Bespoke devices

Okay-at-anything is good for nothing.

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.

There’s two main benefits of “single-purpose” devices:

First, the obvious - the device itself can be tailored to the use-case. For instance, any compact camera has infinitely better ergonomics than any smartphone, whether it is because of the physical dimensions or dedicated controls.

Second, the more subtle - dedicating a device to a purpose means you’re going to be in a different “zone” when interacting with it.

Remarkable 🌐 is totally playing this card - doubling down on being an alternative to paper, the device itself has fairly limited features, even though there’s technically nothing preventing it from having a web browser for instance.

More deeply, however, there’s a reason Man with a Movie Camera 🌐 is titled the way it is - with a camera in hand, a Man becomes a Man with a Movie Camera, more of a cyborg organism, whose perception is shaped differently. A Man with a Smartphone is a vastly different mode of being, and arguably the default one at present.

See also thoughts.interfaces.hci-diversity.