Disintegrating Computers
Somewhat related to Many Tiny Screens, Combined, Tim Maly writes about Disintegrating Computers:
Where I’d once do that by opening up a new window, I now grab my smartphone and look there. Instead of metaphoric operating system windows, I have a pile of devices acting as a windowing system. I can physically switch between them as needed, lay them out on the surface how I like, and work accordingly.
I increasingly do this myself: open up some manual for reference on the iPad while working on the computer, using the calculator instead of its desktop counterpart on my iPhone, etc.
See also: this lovely example of Screen multiplicity in a Swiss train by Nicolas Nova.
Information, the new material
These two paragraphs from Mike Kuniavsky’s brief introduction of his new book Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design over at Boingboing stuck out to me (emphasis mine):
Ubicomp has been a long time coming. Xerox PARC made good progress in the early 90s [...], and momentum to develop useful embedded computing devices was starting to build, but then the Web hit. Attention and investment shifted to the Web, which only required traditional computers with a screen, keyboard and mouse. Digital hardware came to mean lighter laptops and mobile phones. Ubicomp disappeared from the public eye for a decade.
However, it didn’t actually vanish. At the edges, outside of the mainstream consumer electronics and personal computer worlds, using small processors to create interesting behaviors became increasingly popular. Adding a cheap processor and some clever mechanics in a $15 plush toy let retailers sell Tickle Me Elmos for $35. Toy designers did not think of themselves as being in the computer business, because they (and other groups, such as car designers) used information processing tactically as a way to differentiate in a competitive market.
Films by BERG
BERG has made two new beautiful films:
Following iPad light painting, we’ve made two films of alternative futures for media. These continue our collaboration with Dentsu London and Timo Arnall. We look at the near future, a universe next door in which media travels freely onto surfaces in everyday life. A world of media that speaks more often, and more quietly.
Incidental Media is the first of two films:
Media surfaces: Incidental Media from Dentsu London on Vimeo.
And The Journey is the other film:
Media surfaces: The Journey from Dentsu London on Vimeo.
They’re both great. I appreciate the humility in BERG’s design approach, their idea of polite media, where so many these days try to garner attention by being louder and shriller. You should read the aforelinked introductory blog posts where they highlight some of the more easily overlooked details from the films.
Dead Drops
Aram Bartholl is installing USB drives in walls and buildings in NYC that are easily and publicly accessible. The idea is to create an anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer file-sharing network. (via)
