09 13th, 2009
Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ) (IPA: [poka joke]) is a Japanese term that means “fail-safing” or “mistake-proofing”. A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a Lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System. [Wikipedia]
Peter Abilla offers a great new example of design that accommodates human frailty: Embeda, a newly FDA-approved pain-killer with
…an interesting property: If you take the medication as prescribed, it works fine; if you abuse the medication, it ceases to work.
…EMBEDA(TM) contains extended-release morphine pellets, each with an inner core of naltrexone hydrochloride, an opioid receptor antagonist. If taken as directed, the morphine relieves pain while the sequestered naltrexone hydrochloride passes through the body with no intended clinical effect. If EMBEDA(TM) is crushed or chewed, the naltrexone is released and absorbed with the morphine, reversing the morphine’s subjective and analgesic effects.
After all, if pain killers can’t relate to human weakness, what can?
The idea is that the camera itself is integrated within a pair of sunglasses. Using your fingers to frame the portion of your viewing field you wish to photograph (like a hot-shot photographer framing a scene), wink with one eye to capture the shot. [via Walyou]
OK, clever interface. I love the conceptually seamless interleaving of real and virtual realities. But… I have not yet bought into the “wearable technology” craze. Yes, I think that much technology should be worn, and I believe in tech-integrated accessories; what I don’t buy is that integrating interface technology into clothing is a brilliant idea.
If I have to wear a certain jacket in order to hear music, have to wear a certain pair of sunglasses in order to take a picture, have to wear a certain pair of sneakers in order to track my workout, then I’m going to feel trapped. Who wants to be locked in to an article of clothing? (Note to those wearing chastity belts: line forms to the right.)
You’ve probably put your finger on the ambiguity by now: where do you draw the line between clothing and accessories? You decide.
While the decisions to buy a particular item of clothing or techno-widget might share common back stories, the daily decisions as to what to wear are different: you change styles and items depending on mood, weather, and the need to make an impression. Most of us aren’t prepared to wear the same clothing every day, although we are prepared to wear/utilize accessories much more frequently, even daily.
@copyblogger is hosting a Twitter-based haiku contest, with a MacBook Air as the top prize.
Here are some of my favorite entries:
- “@John, I am pregnant.” / “@Marsha, will you marry me?” / “Yes @John, my tweetheart.”
- My haiku like a website / running I.E. 6 / really running in reverse
- writing a haiku / I need to use my fingers / counting syllables
- how could anyone/describe their life in only /140
- An Adwords haiku / Google didn’t get the joke / Laughter, ROI
- What’s Occam’s Razor? /// It’s a method for questions /// That cut to the chase.
- The joy of Twitter! / Kevin Rose has sneezed again. / Quick! Blog about it!
(A quick quip which is a reference to Kevin Rose of Digg fame, who recently created a Twitter account especially for his cold.) - This one’s so perfect / Clever, funny, all that… wait. / Twitter eats my tweet!
- You’ve been told you can’t / Because you happen to be / A girl. Girls Can’t WHAT?
- This is senryu. / I really don’t write haiku. / It’s not my nature.
(Technically, haikus are about nature.)
The premise of the contest provided some entertainment for me [a.k.a. @Power2B] this morning:
- Twitter makes me think / Short, declarative statements / What will haiku do?
- Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet / Self-promoting twitterers / Drive me to delete
- Writing poetry / Serves mostly selfish yearnings / All the moreso here
- Economic melt- / down is pulling companies / Under needlessly
- We thought the lovebird / Had broken free once again / Now he’s got a friend
- Heck, writing haiku / Is so much fun, I might not / Get much done today
- Dearest Twitter friends: / I’d like to hear your feedback / Which haiku to send?
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist including this ad, also from the JAL onboard catalog:
No matter how many pictures they show of using this bin for recycling bottles or raking up leaves, we all know the truth: it’s a mobile urinal.
Browsing through the Japan Airlines Shop onboard catalog, I enjoyed seeing products that wouldn’t be offered by, say, the SkyMall or Hammacher Schlemmer catalogs found in U.S. airline seatpockets.
Here are two examples, both of which assume a preference for sitting close to the floor:
The ad also boasts scientific-looking heat-maps charting pressure on the derrière, proving that sitting on this chair will distribute weight more evenly than sitting directly on the tatami mat.
You’ve gotta love how the desk folds into an end table…
Unfortunately, these products are only available to Japanese residents, so the rest of us are out of luck.
Here’s the kanji (Chinese and Japanese character) for tree (ki, in Japanese):
Here’s the kanji for woods, hayashi (i.e., many trees):
And here’s the kanji for forest, mori (even more trees):
Now, here’s the kanji for power, chikara:
And the kanji for cooperate, kyo (i.e., even more power):
Cultural concepts run deep. I rest my case.
Interesting point in Kevin Kelly’s CT2 blog. It ties in with some of what I posted here and here about the culture of Individualism versus the culture of Shared Spaces.
The most alien, shocking and awesome portion of the Opening were the mass routines. Part of this is cultural. The Koreans are good at these mass effects, and the Japanese too. It’s somewhat an East Asian thing. Historically these mass dances are designed to resemble machines. […]
That is our first reaction but I think it goes further than that. The 2008 fou drummers represent the We — the power of the collective. The West and particularly Americans have traditionally emphasized the Me — the individual. China is a culture more comfortable with the We than the Me, and here they were showing both the power of the We and its modern face — blinking LED drums. We once thought computers were about individuation, but these days we see they are about socialization as well.
More importantly, the social aspects of web 2.0 have shifted the center of gravity from Me to We. Witness books like Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. Here come 2008 Chinese drummers. The great uncertainty in the coming years is how far China will shift to the Me and how far the west will shift to the We. What the Opening Ceremonies opened up was the arrival of the We. What I heard in the pounding pulse of the drummers was not “Here come the Chinese,” but “Here comes everybody.”
Long after the winners of the gold metals are forgotten, these Olympic Opening Ceremonies will be bookmarked as the Opening Ceremonies for China itself.
Seen in Narita Airport:
The English text of the sign reads: “If you don’t mind to discard the prohibited items such as knives, scissors and lighters. Please put them into this box.”
I wonder if anyone ever has? I assume that the items already within were planted there in advance. What would motivate someone to drop a forbidden item in the clear box rather than in a nearby garbage bin? (I can see the negative motivation, not to drop things in the box, because other people will see that you didn’t know not to bring those “dangerous” items along.) If the box’s purpose isn’t really to collect items, what is it? Perhaps it serves as an eye-catching early alert (before entering the security line) that allows people to save face by warning them that some items must be disposed of?
Cell phone charms are now common around the world, but three years ago they were already wildly popular in Japan and almost unseen in the U.S. Those in the mobile industry would comment on the personalization of the devices in Japan, and speculate as to why one culture might take up on decorating so much more than another. I think most pundits attributed keitai charms to the love of kawa’i (cute), although it still didn’t quite explain why men were nearly as likely to have decorations hanging from their keitai as women were.
So I was surprised to learn that there is a long history of netsuke — carved ivory charms or accessories, some exceedingly valuable — hung on the hilt of samurai swords. It certainly helps to bridge the gap for me, in terms of understanding acceptance, perception, and mentality regarding phone charms.
(Thanks, Dad, for the tip!)
