OK, so file this under "retro-convergence."

No, it is not true that I am being paid by Adobe, given that my post five minutes ago was also about Adobe (Flash on TV sets in the home), but this piece in the New York Times caught my attention. "Digital Designers Rediscover Their Hands"

Adobe is sending designers to a seminar or class.  to make things with their hands and soldering tools.  The founder of the "Tinkering School" has been hired by Adobe to teach these classes to their designers--all of whom usually limit their contact with the mouse and keyboard.

Apparently, this is a return to "all things manual."  Jeez, didn't we do that back in the, oh, 70's???  I was barely out of diapers (OK, barely out of high school but then I graduated when I was three) but I remember an article in Life Magazine about the president of Haverford College working as a garbageman--while he was president.  We were expected to do something "relevant" (I repaired bulldozers one summer).

I would not recommend going THAT far but this movement may have some interesting consequences.  Perhaps we'll get user interfaces that do not require a technical degree.

Or products with really, really bad soldering.

Or we can get kayakers to do some soldering (a nod to John's earlier blog).