more gadgetry

Friend Dave C sends over the weekly Gizmag post (that's how I know he hasn't been riding much). He was taken with this sealed gearbox, eliminating the need for a derailleur (which can be a liability on bikes with hard use, such as some mountain bikes):

But the thing that nailed me was this chair that self-destructs after eight uses:

Theres excellent video on the site, but Blogspot won't let me embed it.

I find the chair intriguing, partly because I'm the owner of a Barnes & Noble Nook. I have hundreds of dollars invested in the device, and the books to read on it... but I keep reading about B&N and financial problems, and I wonder if I'm going to lose access to my books. We accept limitations on the uses of music, games, and books, and don't seem to question them... and this project moves that discussion into the hardware space. What would we do if a book, or a CD, disintegrated after eight uses? Or if we gave it to a friend?

(My father, who was an author, was inflexible about copyright... but he was almost undoubtedly wrong.)

Further, the ability to make money from something changes, and SHOULD change, when the surrounding technology changes. The same low-wage Republicans who fight for big-business copyright now, will not support railroads (which I, and most other countries, consider a public good), because rail has been replaced by newer automotive technology. (I don't think it's better, and I'm sure that without the subsidies that go to the fossil fuel industries, it would not be cheaper... but it is newer.)

Go check out that video, not for the eight Eurotrash hipsters who sit on the chair, but for the slow melt at the end of the wax joints.