InfoD-Cafe: In praise of 'steam radio'

[Abi Searle-Jones]

Victoria
I'm very jealous. I recently tried to find the exact same thing for my
86-year-old step-grandfather, who is increasingly alarmed by all things
technological. We ended up paying over the odds for simplicity - the only
radio we could find that had the simplest of buttons was from an expensive
brand. Hooray for the sadly departed Woolies.

Also re Rob's thoughts on digital clocks... I propose a different solution:
turn off all unnecessary clocks. I remember reading somewhere that the
energy needed to power the digital clock on a microwave for a year was more
than the energy needed to power the microwave's cooking function over the
same time. Why does a microwave need a clock anyway? The wall switch
beckons. (This also prevents annnoying time differences between the myriad
clocks around the house.)

Another one on car radios: we recently bought a car and our helpful salesman
offered to tune the radio for us. 'What's your favourite station?', he
asked, and when we responded (BBC) Radio 4, he tuned the radio's station 1
to Radio 4. We managed (barely) to conceal our horror until left alone in
the car, when we immediately tuned station 1 to BBC Radio 1, station 2 to
Radio 2 etc etc. Despite never listening to anything other than Radio 4.
Sometimes interaction sense is less important than human whim.

And to bring together radios and microwaves: I grew up in Droitwich, right
next to the Radio 4 transmitters, which are so powerful that (allegedly)
telephones, microwaves and other electronic equipment all gently transmit
the shipping forecast. So I particularly miss the departure of valve radios,
which often displayed 'Droitwich' bravely on their dials. (Having said that,
our old valve radio frequently scared the heck out of me by suddenly
blasting out sound twenty minutes after having been switched on).

(Apologies to international subscribers for a very UK-focussed post!)

Abi


2009/2/3 Victoria ColemanSmith <Victoria.ColemanSmith at thebrandunion.com>

>
>
> I recently bought a radio for my father from the Worth it range of the
> sadly now defunct Woolies.
>
>
>
> It has an on off button that doubles as the volume control (with an easily
> recognisable icon of the hill gradient variety for louder, softer), a tuning
> dial and a 3 point sliding switch for am fm and long wave.
>
>
>
> Given that most people only use about 2 or 3 radio stations, it is ideal
> for simple everyday use.
>
>
>
> … and at only £6.95 not only the cheapest but one of the best pieces of
> technology I have purchased in recent years…
>
>
>
> Yours aye
>
>
>
> Happy ex-Woolies customer
>
>
>
> (Victoria)
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:
> infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Ole E.
> Wattne
> *Sent:* 03 February 2009 11:32
> *To:* Discussions about information design
> *Subject:* Re: InfoD-Cafe: Recharging batteries: lack of a common
> visualvocabulary
>
>
>
> perhaps the concept of «steam radio» could be elaborated upon? Is this the
> latest in radio-technology?
>
> :-)
>
>
>
> Ole
>
> Funny Middleaged Man Department
>
>
>
> …who, by the way, completely agree on the idea of a common batterycharger,
> digital clock and radio – especially car radio – grammar.
>
>
>
> Den 3. feb.. 2009 kl. 11.39 skrev Rob Waller:
>
>
>
>   Other areas of everyday life where a grammar is required:
>
> - digital clocks. Moving to summer time is great feat of memory, manual
> dexterity, deduction and luck, and my oven clock is only correct six months
> of the year.
>
> - car radios: every car seems to have a different set of abbreviations:
> PTY, AST, TP, TA, etc. But only rarely On and Off.
>
>
>
> In fact any radio is more complicated than the ones we used to have. Not
> able to receive steam radio in the basement kitchen of our new home, I've
> just ordered an internet radio. I'll need to tune it, so I think I won't
> make any plans for the weekend.
>
>
>
> Rob,
>
> Grumpy Old Man Department
>
>
>
> __________________________________
>
>
>
> Rob Waller
>
>
>
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
>
> University of Reading
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2 Feb 2009, at 18:46, Conrad Taylor wrote:
>
>
>
>  This evening, I am recharging my batteries.  No, that is not
> a metaphor.  I have a bunch of Li-ion and NiMH rechargeable
> batteries.  In anticipation of an expedition into Wessex,
> I am recharging them.
>
> The dedicated Li-ion batteries for the Nikon D-200 SLR and the
> Panasonic NV-GS320 DV-cam.  And the AA and AAA "Hybrio" NiMH
> cells that I use for my digital audio recorders, flashgun and
> LED torch (I have two chargers for such batteries).
>
> One of the chargers has a green LED that stays on until the
> batteries are charged, then it goes out.  One has an orange
> LED that flashes until the batteries are charges, then it
> stops flashing.  One has a light that simply stays on all
> the time to show the batteries are connected to the circuit,
> and you have to guess whether the batteries have been charged
> or not.  One charger has a light that starts out one colour,
> and then changes to another colour when the battery is charged.
>
> "Why oh why oh why oh why..."  can't we have some kind of
> visual vocabulary standardisation in this area? (!*@?)
>
> Conrad
>
> (Who, mounted on a charger, fears a charge of hungry Li-ions)
> --
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