Everyware

A book and concept related to Ubiquitous Computing:

"Everyware" is computing that is everywhere around us, yet is relatively hard to see, both literally and figuratively. Broadly speaking, it is what you get when you take the information processing we associate with the personal computer and distribute it throughout the environment — embedding it in walls, floors, appliances, lampposts, even clothing. I also use the word to refer to the relatively novel interface conventions everyware requires: gestural, tangible and haptic interfaces, and to some extent, voice recognition." (http://www.weblogsky.com/archives/000819.html)

Key Book

Adam Greenfield. Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing.

The book is reviewed at http://www.newcommblogzine.com/?p=457

Excerpt:

Greenfield describes it as “information processing dissolving in behavior." It has been called other things: ubiquitous computing, pervasive computing, tangible media. It refers to sensors embedded in floors that can identify and track you as you move about a building. It includes cameras and sensors that track your every movement, at work, opening doors, turning on and off lights, and so on. It also refers to the close monitoring of the data your body produces at every moment, enabling you to adjust your behavior based on blood pressure or your up-to-date caloric intake. But it is more than each of these individual ideas, all of which have already been proven to work. It is what happens when every part of your environment, every action you take, is technologically mediated. When that happens, it will create profound differences in how we, as humans, navigate our environment, communicate with others, and present our own identities to the world.