New Book: Inescapable Data

"There is no doubt that we are being bombarded by data everywhere. The good news is that some companies are working on ways to make some of the data more 'accessible' without being more overwhelming. The point to Inescapable Data is that we are probably at the beginning stages of allowing us to absorb more information than ever before and in less intrusive ways."

The Optimus Keyboard

The Optimus keyboard has gotten a lot of talk on the blogs. Basically they plan to build a keyboard with OLED displays underneath the keys so each key is customizable. It sounds like Optimus is going to initially target this at professionals, and gamers/hackers of course have fallen in love with the customizability. While most of these are imagining customized HalfLife keyboards, I think one incredible feature is the ability to change the keyboard instantly.

So you have a display surface in which several keys could be dedicated glanceable displays, and the drill-down to details on the glance is literally a click away. You could even use the entire keyboard as an animation surface when certain types of events happen. Wonderful. Unfortunately it also reaks of a nice idea that will be vaporware, stay tuned.

POSTIN: Wireless Mailbox Notifier Gadget

Live in an apartment building or have a -really- long driveway and need notification when the mail comes? A German company offers POSTIN. Local wireless to a LCD weather station-like device notifies owners when the mailman is dropping mail in the mailbox. (thx Wibrary)

Microsoft Pitches Displays for Laptop Lids

Don't know how this slipped through, but it looks like Microsoft is working with laptop vendors to integrate SPOT devices into future laptops to display not only SPOT data, but also provide some information about the status of the laptop's battery, application details, etc. It's a little like the secondary displays that have become so popular on cell phones, although in this case I have little understanding about the amount of time your laptop spends closed where a quick glance would give you valuable info.

I imagine we'll find out soon.

Philips’s iCat Smart Companion does, uh, stuff

Cats and lamps that Philips hope will eventually replace your remote control with a dialog system. For the time being, Philips only sells these platforms to universities and research labs.

MusicCube

The MusicCube, a wireless cube-like object, renders more tangible several content attributes of Mp3 music. Play lists, music rhythm, volume, and navigational feedback are communicated via multicolored light.

Users can physically interact with their music collections via the MusicCube using gestures to shuffle music and a rotary dial with a button for song navigation and volume control.

flora

'fluorescent light organizing radio accessory' that is able to display the geographical position of a buddy by merging a compass-like interface with the game 'hot & cold'. the green color indicates the direction of the buddy being tracked, while the buddy's distance is displayed in feet & the elevation (ex. different floor in mall) is depicted with a direction arrow (up or down). via we-make-money-not-art.com

Ambient Experience for Healthcare

"This program is designed to reduce the stress and claustrophobic effects of an MRI through the utilization of a complete multimedia environment that adapts to individual patients." from BusinessWeek / IDEA awards 2005. By Philips. tag

Fifth Wave of Computing in Business 2.0

Finally picked up the article in Business 2.0 on the Fifth Wave of Computing. It picks Ambient Devices as one of the "Big Kahunas" of the Fifth Wave of Computing.

The big kahunas are a good crowd to be in:
Amazon.com, Ambient Devices, Audium, Cisco, Google, IBM, Salesforce.com, Skype, Successfactors, Tibco, Transera

Interestingly even though the article opens with Microsoft R&D Rick Rashid, they are not mentioned as a big kahuna. I plan to ask Om about this, but my guess is because although they use network proliferation (msn spot), p2p and other tools - all of it is generally in very closed off, piecemeal, un-fifth-wave ways.

Full text of the article here temporarily.

Also see chat on Om Malik's blog about the Fifth Wave, and some more chat on it from Robert Hof over at Business Week.