We've got products everywhere -- tangibles and intangibles aka physical products or services. One of such products that I do not really like is the credit card. But this has been one of the most profitable products that one can find on this planet earth. Credit, if used correctly, could bring you a far better lifestyle. But unfortunately, many more people fail to use credit wisely and very often, one would eventually realize that one actually does not need credit to live very well. The current economic crisis has its roots based on endless borrowing. We borrow to spend and live comfortably. And that itself is one of the main problems why the debt is so high. I wonder how this whole economic saga is going to be solved. But I think a lot of people are going to suffer. Borrowing more to save borrowing woes simply is not the ultimate solution.

On the other hand, I often believe that a few other products aren't exactly needed. Generating a need for money making is what business is all about. But we need to do it humanely. Some products fuel wastage and an unwanted need to drool on basically unwanted material needs that are not exactly important... As designers, innovators, teachers, policy makers in every line and engineers, we need to think hard what is the real need and design a real business process to achieve a truly useful result. Educating an unwanted need is a sin. And to continue with the process till production and consumption is another sin that will reciprocate in a negative form big time. For all you know if we could just delete a little bit more on our indulgence, we could live a far better and sustainable world.

I present you this wonderful You Tube video excerpt of our dear SHOPAHOLIC for your viewing pleasure...(its a short trailer but it shows relevance of this post here.

PS: note the word 'PRODUCT'

PPS: listen and look at the screams. That actually put me off seeing the real film itself.

I'm tired after a long week of work, work and nothing but WORK.I have come to redesign my life to make it more interesting, easy and healthier.I do not believe that one should sacrifice health for wealth, as what a lot more people seem to be doing it. Health, love and compassion should always come before anything else. To live a life blindly for the sake of material needs is one of the silliest aims one could have. Sadly that is exactly what a huge majority of people are doing.

So have a life, and better still have a fun and poetic one !

I don't think they will reply me as I think the questions I've posed may have put them on the line. Perhaps no reply is a reply. I have already received some very good replies off from other professionals. They gave some very interesting views. They probably give better and honest answers to human factors in a way that they come from the users point of view. And it does confirm that some of the PC design need some good revamp. Like what I have earlier envisaged, most consumers agree with me of the physical attributes of the machine. Some people would have liked more choice of colours and motifs and see that as a value-added trait. BUT they want the power of the machine over aesthetics. Many think that buying a PC, from a household
point of view, is a waste of money; as the value of PC decreases very quickly in just a matter of months. Updating OS and software is an expensive chore too. If we need to keep our environment sane, we should really look at the way we use and throw computers away every few years. That is a waste.

I personally find that the Ethnographic design appears to be lacking on PCs. Perhaps its a common use of technology globally but the keyboards is definitely sensitive to cultural usage. Though there are improvements, the keyboard doesn't make typing Mandarin easy especially if you are an advanced learner. The style of PCs in notebooks/net books pin heavily on the western culture. True on the aspect on the keyboard layout design. Physical comfort is lacking too.

Favorable PCs ?

At local schools, the Ministry of Education here subsidies Notebook PC purchases at around 40% on selected high end HP notebooks for students. I personally like HP for the price and value though some accused that HP lacks originality. It is true to a certain extent. I had been eying for one but all the stocks were totally bought up even at full price. There was also a long back log of orders even without the subsidized purchase. Net books were hot sellers across the brands probably because the differentiation between brands on net books are hardly noticeable regardless how you look at it in terms of price and quality. They are light, inexpensive and they serve the primary function very well.

What seems to be interesting to me is that not a lot of people seem to be bothered about vision health as much as I do. Staring at the screen is to me a very unhealthy habit. Yet no one seems to be bothered about glare, radiation and static electricity from the use of computers. That to me was a little shocking.

Prof Patrick J. Murphy,Assistant Professor of Management, Kellstadt GSB, DePaul University; asked 'How important is a sense of humor in people you hire or who collaborate with you?'

my reply:
thanks Patrick for the question. : )

Right now, I am typing merrily with my forefinger during break.
Depends on what humor we are talking about. It has to come with respect of cultures and mannerisms. But sometimes, I feel that people may be overtly sensitive and mistake a certain well-meaning humor -- usually happens on the internet where all you rely are the words you see on the page.

Humor with good wit and tact solves problems. It is not an easy task to do. Even more so if it is on a rough situation where the issue is serious. Then again the most successful politicians, diplomats, business people, writers, professors etc are often equipped with a keen sense of creativity with not only the work they do but the words they use. Such tact brings down barriers, softens a tense scenario up, simplifies complexity. And before you know it, the problems are usually eliminated to a very large extent. Good humor is rare and cannot be taught.

Lack of seriousness, however, is another matter. I don't think you can equate that to good sense of smart humor. Minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew often makes his audience laugh during his political/national speeches. That doesn't make him look anything less than a serious politician. Bob Hope, as with Bill Cosby, are comedians who bring out the problems in life for us to think about; and you don't see them lack the qualities of an intellectually smart comedian. Thomas Friedman's natural sense of humor found in his books is another example. These people do not load people with verbose talks and written matter. They make you enjoy the toughest kind of intellectual ideas in layman terms.

Tommy Koh, our former Ambassador to the US, used humor to lighten tones in diplomatic matters. He smoothed out wrinkles very well.

What would be dreadfully stupid is to rigidly use the so-called sense of seriousness and formality with a certain fixed formula to solve a problem. When there is a much simpler way to do so, a creative and intelligent person would change the routes and make a way to a fine, happy and even an amicable solution.

That, to me, is very smart wise and extremely intelligent.

if I were to hire, such skills mentioned in my reply above would be an ideal choice. Knowledge, substance and character with an original sense of wit is the biggest draw. I would not want to work with or collaborate with verbose people who think they know it all. Humor is a catalyst. People who are able to provide humor needs certain kind of intelligence. Really it requires a strategy in words, context and meaning. If you could find such a person, do contact me, I am looking for work partners who are not only bright academically, but brilliant in social entrepreneurship too.

Here are some of the selected models I could find online, but I have also realized
that the models online are inferior to the ones I can find here in Singapore. But I thought I would just put some images here to illustrate the models and brands I had mentioned about ergonomics for PCs. In fact these were the models I had in mind when I was shopping.

Just read this on LinkedIn today that I 've found worth my time to do a quick post on what I've just replied here:

'Need: A Thought Experiment. Who gets to decide?',
asked by Susan Shwartz PhD AVP,Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., financial marketing writer.

As the recession has deepened, I've seen a lot of discussion of need. Well, actually, I've seen a lot of assertions about NEED. It's usually in capital letters, as in I NEEDED this X, and the more E's you can sense in the word, the more intensity you feel.

Being me, I decide to wonder. The last time I got into this discussion, someone threw NEEEED at me, and I mouthed off with King Lear's "Oh reason not the need. Our basest beggars are in the meanest thing superfluous." (Warning: I didn't look up the quote.)

Personally, I don't understand the need for four-figure shower curtains or seven-figure office redecorations, or multiple yachts. I really don't understand them when they're paid for with what really is other people's money.

But the part that troubles me and that I'd like to focus on is the way people comment on other people's desires and acquisitions. "She didn't NEEED" that. "He NEEDS the Y." "That's not NECESSARY."

Who judges? We all do. Who gets to judge? Who has the right to judge and why?

I'm talking real people here, not John Galt, okay? Is there a legitimate reason to gauge other people's needs? What is it? Or why not?


My LinkedIn reply 6 April 09

Susan, this is very good thread !
Quick reply here again as I use this pocket of time to catch up :

Need is actually self generated most of the time. There is also a tendency to want more when you have more.It is endless and the cycle continues.

If we look around, it is easy to see that wants are increasing and morphing into different forms. Human nature on want is mostly greed. And greed is a common majority trait. Personally I have seen it through, and the only way to get pass it is to go around them tactfully how to 'give' it to them and keeping ourselves and the environment (both human and natural) sane and healthy. In due course of their greed or put it nicely, and 'an over demand of need'; these people will get it many times back of what they put in. This kind of 'need' will not last, and there is always a punishment for it. If we force them to stop this 'need', we may get add more problems to the question. I would just make my way through creatively -- let them have 'what they want' but remember to keep the wants in a justified way.

People and human nature will never change. It is a sad truth. But what is fortunate is that there is always a way to handle them.

I've just replied a friends email over at LinkedIn. He posed interesting points on pride and I replied something about it. There is nothing wrong with pride but I thought he had slightly misunderstood my post.

So I clarified that I was not saying people and companies do not have the right to feel proud. However, if its because of certain status quo that the person or organization has against others to show how big they are, then that is arrogance to the brim and I hate those kind of hot air. Liberal designers are free to be proud of what they have achieved. Every being has the very right to do so. But if it develops into an ego, then that is unhealthy habit that we shouldn't cultivate at all. Any product or service should have a high sense of humility and definitely anything that 'looks' good must have real substance to keep this world a genuinely better place to live in. Earning that ego doesn't reflect liberalism. Its narcissism in the worst kind. Just think about it: how can self-love and adoration in oneself be liberal and truly generous to others ?

Anyway, this is not the first time I see this. its pretty normal. But I am just wondering how can a world be a better place with these mentality ?

I also answered about 'sticking nails':
'Hammering sticking nails' is something that all cultures do it at some point. It is only a matter of extent. Why do I say that ? No one likes a pain in the neck to get someone who is too different that it is an sore. Otherwise we won't have cliques and groups. What could be said is that there is a difference in tolerance limit. Some people/cultures more, and some less. We need to respect that too. Those who take in more (tolerance) will win. And ego is one of the dumbest traits to prevent growth of very great products and friendships around the world. Unfortunately in this mortal world, there are plenty of such stupidity around. Hence unwanted trouble....