Not long ago, every notebook computer, every bit of stereo or A/V equipment I owned was painted black or charcoal (or was made of a black or charcoal plastic).
Now, everything is silver. Matte or satin silver. Spray-painted silver.
For some reason, silver has become the most popular car color. (Click here if the preceding link is broken.)
Silver seems like a nice color for some cars... and I even have one car that color (but that car is a 1970 Pontiac, so it was not so trendy when the color was put on the car). But there is a vast difference between a quality, glossy automotive paint finish and the chintzy look of a dull, matte silver finish painted on my notebook computer, my camcorder, my DirecTV receiver, my television cabinet (I could go on...)
I can just imagine the product design meetings held in consumer product companies everywhere: "Silver is most popular! Silver is the way to go! Let's make it SILVER!"
It's becoming apparent to me (slow thinker that I am) that 2007 is shaping up to be a year in which 'trust' becomes the central theme in many ways:
I found this page over on the UC Berkeley Library site describing a set of steps to use in 
