Saturday, September 18, 2010

Laptops Look Like Racecars — and Not in a Good Way

Laptops Look Like Racecars — and Not in a Good Way, David Pogue article.

David talks about the "Times Square" look of all the stickers on laptops.
Apple refuses to put Intel stickers on its computers, even though there’s Intel inside. In doing so, it leaves millions of dollars a year on the table.

I suspect that Steve Jobs is a bit of a minimalism-aesthetic-control-freak similarly to myself (up to a point). I have many times over the years been offered money to put advertising on various of my web sites, but I never did so. I guess I have three reasons: 1) it dilutes the message and integrity of the site. 2) It f***s with the aesthetics of the site, such as it is. 3) it would no longer feel like my own site.

And I must admit I would actually lose some respect for Apple and its machines if the beautiful laptops came with advertising stickers.

I must add that I don't disrespect all advertising. Many sites have tried subscription models and failed, and the only way to get monetary returns on their work seems to be advertising, and I don't think less of them for that. Of course it can be done well or badly. Just for instance, to only take advertising for products that you can get behind seems to be basic.

Deep inside me, though, it seems an odd world where advertising brings more money than just selling the content which brings in the eyeballs. I never really got that.



Fase said:
I dislike those laptop stickers as well. Does anyone know if they will come off without causing damage?

Eolake said:
Use lighter fluid. Works perfectly.
In some cases they may have to soak for five minutes. You'll have to cover it with a sandwich bag or something, because it's very volatile.

3 comments:

Fase said...

I dislike those laptop stickers as well. Does anyone know if they will come off without causing damage?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Use lighter fluid. Works perfectly.
In some cases it may have to soak for five minutes. You'll have to cover it with a sandwich bag or something, because it's very volatile.

Anonymous said...

I suspect that Steve Jobs is a bit of a minimalism-aesthetic-control-freak similarly to myself (up to a point).

With one difference: he has good taste.

1) it dilutes the message and integrity of the site.

What integrity? I mean, really, it's a porn site. You've deluded yourself into thinking it's something more.

2) It f***s with the aesthetics of the site, such as it is.

Yes, such as it is. It looks like it was designed in the 1990s.

3) it would no longer feel like my own site.

What if everyone thought that way? You'd never be able to advertise your own site anywhere. You may do only minimal advertising, but you do some.