Stuff

I received today a Withings networked body scale. This gizmo measures your weight and estimates body fat ratio using an impedance bridge, and uploads it over WiFi to their web server, where you can watch trends and monitor your progress. The scale itself is quite thin and elegant, quite unlike my older Tanita scale. The top is glass with a metallic underlay that makes it look like a large slab of photovoltaic cell. It runs off 4 AAA batteries, they must use a remarkably power-efficient microcontroller.

Since there is no UI on the device, you hook it up to your computer via a USB cable, and the installer (available for Mac and Windows) will upgrade the firmware, set up the WiFi access point and authentication parameters, and associate the scale with the account you created on the Withings website. That’s pretty much it, the process is very smooth.

Using it is simplicity itself — just step on the scale (there is no clunky recalibration scheme unlike my Tanita). The weight measure is near instant and shown on a very legible backlit LCD display that is far easier on the eyes than Tanita’s thin numerals. A progress bar starts as the bridge measures your body impedance (used to estimate body fat content) and in a few seconds the process is complete and the results uploaded. It can track multiple users as long as their weights are not within half a kilo of each other. The user interface uses more Flash than I would like, but is perfectly serviceable, there is also a free iPhone app and a JSON-based API to access the data.

I paid $159 for it on Amazon. Considering the amount of technology and design that went into the product, it is relatively inexpensive.

After using it and trying to find out more about the company, I realized it is French and the CTO, Frédéric Potter, was in my alma mater the class before mine. It’s always great to see innovative startups thriving, and I hope there are more connected devices forthcoming. I’d love to see WiFi-enabled thermometers, power meters and remote power switches using the technology.

I spied a medium-sized Cocoon Grid-It organizer in the Flight 001 store on Hayes Street last Sunday, and bought one. This is a board, roughly letter size, with a criss-crossing web of elastic bands. there is a zippered pocket in the back (not shown).

You just find a section the size of the gizmo you want to fit and slide your item in. The elastic has non-slip rubberized dots that will keep it in place. In this case, a Hypermac battery pack for MacBook Air (with cable), Novoflex Mikrostativ mini-tripod, lens-cleaning brush, spare Leica M9 battery, pencil and small bottle of sanitizer.

The good: works as advertised, useful for people who change bags often—just grab the whole thing and transfer it.

The bad: rather heavy at slightly over 300g, quite thick at 5mm or so (the stiffener inside is probably corrugated cardboard or plastic rather than a thinner material).

Conclusion: given the bulk and weight, you would be better off with a conventional zippered multi-pouch organizer

Women’s handbags have become the mainstay of the luxury industry, generating well over $10B a year in revenues. San Francisco has no dearth of companies designing, and sometimes manufacturing, bags locally, but most have an urban, not luxury sensibility. We have more manufacturers than any place with the possible exception of Australia. To mention but a few (ones I have bought bags or pouches from are highlighted with the backpack emoji 🎒), and those that actually make their bags in the US have the US flag emoji 🇺🇸, with those actually made in San Francisco getting their bonus SF emoji 🌁:

• 🎒 🇺🇸 🌁 Waterfield Designs (motto: No mass production or overseas workforce. WaterField bags are designed and made in San Francisco, where rent is high, labor is expensive and competition is intense. We wouldn’t go anywhere else!)
• 🎒 🇺🇸 Chrome (Note: moved to Seattle in 2019)
• 🎒 🇺🇸 🌁 (some lines) Timbuk2
• 🎒 Hlaska
• Mulholland
• 🇺🇸 🌁 April in Paris

There is a newcomer to this list:

• 🎒 🇺🇸 🌁 Rickshaw Bagworks

Update (2012-07-13):

Add to the list:

• 🎒 🇺🇸 🌁 Glaser Designs
• Acme Made
• 🎒 🇺🇸 🌁 Peasants & Travelers
• 🎒 🇺🇸 Mission Workshop

Update (2013-08-07):

And some more:

• 🎒 🇺🇸 DSPTCH
• Archive
• 🎒 🇺🇸 Triple Aught Design
• 🇺🇸 🌁 Zugster

Update (2019-05-22):

It never ends:

• 🎒 AER
• 🎒 🇺🇸 ARKTYPE
• 🎒 Octovo
• 🎒 Peak Design
• Basil Racuk
• 🇺🇸 🌁 Heath + Stein
• 🎒 Black Ember

Update (2021-09-11):

I didn’t realize Baggu is also SF-based:

• 🎒 Baggu

I bought one of these beauties from Room & Board (also available from Design Within Reach) in the bronze finish.

It’s a task lamp with 18 white LEDs. Light intensity can be controlled via a rotary knob, although the lowest level is still fairly bright. The Brazo can be adjusted in 4 degrees of freedom for maximal control. The base and arm are aluminum (available in bronze, natural silver, white and black) with a machined concentric reticular pattern that looks impressive, although I am concerned it will also be a very effective dust trap. Best of all, it’s designed locally in San Francisco by a Venezuelan-born designer.

Highly recommended.