Similar to last year I took a rather long road trip, and as expected my impressions haven’t changed much since that earlier journey. What has changed a bit is how I view what it is I see. I’m now less concerned with the junk and the homes we build to store that stuff than I am with what seems to be an almost insurmountable gap between pre-VCR, analog world folk and fast-forward, digital world denizens. Towards the end of my work on MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach (Link) – covered yesterday in a piece on Wired (Link) – I gave a lot of thought to how I might explain to family and friends what I was doing for most of last year and how these technologies would have an impact on everyone. There wasn’t much opportunity to do that, but on one occasion in particular I knew the individual was really trying to understand what I was saying but simply couldn’t grasp all the implications. And why should anyone expect they would? How can we expect people to adopt virtual technologies when they’re still struggling with 1970’s-era technology?
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I guess Sears has been feeling adventurous; I just posted on their foray into Second Life and now I’m finding out that they’re selling a Craftsman-branded home CNC machine (Link). Not that there aren’t other machines like this on the market, but when Sears starts selling one I get the feeling the market is getting ready to change in a big way. So while I’d be happier to see HP confirm all those rumors floating around that they’re using their print expertise to develop a 3D fabber (after all, Z Corporation’s printer uses HP printheads), this may actually signal the beginning of a wave that crashes on that ultimate announcement. Very cool.

via Make

{Image Copyright © 2006. Sears Brands, LLC}

Interesting bit of news from 3pointD (Link) as word is that Sears, in partnership with IBM, will be using Second Life as a kind of preview system for their customers. From the blog entry:

The plan is to allow a customer to import their own kitchen design to the virtual space, fit it out with Sears products, and be able to move around in it as they would a real kitchen in order to get a feel for how the products would work in their kitchen at home.

“It’s currently one kitchen layout, but ultimately you’ll be able to bring in your own kitchen from Google SketchUp or another application,” Rowe said. “You’ll be able to place Sears products in the kitchen itself, change the countertops and cabinet facings. Ultimately, the entire Sears catalog will be available.

The immediate goal is actually pretty simple to achieve in Second Life. That they’re spending millions on this effort tells me someone will have a nice payday. As to “ultimately” bringing in data from Sketchup or some other app, that will be a bit trickier. Consequently, I look forward to seeing what a dedicated IBM effort yields; especially one with money to play. Stay tuned.

Talk to most Industrial Designers about working on product development teams and at some point one thing will likely come out: non-user focused decision making is commonplace. I’ve been there. I’ve worked on products where it was more important to the team that the product meet business-centric requirements than function properly in the hands of the consumer. In fact, it’s not uncommon for businesses to initiate projects only because they have machines sitting idle and need to keep them operating and not because they have a solution to a User need. The bigger problem is, this issue isn’t unique to the world of consumer product development. This is a much broader issue and is why there is (d)esign, as in what an Industrial Designer does day in and day out; and (D)esign, which is Big Picture stuff and something anyone can do but which so few seem able or willing to do (including many (d)esign-focused Industrial Designers). Spend some time on the Terra Nova blog, the hang out for a few of the videogame industries more prominent voices, and witness for yourself how difficult it can be to shift perspective off Developers and onto Users. In my recent online discussions on TN – especially in the wake of Clay Shirky’s assault on Linden Lab’s metrics – the solutions to establishing standardized metrics continually gravitate to a Developer perspective as if no one else has a valid interest. The band’s playing the same tune, it’s just a different club. Continue reading →

There’s an interesting little business product that’s appeared inside Second Life. It’s called “mob*vend” and it was created by SL resident Shep Korvin (blogLink). mob*vend is, best I can tell, basically a standard vendor that senses the number of avatars within some defined range and then, depending on the feedback, adjusts the price of its product accordingly. The larger the crowd, the lower the price. This continues until it reaches a minimum sales price and announces that to the crowd. They then have one minute to make a purchase before the thing resets (I’m not clear on the details at this point but suspect those avatars in attendence are no longer counted). Continue reading →