It’s been almost 3 years since I wrote Smarter Homes but my interest in the historical role of the home in our communal and societal decision-making hasn’t stopped. After working as Head of Labs at Bulb and doing research for Overlay (by ING Labs) I got really interested in the more administrative side of homes.… Continue reading Smart homes or smart paperwork?
Category: Tech
New technologies related in some way to my thesis.
New work: Human Values and policy-making
Over the past few months, I’ve been working with the BBC R&D team on advancing their Human Values research in the context of some NESTA funding we won. We’re working entirely remotely and I’ve been enjoying working with friends, old and new, in their North Lab. Since the Open Internet of Things event I helped Usman… Continue reading New work: Human Values and policy-making
The financial art of Kickstarter UK
Thought this might be helpful to share. I was looking at Kickstarter UK and amongst the concerns about making things, fulfilling rewards and trying to raise money at the same time, the financials can be quite a headache. This is a budget form, you just have to fill your numbers in and see the effect… Continue reading The financial art of Kickstarter UK
Principles of robot design
I’m trying to think, through Lirec about what the difference is between designing a robot and designing a teapot. I will probably go back to Don Norman’s book (even if I hated it the first time around) shortly but in the meantime, here’s 3 little things I’m thinking about that would possibly justify developing a… Continue reading Principles of robot design
Managing a portfolio & online presence for design students
Last month, Carole invited me to come in, lecture and help her graduating MA Textile Futures students understand the value of building an online presence of their own. I ended up putting together a few presentations to explain the value of what the internet was about, how it could help them in their career, etc.… Continue reading Managing a portfolio & online presence for design students
2009 resolutions
I don’t like chocolate that much anymore and I’ve already promised myself to do more exercise, so all there’s left to commit to are a loose collection of interests I’d like to pursue in the coming year: – Find out what’s behind the current trend of doomsday scenarios for the future..is it only a byproduct… Continue reading 2009 resolutions
Personal ubiquity
It took me a while to digest Janne’s post on why ubicomp is a broken concept, mostly because on principal I tend to disagree. It’s also a bit in response to Tom Coates’s altered version of his talk with Matt Jones that he gave at Foocamp called “Personal Informatics”. Firstly I think the starting point… Continue reading Personal ubiquity
Fighting the war against terror by blowing air up your shirt
Just went through 2 “secondary security” checks at San Francisco airport today and got introduced to this delightful contraption. “To collect microscopic particles for analysis, the EntryScan3 takes advantage of a natural upward airflow around the body called the “human convection plume.” By not using forced airflow from a fan-which stirs up dust and other… Continue reading Fighting the war against terror by blowing air up your shirt
Sciencists are not designers
“When you look at the population as a whole, there is no way of describing the patterns. The problem with answering this question is that people normally are not tracked — but today we are tracked thanks to the phones we carry with us.” Nature
Just saying
Peak oil Peak technology Peak blogging. Things are starting to feel awkward.