Jeep is iconic but “crap”?
From: Will Duderstadt

Thought you guys would enjoy a retort to the Jeep being called “crap” in an MIT publication: Branding Lessons from Jeep: Designed For A Purpose.

He recognizes that the look, feel, and design of a Jeep is iconic, but fails to see those traits are only responsible for a fraction of its status. The Jeep has become an icon because you aren’t just buying a steel tub with removable doors, you are buying into an experience, an adventure, a lifestyle.

Now, the average Joe never says to himself, “Gosh, I wish I could take the doors off my BMW 750i”. But ask the next fella you see in a Jeep what summer means, and “top down, doors off” is going to rate very high on that list.


Dyson Airblade
From: Paul Campbell

With your previous Dyson posts, I thought you might be interested in the Dyson Airblade [hand dryer for bathrooms] – apparently it’s a rip of an earlier model from mitsubishi, but I “experienced” it tonight and it was a trip!

Blogged about it here: The Dyson Airblade – out XLing the XLerator

The device works by shooting a thin stream of air ( apparently .3 mm ) at 400mph. It claimed my hands would be dry in 10 seconds, but it took far less than that. The other bonus was that because you put your hands in rather than under, there’s no pool of water underneath.


Modern design lessons from ancient architecture
From: Josh Clark

I just got back from my first trip to Greece, and I spent a lot of time scrambling among ancient ruins. I was surprised and delighted to find that the Acropolis held some very 37signals-y lessons in design, and I figured I’d share…

The Acropolis turns out to be an object lesson in design subtlety within the scope of a colossal project. It’s a 2500-year-old example of clever user-experience design, where quietly considered design flourishes abound.

As a guy whose working materials are modern bits and bytes, I found the marble-and-limestone structures of 25 centuries ago to be inspring. My visit to the Acropolis gave me a renewed sense in the importance of getting the quiet parts of design right, that there’s real value in taking time and care to create a sense of calm order and symmetry in your creations. The details matter.

For what it’s worth, I thought you might enjoy my blog write-up about it.


Penultimate?
From: Ben Sekulowicz

First Direct, (a UK based online bank owned by HSBC) use the following within their two-part log in process, (along with security question).

Please enter the 4th, penultimate and last characters from your electronic password…

How many users will know what penultimate is, really?

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