If you by any chance you go to PicNic next week in Amserdam, be sure to check this nice special event called "Internet of Things: Toys for hackers or real business opportunities" put together by Vlad Trifa: "The purpose of this session is to raise awareness that a new ecology of tiny interconnected...
"Making" WiFi
(presence of wifi in Geneva, revealed on a tree) My interest in the invisibility of the digital (on par with its pervasiveness in the physical) led me to Katrina Jungnickel's research project called Making Wifi. Her work basically explores the role and importance of visual representations and pract...
The complexity of GPS accuracy
Writing a chapter about geolocation history, I am digging the issue of GPS accuracy as it is often a "pain points" in the user (driver) experience. The Road Measurement Data Acquisition System has an interesting paper about it, by Chuck Gilbert. Gilbert shows how complex the problem of GPS accurac...
The E on touch interface
Although I don't share the optimism described by this article about touch interface (in the insightful Technology Quarterly in The Economist), there are some good elements discussed there. I recommend reading it in conjunction with Bill Buxton's perspectives about that very topic. The article in t...
Urban pranks
(a plastic ninja seen in Rome) Being a great fan of random acts (and André Gide's acte gratuit), it's always to read what the mainstream press has to say about it. So when the WSJ features something about this, there are sometimes some good excerpts, such as: "The latest pranksters are "urban alch...
Umbrella hack
An intriguing use of umbrella, seen both in Seoul (above) and Geneva (below). Protect your place with what you have up your sleeve! Why do I blog this? fascination towards mundane creativity, or how people use what they have to repair stuff, and here it's beyond carboard or duct tape. ...
Explore and produce provocative designs for automated journeys
If you're (still) around Seoul, which I am not, there is this awesomely intriguing "action-packed" workshop next week called Automated Journeys (as part of the Ubicomp 2008 conference): "Computing technology now pervades those moments of our day when we move through our cities. Mobile phones, mus...
Touch - no touch
Both seen in Korea (first in Jeju, second in Seoul). Unclear affordances for touch/don't touch ...
Designing interactions, designing conversations
Morning read in the train: Uncertain futures: A Conversation with Professor Anthony Dunne by David Womack. Yet another insightful short article on the Adobe Design Center think tank website. Womack starts off by describing how Dunne+Raby's work is meant to reclaim the original meaning of interactio...
Anticipatory or representational visions of ubiquitous computing
Catching up with accumulated RSS feeds, I read with great pleasure the slides from Sam Kinsley's presentation at the RGS-IBG annual international conference. Kinsley interestingly addresses the vision of ubiquitous computing and how it is employed in the domain of corporate R&D. He takes the examp...