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moggridge

Bill Moggridge, early laptop designer, dies at age 69

Bill Moggridge, an early designer of portable computers with flip-open screens like those in use today, has died at age 69.

The British-born industrial designer died of cancer yesterday in San Francisco, according to the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, where Moggridge had served as director since 2010.

In 1979, Moggridge designed the Grid Compass, a clamshell computer with a display that closed over the keyboard. Widely regarded as the first laptop, the Compass debuted in 1982 at a retail price of $8,150.

Made of a magnesium alloy case, the compass featured an Intel 8086 processor, a 320&… Read more

Did the World Design Congress Connect?

Phew, what a busy week it was. Unfortunately, it was busy for me in a way that meant I didn't get to see as much of the World Design Congress as I had hoped. The plan for blogging during it also didn't work out as expected. Tim got to see a lot more than I did, and his post does a masterful job of capturing the highlights and trends.

From my more limited perspective I would tend to agree with the key points of his post. The highlight for me, as I think it was for many, was … Read more