One of the more interesting products I've purchased lately has been an Ambient Orb made by Ambient Devices, which appears to be a spin-off of a MIT Media Lab project called Ambient Fixtures.
Ambient's concept is that there is a certain type of information that should be continuously accessible, but is not quite worthy of interruption (push) or spending a lot of time finding (pull). They call this ambient information, and give examples of a clock or barometer, always there and simple to discover, but never demanding of attention. The Orb shows information by glowing, and changing color. My Orb is currently at work displaying the weather at home (given the Bay Area's many micro-climates, it's rare that they are the same). There are a few quicktime movies with a funny home-made feel on Ambient's site explaining some of their other concepts.
09/28/03
we looked at these a couple of years ago. my instinctual feeling is that they create unnecessary materialisation. when we have a world wide web of information, why limit a physical objects connection to that web with one degree of freedom? i know that you can change the attributes of the link, but really...one bit of information turned into a glow ball. if it was the safety of my child then perhaps it would be worthy of construction, but stock prices...give me a break. now if someone could create an ambient tree (in the sense that the colours and patterns that eminate from the object are as distinct and separate as the leaves on a tree) then that would be more interesting...
10/07/03 dan phillips
Thanks for your comments Dan.
I think that the value of the Abient Orb is that it has only on bit of information, especially in a world when not only objects, but even applications are burdoned with excessive features. Don't get me wrong, there are many things that are inherently complex, and simplying them will only limit them, but there are also many things out there that are simple, and should be in our lives, not limited to an icon in the system tray on a computer two rooms away.
I think that the Ambient Tree is an interesting idea, except that the point is to create something that is instantly understandable, something that takes a glance at most, something that infuses your space with information rather than requiring focussed attention. Complex patterns that need to be deciphered make it more than ambient. I guess it depends on how complex the tree is.
10/07/03 Graham Hicks
we looked at these a couple of years ago. my instinctual feeling is that they create unnecessary materialisation. when we have a world wide web of information, why limit a physical objects connection to that web with one degree of freedom? i know that you can change the attributes of the link, but really...one bit of information turned into a glow ball. if it was the safety of my child then perhaps it would be worthy of construction, but stock prices...give me a break. now if someone could create an ambient tree (in the sense that the colours and patterns that eminate from the object are as distinct and separate as the leaves on a tree) then that would be more interesting...
10/07/03 dan phillips
Thanks for your comments Dan.