"one of the diseases of this age is the multiplicity of books; they doth so overcharge the world that it is not able to digest the abundance of idle matter that is every day hatched and brought forth into the world" Barnaby Rich (1580-1617), writing in 1613. ...
Internet FOR things
In his graduation thesis entitled "Social RFID, at the Utrecht School of the Arts, Patrick Plaggenborg interestingly explores what an "Internet FOR Things" mean, differentiated from the so-called "Internet of Things". The document can be downloaded here. The goal of the project is to explore suppl...
Subtle reminder of speed camera
Seen this morning in Geneva. A subtle reminder crafted by the driver to keep in mind the presence of speed/traffic enforcement camera/gatso. The location of the note right above the dashboard is especially interesting. What's also intriguing is the fact that the note is a reminder of a possibility...
The importance of exceptions for design
Recently working on a project about gestural interfaces and the user experience of the Nintendo Wii, I had my share of discussions about sampling in user experience research and the role of exceptions. Quantitative researchers often drawn nice curves with cute statistical distributions with "means"...
The relevance of "past futures"
"Technological Landscapes" by Richard Rogers is an essay about "relevant past futures", i.e the "past roads not taken", in which he invites us to re-read the history of technological culture "to inform the selection of the technological landscapes of our day": "Historical comparison with imagery of...
Electricity for 1 euro
Encountered this afternoon in Grenoble France, in a café where the WiFi was available for 2 euros (no time restriction) and electricity for 1 euro: The price tag on the power plug is amazingly contextualized. ...
What it takes to organize a conference
There's a topic I rarely discuss here: how we work on the program of the LIFT conferences. With 3 editions in Geneva, a small event in Seoul and the LIFT Asia in CheJu next september, a long list of speakers has been booked. Since I am in charge of that part, it's always interesting to shed some l...
Why "future perfect" is what it is
Quite enjoyed reading future perfect's rationale in this interview: "Your blog Future Perfect ("about the collision of people, society and technology") includes a lot of your musings about what you see on your travels, but poses more questions that it answers. I'm pretty bad at shoehorning life int...
J.K. Rowling about failure
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter's author) about the importance of failure in her Commencement Address at Harvard: "What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. (...) Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. (...) So why do I talk about the benefits o...
Tailored solutions for various affordances
A weird keyhole which needs more information about what sense to turn the key ("ouvrir" in french means "open"): And an elegant solution to the "elevator button issue": how to know which of the "up" and "down" button to choose: what's the underlying rationale? what's the referential? the elevator t...