Q204219 - COSEAC Analista de Tecnologia da Informação - Ambiente Operacional 2009
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.
Boeing ____ this week that it ____ successfully ____ a manned airplane powered _____ hydrogen fuel cells.