for a few minutes and not seen and smelt the acrid stench of burning metal and plastic. I’ll readily admit that my MBP is one of the ‘old’ ones (three years), but not, as far as I was aware one of the ‘they-set-themselves-on-fire-ones’.

Naturally I ring Apple customer support in Australia and half an hour later I am assured that they are glad I am alright and there was no further damage to the me or my property and a new adaptor will be couriered over pronto. Thank you Apple. Great service skills all round.

I guess I won’t be working for a few days though…

Castlepoint

Castlepoint, originally uploaded by smoothfluid.

Street Art Berlin ("don't forget...")

Street Art Berlin ("don't forget..."), originally uploaded by epoxy _.

What a brilliant underground (quite literally) idea. Just to remind you how far from the truth what you see is.

Criminal Designers

Unfortunately, there are designers and marketing people who intentionally look down on the consumer with the notion that vulgarity has a definite appeal to the masses, and therefore they supply the market with a continuos flow of crude and vulgar design. I consider this action criminal since it is producing visual pollution that is degrading our environment just like all other types of pollution.

THE VIGNELLI CANON Massimo Vignelli

Backwards to the Future

“My feeling was that with globalization, we were all starting to be alike, to dress alike, to use the same products. It was clear that we'd see a resurgence of the local… A chocolate manufacturer told me the other day, ‘We’re successful today for the same reasons we had trouble ten years ago: we’re small, local, have a tiny production, are artisanal and have an old-time image and packaging.”

Not so much a case of Back to the Future, but backwards to the future for sucessful brands according to Portugese emporium owner Caterina Portas. Via BrandChannel