Digital Physical, Physical Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Pervasive Computing, Ubiquitous Computing, Internet of things?

Digital Physical is growing in popularity by the day, Aden Hepburn the man behind the leading blog Digital Buzz Blog even gave it a nod yesterday. 

'Lately it has actually been hard to spot an innovative project or campaign that in some way, shape or form, doesn’t use the Arduino board, and while that might seem very single minded, it’s actually a great pat on the back for a more physical-digital world, which is anything but.'

With the lowering cost of entry through the DIY community and Kickstarter being able to fund a number of these digital physical products we are seeing more people enter this space. However unlike the Social Media wave of 2008-10, there is no unifying term for this type of technology.   

I have heard this area being called a number of things from Physical Computing, Pervasive Computing, Digital Physical, Phygital, Ubiquitous Computing and the Internet/Web of Things.

Looking at Google Search Insights it does not look like there is one term that is taking precedence either. If anything I would say that it looks like Digital Physical. 

When you look at the companies who are making these types of products, there is no one solid category terming either. Take the mission statements for the following companies. 

Deeplocal - An innovation studio that creates remarkable experiences for brands 

SuperMechanical - Objects that connect us 

BreakfastNY - A physical-digital interactive agency 

Tellart - Experience Design and Engineering 

I think that it would be advantageous to all everyone involved if there was one unifying term for this technology and I am sure with time there will be. What do you think it should be called?

Eating Data - The Future of Data Visualization

Last week I went to the ITP showcase which had a number of amazing projects. I was surprised by the amount of people using Kinect in their projects. Processing and OpenFrameworks were definitely the programming languages of choice for the projects. Here are four of the projects that I liked;

1. Cupcake Index 

The Cupcake Index takes the results of the World Happiness Rankings and creates cupcakes for every country adding sugar to the cupcake depending on the countries happiness ranking. E.g The sweetest cupcakes are Denmark the happiest country in the world whereas there is no sugar in Central African Republic the least happy country in the world. 

Data visualization is a hot topic at the moment. However I think this project shows that there are more senses at peoples disposal than we are currently using to interact with data. Tasting a data point is a really unique way of getting people to interact with data. How could we hear, smell, touch, or sense data? 

2. BurritoBot 

BurritoBot marks a mix between 3D Printing and Food. Looking at the mass consumed burrito and how they can make it into an automated process. They are also taking data about the global supply and demand of the ingredients and changing the recipe depending on this data. Once again an interesting way to taste data in real time. 

3. Up! 

An interactive experience where by giving a phone call to a specified number you had the chance to blow up a balloon on screen (You blew air into the mouthpiece of your phone and the balloon on the screen blew up). I am really enjoying looking at other interaction points for the phone besides the touchscreen. What I enjoyed about this project is that it really opened up the possibility of what you can do with a mobile device. Here is how ING have been using mobiles to interact with screens. 

4. Rºad’io’’

'Rºad’io’’ is an interactive installation that allows the user to explore the American cultural landscape by tuning into the various radio stations playing around the country.' There hasn't really been much innovation around radio stations and the dial. I thought this was a really nice presentation of this information and it looked great! 

Physical Digtial Products in Music - 6 examples

There have been a number of cool projects/products of late breaching the physical digital space in regards to making the music experience better. Here are five that caught my eye.

1. Change the tune

Allows you to change the tune by throwing paper at a poster. It is based on a motion sensor that sits within the poster and triggers the next button on Spotify. Made by the UK Agency 'Agency Republic'

2. Spotify Box

I really like this software to hardware example, they have created a boom box which reacts to what RFID tag is on it. The RFID tags are loaded up with playlists from Spotify.

3. Coachella and Facebook Check In

Using RFID tags within the access bands, punters are able to 'Check In' on Facebook to different acts through out the festival. You need to preregister your tag online to allow permission on Facebook for this to happen. This was seen a few years ago in Israel for Coca-Cola Village.

4. Firehero

This is a great DIY from the Arduino community - Guitar Hero on Flamethrower programmed through Arduino

5. Turntable Rider

This devices allows you to make music from riding your BMX. It tracks the movement of the bike through space to create data that is then translated into sound. This project was a collaboration between hip-hop and dance artist DJ BAKU, award-winning BMX rider Kotaro Tanaka, and interactive artist Toshiyuki Sugai

6. Nike Shoes

Turntable Rider is working on the same presence of Nike Song Shoes which makes music depending on how the shoes are flexed. It seems that making instruments out of objects is big in Japan.

BF Goodrich - Awesomecross

Tracking all the data that can be tapped around movement is also something that is part of the latest project from the Physcial-Digital Agency Deep Local. Although they didn't try to create music with the output, they were able to show the intensity of driving with BF Goodrich tires.

Let me know if you have any more great examples that I have missed.

The Problem With Being A Jack-Of-All-Trades

James Aviaz moved to New York from Sydney in October 2010. He's currently Marketing Manager for music startup Songtrust , having previously helped launch operations for Uber in New York. James is also working on Records Abroad - a music discovery site highlighting new music from outside the US and England.

For the better part of my adult life, I've prided myself on being pretty good a bunch of things: writing, talking to people, drinking, the Internets, tasks involving some kind of strategic thinking. For the longest time, this seemed like a great strategy. Being kinda good at a bunch of things makes me more employable / likable, so went the theory. And then New York happened.

New York is the home of the elevator pitch. People want to know who you are, what you want, and how they can help. You see, Australia is not a country that punishes those without straight answers to these questions. We prefer to start sentences with evasive words like: 'Yeah, nah...' HONESTLY, WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

Being thrown into the New York job hunt quickly jolted me out of 'yeah, nah'-ville. And if anyone's been jolted recently in any way, shape or form, you'll attest to a certain unpleasantness to the experience. Think fender bender with a Mac truck.

In order to get anyone in New York's attention, you need to very quickly and powerfully surmise WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT.

Try not to say things like, 'yeah, I'm kinda working on this thing at the moment.' WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN TO A HUMAN BEING WITH THE ATTENTION SPAN OF A FLEA?

This is also a critical time to note that Americans ingest masses of high fructose corn syrup each day, rendering them with the patience of a hyperactive puppy. Oh look, is that another shiny thing? Yes. It always is.

The funny thing about moving to New York is the preponderance of misinformation about the city's inhabitants. One such fallacy is that: 'New Yorkers are really rude'. It was then to my surprise that 95% of all people I've met in the City have been STUPIDLY HELPFUL AND WONDERFUL. The trick is you've got to learn how to give them the best chance to help you.

The recipe for this elusive dish contains good helpings of bravado, salesmanship, and a sprinkling of razzle-dazzle. The New York Networking Moment is not a time for shrinking violets. BRING OUT THE FUCKING NUKE OF CHARM AND PIZZAZ.

New York is a city built on dreams. Entrepreneurial types are everywhere. There's not a cafe in Manhattan that at some point in the day wouldn't have a meeting about 'that big thing I'm working on that will change the world, can I have some money?' It's intoxicating. So, you best be ready to sell your dream or else get lost in the mire. Big ideas, big hopes, big shit.

Growing up in Australia systematically breeds this instinct out of you. The real winners Down Under are the guys flying below the radar pretending they'd rather drink 15 beers than work on business strategy. And if anyone dares shine above the crowd - and HEAVEN FORBID BE PROUD OF IT - they'll be cut down like a tall poppy.

And herein lies the innate difficulty of being an Aussie-come-lately in the Big Apple: everything you need to do to get people's attention, goes against the very charm of being an Australian *jolt*

Selling yourself short is bad enough, but it's even more criminal to give a confusing account of yourself. Humble should not equal bumble. Jacks-Of-All-Trades are especially bad at this. 'Yeah, I've got a bit of experience in this and that, so really I'm looking for all kinds of opportunities'. Translation to a New Yorker: "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH."

I've distinct memories of saying things in my early 20s like: 'don't pigeonhole yourself' and 'you don't want to get pigeonholed'. Guess what, pigeonholing is how a city bursting at the seams with Attention Deficit Disorder sufferers can compute you - and more importantly, work through their cranial Rolodex to help you in your quest. Turns out, being an expert at something is REALLY FUCKING VALUABLE.

This is probably Saturn Returns talking, but I'd love to grab my 21-year-old self and say: 'Hey mate, fucking chase your dreams and be excellent at something you love. In 10 years time, you'll have an enormous network of contacts, experiences beyond your wildest dreams, and you'll be an expert - something people will PAY YOU VERY WELL FOR.'

The most amazing people I've met have all been insanely determined to achieve something great. When you talk to them, you know exactly what they're about and what they want. To use marketing parlance *stabs self in groin*, their 'brand messaging' is always on-point and consistent. Real passion, believe it or not, seems seamless. Jacks-Of-All-Trades are like a turret gun of passion, spluttering ammunition at anything that moves. Pigeonholers are badass motherfucking snipers.

Now nearing my 30th birthday, I’m preparing to build myself a nice pigeonhole in which to get comfortable. Let's hope I go 'coo coo', rather than 'cookoo'.

AFL Memes - Image based memes go mainstream

Image based (macro) memes have long been a stalwart of Internet culture. It appears that similar to l33t speak they are about to enter mainstream culture. Last month very light internet users started posting image based memes about KONY 2012. Now the second example of this is with the FB Page AFL Memes growing to over 40,000 fans in 2 days.

It appears that brands are also catching on to the image meme train with Pure Blonde posting image based memes for the last few months. The interesting thing about macros memes is that they have a really nice organic growth component to them for the owners of the meme. Image based memes have a tendency to be shared quite a lot more than other pieces of content on Facebook. This allows brands to get a nice natural growth of fans and hopefully an end to the painful 'like this' status updates that brands have been abusing lately.

6 lessons learnt from launching a Passion Project - Twantrum

On December 6th James Aviaz, Rhys Edwards and I launched a little side project, Twantrum.com. The website used the Twitter API to search for keywords of people having outbursts at brands over Twitter. It ended up with over 10,000 page views in 14 days. It also cracked into the Top 5 Most Popular Articles of the day on The Next Web with over 500 RT. . The great thing about running little side projects is that you walk away with a number of learnings from the process. Here are my top six learnings.

1. Success was in telling the story
The major reason this idea succeeded is because of the great write up that was given on The Next Web. Twantrum.com was the kernel of the idea but it really needed someone to explain it in detail. James was lucky enough to know CBM at TNW who thought it was worth covering. I think that this is one of the biggest oversights with people launching ideas online, they don't think about locking in that big first story.

2. Double the amount of time needed
The original idea came to James in August, we thought we would be able to knock it over in 2 weeks. This project seemed simple, all we had to do was come up with the keywords, design the one page website and simply code it. It was actually a rather long process, the fact that this was a side project and we all had full time jobs, blew out the amount of time it took.

3. Line the idea with hooks
One of the things that I have noticed in my short time of getting ideas out there, is that you need to give people a number of different hooks into the idea. People love a good name. Twantrum got to the core of the idea really fast. The new old technology formula (old symptom + new technology = name) is always a winner (check Boost Mobile Textaphrenia)

The other major hook was the different levels of Twantrum, having a Mel Gibson level as the top, gave it a bit of cheek and another thing for people to talk about.

4. Talking about Twitter on Twitter is always going to be fruitful
The one thing that everyone on Twitter has in common is that they all use the technology, any story about twitter is always going to get a high propensity of RTs. This theory holds strong over other platforms too - Reddit and Redditors Wife Meme always does well.

5. International Audience
You would be surprised by people translating an article into another language how many additional views that will bring to a project. We were lucky enough to get the idea picked up by a Spanish Marketing site.

6. Ideas have a 48 hour window online
Content moves fast online and as like most ideas we had a 48 hour window where it saw a lot of eyeballs after that people moved on to the next thing. There is no real slow build with these type of projects.

11 trend predictions for 2012

Ben Phillips and I looked into the murky crystal ball and pulled out eleven amazing trends/headlines/things that you will see in 2012.

1. The 1% fight back #occupycenterlink
2011 was dominated by the #occupywallstreet movement, and the 99% protesting against the gross inequality of wealth distribution in the western world. In 2012, the 1% will strike back. Expect a similar format of protest to what we saw in 2011, with a couple of minor variations. Whilst the disgruntled masses occupied the bastions of capitalism, the idle aristocracy will occupy benefit centres, fighting against the unjust support of the less well-heeled. In the #occupycenterlink movement, bankers, lawyers and other associated gentry will erect Gucci tents and don Ralph Lauren ponchos. Through Bose megaphones they will rally, arguing for a termination of the welfare state and a restoration of true laissez-faire economic policy. Whether this movement will generate the same momentum as its poorer counterpart remains to be seen.

2. G-Stalker
In an attempt to leverage recent facial recognition patents, as well as digitally enabled voyeurism, Google will launch G-Stalker. The G-Stalker application enables a stalker to obtain every piece of information about someone that they are close enough to take a photo of. It works as such: the stalker sees an attractive woman sitting 15 yards away from him in a restaurant. He is old, recently divorced and sexually frustrated, so he pulls out his smart phone with a 10 megapixel camera and activates G-stalker. He holds the camera subtlety in the direction of the stalkee and waits for the patented facial recognition technology to do its magic. 5 seconds later, he has a name, phone number, address and a URL of every social networking site she belongs to. He leaves the restaurant, follows her on Twitter and mentally prepares himself to retweet even her most inane utterances in a feeble attempt to be noticed.

3. The demise of European fashion houses
High fashion has been criticised for many things over the years but none have managed to dent its allure to consumer hoards around the world. Times however, are changing. If the internet has taught us anything, it’s that allowing the masses to create is always a better option than reserving it for those who have spent years honing their craft. Enter Etsy. Etsy has proven that a talented, experienced fashion designer has nothing on your best friend’s sister who is in fashion school and is crocheting beanies in her free time. In what truly is a modern day peasant uprising, expect these Etsy queens and their unfortunate boyfriends to topple 1000 year old fashion houses with ill-conceived dresses, blazers and scarfs. A Louis Vuitton designer, whom asked to remain anonymous, recently told me “This is the Youtube of the fashion world. Unfortunately for us, people just want to look like depressed, malnourished hippies”. Expect high street retailers to adjust their procurement policies accordingly.

4. Social media sentiment monitoring replace the election process in France
The French election is coming up in 2012. Given the relatively poor voter turnout in previous years, I forecast that the traditional, antiquated voting process will be cancelled completely. In its place, social media monitoring firms, with their highly accurate sentiment analysis, will survey opinions of French citizens across social networks, blogs and other online forums. Citizens will be encouraged to express their opinions of candidates, and these opinions will be monitored and evaluated by the powers that be. At the conclusion of this process, the firms will deliver the results of the election and the government will take its rightful place. This anticipated development is perfectly aligned with one of the most observable behavioural trends of an election year: an explosion of ill-informed political experts using their personal social networks to push an agenda.

5. “Goldfish syndrome”
There are too many screens in our lives. Laptops, second monitors, iPhones, Blackberries, iPads, screens in retail, screens outside, TVs at home, TVs in our bedroom. The effect of this is that our concentration is being pulled from flashing screen to flashing screen more frequently than ever before, undermining our ability to actually think and function. We now no longer have the ability to concentrate on anything for more than 10 seconds at a time and given the continued explosion of multi-screen culture, I expect Goldfish syndrome to finally hit critical mass in 2012. The effects of this will be varied and profound; GDPs will further plummet as we aren’t able to concentrate on a single task for more than 10 seconds. A new range of mobile phone tariffs around 10 second conversations will be introduced, ensuring we never forget who we’re speaking to. Books will finally be killed off for good as no reader can focus on anything more than tweet length, reducing the need for paper and enabling a healthy regeneration of the Amazon. The sophistication of cars will grow significantly; this new intelligent vehicle will remind their driver every 10 seconds where they’re going and what they have to do there. Dystopian futurists will label this “the broken record society”, but this author can see a range of benefits, most notably a decline in anger and frustration because we can’t remember the origin of our misery. (side note: this paragraph took 2 weeks to write)

6. First person uses a QR code
In what will be seen as a massive coup for the QR Code community, in 2012 the first normal person will use a QR Code. Steve Stuart will be caught at a bus stop taking a photo of a QR Code for access to the BHS of The Hangover 3. QR Code fan boys will make this into an exciting case study video which will be RTed for dayzzzzzzzz and used to slam down the throats of marketers why their billboard needs a code innit.

7. Groupon to get out of debt crisis
Greece will become the first Government to turn to Groupon to help solve its debt crisis. The Government will look to sell off one of their greatest assets the Parthenon. Offering bricks that will last a lifetime over the group buying site. The bricks will be at the ridiculous reduced 90% off price for only 2 days only. This will be seen as the first step of the Greek Government to take control of their problems.

8. Head of Mobile, we were wrong not ‘The year of the mobile’
On December 31st 2012, Phillip MacPherson, Global Head of Mobile Development Foundation will come out with a statement apologising for inaccurate statements provided to the media in 2001, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011 which have all alluded to it being ‘The year of the Mobile’. ‘Clearly we have got it wrong the last few years, we got a little excited when the Nokia3310, WAP iPhone, iAd, all coming out and thought it was our time.’ However MacPherson still has high expectations that mobile advertising will leap frog urinal advertising as the 13th highest revenue media environment in 2013

9. Amazon launches Kindle Phone
Off the success of the Amazon Kindle, Amazon make their first play into the crowded mobile telecommunications space. ‘We really tapped into something with the Kindle, people just wanted a device that just did one thing, people just wanted to read books on it’ stated Adam Right, lead UX for Kindle Labs. 'Amazon have taken this strong insight and have applied it to a mobile device that simply just receive calls and texts. Get ready for the game changer.'

10. 'I hit my internet peak 10 years ago' - Prolific emailer
On the 10 year anniversary of Jerrod Leon registering the email address hotmale@hotmail.com, he finally admits that he may have hit his Internet peak 10 years ago. I am your classic middle aged guy reminiscing on the time he was QB for his High School Football team, only I hit it on the internet. I am on the down hill slope afterwards, I thought I might be able to replicate the Internet Greatness with getting Facebook url '/MarkZuckerbergsMum' but none of my mates laugh anymore and they are getting tired of me pulling out my business cards at bars trying to impress girls.

11. Buzzfeed, Home of LOLCats, Memes and Celebrity Gossip becomes the most influential site in the 2012 US Election
Oh shit that is actually happening.