Blloc, Smartphone Minimalism

Stunning in Black and White

If black and white photography was a smartphone, it would look like Blloc.

Only a few weeks ago I wrote a short article on how impressed and inspired I was by the Light Phone 2. It’s not a smart phone, not a feature phone, but a phone to help you connect with your friends and family by just being present—no FaceBook, no Instagram, no one thousand and one notifications.

I recently stumbled on another similar device but it captures my imagination and, ultimately, my deep passion for minimalism even more so. Like much of my photography, I prefer simplicity to complexity, black and white to color, and this particular device is not only stunning looking but I also really love the direction that they are taking and the philosophy behind their user interface.

This new device, not yet available, is called BllocZero18. Blloc's design, attention to detail, and minimalism really caught my attention. The screen is monochrome—white objects and text against a black background on a black device. It’s pretty stunning in photos. It focuses on communication, messages, rideshare, news, weather, and other apps but organized in a very different way.

The operating system is based on Android 8.1 but this isn't what one likely expects from an Android device. Rather than the traditional home screen with an ocean of icons, Blloc is engineered around a home screen based on information. They call it the Root but this is not what you expect from android device. It does not have the traditional home screen with an ocean of icons but a home screen based on information. They call it the Root.

“The lost, forgotten and scattered information is now gathered in one place, a simple timeline which facilitates speedy and effective conversations, while Blloc anticipates your needs through learning.”

— Blloc Team

From Root, you have access to your every day functions like news and weather in a messaging app like interface. I'm very curious to see this I action. I can imagine some of the function and how it will behave but I also expect that have some very slick features not seen.

It somewhat reminded me of iMessage for Business and Blackberry Hub, but with a touch of Pebble OS interface from the extinct smartwatch.

While the majority of one's time is viewing the devices interface in black and white, clearly one would want to see some things, images for example, in color. The OS is smart and will display things that 'should' be color, in color.

I really want to put my money in on Blloc just so I can play with it. It is a beautiful design, inspiring and innovative user interface, and really speaks to my minimalistic nature. Perhaps they will be gracious enough to lend me a review version. I would love to give this device a test.

I encourage you to visit their site and take a look for yourself. It is really something—down right sexy if you ask me.

Blloc

Price: €359 (≈$425)

Photos courtesy of Blloc

Acorns

Saving money can be challenging. There is so much cool stuff to buy, vacations to take... bills to pay. I have a 401k, a savings account, and a change jar. I feel pretty good about my savings overall but years ago I wanted to have something a little more automatic and silent.

Great thing about a 401k, you can’t really touch the money until you retire. Bad thing about savings, you can pull from it whenever. Funny thing about the change jar, I rarely use cash so if there is ten dollars in that jar, it is a lot.

When Apple Watch launches in 2015, a lot of developers were showcasing their skill and ideas in what they could do making apps for watchOS. One that caught my eye was a very stylish app named Acorns—a digital version of a change jar but also a lot more.

The Basics:

Opening an account with Acorns, you link any debit or credit card(s) you’d like. Ever purchase you make using the registered cards will rounded up to the next dollar and that money is then deposited into you Acorn account. They call them 'Round-Ups.'

Like a change jar or piggy bank, that change adds up pretty quickly. You need not do anything other than pay for things as you would normally.

After you hit a threshold, five dollars is the default, that money comes out of your checking account and is deposited into the your Acorns market.

Additionally, you can setup automatic deposits every week or month. You can open up the app on iPhone or Apple Watch and deposit a specific amount anytime. The Apple Watch version is exactly that an watchOS app should be—quick, simple, at-a-glance, functions.

The best part is that you’ll have the opportunity to pull money anytime, should you need it, without any penalty. I’m not an investment advisor but I’d vote on keeping it in the account longer than shorter.

When setting up the account, it will ask you how to manager the investments. Since this is a secondary investment opportunity for me, I have it set to aggressively invest the money. I don’t have tens of thousands in Acorns so it doesn’t bother me to see it fluctuate but over all it has made gains.

There are some other functions that are fun and helpful. Found Money is a feature linked to some of the biggest online retailers and brands like eBay, New Balance, Nike, Walgreens, and Apple.

When you purchase things from those companies through the Acorns app, a specific value or percentage of your purchase is gifted to your Acorns account. If you buy some Nike shoes, for example, the investment is currently 5% of you purchase. Not bad.

Over the years I’ve used it, I’ve literally saved months of rent worth of money. Because it is not something I access frequently, I’m not tempted to spend the money. Being a beautiful app, fun, easy to use, and nicely designed, Acorns adds a little incentive to saving money.

It ranks in as one of my favorite apps simply because of how it works and its design but it also is a favorite service. I definitely recommend it. Make it your digital piggy bank and save for a vacation, your future, or just have some backup money for an emergency.

Download and everyone who signs up gets $5.

Download Acorns

Price: Free

https://acorns.com/invite/NXTWY6

Lacie — Porsche Design Mobile Drive 1TB

In film and TV, all of us filmmakers have lots of hard drives and other storage options. My desk, a 72” Mayline drafting table and the main drawer, for big blueprints, is filled with hard drives from many films I’ve worked on.

Frequently, I purchase even more and for a recent project, I needed a drive to work off. The footage did not require anything extensive in the capacity or speed attributes but I do like nice design and I do like reliability.

A good portion of all my drives are Lacie or G-Tech. More times than not, I go for a Lacie Rugged drive (or pair) to take on a shoot. They are hardcore, metal and orange rubber encased hard drives fit for use on location. But, in this scenario, this drive will live on my desk and a bit of beauty is very welcome.

Lacie is no stranger to Porsche Design. I have multiple drives with the Porsche Design moniker but none quite like this. I had not actually seen one of these drives in person—I purchased this drive out of necessity and brand recognition. Lacie has been good to me for over a decade. Only once did a drive fail me and, in actuality, it was the power supply not the storage drive itself. Lacie replaced it and that drive still functions today.

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Upon opening the box, I was a bit taken aback. The photography of the product on the box didn’t really do it justice. It seems the metal case with a heavy satin finish and fine polish accent edges is more like something you’d find at Tiffany’s rather than electronics to store data. When I first opened the box I was just eager to plug it in and get thing transferring data but after putting it down, plugging it in, and letting my fingers brush over the surface, I said, under my breath, “wow, this is nice.”

Scientists don’t actually run down the street yelling, “eureka,” when having discovered something amazing. When a scientist says, “huh, how about that…” there is really something profound discovered. I find myself raising one eyebrow like Mr. Spock and simply muttering ‘wow,' having stumbled on a compelling item.

Like my Ray-Ban Aviator review recently, I had not really intended to write a review about the drive—I bought it and was going to use it like I would have some sponges in the kitchen. It was just another hard drive to soak up some data. I went with the Lacie over the G-Drive because the last two hard drives I bought were G-Tech. Otherwise, it was really a 50/50 split as to which one I was going to buy.

Having a hard time finding anything wrong with it, the only two [maybe] negative things I can say: it is a hair louder than the other drives in the same class that I hard. Maybe it is just a higher pitch. I noticed it but only when I was trying to find something wrong with it. When it is in ‘Eco mode’ (energy saving mode) it is silent.

I could not find the RPM specification for the hard drive inside but I would assume it is 5400rpm. There are faster drives out there but this was purchased for price point and function. In other words, maybe it could be faster but for how I will utilize it, I doubt I’ll find the speed to be a problem.

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For one terabyte of storage, native USB-C port, 10mm thin, 193g (6.8oz), a bit of shine, and you're looking for a good hard drive that might also have you glancing over at it more like jewelry than a utility for your computer, this is a great choice. There are cheaper hard drives out there but for $75.00 at Apple Michigan Avenue, and a true belief that technology should be as beautiful as art or fine furniture, not much negative can be said about this hard drive.

This little silver brick is rather nice.

Price: $75