While hobbyist IoT got nerdier, consumer IoT picked narrow lanes like thermostat or light bulb and worked on experience. Unfortunately that lasted only until growth proved shallow and users had to be squeezed for more money. And now “Internet of Things” is a poisoned brand.
Rewild physical computing.
IoT used to be cool. Them were heady days, when it felt like the physical world could be reduced to just another API target. Twine raised a large amount based on that excitement.
Monitor air quality where you need it.
Air! Filled with all sorts of little bits of matter, some of which are good for us, and some of which are (increasingly) not. CO2, smoke, allergens, vapors from off-gassing building materials. But we can’t see how much of those are in the air, and so the actions we take to breathe better air are… Continue reading Monitor air quality where you need it.
Deshittifying the Internet of Things starts with me.
What was once a promise of technology to allow us to automate and analyze the environments in our physical spaces is now a heap of broken ideas and broken products. Technology products have been deployed en masse, our personal data collected and sold without our consent, and then abandoned as soon as companies strip mined… Continue reading Deshittifying the Internet of Things starts with me.
Pickup has an app.
Pickup may be nice to look at—who doesn’t like a cheddar wedge?—but it’s not something you’d usually interact with, by design. But the companion app is, so a here’s a preview of how it works. It’s a web app that runs on Android, iOS and desktop. The Monitor screen will by default show you all… Continue reading Pickup has an app.
Sensor power tools.
Supermechanical began in 2011 from our work at the MIT Media Lab with fun and humane physical interfaces, manifesting in Twine, arguably the first consumer IoT device—or at least the first general-purpose one, boxing up WiFi, batteries, plug-in sensors, rules-based programming and a cloud. Twine contained the seed of a good idea, that the world… Continue reading Sensor power tools.