Magazine

Soul of a New Mobile Machine

May/June 2007

From conception to buzz, from three-way spring to soft-touch paint: inside the design of a multimedia communications gadget. By David Talbot

Read the issue

Letter from the editor

On Beautiful Machines

Features

Categorized in Silicon Valley
The Secret of Apple Design
The inside (sort of) story of why Apple’s industrial-design machine has been so successful.
Categorized in Uncategorized
Help Me Redesign the Web
The first epoch of Web design is over; from now on, Web pages will be as attractive as print–but more interactive.
Categorized in 17037
Planning for a Climate-Changed World
As the global picture grows grimmer, states and cities are searching for the fine-scale predictions they need to prepare for emergencies–and to keep the faucets running.
Categorized in 17035
Sequencing in a Flash
A new generation of DNA-sequencing machines is opening up whole new areas of genomic research. Already, researchers are unraveling how modern humans differ from Neanderthals and devising more precise tests for cancer.

Also in this issue
- Letters
  Letters from our readers.
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- Cheaper Diagnostics
  A mix of “bar-coded” particles could detect multiple compounds at once.
  Categorized in 17035
- Healing Bone with Stem Cells
  Categorized in 17035
- Micromachines and the Cosmos
  Filters will bring out faint infrared radiation from the early universe.
  Categorized in 17032
- An Ocean of Worry
  Will urchins survive global warming?
  Categorized in 17035
- Lung-Cancer Breathalyzer
  A cheap disposable device advances.
  Categorized in 17035
- Atom-Thick Transistor
  Graphene device makes for a stable single-electron transistor.
  Categorized in 17032
- Good-Bye, Glare
  Nano coating for efficient LEDs.
  Categorized in 17037
- The New New Thing Is Clean Energy
  Categorized in 17036
- Nano Solution
  Categorized in 17032
- New Face for Emoticons
  Text-message system uses photos.
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- Messy PCs
  Program makes the virtual desktop like a paper-strewn office.
  Categorized in 17032
- Finding Surprising Drug Synergy
  Categorized in 17035
- Coal Reality Check
  MIT report suggests locations to sequester carbon dioxide.
  Categorized in 17037
- Spying on White Cells
  Categorized in 17035
- Electricity from Heat
  Toward cheaper thermoelectrics.
  Categorized in 17037
- Objects of Desire
  Famous industrial designers talk about iconic pieces of technology.
  Categorized in 17032
- The Trouble with Knowledge
  Technology that alters human nature will upset our inherited moral categories, argues one of Britain’s most esteemed philosophers. In a posthuman future, he asks, how will our children and grandchildren know right from wrong?
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- Hack: The Apple I
  A look back at the original motherboard: Steve Wozniak’s 1976 Apple I.
  Categorized in 17032
- Q&A: Bill Moggridge
  What makes for good design?
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- Two Words on Design
  The goal of simplicity is anything but easy to achieve.
  Categorized in 17035
- Genomes for the Masses
  The proliferation and plummeting cost of DNA sequencing heralds the year of the personal genome.
  Categorized in 17035
- Global-Warming Myths
  It’s time to move forward on regulating greenhouse gases and here’s a regulatory plan that makes sense.
  Categorized in 17037
- The "New" Apple
  It’s only not a computer company in name. Apple remains true to its roots.
  Categorized in 17032
- People-Powered Search
  For the legions of Internet users contributing to new “human-assisted search” sites, no job is too small.
  Categorized in Uncategorized
- Silicon Brains
  Computer chips designed to mimic how the brain works could shed light on our cognitive abilities.
  Categorized in 17035
- From the Labs: Biotechnology
  New publications, experiments and breakthroughs in biotechnology–and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17035
- From the Labs: Nanotechnology
  New publications, experiments and breakthroughs in nanotechnology–and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17032
- From the Labs: Information Technology
  New publications, experiments and breakthroughs in information technology–and what they mean.
  Categorized in 17032
- The Engineer and the Artist
  Industrial design has long depended on strange bedfellows.
  Categorized in 17032

Updated