So last week I launched sales for a limited edition of the Good Night Lamp. This is both an exercise in pig-headedness and a suicidal financial exercise. What prompted this? Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of this idea. There’s only so much time you can spend trying to turn lights on and off, but… Continue reading The cost and time to make things
Author: designswarm
Blogging since 2005.
Boosting the internet of things in the UK
View IOT companies (UK & Europe) in a larger map I’ve been putting a map together of internet of things startups in the UK & Europe since May 2012. It’s not that I don’t care about the rest of the world, but as I’ve written about before, there is a real opportunity for the UK… Continue reading Boosting the internet of things in the UK
Caring about watches again
So Apple is making a smart watch (let’s call it what it is, “wearable” is too clunky and best used for non-screen connected products). It’ll do well enough with early adopters whenever they launch it and regardless of battery life but more importantly it’ll test one important assumption: is the ability to pay with a… Continue reading Caring about watches again
Berg (2005-2014)
This has been a strange day, mostly because some of my friends who have run a really great studio have decided to shut it down, 483 weeks in. I met them when we were still students, Jack‘s class came to visit mine in Ivrea in April 2005. The year after he was to design Availabot and… Continue reading Berg (2005-2014)
Smart meters: the glass half empty of the internet of things
As someone who makes a living of talking about and designing connected products, I also try to eat my own dog food. I signed up to Hive last summer after working with British Gas on an event and with EDF for years. I know enough about how the energy sector to be curious. These things aren’t… Continue reading Smart meters: the glass half empty of the internet of things
Insurance in the internet of things: the Future Stigma of Data
In May, Ana Bradley joined my consultancy as a Partner and one of the first clients we worked on together was Imago TechMedia. We helped them plan an event for the insurance sector around the internet of things in a half day workshop. The insurance sector is one I’d recently been looking at anyway for… Continue reading Insurance in the internet of things: the Future Stigma of Data
Crowdfunding a hardware project: Tips & Tricks
I’ve been getting a lot of requests for coffees from startups who want to hear about crowd funding and the lessons I learnt running a campaign for the Good Night Lamp back in early 2013. I thought I’d capture what I’d say to them here and share it to a wider audience:) 1. What are… Continue reading Crowdfunding a hardware project: Tips & Tricks
That’s nice
Made it to the Top 100 Most Influencial Women on Twitter in the technology sector. Thanks Business Insider.
Pantry: better than the internet fridge
It’s been a couple of very busy day. I gave the keynote at Thingscon and it gave me an opportunity to actually think about the internet fridge, that idea which doesn’t seem to want to die. So I thought I’d put my designer hat on (yes it’s a little dusty but hey ho) and think… Continue reading Pantry: better than the internet fridge
Meaningless but nice
I appear to be 2nd in the top 100 thought leaders around the internet of things. That’s nice. Thanks Onalytica.