The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things was a concept I had never heard of before. We had a talk from Ian Forrester and Zoe Barker who both work for the BBC. Zoe showed us some examples. The Internet of Things are basically real, tangible objects, that in some way visualise information or data that would usually be viewed on a screen.

I am interested in bringing a physicality back to our increasingly virtual world. We now have smart phones that do pretty much every thing we need yet these creations are moving in the opposite direction, having just one function or purpose, which at first I couldn't see the point. But now I understand, these objects put a smile on people faces and they are fun.

#Flock: A Cuckoo clock powered by Tweets

Developed by London-based technology consultancy, Berg. 

The clock reacts physically to different twitter notifications.

 

#Flock by Berg

The Good Night Lamp
The Good Night Lamp is such a lovely idea. In a world where texts, Facebook messages, likes, Tweets and hash tags have taken over real, physical and verbal communication, these lamps bring back the sensory element to letting someone know you are thinking of them.

"Good Night Lamp is a network of internet-connected lamps with a Big Lamp triggering a family of Little Lamps to turn on anywhere in the world. Our mission is for Good Night Lamp to become the first physical social network. The Good Night Lamp allows customers to keep in touch with their friends, family or work mates, and is designed to be simple to use." http://goodnightlamp.com/about/

The Good Night Lamp by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino and Daniel Fogg