let me show you how to switch the lights on

            

 

This could be the tag line of the Geek Squad, a home computer servicing company set up in the States in 1994 and now entering the market. What the Geek Squad does is help us all get our heads around using our gadgets at home and at work. They basically provide the element missing in many interactive devices: usability. Have difficulty synchronising your PC with your phone? Call the Geek Squad and one of their geeks will visit you and rescue you from the tentacles of unusable technology. Joking aside, the Geek Squad appears to offer a valuable and innovative service. For example, they can make sure that only your favourite geek visits you, and they aim to provide meaningful appointment times (read a profile on Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens in NMA).

But what if services like this encourage companies produce more unusable products safe in the knowledge that we can always call the Geeks when we want to record something our a DVD or switch the light on? In the NMA article, the founder of Geek Squad is asked what would happen to the Squad if manufacturers suddenly improve their products, only to reply “That ain’t going to happen anytime soon”.