The Race for Perfect - Miniblogexpo review #2

Before the next laptop is produced...items such as weight, feel and sexiness must be first considered....

The "Race for Perfect" shows the design process that goes into the your next laptop.

I recommend this to lovers of design, computers and general geekdom. Steve Hamm takes us through the 40 years of development of the portable computers,

From the early "Luggables" ( Computers that came in their own suitcase, with an attachable monitor, you set up when you arrived) to the Apple Air™, and even the BlackBerry™.

The book covers the development of the ThinkPad X300, the newest greatest laptop out . In The Race for Perfect" we get to see the early idea and developments going into creating the laptop we know.

LCD screens and solid state drives are now the standards.

The considerations of the user:
• mouse (going from trackball, to tracking stick, to the touchpad.)
• keyboard (style, shape feel)
• screens
• weight (what to keep in to make work but not too heavy.
***3 stars***
This book is published by McGraw Hill

A life's Design - Mini Book expo review # 1

Here is my first review:

A life's design - The life and work of industrial designer Charles Harrison.

As some one who has an interest in usability and design, I was impressed with how many of Charles Harrison's designs affected my life.

I grew up in a small town where the Sears catalog was a staple, and as I read through this book i was surprised at how many of his designs I had used growing up. The plastic garbage cans, the sewing machines, the radios, television sets and even my Viewmaster™ all had his touch out upon them.

This is a small sampling of the several thousand products he had designed in his time.

The book itself shows us some of the many products he has created over the years, the pictures are large , rich and printed on glossy stock so that you can see the details put into the put into all of his designs.

Not only were the designs esthetically pleasing - but the thought of features ( like hand holds, self sealing lids and durability on his garbage cans) lets you know that he was taking the use of the product in consideration as well.

Charles Harrison was one of the first black designers in corporate America. And his contributions to industrial design in the past and towards the future have been substantial.

Books website:http://www.alifesdesign.com/
Published by :http://highspotinc.com/