Mobstuff
Internet of Things
As the Internet pervades more physical space and more social space it is likely that objects in the world will become able to connect to the network and participate in the web by disseminating and receiving data communications. As "things" participate within the Internet and once the Internet soaks through physical, geographic space a differentiated kind of Internet may arise. The Internet of Things sets up a different set of relations to social practice (we will be "in" a pervasive network) and a different set of relations to space (the Internet will be co-occupied by both social beings and things.) This shift generates new possibilities for integrating networked things into the Internet.
The Internet is becoming more pervasive, both in the sense of leaking into more corners of the physical world through various wireless networking schemes and in that it pervades more nooks and crannies of our social practices. As it continues to create touch points of interactions both in a physical and social practices sense, it seems likely that the other space consuming objects that the network washes over will participate, in some
fashion, on the network.
If objects participate in the Internet of Things, how will we engage them? How will they engage us? How do we design for such a world of chatty objects? What do we want from such a world in which Things participate amongst us as networked social entities? What do we want to know about the world? How do we want to shape the way Things engage us and help us make a more habitable World 2.0?
As more smart, mobile, sensing “Things” are attached to the internet, their presence and participation and agency can be felt in our online lives (2nd Life)
If the Social Web (the Internet of Social Beings) greatly impacted our social lives, how will an Internet of Things be felt across our lived experiences?
What would the social web look like when more and more network connected "things" participate?
Things are our friends. They translate hidden characteristics of our worlds they can sense what we cannot and circulate meaningful information that helps encourage networked conversations on topics that matter.
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. Chip-based RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennas. Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source.
RFID allows for seamless interaction between objects and people together with unique identification.
Standards
GS1 www.ean-int.org
EPC (Electronic Product Code)
RFID examples
supply chain , passport, accessgates, luggage tracking, supermarkets, OV-chipcard, animals / live stock (mad cow disease), Philips : transfering drm-ed music to different kinds of equipment, Metroworks
Recreating the Baja RFID-chip
security issues
- unauthorized tag reading
- eavesdropping
- tracking
- tag cloning
- denial of service
Tag cloning experiment by Jonathan Westhues: http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3582971)
RFID exploits, worms & virusses: http://www.rfidvirus.org/
Exxon mobile speedpass attack http://www.marketingshift.com/2005/1/exxon-mobile-speedpass-hack-via-rfid.cfm
Johnny Carson attack http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/fun_with_rfid_a.html
System architecture
Tag == EPC == PML == ONS
PML: Physical Markup Language
ONS: Object Name Service (URI system built upon DNS)
Rf id mon amour 1.0 is a kit that allows designers, artists and architects to create interactive exhibitions without fuss nor any knowledge of programming or electronics. http://www.interactiondesign-lab.com/idshop/product_rfidmonamour.html
Spime
Spime is a neologism for a currently-theoretical object that can be tracked through space and time throughout the lifetime of the object. The name “spime” for this concept was coined by Bruce Sterling, in various speeches and writings on the subject. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spime)
Cybrid
Cybrids - a link on the continuum between concrete objects and abstract data. The line that separates data from objects represents a continuum rather than a division. Today there are situations where data and concrete objects work together to create new spatial entities, herein
called 'cybrids'. A cybrid is a hybrid of physical and electronic spaces." (Peter Anders 2001) http://www.chrisoshea.org/projects/cybrid/
Blogject
Blogjects — a neologism Julian Bleecker introduced to describe objects that blog — exemplifies the soon-to-come ‘Internet of Things’, i.e. a network of tangible, mobile, chatty things enabled by the miniaturization, the ubiquity of consumer electronics and a pervasive Internet. In its
most basic form, a Blogject is not dissimilar to people that blog — it is an artifact that can disseminate a record of experiences to the web. It would report the history of its interactions with other objects and with people. Because it exists as a physical object, occupying physical space,
proximity, mobile technology, and movement within physical space play an integral role in the interaction syntax.
A suggestive example of objects that blog is the current Sony AIBO robot dog. The AIBO harvests its daily experiences from its surround-
ings and shares these experiences in the form of a typical blog. It presents pictures and accounts of its daily activities, such as the distances it has covered and the people and objects it has encountered while roaming around its physical territory. Other examples include research scenar-
ios discussed in the automotive industry that couple GPS, now almost a routine vehicle accessory, with wireless networks. A potentially useful usage scenario would be to create aggregate feeds of traffic density along particular roads and highways so that individuals can make informed decisions about the most efficient, time-saving routes before they get stuck in bad traffic.
The motivation here is not just to create objects that blog, as we now understand blogging. But to use the framework of the complete blogging dissemination network and social formation as one in which objects participate — first-class — in the entire multi-path culture circulation network. That means syndication, layering meaning on content, trackback, etc.
Examples
* Your car, gathering data about distance, weather, road conditions, speed, as you travel.
* Your house, who is coming and going, what is inside, environmental information
* Your applicances, gathering duration, frequency of use, types of food prepared
* Your computer, where you went, what you typed, how you interacted, duration
* Your cell phone, who you talked to, how long, your GPS location
* Your game console, what you played, how long, with who, what did you accomplish?
Air: AIR is a public, social experiment in which people are invited to use Preemptive Media's portable air monitoring devices to explore their neighborhoods and urban environments for pollution and fossil fuel burning hotspots.
http://www.pm-air.net/
TripSense: “Safer drivers and people who drive less than average should pay less for auto insurance. That’s why we created the revolutionary TripSense(SM) discount program, which measures your actual driving habits and allows you to earn discounts on your insurance by showing us how much, how fast and what times of day you drive. TripSense gives you more control over what you pay for insurance, as your driving habits determine your discount.”
https://tripsense.progressive.com
TripWire from MIT consists of devices secreted in coconut shells for listening in on ambient noise. When certain thresholds are exceeded, it automatically calls the noise complaint bureau in San Jose. A great example of a wired object as “an assertive, effector of change and a potential re-articulator of power.”
Intelligent spaces & objects
Arch-OS
Operating System for buildings http://www.arch-os.com/index.html
Arch-OS represents an evolution in intelligent architecture, interactive art and ubiquitous computing. An 'Operating System' for contemporary architecture (Arch-OS, 'software for buildings') has been developed to manifest the life of a building and provide artists, engineers and scientists with a unique environment for developing transdisciplinary work and new public art.
The Curious Home
Royal College of Art: Interaction Design Research Studio The Curious Home
Smart Fitting Room Gives Fashion Advice
Hong Kong researchers developed a smart fitting room (full name: "An intelligent Simulator for Cross-selling & Up-selling using Smart Fitting Room & Smart Dressing Mirror") that uses RFID tags to identify the goods in front of the mirror and delivers recommendations through a touch-screen LCD monitor. (You can also display content directly on mirrors). Context advertising is not limited to online space.
http://adverlab.blogspot.com/2006/07/smart-fitting-room-gives-fashion.html
Philips Lumalive
Turn fabrics into intelligent displays. Photonic textiles open up a wide range of applications in the fields of ambient lighting, communication, and personal health care. To create a magic lighting experience in textiles. People are all surrounded by textiles (e.g. garments, accessories, furniture, beds, carpets, curtains, flags). Not only at home but also on the move. Philips has the vision that our direct surroundings are getting more and more intelligent: they will adapt to our needs and wishes. Adding electronics and light to the textiles is a way to make this happen.
http://www.research.philips.com/initiatives/photext/index.html
Electronic bugs turning up in Britain’s rubbish bins
Electronic spy 'bugs' have been secretly planted in hundreds of thousands of household wheelie bins, reports Sunday's Daily Mail. The gadgets - mostly installed by companies basedin Germany - transmit information about the contents of the bins to acentral database which then keeps records on the waste disposal habitsof each individual address.
http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/08/27/electronic_bugs.html
Wearables
Skirteleon(skirt chameleon)
This skirt changes color and pattern according to the wearer’s activities and mood, CuteCircuit engineered a brand new laminated fabric that changes color “on-demand”. The Skirteleon is blue in the morning when the wearer is at work, then shows a pattern with funny animal characters when the wearer is with friends for an aperitivo, and then it transforms once more in the evening, showing a geometric, elegant japanese pattern, for going to a dinner.
http://www.cutecircuit.com/now/projects/wearables/skirteleon/
mbracelet
The mbracelet was developed to investigate the introduction of wearable computing applications in financial transactions, and in particular for use with ATM machines. The mbracelet is able to store, share and collect information. At the same time it can be worn as a fashion accessory. It has 3 slots that can receive interchangeable iButtons (developed by Dallas Semiconductors). This enables users to customize the information they want to "carry" with them at any given time. A 2-wire interface is sufficient for the iButtons to make contact with a host unit, thus allowing for an easily implemented infrastructure.
http://www.5050ltd.com/mbracelet.html
Lovejackets
A pair of jackets emits, and polls for a particular signal. Once the pair finds each other, in at least 10 feet distance, facing each other, the two beep – emitting a sound akin to crickets mating, and a pattern of LEDs blinks (light emitting diodes; small, bright, energy efficient lights). Each jacket responds only to its unique pair.
http://www.5050ltd.com/loveRedux.html
Hugjackets
The HugJackets take the idea of the LoveJackets a step further. While the LoveJackets represent a random act of courtship, a chance encounter, the HugJackets demand a deliberate act of union. An embrace between the two wearers activates, like in the case of the LoveJackets, a pattern of LEDs and a “heartfelt” sound. If the LoveJackets begin a courtship, the HugJackets consummate it.
http://www.5050ltd.com/hugJackets.html
F+R Hugs
F+R Hugs (hug shirt): is a shirt that allows to exchange the physical sensation of a hug over distance. Embedded in the shirt there are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender and actuators that recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug to the shirt of the distant loved one.
http://www.cutecircuit.com/now/projects/wearables/fr-hugs/
References
projects
http://www.somethingonline.org
http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/il/projects/blockjam
HyperScan: http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/mattel_hyperscan_and_rfid.php
EnterTaible: http://emma.hku.nl/index.php?pageID=103&subID=25&navmode=text&sortBy=year&sortInv=
ThingLink: http://www.thinglink.org
Why things matter - Julian Bleeker
Blogjects and the new ecology of things _ lift06 workshop - Julian Bleeker & Nicolas Nova
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogject
Sterling, Bruce (2005). Shaping Things. The MIT Press: Media- works Pamphlet.
ITU Internet Report (2005). The Internet of Things. SPU Publications
http://youtube.com/results?search=blogject
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/blogjects/
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/blogject/
My Beating Heart
My Beating Heart is a soft huggable heart with a soothing heartbeat you can really feel. When hugging the heart, the tactile heartbeat reminds you of holding a pet or a loved-one. Hold the heart a moment and you'll begin to sense your own heartbeat slowly syncing with My Beating Heart's carefully designed rhythm. My Beating Heart is designed to help you relax, daydream, meditate, and nap.