Has anyone else noticed following interesting difference towards things and devices between the women’s and men’s magazines: The ladies magazines tell you that you have too much of everything and that you should reduce the number of “things” and goods in your life to pursuit happiness. The more male literature is clearly preaching the beauty and the cool features of new devices that have an USB plug as a common element.

I encountered three remarkable pieces of hardware during this March 2010, all very different to each other. The first one was a 3d printer that I saw in the Liverpool School of Art and Design (yes, John Lennon studied there, too) last week. These printers must be revolutionary for Product and Industrial Designers who can print out their 3d models right away. The technic is somehow to spray thin layers of different materials like plastic, fibers, metal or wax into the wished model, even in color. In the same big room was also a book press from the 19th century, as well other machines for the design students. Those machines and the workpieces reminded me how dirty analog art and design really is! They need glue, paint, clay and cloth, everything is very physical and haptic.

The next smaller piece of innovative hardware was the hanging charger station that my husband built out of copper and leather. It is like a bird’s nest with leather bags for the charging devices like mobile phones, handheld consoles, navigators etc., and it can be switched off at a single switch. How did we charge earlier?

The S-sized device is the Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker that looks like the Russian Matushka dolls with a ceramic ball inside (not 5 more wooden grannies). Mr Oliver probably used the 3d printer for designing it. You can mix and crush whatever you find in the kitchen. I tried with some deep-frozen herbs but they glued on the shaker surface. This piece of hardware is probably very clever but I must admit that I have been using the charging station much more than the Flavour Shaker during this month.