TECH TIPS
Metallics hot for computers
Advertiser News Services
When International Business Machines Corp. introduced the personal computer 20 years ago, it chose what one designer called "the most innocuous color that fit in with the button-down world of IBM."
"Everything was beige back then," said Steve Montgomery, who teaches advanced product design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. "It fit in with the office. It also hides dirt somewhat."
Bland, but practical.
Time to say bye-bye.
This month, eMachines Inc. and Gateway Inc. become the last of the major PC sellers to convert their lines to darker, metallic color schemes and sleeker appearances. Dell Computer Corp. switched in late 2000, while Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp., which flirted with color, have settled on different shades of gray. Even IBM no longer carries anything in the ho-hum hue.
Design has become an integral part of the computer industry, helping to sell products, or at least ensure an initial ooh-aah before consumers realize the product needs work.
Design helped propel Apple Computer, a stagnating brand in the mid-1990s, back to mainstream after the launch of the first iMac in 1998. Orders for the latest iMac, which debuted in January, are reportedly backlogged for four months.
"Corporations and businesses have realized that design is the differentiator to product success," said Lance Hussey, vice president and design director of RKS Design in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
"The point is, how does one computer company differentiate itself from another computer company if, basically, they're selling the same thing? Design is that element," Hussey says.
Bright iMac colors are getting stale, designers say. The trend of translucence is being replaced by metal, or plastic that looks like metal. Silver is hot. But tomorrow, it could be black. And then white. With color sprinkled in between.
"There's probably an eight-year product cycle. It goes from black to silver and then black again," said Richard Jung, co-founder of Irvine, Calif.-based Ciro Design, which designed two touch-screen computers that Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates demonstrated onstage at past high-tech trade shows.
"Right now, all high-end TVs are silver. All high-end digital cameras are silver," Jung said. "Before, they were black."
Reduce risks of credit-card fraud
Are you one of those online people who still feel squeamish about giving your credit-card number to an Internet merchant? If so, here's something for you to consider.
When you last dined out and gave your credit card to the waiter, did you feel insecure? He could have run it a few times to add extra charges or simply copied the numbers and expiration date to be used in some future illegal shopping spree.
In fact, using your card just about anywhere runs the risk of your numbers being copied by someone looking to rip you off.
Most of us know we're protected against such abuses and we use our credit cards with confidence. And using it on the Internet is no more risky than using it at any legitimate place of business. Using some of the same common sense precautions you use when shopping in a store will more than likely yield online transactions without incident.
For one thing, know where you are shopping. Deal with a well-known and established vendor be it online or in a store.
Another safety tip is to look for sites that offer secure Web pages that encrypt your credit-card data. You'll know you're on such a secure page by a little closed lock icon that appears in the lower portion of your Web browser.
But what if you want to buy something from an individual who doesn't accept credit cards? Or someone wants to buy an item you listed somewhere and you want a safe and secure method of getting the cash?
The Internet can be helpful via a service called PayPal. This online service offers a unique way to safely send and receive money from people who aren't set up to process credit cards.
The concept is simple.
To set up your PayPal account, register by entering one of your credit cards. Once PayPal verifies your card, they ask you to register your checking account via the numbers that appear on one of your checks. PayPal makes a small deposit of a few cents into your checking account and then asks you verify that amount via an e-mail back to PayPal. The process takes a few days, but once your account is registered and verified you're ready to send and receive money to anyone with a PayPal account. You can give it a try at www.paypal.com.
