Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 195

Internet of Things North America 2014: conference program

*Be there or be square — or whatever you are when you’re being left out of the Internet of North American Things.

http://www.remotemagazine.com/internetofthings/conference-sessions/

Conference Program
May 14th, 2014 – Day 1
7:00 am – Registration Opens
8:00 am – Welcome Address
8:05 am – Market Research Session


Big Data and Analytics in M2M – Where it is Now and Where it is Going


Most of the M2M market to has focused on getting machines and assets connected – the plumbing of the Internet of Things.  Much less has focused on how to maximize the value of the machine data. Big data and analytics in M2M is one of the most nascent and undeveloped parts of the market yet will become one of the most important for both business end-users and suppliers alike.  In fact ABI Research estimates that this segment of the M2M value chain will grow to $14 billion by 2018.

This session will define and review the five components of the big data and analytics value chain: data integration, data storage, data analytics, data visualization and professional services.  It will dig deeper into the three different analytics markets (descriptive, predictive and prescriptive) and provide leading use case examples.  It will conclude with the latest research on predictive maintenance analytics in M2M, including the influence it will have on business models and the customer relationship.

Dan Shey, Practice Director – ABI Research

9:00 am – Featured Presentation

Embracing IoT Today with End to End Solutions


The Internet of Things is changing the way we do business. IoT is driving a world of increasingly connected devices, seamless connectivity from sensors to the data center, cloud economics for computing and data, and the acceleration of big data analytics to extract value from data. IoT offers businesses the opportunity to develop new services, enhance productivity and efficiency, improve real-time decision making, solve critical problems and develop new consumer experiences.  In this session, Intel will delve into how gateways enable this new connected world and how analytics improve your bottom line.

Shahram Mehraban, Global Head of  Energy & Industrial Vertical Segments -
Intelligent Systems Group, Intel Corp.

10:00 am – Dedicated Expo Hall Time/Networking Break
11:00 am – Sessions Resume


Internet of Things, Big Data, Industry 4.0: The Rise of the Machines


The term “Industry 4.0″ refers to the fourth industrial revolution. Since first being introduced as an initiative by the German government in 2011, Industry 4.0 has become a popular term within the larger industrial sector to describe the next technology-enabled sea change in Industry.

According to Cisco, there are 10 billion devices networked together today and that number will grow to 50 billion by 2020. Already, Industrial processes create more data than any other source. So what happens as the Internet of Things becomes more robust, with more and more devices becoming connected and networked?

Big data extracts value by layering process analytics onto existing embedded capabilities to create operating profiles, model scenarios, identify abnormalities and pinpoint waste. We are looking at a future where distributed computing at the device level will lead to machine and process optimization. New device-to-device communication architectures will replace the current master/slave networks. This will impact the traditional PLC or DCS, which will morph into cloud-based software. Automation networks will self-configure, self-regulate and suggest efficiency improvements. Much of the current decision making of the operator will be made by the machines. The operator will focus on system efficiency to include energy, security, safety and process tuning. Making it so operators will need to have a cross-discipline skill set of industrial engineering, digital computing and data scientist. But how do we get there?

Andy Roxburgh, Vice-President of Systems and Service -
Schneider Electric’s Industry Business

11:45am


From Rats to Cows and Hearts to Homes – Some M2M Stories


The M2M world has come a long way over the last decade. Helped by improvements in technology, connectivity, power consumption and price, the types of solution that are feasible has changed dramatically. This talk tells the story of some real world M2M projects that have come to life, ranging from rats to cows, hearts to homes and cars to tanks. If these are possible today imagine what is possible tomorrow.

The wide variety of projects share a number of characteristics. First they all use MQTT and second they implement common connectivity patterns. The presentation talks about the patterns and picks a couple of the projects delving deeper into their architecture and design.

Dave Locke, Software Engineer - IBM  

12:30 pm – Lunch Break/Dedicated Expo Hall Time
1:45pm – Sessions Resume


That “Last Mile” Again: The IoT Version – Connecting Devices in the Wild


Currently, the cloud is an important component of the IoT paradigm. The assumption is that data from the devices will be transferred to the cloud, which will then make it easy to access information or the devices themselves from anywhere, anytime. However, in the industrial world, these devices are large, immovable devices and are located in remote places with poor or limited connectivity. This can be a deterrent when it comes to actual implementation of any IoT solution.

This problem does not necessarily get a fair share of attention since the IoT world is still evolving rapidly and there are far too many exciting issues to deal with. However, in order to truly connect some of these remote devices to the IoT world, it will, at some point, become necessary to address this issue. This presentation will try to throw some light on this problem and consider some potential solutions. The objective is to generate discussion around this issue so that, going forward, we can collectively come up with innovative solutions to make it possible to truly adopt IoT anywhere.

J. Jobin, PhD, Mobile Solutions Researcher - GE Global Research

2:30 pm


The Role of the Connected Car in the Future of Transportation


Every year, Americans spend an average of 38 hours stuck in traffic. As the wait time refuses to hit the brakes, technologists and automobile manufacturers have continued to pioneer advancements that allow drivers to stay connected on the road. In fact, 55 percent of connected devices on the market will be car-related by 2020 and driver assistant systems will be in 50 percent of all new cars.

The overall value of the connected car industry is expected to rise to $600 billion over the next seven years alone. This means the greatest potential for growth in smart devices lie not in household or consumer items, but in the automotive industry and the continued development of the connected car. Government regulation on energy, intelligent traffic management and policy prevention of accidents and car hacking are driving manufacturers to implement the internet of things right in your car.

In this session, Leland Key will discuss the major trends shaping the future of transportation and the automotive industry in a connected world, specifically energy efficiency, connected devices, security and safety.

Leland Key, Senior Director, Automotive Business – NXP Semiconductors

3:15 pm


Social Machines: Achieving Preventative Maintenance, Eliminating Downtime


Machine downtime equates to hundreds of thousands of lost dollars per day. Ensuring that machinery and critical equipment downtime is minimized through preventative maintenance drives efficiency gains, reduces costs and increases revenue. Efficiency gains as small as 1 percent can change entire industries including: power, health care, aviation, rail and the oil and gas industry.  GE estimates that over 15 years, a 1 percent efficiency gain could result in $63 billion in healthcare, $27 billion in rail and $90 billion in savings in the oil and gas industry. In this session, we’ll discuss how social machines power these efficiency gains and take a look at use cases for two vastly different industries.

Elizabeth Presson, Evangelist and Customer Experience Strategist - Digi International

4:00 pm – After Hours Networking Event in the Expo Hall

May 15th, 2014 – Day 2

7:30 am – Registration Opens

8:00 am -
Internet of Things – A Pandora’s Box in the Making?


Three simple letters – IoT, has become a highly searched item and a feature of strategy in many solution-providers’ portfolio. While it does signify a disruption at this time, careful evaluation of its impact across manufacturing industries shows several critical challenges and impediments that need to be overcome in order to reach the future vision of immersive and total connectedness.

This presentation will assess the issues of cyber-security, software architecture, critical asset uptime and protection, bandwidth, communication backhaul capabilities, service models and its impact on future revenues and business models.

Muthuraman Ramasamy,  Senior Analyst & Team Leader – Frost & Sullivan

8:45 am


Big Data’s Potential in Helping To Secure the Internet of Things


The security devil is always in the details of the attack: the ones you’ve endured, the ones you prepare yourself to fend off, and the ones that, you fear, will catch you completely unaware and defenseless. The Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing if not an endless proliferation of details. It’s the vision of a world in which continuous Internet connectivity and addressability is embedded into a growing range of human artifacts, into the natural world, and even into our smartphones, appliances, and physical persons.

In the IoT vision, every new “thing”(sensor, actuator, data source, data consumer, routing intermediary, etc.) is a new security-relevant detail that stirs up a wide range of collateral security issues. In other words, every networked IoT endpoint is a new potential attack vector or launching point that the baddies can exploit.

In this presentation, James Kobielus will discuss how IT professionals should approach addressing the security challenges of IoT. He will describe IoT vulnerabilities at the device, application, and network level. He will present a multi-layered IoT-security vision that includes incorporation of robust security protections into IoT products plus more global approaches that rely on consolidated big-data-powered security incident and event.

James Kobielus, Big Data Evangelist – IBM

9:30 am – Expo Hall Time/Networking Break
10:00 am – Sessions Resume


Assuring the Network Underpinning the Internet of Things


The Internet of Things relies on solid network connectivity, availability and performance. “The network” though is a complex series of interconnected gear with connections often spanning great distances, different mediums and many vendors. Engineers and technicians in the IoT’s many verticals who install and maintain their Internet of Things are experts in their fields but often less so in networking, yet vital networks complete the systems on which they live or die. This session will present a vision for tactically verifying and strategically monitoring networks to assure the network, which underpins your Internet of Things, is available and performing.

David Coffin, Chief Technology Officer – Fluke Networks

10:45 am


Wireless Connectivity and Wearables – The What, How and Why


The wearable device market is taking off and in doing so, has set off a chain reaction of opportunity for developers. A core technology pillar for any wearable device is wireless connectivity, which makes choosing the right technology and development route essential.

To help developers tap into this market, this session will outline the core technologies that comprise nearly any wearable device and cover the best wireless technology options for connecting wearables (NFC, BT, BTLE) including the pros, cons and tradeoffs. When finished attendees will be able to determine the best option for a given use case and will have received practical guidance on the advantages and disadvantages they may encounter based on what connection method was chosen.

Cary Bran, Senior Director of Innovation and New Ventures – Plantronics

11:30 am


How to Identify Patterns for Machine-to-Machine Solutions with the Cloud


By most measures and projections, there will be 20 billion connected devices by 2020. By the same year, cloud computing is expected to be almost a $250 billion market. Today, both forces are well underway. Where and how do these forces intersect? What solutions can be shaped? How do we detect patterns underlying these solutions?

This session examine a taxonomy of devices, a taxonomy of clouds, and architecture patterns for M2M solutions effecting society, consumers and businesses. Some of these solutions will lend to the cloud. The session will also touch on the challenge and opportunity in dealing with an existing fragmented sensor and device market and characteristics that will be important for consolidation and integration. The discussion will also throw light on certain architectures, reference architectures, and emerging standards in the meld of M2M and Cloud.

Gurvinder Ahluwalia , CTO Private Cloud – IBM 

12:15 am – Break for Lunch/Dedicated Expo Hall time
1:15 pm - Sessions Resume


Central Monitoring and Troubleshooting of IoT Networks - Meeting the SLA Challenge


Information from the IoT connected devices is just ‘expected’ to be available and up-to-date. But actually for the data to get to the cloud it should be transferred from different networks, using multiple/still-evolving protocols and implemented by a variety of vendors. Interoperability in the lab cannot address all issues.

In light of these constraints, some of the challenges developers will need to address include having an out of band monitoring and troubleshooting path that is transparent to protocol changes and vendor implementation, as well as being able to analyze remote M2M wireless and wire-line networks via non-intrusive probes. Other challenges include automatic preemptive fault identification, independent data logging for debugging and audit purposes, tool for service providers to help meet SLA, and support both low level call center needs and sophisticated back-office personnel. This session will cover these topics and provide a path for IoT network connectivity and uptime.

Rubi Elbirt, VP Business Development and International Sales – Perytons Ltd.

2:00 pm


Expanding the Volume of M2M/IOT With Battery Operated Devices


Of the 50 billion of predicted nodes to be connected to the internet by 2020 less than 10 percent are predicted to be GSM.  A long range, high capacity system is needed by the telecommunications companies to consolidate the fragmented battery operated wireless market for sensor networks, smart cities, smart metering, security systems, smart home and industrial control.  A widely available network for battery operated devices is the only way to scale the volume to achieve the predicted volumes for internet of things (IoT).  A solution will be presented to meet these needs with detailed analysis on business model, cost, and ROI.

Marc Pegulu, Senior Director, Applications Engineering - Semtech Corp.
2:45


Industrial Road Map for Connected Machines


The hype surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT) includes forecasts of trillions of dollars in economic growth driven by the ubiquity of sensors, devices and machines.  This economic forecast is partly based on the rapid retirement of smart devices that have a useful life expectancy of two years.  However, industrial manufacturers are confronted with equipment that has an average use full life of more than 20 years.

The machine tool sector has one of the largest installed bases of equipment out of all of the industrial machinery sectors.  A roadmap or reference model has yet to be developed for manufacturers seeking to enable existing production assets to participate in the benefits that IoT infrastructures provide.  ARC will provide a vision for manufacturers to follow that can be used as roadmaps over the next decade to transform their equipment into “connected machines”.  Using our experience in following technology, standards and industrial trends a practical and economic approach is outlined for manufacturers who seek to gain the benefits the IoT has to offer.

Sal Spada, Research Director Discrete Automation - ARC Advisory Group
 
For more information about the conference program, contact

Nick Depperschmidt: Nickd@WebcomCommunications.com

       

Spime Watch: The IPSO Alliance Smart Objects Committee

*Wrangle, wrangle, wrangle.

http://www.ipso-alliance.org/smart-object-committee-charter

“Smart Object Committee Charter and Organization

“Background and Value:

“• Data semantics are important for building M2M or IoT systems, and are key in the interoperability of devices and services.
“• In the past, data models have existed for non-IP based specifications like ZigBee Clusters or for LONtalk.

“• With the spread of end-to-end IP and efficient web protocols like CoAP, there is now a need for general data semantics that can be used for IoT with constrained devices.

“• IPSO has published such an Application Framework in the past, which members found useful.

“• The new Lightweight M2M standard from OMA defines a standard data structure for semantics and an open registry for IPSO Alliance, other SDOs or vendors to register them.

“Alignment with the IPSO Alliance Goals:

“• “Support IETF and other standards development organizations in the development of standards for IP for Smart Objects.”

“Key Tasks:

“• Define and publish Smart Object technical guidelines for use over web standards by IPSO members and the Internet of Things in general.

“• Published as a technical guideline on the IPSO homepage under IPSO copyright.

“• Smart Object definitions will be compatible with OMA Lightweight M2M and registered with OMNA.

“• Smart Object definitions may also used over CoAP and HTTP without a system standard.

“• Work with the IETF, OMA and other SDOs to coordinate the promotion and use of Smart Objects.

“Technical Guideline Process:

“•Chairs drive completion of current work items

“• Technical Guideline to be approved by TAB and BoD before publication

“• Taking on new work items (re-chartering) requires approval from the BoD Current Work Items

“• Base set of IP Smart Objects, covering original Application Framework and extensions. Goal: 1Q/2014. (Editor: Zach Shelby)

“• Latest specification: IPSO-Application-Framework-Objects-v11.docx

“Possible Work Items:

“• Smart Lighting

“• Advanced Automation in Buildings (of all kinds)

“• Smart Appliances

“• Occupancy

“• Other Smart City related Object definitions Organization

“Contact: smartobjects@ipso-alliance.org”

       

Open Source Beehives

*That stop-motion animation makes this quite an unusual video.

*Too bad bees can’t pay to save themselves.

Open Source Beehives Crowdfunding Video from Open Tech Collaborative on Vimeo.

“Open Source Beehives Crowdfunding Video
from Open Tech Collaborative PLUS 1 week ago / Creative Commons License: by sa ALL AUDIENCES
Check out our crowd-funding campaign: igg.me/at/osbeehives/x/3028972

“The Open Source Beehives project is a collaborative response to the threat faced by bee populations in industrialised nations around the world. The project proposes to design hives that can support bee colonies in a sustainable way, to monitor and track the health and behaviour of a colony as it develops. Each hive contains an open source sensory kit, The Smart Citizen Kit (SCK), which can transmit to an open data platform: Smartcitizen.me

“These sensor enhanced hive designs are open and freely available online, the data collected from each hive is published together with geolocations allowing for a further comparison and analysis of the hives.”

       

Architecture Fiction: Malka Architecture, “Green Machine”

*This mobile African walking-city looks mighty far-fetched now, but it’s easy to imagine a heat-blasted, Greenhouse California struggling desperately to keep the Mojave at bay, using bizarre technical ultra-fixes dreamed up by Moonshot-frenzied terraforming zillionaires.

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/stephane-malka-architecture-the-green-machine-03-20-2014/

the green machine by malka architecture introduces desert vegetation
images courtesy of malka architecture

“interested in the purity of the desert and its untapped potential, stephane malka of malka architecture has developed ‘the green machine’, a mobile platform combined with an industrial city that regenerates dry and barren landscapes. covering much of the globe’s surface, the rapid and ongoing desertification leads to economic and social instability. consequently, malka’s proposal fertilizes dry ground and supplements local populations with food and water.

“working alongside yachar bouhaya architecte, the concept looks to exploit the sahara’s rich resources and possibilities, with a design capable of producing 20 million tons of crops each year. the structure also forms a mobile city, accommodating a range of housing, schools, community restaurants, and places of recreation.

“with its giant caterpillar treads – originally designed to transport NASA rockets – the machine can be driven over a range of undulating terrains. the versatile oasis takes advantage of the region’s hostile sun and wind through a series of inventive systems. completely self-sufficient, the structure generates its own electricity through nine solar towers, which produce 450kw each day.

“nine balloons are floated above the traveling city, capable of obtaining water from the air via condensation. the same balloons are also equipped with turbines, which generate renewable energy. additionally, stack effect is employed for producing electricity. the temperature differential within greenhouses positioned at the base of the tower creates a depression at the level of its summit. the hot air at ground level rises through chimney, generating a constant flow of power while the sun is out….”

       

4DPrinting at MIT

*I like an extra numeral in my 3DPrinting. In “5DPrinting,” you’d get some 3DPrinted stuff that curled up into a functional 4DPrinted device. Then the 4D-device itself would be a working machine that built something, maybe like… I dunno, maybe an old-school MIT hacker toy train set complete with locomotive and caboose.

4D Printing: Truncated Octahedron from Skylar Tibbits on Vimeo.

“4D Printing: Truncated Octahedron
from Skylar Tibbits PLUS 3 months ago NOT YET RATED

“In a collaboration between Stratasys’ Education, R&D departments and MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, a new process is being developed, coined 4D Printing, which demonstrates a radical shift in rapid-prototyping. 4D Printing entails multi-material prints provided by the Connex Technology with the added capability of embedded transformation from one shape to another, directly off the print-bed. This revolutionary technique offers a streamlined path from idea to reality with full functionality built directly into the materials. Imagine robotics-like behavior without the reliance on complex electro-mechanical devices!

“A collaboration between:
The Self-Assembly Lab, MIT + Stratasys Ltd. + Autodesk Inc.”

MIT Shape-Change from Skylar Tibbits on Vimeo.

C-Strands: Cambridge Public Art Commission from Skylar Tibbits on Vimeo.

       

Practocalypse

*”It won’t happen to us” is not a plan.

http://eyebeam.org/events/eyebeam-square-an-internet-blackout-simulation-event

Event Type: workshop
Start Date: 5 Apr 2014
Hours: 10:00AM-5:00PM
Cost: $25
Venue: Eyebeam

“Register here!

“In this workshop, Eyebeam will turn into an “Internet Blackout” or “Practocalypse” (Practice Apocalypse), where there is no Internet, just mobile phones and mesh routers. The Guardian Project and Commotion will show participants how to use mesh networking in combination with various mobile and desktop apps to operate in an environment in which, for some reason, intended or unintended, Internet is not available. By playing an interactive role game we will get people thinking and talking about the need to create decentralized Internet networks and Internet ownership, and the practical steps that people can take as individuals in order to improve the situation.

“ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS:

“Commotion is a free, open-source communication tool that uses mobile phones, computers, and other wireless devices to create decentralized mesh networks. Commotion provides a way to share Internet connection but it is not a replacement for it.

“The Guardian Project creates easy-to-use open source apps, mobile OS security enhancements, and customized mobile devices for people around the world to help them communicate more freely, and protect themselves from intrusion and monitoring.

“PREREQUISITES + SCHEDULE:

“Routers will be provided during the workshop but participants are welcome to bring their own (Ubiquiti PicoStation M2-HP or Ubiquiti NanoStation M2)

“Session 1: 10:00AM – 1:00PM

“Participants will be assigned with tasks to be finished by the end of the day. In order to complete them they will need to use GP apps. This first half of the day will be used to download the apps and learn to use them (i.e. Storymaker, Orbot, Orweb, Ostel, Chatsecure, Pixelnot, InformaCam). By the end of the session the internet will go down.

Session 2: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

“We will work to setup street-level pop-up mesh networks outdoors to accomplish these tasks.

“Register here!

“People: Commotion, Erica Kermani, Hans Christoph-Steiner, Ryan Gerety, The Guardian Project
Research: Education
“Tags: activism, Apps, internet blackout, mesh routers, Tahir Square”

       

Future Everything Festival, Tools for Unknown Futures

*British events always have really great write-ups.

*I like this word “solutionist,” because it addresses an attitude that won and then got into big trouble. However, there probably needs to be an even newer word which is about what happens when you eschew all “solutionism” and you end up in even bigger trouble because you took to the streets, sought justice and a better life for all, and addressed everything politically and morally rather than infra structurally.

*How about “occupationalist?” Would that work on the neologism scale?

http://futureeverything.org/ideas/tools-for-unknown-futures/

The 2014 FutureEverything festival will look at how we can collaborate on new tools, devices and systems to transform many spheres of life, from the arts to democracy.

People taking control of tools to shape the future has been a familiar trope within digital culture. Drawing on powerful currents in today’s design scene such as speculative design and design fiction, the festival will debate our fascination with tools as the most natural path towards social change, and open up new ways to question, imagine and make the strange, troubled thing called the future.

The festival will bring together artists and designers who make art and change reality by collaborating on new protocols, languages, systems, strategies and even infrastructures. Art and design projects will create new, less conventional readings of tools and technologies through the use of scenarios and fictional objects. The aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of groundbreaking fields, from New Materials to Synthetic Biology, will be explored by figures working across the boundaries of art and science.

Tools for Unknown Futures

In 1968, Stewart Brand published the first number of his seminal “Whole Earth Catalog”, in many ways one of the foundational documents of digital culture, and a major influence in the ideological and political vision of what just a few years later would get to be called Silicon Valley. Infused with the system thinking approach favoured by Brand’s intellectual heroes such as Buckminster Fuller, the subtitle of the catalogue was “Access to Tools”. Brand had envisioned each edition of the publication not as a magazine or a collection of essays, but as a collection of items, objects and resources that would facilitate to implement radical change in multiple dimensions of living: from shelter to community, education or communications. The catalogue’s impact was wide and reached not only the “back to the land” movement, that wing of the counterculture that was in search of the building blocks that would allow them to build an alternative society. A full collection of the Whole Earth Catalogue was available, for instance, in the library at Xerox Parc, the referential research center for the Computer Industry.

The notion that conceiving, developing and implementing new tools is the most natural, effective path for change is still, 45 years after the publication of the first Whole Earth Catalog, a central notion in our technological culture. The logic still goes: if a potentially gamechanging technology is adopted by an enthusiastic community, disruptive change at multiple levels will ensue. We still have a tendency to fall into the deterministic trap of thinking that a new technological tool will be, on its own, powerful enough to implement a new future.

And still, the impact and centrality of digital tools in our society – understood of course in a wide sense, not only as actual devices but also as new protocols, languages, systems, strategies or even infrastructures – is undeniable. Humans are the only species that uses tools to make other tools. When people and tools are networked then the outcomes can be of a different order. New tools become symbols representing complex underlying systems – Google Glass, Drones – firing up the imagination of the media and citizens, the actual changes brought to personal relationships in the last five years through the rise of mobile computing and Social Media, and the ongoing implications of a world of omnipresent sensing devices capturing and processing data in ever increasing volumes.

In the aftermath of the Snowden scandal, as we learned that services and products that we use every day are facilitating unprecedented levels of surveillance or our personal lives, it becomes more urgent to understand what our common tools are actually doing, beyond our partial and limited visions of their operations, as well as revealing and contesting those others, unknown to us, who are also shaping our experience of the world.

In the last decade, creative communities took upon themselves the task of developing better tools that fitted their own purposes, not those that had been imagined by the software and hardware industries. Taking inspiration from the open source community, artists, creative technologists and hackers took on the responsibility of developing a new environment where developer-users could be in control of their tools. Starting in 2001 with Processing, the influential programming language for visual interaction developed by Casey Reas and Ben Fry, each new community could build on top of the previous one to extend the scope of what was possible. Processing was soon followed by the powerful OpenFrameworks environment, then the successful and influential open hardware microcontroller Arduino, that has made possible multiple other open creative tools in contexts ranging from environmental sensing to 3D printing or music controllers.

Taking control of tools has been a central factor in promoting a participatory, hands on approach to our relationship with technology. The Maker movement has reclaimed DIY as a form of cultural practice and ludic, fun hacking as an alternative to our passive role as consumers of locked down devices and wall-garden services. Making as a form of personal expression and problem solving has given rise to empires such as Make Magazine and the Maker Faire global franchise. Also to establish formats like the Hackathon or the Hack Day, and has become a common language in the increasing network of institutions that promote the Thinking by Doing ideology. Hacklabs, Fablabs, Living Labs, Biolabs….spaces where DIWO (Do it with others, the social, updated version of DIY) is King and prototyping has become not a stage in the development of a product but a strategy of intellectual inquiry that can be used by anyone.

Have we reached the point, though, where we have to contest many of the assumptions in making and prototyping culture? Is making really the best path for intellectual reflection or social improvement? Have we fallen into the solutionist fallacy of thinking that developing the right tool is the best way to solve any problem?

In the same way we’ve stopped assuming that “open” is an intrinsically positive quality, an increasing number of voices are requesting a more critical, nuanced evaluation of the merits of hacking and the hackathon ideology, as well as questioning when making is a truly political form or just a distraction void of any true social effect.

Today, we are not only shaping the future by producing and releasing “disruptive” technologies through devices and services. Tools are also being produced with the goal of interrogating the unpredictable social impact of transforming technologies, in the shape of rhetorical and symbolic objects, narrative scenarios and storytelling. Critical Design, the influential movement started by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby and spread from the Designing Interactions department at RCA, was a pioneering strategy that produced props and nonfunctional devices with the goal of creating a debate that the corporate narratives of technology usually avoid.

Today, the tool as a conversation piece is one of the most relevant forms of production of discourse around futures. Design Fiction has become an increasingly relevant strategy, as designers become less interested in implementing factual solutions and prefer to deploy scenarios and fictional items to create narratives that open up new, less conventional readings of how our life will be under a specific technological regime.

Today, Science Fiction writers work together with engineers and architects to shape the social scenario along with the technological solution, and visionary entrepreneurs announce possible alternative forms of transportation or energy before they have even been prototyped, to gauge the response and interest they receive.

Groundbreaking fields, from New Materials to Synthetic Biology are the starting point today of a whole form of cultural production in which designers, artists and thinkers explore the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions that these technologies will ultimately produce. Tools, devices and systems operate at the level of the material and the factual, but they have also an effect on the imagination and the public conversation around how our life could be in alternative, possible futures.

       

The ZenRobotics recycler

@zenrobotics

       

Augmented Reality: Layar on Google Glass

https://www.layar.com/news/blog/2014/03/18/you-can-now-use-layar-on-google-glass/

(…)

“As pioneers in the augmented reality space, we were extremely curious when Google first announced Google Glass. We immediately acquired multiple pairs through the Glass Explorer program and have been experimenting and hacking with how this new technology and UI fits with Layar and augmented reality.

“From this hacking, we are now able to bring the full power of the Layar App to Google Glass. By just saying “Ok Glass, scan this,” Glass will capture what you’re looking at and match it against the content in our system – the same way the Layar App does today. Now with Layar for Glass, you can view Geo Layers, Interactive Print and QR Codes with a simple voice command.

“In the video above, you can see how you can use Glass to view any of the existing AR and Interactive Print content on the Layar platform. From browsing Geo Layers like Funda’s real estate listings, to viewing movie trailers right from the poster, to seeing magazines like Glamour jump to life with video, to immersive 360-degree panoramic experiences….”

(…)

“Glass users can now access Layar’s rapidly growing platform of Interactive Print campaigns, including magazines like Men’s Health, Inc. and Glamour, as well as newspapers, advertising, art and more. There are already over 200,000 interactive pages that can be viewed on Glass.

” “For nearly five years, Layar has invited developers, designers and creators to use our platform to explore the new medium of Augmented Reality,” says Layar Co-Founder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald. “With Google Glass, an important new tool has become available and we are very excited to be part of this amazing platform and explore together this new world of augmented reality.”

“From a technical standpoint, we’ve modified Layar to match the UI of Glass, allowing you to interact and browse items using side-scrolling cards. By performing a two-finger tap while viewing Interactive Print, Glass will switch from the AR camera view to a “Pop Out” or fullscreen view, so you can enjoy the contest as comfortably as possible. Additionally, the technology behind the image recognition and AR has been optimized for Glass to make things as smooth as possible.

” “When we first got our hands on Google Glass last summer and installed Layar on it, we quickly realized that in order to provide a truly useful experience on Glass, we needed to radically rethink our UI and optimize our technology for this new platform,” says Layar CTO Dirk Groten. “We didn’t just port Layar to Glass, but put in a tremendous amount of effort to create a dedicated app that feels like a first-class citizen on Glass. I believe we’ve created one of the most amazing apps I’ve seen to date on Glass.” (…)

       

Design Fiction: Simone Rebaudengo, “Addicted Products: the Story of Brad the Toaster”

http://www.wired.com/design/2014/03/addicted-products/

Addicted products: The story of Brad the Toaster from Simone Rebaudengo on Vimeo.

Addicted products: The story of Brad the Toaster
from Simone Rebaudengo 1 year ago NOT YET RATED

The final vision of my graduation project.
It is the story of Brad, a toaster which is part of a new breed of products that love to be be used.
It shows the implications of agency of products in everyday life.
What could happen if a product wants to be used?

addictedproducts.com
designedaddictions.tumblr.com
a project by Simone Rebaudengo
and Haque Design+Research
Shot and edited by Simone Rebaudengo
Narrated by Shane Solanki
Thanks to Charles Armstrong, Matt Sclarandis and Akilah Ancle for the interviews.
Soundtrack:
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – Janglin’ (iTunes Session)
Vagrant Records