Poignant goodbye from Curbed to a machine that hand-held NYC towards new technology. An excellent example of a successful marriage of both physical and digital design with a user focus.
That the MetroCard machine (unlike many aspects of the subway system) elicits fond emotions has a lot to do with the unusually thoughtful people who designed it. The process, which began in 1996, was led by industrial designer Masamichi Udagawa, who had just opened the New York office of the Palo Alto–based design firm IDEO. The assignment: to overhaul a vending machine the MTA had already decided to purchase, a standard-issue device manufactured by Cubic (the same company responsible for the new OMNY system). Sigi Moeslinger, a designer who had recently left IDEO, joined in the redesign and, in 1997, the pair (partners in business and in life) had formed a new firm called Antenna and taken the commission with them. They worked closely throughout with a couple of IDEO interaction designers, David Reinfurt and Kathleen Holman, and the MTA’s director of arts and design, Sandra Bloodworth.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 8.1.0 and 8.2.0-beta0 out and so much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
