luddite

Twitter's home page definitely gets some Zen cred by consisting of little more than a text field that asks, "What are you doing?" But that's apparently about to change.

According to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, there will very soon be a major revamp to Twitter.com.

The reason is to give potential Twitter users--you know, the ones who are curious about what these "tweets" on CNN are--a better idea of exactly what the service is and what they can do with it.

This is slated to launch next week.

"You can try (Twitter) … Read more

The personal computer has long been accused of having far more functions than the average bear would ever use. (Can you say Windows?) It's the reason that we have such backlash products and services as Presto, which allows your digitally challenged loved ones to receive e-mail printouts without a PC.

The latest product to join this trend is the "iLoad," which Fosfor Gadgets says lets you transfer music or video from CDs, television, set-top boxes or mobile phones to your iPod without a computer at all. The idea sounds good, but its $300 price may still be … Read more

Readers of this space may know that we've been called (gasp) closet Luddites. So after a post yesterday extolling the virtues of simplicity, one of our colleagues thought we'd appreciate this as well: In this day of phones stuffed to the gills with features and functions, MIT's Technology Review recently wrote an article titled, "Motorola's Dumb Phone."

Designed for developing countries, the Motophone bears some resemblance to its famous Razr cousin but is intentionally devoid of many bells and whistles. Yet to achieve its power-saving and easily read screen, it employs an "electronic … Read more

You can call us Luddites (we've been called a lot worse), but we often find beauty in simplicity. Case in point: the MP3 player knob, as seen on Red Ferret.

As the iPod and other players are increasingly woven into the fabric of our lives, something like this could actually be useful. Attached to your iPod-enabled clothes or bags by Velcro or magnet, the knob could preclude unnecessary fumbling in cramped quarters. Of course, if you want more than volume control, you can always go the full remote route.

(Photo: Plusminus Design)