Wednesday 10 April 2019

Via Kottke, we learn that premium members of an on-line retail giant are pitched a monthly horoscope that pairs one’s sign to recommended products and promotions.
This peculiar merger of astrology with cloying capitalism is moving into its fourth month so there seems to be a serious commitment to the service, penned by an editor who holds a master’s degree in existential phenomenological therapeutic psychology whose by-lines also include a magazine for teenagers and Pokรฉmon, presumably the augmented reality experience. What do you think about that? Is it just in good fun or is it earnest, and is it even possible to be cynical about something that’s not real? Though possibly a late-comer to the booming revival in interest for pseudoscience and guidance no matter what form it comes in, the ploy is symptomatic of a much larger and lucrative trend that Americans are particularly eager to embrace and export.

caffettiera

Architect David Chipperfield has redesigned and reissued the iconic Moka Pot for Italian design line Alessi, launching it at the Salone de Mobile of the Milan Design Week.
The original was introduced to the public in 1933, invented by engineer Alfonso Bialetti (*1888 – †1970), this percolator making it possible for more of the coffee-drinking public to enjoy an espresso at home—since previous contraptions were large and unwieldly and not well-suited for domestic use. The trained metal-worker also introduced aluminium for kitchen-use whereas it had not been a common feature beforehand. The redesign is of course informed by Bialetti’s conception but is a hendecagon and closer to circular than the octagon. Perhaps this homage, Alessi being known for commissioning architects to create signature everyday items, will give the struggling Bialetti company the boost to recover and become fiscally solvent again, the once ubiquitous and must-have appliance having lost ground to coffee pads and pods.

flip of a coin

The US General Accounting Office (GAO) is reversing its course on an initiate to replace the paper fibre dollar bill with dollar coins—a rollout began in 2007 but failed to get traction among the public (over a billion of them are stored in the vaults of the Federal Serve)—after revised studies and projections show the transition will be loss making-rather than cost-saving over the decades. Since the plan was conceived, the life span of a dollar bill has more than doubled due to the pivot away from cash-transactions and physical money circulating less. Vending and other coin-operated concessions were reluctant to retrofit their machines as well—many like parking meters and laundry machines having leap-frogged the issue entirely and allow one to wave one’s gadget over it like a magic wand.

rotating elements

Via Present /&/ Correct, we are acquainted with artist Andy Mattern whose extensive portfolio includes a recent, recursive undertaking to photograph vintage volvelles and photographic wheel charts that helped calculate and calibrate exposure and colour saturation with most of the text and numbers removed to bring out the graphic design aspect of these paper analogue computers. See a whole gallery and more of Mattern’s series at the links above.

Tuesday 9 April 2019

les gรฉants du numรฉrique

To the consternation of the US and championing an EU-led initiative that failed to pass the supranational parliament last year, France aims to levy a three percent tax on internet behemoths whose profits surpass certain thresholds—seven hundred billion and fifty billion world wide with twenty-five million euro domestically.
The bill, referred to as GAFA for the biggest interlopers—Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple—is expected to pass the Senate with an equally overwhelming margin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says France is honoured to take the first crucial step towards data sovereignty, expecting to glean around half a billion euro in tax revenue annually that will be returned to the public coffers. While the tax burden would certainly not be crippling to the captains of industry, there are fears that the scheme could incite a precedent.

alta california

Seeking the counsel and perspective of history and equipped with the patient and veteran lens of an antique camera that dates back to a time before the current US/Mรฉxico frontier was established and cemented
in a cultish mythology that drapes greed and racism with the civilising sheen of Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, photographer Tomas van Houtryve traced the border as it was before the Mexican-American War, telling the stories of the descendants who instead of crossing the border were rather crossed by it. The collective amnesia and avoidance of a past shameful to recall and confront allows intolerance and the powers of regression not just to keep its pathetic toehold but experience a revival. Learn more about the portraits and landscapes—lines and lineage—at the links above.