Even during tough economic times true innovators are successful. Apple has shown record breaking profits during the last quarter of 2008, reports BBC. Due to the hype surrounding touch screen devices, Nokia will no doubt have a huge success with the 5800, making touch screen phones more affordable to a larger audience.
Car sales globally are not doing so well, but in Africa there are a few examples of adapting technology and using demanding conditions as design criteria resulting in improving vehicles that are better suited for Africa than their European versions. Appafrica reports on the Vision 200, a car that uses one liter of petrol to cover a distance of 80km. Last week in Ivory Coast, BBC reported on Sotra Industries developing a bus based less on technology and more on adverse African conditions and usage patterns; "The new urban bus has fewer seats than a Western bus, meaning up to 100 people can be squeezed inside."
Design Indaba2009 is coming soon, the Design Indaba Conference will run from 25 to 27 February 2009 and the Design Indaba Expo will follow, opening on Friday 27 February and running until 1 March, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Staying local, the SABS Design Excellence Awards showcased several designs, most notable is the 4 second Condom Applicator from XYZ.
From Design for Humans; "keep it simple stupid" is a must read for all designers. (Looks like Flip are also doing good work).
Nice, the White House got a redesign. Great speech.
And finally, did anyone catch Tasos last night on CNBC Africa's Tech@Work slot, chatting about the Sniftag?
