February 06, 2004
Ambient information
Some very cool stuff from a company called Ambient Devices (The New York Times had a good article on this a while ago.)
Let's start with the Ambient Orb, a glowing device which smoothly changes color to visually represent the state of any data you want to monitor. A common application is to reflect the Dow Jones index. The orb connects to the internet, downloads the latest numbers, and changes color to a greener shade when the market is going up or a redder shade if it's going down. It doesn't need to connect to your computer--it uses a national wireless network--so it just sits on your desk or coffee table, looking pretty and conveying information at a glance.
Conveying information at a glance is not a new idea. Clocks to show the time and thermometers to show the temperature have been around for centuries. But today we have immediate access to pretty much any data we want, so these old analog monitors can now be used to convey anything from stock performance to traffic conditions. Remember Mrs. Weasley's magic clock which monitored the locations of the Weasley family members? A clock which receives GPS signals might be able to do this.
Ambient Devices goes even beyond this to create attractive devices that display information through glowing color, like the orb, or intuitive movement, like a pinwheel which can vary how fast it spins. It seems that they are currently aiming these devices to the high-end market (an "executive dashboard" for CEOs, for example) and way out of my price range. But it's still exciting to imagine the possibilities.
Posted by sarah at February 6, 2004 11:43 AM in Ideas