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posted by janrinok on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-all-a-bit-meh dept.

One of the leading thinkers in the new computing sector known as the internet of Things (IoT) can't help but look at all the flashy, expensive, feature-packed gadgets on the market today – things like Google Glass or the Apple Watch – and keep coming away with the same thought: too many device makers keep getting it wrong.

Given the nature of his chosen field, serial entrepreneur David Rose – who's also a researcher with the MIT Media Lab, where he's taught for six years – might be expected to want the next generation of connected devices to pick up where smartphones leave off. Indeed, that seems to be the nature of the race to figure out what the next dominant computing platform looks like, whether it's Facebook snatching up Oculus or Microsoft working to bring its HoloLens to fruition.
...
In a book he published last year, Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and the Internet of Things, Rose sums up his hope for the future of technology: he wants it be dominated less by glass slabs and more by tools and artefacts, just like his grandfather's space was filled with.

His grandfather, for example, never hunted for the one tool to serve as an all-purpose tool hub or for a tool that would eliminate the need for other tools. His shop was filled with hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, clamps and more – and they all enchanted the young Rose because even in their simplicity, those tools could lead to a multiplicity of imaginative creations.

The Internet of Things could also, beyond proving a privacy debacle, be a walled garden whose walls reach to infinity.


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:39PM

    by Freeman (732) on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:39PM (#210207) Journal

    On that totally off-topic random note. The site doesn't look as horrendous as it used to, but I'm still not going to go back to using it.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:51PM

    by el_oscuro (1711) on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:51PM (#210217)

    It looks like the site is down:

    "Slashdot's undergoing some unexpected downtime. The good news is that we're working to restore the site. The bad news is that in the meantime our ability to update the site, while not *completely* wiped out (see: this note), is limited, and the features that we like best about Slashdot, like a dynamic comment system and a firehose bouncing with reader-submitted news, are taking a breather. "

    Seems like they lost a database or something and are restoring from backups. At least they apparently have backups unlike another group I have to deal with.

    --
    SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by multixrulz on Friday July 17 2015, @12:05AM

      by multixrulz (5608) on Friday July 17 2015, @12:05AM (#210247)

      I got a similar response for a download stats page at sourceforge. That was actually for one of my projects, which I've removed from SF due to the latest installment in the hostile takeover story with GIMP et. al.

      I just noticed that the homepages for both of my projects at SF, which I set up to redirect to their new homepages elsewhere, are now not redirecting: one goes to the project files on SF, the other gives me a maintenance mode message. Project summary pages aren't working for either (or for their POTM for that matter).

      Could this be the beginning of the end for SF and /.? I'd be so excited if it was, it would almost eclipse New Horizons and a possible trip to see snow falling in Australia in places where it doesn't normally fall!

      • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday July 17 2015, @01:05AM

        by dyingtolive (952) on Friday July 17 2015, @01:05AM (#210265)

        Maybe someone did a good turn and fucked the bastards up.

        --
        Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:57PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:57PM (#210221)

    This article triggered an attack from the NSA.
    "Gun-Firing Drone Raises Some Eyebrows"
    We don't need asshats putting guns on drones and shooting people. Smart asses on /. would talk about making it better. Just another censor tactic of scary information.
    The story was up on google news for a brief time then disappeared. I'm sure if you look for it you'll find it; and get meta-taged by the NSA.

    • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday July 16 2015, @11:15PM

      by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday July 16 2015, @11:15PM (#210228)

      CSB. Some 35 years ago I went to the desert with a couple friends to do some target shooting. One guy, whom I worked with daily but didn't really know, brought an RC airplane. With the guts of a .22 pistol attached. He flew that thing around shooting his gun. It was kinda kewl, but scared the crap out of us whenever it was heading in our direction.

      This same guy had blown off 3 fingers of his left hand before I met him, he told me he was mixing gunpowder when it went boom.

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.