Nest | The Learning Thermostat

According to Nest 50% of your homes energy use is controlled by your thermostat.  Focusing on simple design, Nest created an intelligent thermostat that learns from your cooling and heating habits to help you save energy.

The simplicity of design might remind you of an Apple product because Nest’s founder Tony Fadell was in charge of the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first 3 of the iPhone.

Nest’s amazing site was created by SF agency Odopod.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

From his 2005 commencement address Stanford University

Apple Destroyed

After smashing an iPod Touch that his two boys constantly fought over artist and former Apple employee Michael Tompert realized he should do something with this piece of technology as liquid poured out of the shattered screen.  The series of photographs were recently featured in a small San Francisco Gallery, Small Worms Gallery.

From an art critic’s point of view, the destroyed gadgets contain strains of Dadaism and Surrealism. Everyday products are turned on themselves and made to seem unfamiliar again.

Images found on Fubiz and full story on Michael Tompert and his art on LA Times.

Dieter Rams - Inspiration Behind 4G iPhone Design

Yesterday Bobby Solomon of Kitsune Noir pointed out several references supporting the Dieter Rams design inspiration for the 4G iPhone design.  Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer that helped shape Functionalist style of consumer electronics for Braun and other electronics companies during the 1960’s.  The key principal of the Functionalist school of design is that the design should be created based on the purpose of the product or architecture.

Rams once explained his design approach in the phrase “Weniger, aber besser” which freely translates as “Less, but better.”

Less and More - The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

For quite some time now it has been said that Apple’s industrial designer Jonathan Ive has been influenced by Rams’ design, and in the case of the 4G iPhone this is quite apparent.

View the Dieter Rams Flickr pool for more inspiration.