That 'tech-free' Nophone? It was already out years ago A “tech free” phone has raised over $18,000 on Kickstarter. The electronics-free "NoPhone" provides “a rectangle of smooth, cold plastic to clutch without forgoing any potential engagement with your direct environment” – according to its makers. The NoPhone Backers receive a 3D-printed model of the dummy, which is itself a …
For the same reason you would want a USB pet rock
@Captain Scarlet
"This is the perfect device for them and means they don't have to dye their hair a silly colour."
Or you could do what I did which was to stop dyeing your hair silly awesome colours.
Ahh - nothing like stopping doing something you like because other people are now doing the same thing. Little else fills a souls with quite as much self-righteous bitterness. (I'm serious - I really did have weird hair, I really did stop because it was becoming too common and I really am bitter about it. Nose, meet knife.)
... and on that subject ...
The hipster effect: When anticonformists all look the same.
http://arXiv.org/abs/1410.8001
Jonathan Touboul
In such different domains as statistical physics and spin glasses, neurosciences, social science, economics and finance, large ensemble of interacting individuals taking their decisions either in accordance (mainstream) or against (hipsters) the majority are ubiquitous. Yet, trying hard to be different often ends up in hipsters consistently taking the same decisions, [...]
@Andy
For the same reason they buy books called 'What men know about xxxx' that are completely blank.
It's - at least for the person buying it - humorous and ironic and many of them think it will make a good Christmas present. (They're wrong, but that's beside the point.)
Of course, this could have been offered as a 3D printed gimmick on one of the standard websites but putting something silly on Kickstarter tends to get you a bit more press and thus more success.
That XKCD also has one of Randall's best mouseover-text comments.
Seriously, what is it with everyone and their dog thinking they can make a better phone than Samsung/Apple, despite having (usually) no prior experience, no team of engineers, and nothing but wishful thinking?
Perhaps the fact that "better" is subjective? I like my cheap LG slider a lot more than anything from Apple, or anything I've seen from Samsung. It'd be a sad day if they were the only two firms producing phones.
I mean mobile phones become more and more useless. Devices like the Nokia Communicator used to be tools designed to be used for productive work. Modern "smart"-phones are more and more becoming ad display devices with tracking features.
If we extrapolate current trends, this is what we'll end up in 10 years. Of course it'll be shiny and have some brand fetish around it.
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