GadgetDesigners Push the Limits of Size, Safety
By Brian X. Chen, August 28, 2008
Just as small, fast-moving mammals replaced lumbering
dinosaurs, pocketable gadgets are evolving to fill niches that
larger, deskbound computers can\'t reach. But as they shrink,
these gadgets are faced with problems mammals face, too,
such as efficiently dissipating heat.
The recent example of Apple\'s first-generation iPod nanos
causing fires in Japan raises the question of whether
increasingly innovative product designs are impinging on
safety. The nano incident illustrates how risk can increase as
devices decrease in size, says Roger Kay, an analyst at
EndpointTechnologies.
"As [gadgets] get smaller, the tradeoffs become more difficult,
the balance becomes more critical and there\'s less room for
error," Kay said. "I\'m not surprised it\'s happening to the nano
because that\'s the small one. You\'re asking it to do a lot in a
very, very small package and that\'s pushing the envelope.”
There\'s no question that industrial designers\' jobs have
become much more difficult as the industry demands ever
more powerful and smaller gadgets. With paper-thin
subnotebooks, ultrasmall MP3 players, and pinkie finger-
sized Bluetooth headsets becoming increasingly popular, it\'s
questionable where exactly designers draw the line between
innovation and safety.
In the sentence: “But as they shrink, these gadgets with problems mammals face too, such as dissipating heat.” First paragraph, the author of the text believes that…
- A like the early mammals, gadgets will have to be able to maintain heat;
- B like early mammals, nano technology will have to develop better condition of safety to survive;
- C pocketable gadgets are evolving to overtake deskbound computers positions;
- D people are in dangerwhen they use their newest gadgets;
- E gadgets may be compared to lumbering dinosaurs and have no survival chance in the future.