I've liberally coped from Mr. Hartford's archived website.
People Meter Published by Aminetics
People Meter was a biofeedback device for the Amiga. It measured galvanic skin response via two metallic Velcro straps hooked up to a small hardware module which plugged into the joystick port. Included software allowed the user to monitor his stress level via analog meters, digital meters, changing the color of the user interface (MoodBench), and even play through a digitized video clip based on stress level. It was bundled with an arcade game called "Stress 'n Bake", loosely based on an "I Love Lucy" episode where a bakery goes haywire and assembly line workers struggle to keep up with the constant stream of wedding cakes. A particularly evil part of the game was that as your stress level went up, the game actually got harder to play.
Sony probably pours several millions of dollars a year into market research. This design change is most likely a result of current research. This research tells them all the demographic information, a lot of information, about predisposition of the prospective customer for the particular product line.
Chip sales are still rising, though many fear that it may flatten by 2002 (http://news.cnet.com/news//0-1003-200-2951115.htm l). With more and more computers being made every single day, the userbase has grown expotentially in size. As a result, the overall demographic becomes more complex and diverse.
In other words, if you don't like the new design, then you might not fit into the specific demographic that they're marketing department is aiming for.
Slashdot Mirror
I've liberally coped from Mr. Hartford's archived website.
People Meter
Published by Aminetics
People Meter was a biofeedback device for the Amiga. It measured galvanic skin response via two metallic Velcro straps hooked up to a small hardware module which plugged into the joystick port. Included software allowed the user to monitor his stress level via analog meters, digital meters, changing the color of the user interface (MoodBench), and even play through a digitized video clip based on stress level. It was bundled with an arcade game called "Stress 'n Bake", loosely based on an "I Love Lucy" episode where a bakery goes haywire and assembly line workers struggle to keep up with the constant stream of wedding cakes. A particularly evil part of the game was that as your stress level went up, the game actually got harder to play.
Chip sales are still rising, though many fear that it may flatten by 2002 (http://news.cnet.com/news//0-1003-200-2951115.htm l). With more and more computers being made every single day, the userbase has grown expotentially in size. As a result, the overall demographic becomes more complex and diverse.
In other words, if you don't like the new design, then you might not fit into the specific demographic that they're marketing department is aiming for.
Peace.