Success is simple.
And simplicity = success.
People don’t want a gadget that requires a 340-page manual written, poorly, by someone closeted in Taiwan and unfamiliar with the English language;
We want:
- Something that does precisely what it promises;
- Something that defines itself simply;
- Something that, in practical use, is in itself intuitive;
I have two recent examples; one I have personally experienced and one of which I only read reviews and testimony.
First:
I wanted a compact but professional radio that I could install into my wife’s house whilst writing and investigating websites for potential posts on BZ.com. I like to listen to (imagine this) talk radio whilst writing posts.
I have a Bose Acoustic Wave player at home which has managed to replace a formerly-extensive stereo system to include a 500-watt amp, preamp, a set of massive JBL speakers and the like. The $1,100 dollar Wave is now a stand-alone system and it is all that I need. It picks up my FM stations just fine; AM stations cannot be found up here in the mountains. So I listen to many CDs and certain FM stations. The Bose is a great radio.
For my wife’s house, I chose the Tivoli Audio PAL (Portable Audio Laboratory) radio. It is remarkably compact (6 1/4″ high by 3 3/4″ wide) and remarkably SIMPLE.
It offers only THREE dials. The first is a large tuner for both AM and FM stations. The lower left dial is a selector for AM, FM and Off. The lower right dial is for volume. Below these dials is a single speaker covered by round metal mesh.
Period.
The radio works off either rechargeable batteries or by an outlet plug, both provided.
It is also covered in a rubberized and colored exterior with extendable FM antenna and top side insets for easy grabbing.
You can plug headphones into this radio, or any MP3 player (via aux jack), and the radio carries a standard 1-year warranty.
Results? The speaker sounds clear, rich, deep, with excellent volume levels. Frankly, it has absolutely excellent sound.
$200 through Tivoli; $150 through Amazon.com.
Apple iPhone:
Again, many people make reference to this gadget’s simplicity. Its reliability and functionality have yet to be ultimately proven but, at this juncture, it is receiving rave reviews.
For its SIMPLICITY.
Simplicity and, in my opinion, clarity is always best.
BZ
I agree, BZ. Simple is always best. I own three remote controls that I still haven’t figured out! I know how to turn them to off and on, and how to change channels, but there’s a lot of other things on them that I have no clue about. What more can you possibly need that to turn a television on and off and change the channel? But then I’m pretty old-school. I was happy actually getting out of my chair, walking to the tv set and using the television’s controls for whatever I wanted to do.
I’m old school. I do have a razor phone, but only because my hubby wanted one and we got a twofer deal. I still have tapes man.
I totally agree on the simplicity aspect!!
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Now that is some crazy ass spam.
Some one get that guy some meds!!
As for your principle (KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid), shouldn’t that also apply to recent immigration legislation?
=8-P
jeez, at the comment spam!
I can’t see what’s so simple about a phone/music player/pda/mail client/web browser/camera.
seems to me a phone should be handy, lightweight and small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and cheap enough you don’t worry if you happen to drop it in the lake while fishing.
BZ, You have really got to get off of blogger or use halo-scan, that asian idiot spent a lot of time writing that and it really upsets them when they cant read it…..LMAO
DON’T buy the iPhone yet BZ, give them some time to get the bugs worked out, it’s like anything else new.
Apple is a good company but they actually recommend waiting on a few of their new releases, OSX Leopard and the iPhone to name a couple.
It will be a smoother and more useful tool than vista I assure you.
Simple is always better. This little house has 2 ‘phones (1 touch-tone and 1 rotary dial), 1 remote belonging to 1-20 inch TV without a satellite dish, 1 cell ‘phone purchased in 2000, and that’s as advanced as it gets.
I think that digititis has set in from holding the “down” arrow in the same position for so long, but it’s always a good read here.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
Holy crap, have you ever witnessed anything as pointless as that previous idiot (until I deleted it)? In any event, thanks for commenting everyone and, no, I won’t be purchasing my own cell — the company bought when and, when I retire, I don’t WANT to be able to have anyone contact me except by land line.
BZ
Jobs comes back and Apple finally does something worth the money again. Imagine that.
Think about the situation. Cell phones are implementing mp3 players because people are demanding it. The problem is the cell phones suck. They are too complicated and have other problems too. So, apple builds the phone the way it should be built.
I have to hand it to them there. I always thought the iPod was an over priced inferior gadget. But I really want one of these phones.
I want a truly simple cellphone: I want to buy one of the revitalized Motorola 9200s… yes… ‘The Brick’. It has a very simple interface: an ON/OFF switch and a numerical keypad. It features: a handset to listen and talk.
No screen.
No SMS.
No camera.
No video.
Pick up, turn on, talk, turn off.
YES!! SIMPLE!!!
As my father said: the more things you add in to a device, the more one thing going wrong will stop the entire device.
How very true that has been.
Hi from Seattle– I ran across your blog looking for an image of the Tivoli Pal- and I couldn’t agree with you more about how overlooked this product is. When I bought my first one five years ago, it wasn’t so easy to find a radio with an “aux in” outlet that allows it double as a both speaker and receiver. Although it’s becoming more common with the advent of the Ipod, when I had my Rio mp3 player I was hard pressed to find a portable receiver to enjoy tunes outside of my earphones. I now have a songbook AND a tabletop satellite model that features Henry Kloss am/fm analog tuner and while I’ve never owned a BOSE, for about a hundred bucks at Costco, this sure does produce a nice sound!