We regularly engage in customer discussions. And the ways you all spend your time with your nutshell is, quite honestly, just amazing. From the bush to the boardroom, and every possible, conceivable way between.
So much are we are intrigued by what you do, we thought a competition could be the order of the day...and we are working on inviting you to post us images of the way you use your nutshell in your every day world.
This after we've worked out how to best enable you to add your image, along with a brief description to share with us all. And how to score them all.
The Judges?
You..of course.
After all it's our competition.
The Prize?
Let's work on that.
Now that's a thought.
What do you reckon??
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Making Time Stand Still!
We all know about magnets and the problems they can potentially cause if left to their own devices.
If you are not careful around magnets, they can wipe your swipe, erase the data on a floppy disk and generally play havoc with information that is electronically stored in a form where the 'state' of bits are altered according to the whim of the data stored therein.
But did you know that magnets can also make time stand still!
I admit I was not aware of this. Not until recently, when a customer of ours in Sydney contacted me.
"Do you know that when I put my Tag Heuer watch on top of my nutshell case with a mag-tab when I shower, I find that time has stood still?" he asked.
"Why no," said I. "How can this be?"
Apparently his watch, and many others like it, are very susceptible to magnetic influences; their movements are so delicately balanced that they will actually stop recording the passing of time if they are placed within a magnetic field.
But only for the duration of the time they are under the influence of the magnetic field. Remove them from the field and they perform again. Perfectly.
Except for that one small, seemingly insignificant fact that they are now running behind time in the 'real world'. And that can be a problem. Especially if you are inclined to base your life on the time.
Now, that is not to say that there is anything special about the magnetic fields generated by our mag-clasps (be they tab or full flap). There are lots of other cases to contain handhelds in the marketplace that use magnets.
The most famous of them has to be RIM BlackBerry.
RIM has for many years embedded a small magnet in the base of their belt cases, and use its influence to put their devices into a standby mode, which drains less power but still enables emails and messages to be received with no problems.
Many of our competitors use dual magnets to achieve a firm clap; the magnets are reversed polarity, so that they actually 'want' to attach to each other. And, to my knowledge, there is at least one other case manufacturer that actually uses four magnets in their flap closure. Four! Un-freaking-believable.
At Nutshell we know that the devices we protect are complex, delicate (comparatively) pieces of electronics, which do not need much to upset them, if they are that way inclined.
For this reason we do what we can to minimize their effect. We contain our magnet between two pieces of steel. This action results in an ultra-strong attraction between the plates but actually limits the amount of magnetism that leaks out into the surrounding environment.
But it is obviously not enough to minimize magnetism; in a perfect world you have to eliminate it altogether. It may be a very slight, very minute, magnetic field, but it is obviously still enough to make time stand still.
That's why, for folk who are really concerned, we offer hook'n'loop Velcro as an alternate method of keeping your Nutshell shut.
Makes sense.
Doesn't it?
If you are not careful around magnets, they can wipe your swipe, erase the data on a floppy disk and generally play havoc with information that is electronically stored in a form where the 'state' of bits are altered according to the whim of the data stored therein.
But did you know that magnets can also make time stand still!
I admit I was not aware of this. Not until recently, when a customer of ours in Sydney contacted me.
"Do you know that when I put my Tag Heuer watch on top of my nutshell case with a mag-tab when I shower, I find that time has stood still?" he asked.
"Why no," said I. "How can this be?"
Apparently his watch, and many others like it, are very susceptible to magnetic influences; their movements are so delicately balanced that they will actually stop recording the passing of time if they are placed within a magnetic field.
But only for the duration of the time they are under the influence of the magnetic field. Remove them from the field and they perform again. Perfectly.
Except for that one small, seemingly insignificant fact that they are now running behind time in the 'real world'. And that can be a problem. Especially if you are inclined to base your life on the time.
Now, that is not to say that there is anything special about the magnetic fields generated by our mag-clasps (be they tab or full flap). There are lots of other cases to contain handhelds in the marketplace that use magnets.
The most famous of them has to be RIM BlackBerry.
RIM has for many years embedded a small magnet in the base of their belt cases, and use its influence to put their devices into a standby mode, which drains less power but still enables emails and messages to be received with no problems.
Many of our competitors use dual magnets to achieve a firm clap; the magnets are reversed polarity, so that they actually 'want' to attach to each other. And, to my knowledge, there is at least one other case manufacturer that actually uses four magnets in their flap closure. Four! Un-freaking-believable.
At Nutshell we know that the devices we protect are complex, delicate (comparatively) pieces of electronics, which do not need much to upset them, if they are that way inclined.
For this reason we do what we can to minimize their effect. We contain our magnet between two pieces of steel. This action results in an ultra-strong attraction between the plates but actually limits the amount of magnetism that leaks out into the surrounding environment.
But it is obviously not enough to minimize magnetism; in a perfect world you have to eliminate it altogether. It may be a very slight, very minute, magnetic field, but it is obviously still enough to make time stand still.
That's why, for folk who are really concerned, we offer hook'n'loop Velcro as an alternate method of keeping your Nutshell shut.
Makes sense.
Doesn't it?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
What is in a name?
At Nutshell we are constantly aware of the changing face of the mobile computing landscape.
As device makers get smarter, the technology that they use gets smaller, faster and increasingly more complex.
Add to that an array of shapes that fit the hand in an amazing variety of ways, and every user is faced with a staggering number of amazing mobile devices, all offering smaller, faster, longer life and better performance and abilities.
All this is great news for the cognoscenti and the technocrats amongst us; things that were mere dreams a few years ago are fast becoming everyday realities; video phones with hi-res cameras, screens that sparkle, dazzle and present realistic images, more space on which to store stuff; better and increasingly better means of staying in touch with one another. As someone once said - "The list goes on."
Of course, this presents a constant challenge to a company like Nutshell; focused on delivering products that meet and exceed the user's expectations. It is the old 'what do we do next' syndrome. A constant hunt to make our products better and more attractive, while maintaining quality control and deliver-ability.
But we constantly have a niggling worry in the back of the head that what we do may actually turn off some customers; our use of natural materials offends some folk who would rather we lived in trees, ate nuts and shoots and rooted around for our daily sustenance. The merest whiff of a suggestion that we may even contemplate delivering products that incorporate natural materials can be a turn-off, to some people. And nobody needs a turn-off.
The challenge then is to deliver products which entice the senses; after all, until you purchase you cannot touch, feel and fully experience any product that is presented online. It is all in the mind, and in that sense of expectation and belief that the product you are purchasing will fit your lifestyle, like a glove.
So we are searching for a name. A word. An expression of timeless elegance, wish-fulfillment and good taste. Coupled with our users' expectations of a product that not only looks like a million dollars, it will actually deliver what we, as designers and creators, have set ourselves as the challenge; the creation of that ultimate product that will better protect its contents against most all of what our users will undoubtedly throw at it.
And you thought you had problems. :-)
As device makers get smarter, the technology that they use gets smaller, faster and increasingly more complex.
Add to that an array of shapes that fit the hand in an amazing variety of ways, and every user is faced with a staggering number of amazing mobile devices, all offering smaller, faster, longer life and better performance and abilities.
All this is great news for the cognoscenti and the technocrats amongst us; things that were mere dreams a few years ago are fast becoming everyday realities; video phones with hi-res cameras, screens that sparkle, dazzle and present realistic images, more space on which to store stuff; better and increasingly better means of staying in touch with one another. As someone once said - "The list goes on."
Of course, this presents a constant challenge to a company like Nutshell; focused on delivering products that meet and exceed the user's expectations. It is the old 'what do we do next' syndrome. A constant hunt to make our products better and more attractive, while maintaining quality control and deliver-ability.
But we constantly have a niggling worry in the back of the head that what we do may actually turn off some customers; our use of natural materials offends some folk who would rather we lived in trees, ate nuts and shoots and rooted around for our daily sustenance. The merest whiff of a suggestion that we may even contemplate delivering products that incorporate natural materials can be a turn-off, to some people. And nobody needs a turn-off.
The challenge then is to deliver products which entice the senses; after all, until you purchase you cannot touch, feel and fully experience any product that is presented online. It is all in the mind, and in that sense of expectation and belief that the product you are purchasing will fit your lifestyle, like a glove.
So we are searching for a name. A word. An expression of timeless elegance, wish-fulfillment and good taste. Coupled with our users' expectations of a product that not only looks like a million dollars, it will actually deliver what we, as designers and creators, have set ourselves as the challenge; the creation of that ultimate product that will better protect its contents against most all of what our users will undoubtedly throw at it.
And you thought you had problems. :-)
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