2 New Blog Posts: 98% Success Rate! + Lightpipes

[Sitwon]

Also, I don't know if other people have notice it or not, but it seems to me that there is a correlation between the color of electronic devices and their "openness". Closed platforms tend to be white, open platforms tend to be black. I wonder why that is...

Examples:

iPhone <- White (sort of)
Android phones <- mostly Black
Freerunner <- Black

MacBook <- White (usually)
ThinkPad <- Black (Reasoning for calling them "open": They publish the full maintenance manuals and sell almost every part as an FRU, offer Linux on some systems)

iPod <- Mostly White
Sansa <- Black (Reasoning for calling them "open": They somewhat cooperated with Rockbox, and they sell user-replaceable battery kits for their PMP)

Nintendo DS <- White (originally)
GP2X/GP2X Wiz/Dingoo/Pandora (soon) <- Black

Nokia N770 (Linux-powered tablet) <- Black

Linksys routers (at least the GL) <- Black
Netgear routers <- White

Amazon Kindle <- White
B&N Nook (Android) <- It's got more black than white if you include the back side.


Anyways, it's not perfect (there are lots of exceptions) but it seems like a trend. I have a lot of linux devices and most of them are black(-ish) compared to the more popular closed-platform counter part.


This might be way off topic...

 

[bzar]

Also N900, black.

 

[Trip]

Black plastics cheaper

 

[openthebox]

Black. Just black. Totally black. No text, no icons, nothing.

That's your special edition right there. What do you think?

This just won't happen. Some of the units will be sent out for reviews. People, do you honestly think a reviewer will say "Wow nice!!!! Finally a device with no labels, how come no one ever thought of that?" You can bet your xmas money that they will give a big fat "thumbs down" for such an ommission.

Remember reviewers for devices such as the Pandora always harp on user friendliness. How can a device with no label be considered user friendly? If all we want is to limit the Pandy to a selected few, I can see the point, but we are (well, at least OP is) trying to get a larger consumer base for this thing.

There is a whole lot of scary in that comment. You should always vote for what is best for you.

Congratulations rmm21, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heared on this forum.
You obviously don't get the whole community concept <_<

+1 :angry:

 

[DAP]

To be honest, OP can call it anything they want as long as we get our hands on it soon.

Instead of "BT" maybe "Bt" is better or even "bt".

For SD slots maybe white boxed 1 and 2 could be unboxed Alpha and Beta symbols, α and β.

Kagato had some good ideas using the USB symbols instead of the letters USB. It's too bad they can't be used but they looked clean:

I'm not sure they'd be allowed to use the USB symbol on the full sized USB port since it is not standards complaint (needs to support USB low speed and full speed to comply)

 

[DAP]

Yeah but the LED dosn't need to be blue. you can just make in shine through blue plastic.

No, you can't. LEDs are monochromatic light sources You show a red LED through blue plastic and you get a dim red light from it. Blue plastic does not change the color of light, it is a filter it just filters out (attenuates/dims) colors other that blue.

Also, white LEDs won't be cheaper than blue LEDs since they are made by putting a material that fluoresces yellow in the presence of blue light, in front of a blue LED. Blue LEDs aren't significantly more expensive than other colors any more, there is no reason to avoid using them unless you are REALLY pinching pennies.

 

[dschroeter]

Who you should vote for comes down to your political leanings - democratics vote for the individual's best interest, communists vote for everyone's best interest. Oh, wait, communists don't vote.

 

[verm71]

Obviously every Pandora orders has some level of technical knowledge in order to A) know about OP, B) know what it's for, and C) Want one bad a enough to spend $300 on something that doesn't even fully exist yet. I'd say that anyone who ordered a Pandora is capable of figuring out everything without any labels (except, maybe, the LEDs).

With that in mind, I can't wait to see how the FAQs lists will grow after the release. I think that would have been a valid assumption several months ago, but there are more and more websites out there talking about it, and more and more newbs are hopping on here asking questions like "How do I preorder?".

Closed platforms tend to be white, open platforms tend to be black. I wonder why that is...

Examples:

iPhone <- White (sort of)

While that's an interesting observation, I think it's mostly coincidence. Some of your "so-called" black open devices are the result of firmware hacking. I've had a white device or two that have been known for community modding/hacking/homebrewing. I'm not sure what iPhones look like in your area, but how many white iPhones do you see here? iPhone Images

 

[DAP]

Who you should vote for comes down to your political leanings - democratics vote for the individual's best interest, communists vote for everyone's best interest. Oh, wait, communists don't vote.

Sure they do. You are confusing Communism with the countries that were called communist but were really totalitarian dictatorships. There is nothing about communism that prevents a communist democracy. The absurd thing is that the USA is called a capitalist democracy when it is neither.

 

[rmm2131]

Personally I try to vote for the thing which I think is best, not the thing that is best for me.

There is a whole lot of scary in that comment. You should always vote for what is best for you.

Sure, because heaven forbid anyone should think of how their decisions impact others.

A person should think how the decisions they make impact others, but never at the expense of what's best for themselves.

 

[efegea]

I'm not sure what iPhones look like in your area, but how many white iPhones do you see here? iPhone Images

uhm??

 

[dschroeter]

Stupid me - knew I was asking for a light toasting My point is that this project is community-driven, but the creators have always had the final say. I am a big fan of their decisions, but I think it's vain to suppose that suggestions here, unless they are unanimous, sway the final outcome.

 

[WizardStan]

With the exception of the LEDs, I would think everything is pretty self explanatory. The volume knob looks like a volume knob. An SD card won't fit anywhere except those conveniently SD-shaped slots on the front. The USB ports look suspiciously similar to standard USB ports...

And the power port? Just by looking at it, what voltage is it? Is the pin ground or current? This much I am sure of: regardless of how simple you think everything else is, the power should definitely be labeled. How else are you going to be sure of what you need 20 years from now when you're feeling nostalgic? You think you'll have held onto the manual that long? Do you want to bet on the information still being easily found on the internet? The box of 15 year old junk in my basement without power adapters suggests otherwise.

Obviously every Pandora orders has some level of technical knowledge in order to A) know about OP, B) know what it's for, and C) Want one bad a enough to spend $300 on something that doesn't even fully exist yet. I'd say that anyone who ordered a Pandora is capable of figuring out everything without any labels (except, maybe, the LEDs).

You might think so, but I definitely remember "I've just bought a Pandora. What can it do?" style posts from people that saw something shiny and just had to spend money on it without thinking. This suggests there are people who have purchased the Pandora who may not be entirely tech savvy. They don't have to be total idiots to not know the difference between a USB host and a USG OTG port.

 

[verm71]

Just cause they exist in that color, doesn't make it the only color. Yeah, and? Of course white ones are going to crop up if you search for them. But all things being equal if you search for iPhones with no further criteria, what's the most common color to come out?

 

[Tom`]

People, do you honestly think a reviewer will say "Wow nice!!!! Finally a device with no labels, how come no one ever thought of that?" You can bet your xmas money that they will give a big fat "thumbs down" for such an ommission.

Well, actually...

 

[Esslan]

A person should think how the decisions they make impact others, but never at the expense of what's best for themselves.

There is a whole lot of scary in that comment.
So you mean you should always cover your own ass, even if voting something means a small improvement for you but a big disadvantage for someone else? Just speaking generally here.

Sorry for the off-topic

 

[rmm2131]

There is a whole lot of scary in that comment. You should always vote for what is best for you.

Congratulations rmm21, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heared on this forum.
You obviously don't get the whole community concept <_<

+1 :angry:

Plankton would have the same issue with my prior response.

If everyone voted for what was best for everyone else we wouldn't know where we individually stood and would have to wait for the nod from someone else, just like a pet.

I see nothing wrong with voting about the silkscreening before it is officially official. Unless it has been made official already.

 

[efegea]

Just cause they exist in that color, doesn't make it the only color. Yeah, and? Of course white ones are going to crop up if you search for them. But all things being equal if you search for iPhones with no further criteria, what's the most common color to come out?

Indeed, I don't know exactly what are we discussing Perhaps I haven't understood you at all. I though you were saying that there aren't any white iphones, but I think that was a misunderstanding by me..

Anyway, here is where you can see official black and white iphones, mwahaha :lol: http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/

 

[gaterooze]

I can honestly say I have never once thought in any way about the silk-screening on any device. I can't even recall what any label on any of my devices actually looks like from memory. Summary: couldn't care less.

 

[rmm2131]

A person should think how the decisions they make impact others, but never at the expense of what's best for themselves.

So you mean you should always cover your own ass, even if voting something means a small improvement for you but a big disadvantage for someone else? Just speaking generally here.

No, but you should always use yourself as the deciding factor in any vote. What you want should tip the scale at the end so to speak.