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Much early personal computer design was dominated by the "where do we put the back part of the CRT" problem. You see that in the article's pictures. Once screens became flat, and electronics became small, there was more design flexibility. Not much is done with it, though.

Organic designs have been tried over the years. Olivetti did some beautiful designs in the 1960s and 1970s, and most good museums of modern art will have a few Olivetti objects on display. Bang and Olufsen designs are much admired by designers, but the reaction of most people is "what's that?" There are limits to what consumers will accept.

Phones seem to have ended up as bricks, for now. For a while, flip phones were mainstream, but we now seem to be back to bricks, just thinner ones. Slightly larger devices are either flat bricks or big flip phones. There's little curvature in mobile devices. What matters is what's on the screen. (And the ability to fit the thing in a pocket or bag.)

The same thing happened to movie theaters decades ago. Movie theater auditoriums were once built in fanciful styles ranging from Moorish palaces to "atmospheric" theaters with the illusion of an open sky. Theaters had elaborate curtain systems, with both horizontal and vertical curtains. All of that is gone. Today the auditorium is a lightly decorated box with a bare screen. But the seats are better, the aisle lighting is better, and the projection and audio are much better. Function has triumphed because what matters is on the screen.

The next thing is supposed to be headwear, in the form of glasses with displays. It's not clear if that will catch on. Bluetooth headsets as jewelry never did.

has been done, although without Linux, but thats made up for with some SW patents.
http://www.medicom.bang-olufsen.com/sw435.asp
The problem is that the sound quality is too good for conservative doctors, so they had to make a function that imitates the sound from an old tube stethoscope.

I'll join in with the chorus of "Bullshit" as to the position on Apple Customers. Apple Customers value Shiny, and will continue to swarm accordingly. Steve Jobs would have to release at least two and probably three gold-plated turds in a row before this would change noticably.

Actually, my belief is that we like "shiny"[1] and quality. The same way as a BMW or Bang and Olufsen customer expects both to be present. The trade off? By expecting a premium product, one is willing to pay a premium price as well.

[1] Not in the bling way, of course.

OMG, what an eye turd. Whatever happened to elegant, slim, non-clunky devices?

Bang & Olufsen had a phone like this, Serene Mobile, a long time ago :
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=54/

Incredble that everything about the iPod comes from that Steve Jobs, like me, buys TV and stereo from Bang and Olufsen. And has been marvelled by the excellent design of Bang and Olufsen in the late 80s - mid 90s. Like the scollwheel on their cordless phone 6000 system, for 10 years and still today unrivalled as the worlds best cordless phone system.

BeoCord 6000

Also incredible that Bang and Olufsen had it but lost it. Much of their junk today is overpriced with worse specs than a Panaphonics, Magnetbox or Sorny. Their MP3-player sucks, their new tech is pwned by Microsoft and their cell phone is the worst piece of crap ever produced, overdesigned and useless. The only thing they lack is to smear their shit down with Swarowsky bling-bling. My guess is that Bang & Olufsen today is managed by clueless MBA n00bs that groks nothing.

Steve Jobs is a genius.

The silent answer function lets BeoTalk 1200 answer incoming calls without the telephone having to ring. Up to 10 numbers can be selected that by-pass the silent answer function.

The Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 has no screen and no memory (SD card sold separately) and costs about $500. It's awesome.

However, I recently sold the B&O headphones because I found a similar style set with better sound (the A8s really lacked low-end response). If you can find them, I would highly recommend the Amadana PE-117 headphones (Amadana's a Japanese design company). I recently bought these in Japan (had to go to a few stores to find one that actually had them in stock. Bingo! Comfortable, and absolutely terrific sound! Dynamism has them in stock for $160 or so, but I paid about $110 for them in Japan.

That may be the perception, but in many cases (but not all), it's wrong. Integrated amps allow the manufacturer to to cutomize the amp for the specific driver which can greatly improve the performance of the overall speaker. for example:

• the amp in the Sunfire sub (which is rated for 2kW, but doesn't actually deliver that kind of power to the speaker because of the back EMF properties of the speaker magnet - any other amp would be eaten alive), and
• the BeoLab 5 integrated amp (I've written about the BeoLab 5 before).
• Heck, even if you hate Bose speakers, try listening to externally-amplified Acoustimass-series speakers, and compare them to the internally-amp'd models - the self-amplified models sound much better.

And oddly enough, it looks strikingly similar to these speakers...

I strongly agree. While I'll be the first person to defend Bose against unwarranted charges of 'crap' it's hard for me to not laugh at someone denigrating B&O, especially since their Beolab 5 loudspeaker is easily the 2nd best loudspeaker I've ever heard (behind the Wilson Watt Puppy)

hi-quality speakers a la Bose

Looks like it's--let's say "inspired by"--the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 1, which is itself no paragon of hifi value.

The ex bought me these and I swear by 'em now.

Have you ever tried a B&O remote? It's IR-based and works even if you point it in the direct opposite direction of the TV/stereo! The (only) problem with IR-based remotes is that they usually are cheap crap.

I thought Apples patent related to the Solid State scroll wheel (no moving parts).

although these aren't behind the head type earphones, they are both slim and comfortable, and could be worn with the cord going behind the neck. I received a pair as a gift and was impressed by the sound quality.

Most of the /.'rs have the geekiness factor down, but what about expensive? Try out some gear from Bang & Olufson a nice "Lifestyle" stereophonic company. They have some pretty sweet stuff thats horribly expensive. Just check out their MP3 player! (Their headphones actually sound quite awesome)

I opted for the new 15gig iPod. Price wasn't an issue, but size was. Even though there isn't that much of a difference (30 gig is 10% heavier and nearly 1/8 inch thicker), I still wanted the thinner/lighter version.

By comparison, the Zen weighs 9.5oz to the 5.6oz/6.2oz iPods.

Capacity wasn't too much of a concern either. I've had a hard enough time finding 15 gigs of music to listen to, let alone 30 or 60 gigs.

I cannot really compare the iPod to the Zen, because the iPod was the only one I considered.

In terms of navigation, I find the solid state scroll wheel easy to use, as well as the remote control.

One short-coming with the iPod is that I had hoped that they would have redesigned the remote to include a small text display. I also wish there was a way to integrate my iPod with my car's navigation/steering wheel controls. I also wish there was a way to save your on-the-fly playlists (although there probably is some Apple script to accomodate this).

The headphones are adequate - I don't mind the white earbuds, as I always get a kick out of seeing other people walking down the street sporting an iPod (it's almost like you're part of a secret club - although not quite as cool as when you spot a car with an Apple sticker on it - especially a rainbow one!), although I've been eyeballing the Bang + Olufsen Earphones. I haven't found a pair of in-earphones that are actually comfortable to wear.

In either case, see if you can "borrow" someone elses, and see which one appeals to you.

RTFA. You just described this system.

Go to "about beolab 5" and view all of the little flash pages. The last one has technical specs.

Connections: Power Link (2), Phono (line), Digital SPDIF (2).

Wow, the BeoLab 5 is one unique speaker. Aside from the price tag I couldn't afford if I wanted, I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. It's much more intrusive than the BeoLab 6000, but then, if you can afford 16.000 Euro for the speakers, you can probably re-design the room to match.

Additional note: the first B&O page linked has some display issues on Safari.

Wow, the BeoLab 5 is one unique speaker. Aside from the price tag I couldn't afford if I wanted, I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. It's much more intrusive than the BeoLab 6000, but then, if you can afford 16.000 Euro for the speakers, you can probably re-design the room to match.

Additional note: the first B&O page linked has some display issues on Safari.

There are counties in the U.S. where the starting salary for teachers qualifies them to live in government subsidized housing. Few such teachers can afford to blow $1,200 or more on an iMac.

Here's a wild idea: Apple could price their computers such that an entry level iMac costs what an entry level Intel-architecture PC does. They could stop trying to be the Bang & Olufson of computers and build machines that teachers and students could readily afford. Not only would that get teachers and students on board, but also make the machines more appealing to the public at large. Instead, Apple seems to be doing just the opposite by integrating expensive LCDs into their entry level iMacs and not selling an entry level machine sans monitor so that consumers can go to Best Buy and purchase a cheap 15"-17" monitor.

I believe there was a turntable in the late eighties that did that. The record stayed still while the tonearm tracked linearly from the out side in and rotated the record. Couldn't find anything on google about it though. I think it might have been a Bang & Olufsen.

A must-notice for nerds: they run php...

... when you can get the B&O BeoSound Century, which is far nicer? Of course, if you want a good stereo, rather than an aethetically pleasing one, you wouldn't get one that was wall-mounted (perhaps one from these people?), but B&O's products are quite good in terms of audio quality, given their form factor.

Why don't you ask your [put any family member here] a really NICE gift ? such as a TV, HI-FI or other stuff from the same kind ?

B&O has IMO the most perfect design in TV sets, and I really want one for x-mas !!!

It is an utterly ludicrous phone system at a matching price, but it looks cool and you can have a phone with a remote control.

Bang & Olufsen I presume? They're ugly and proprietary (cables).

Refrag

Oh, and regarding that geek cube - to my mind fluoros are okay as long as you've got natural light, but no geek cube is complete without a Bang & Olufsen phone. Block mobile interferance too.