hey guys...
just wandering how things are coming along with the next report and such...whether you have had any luck coming up with new signals. i will have something put together for monday or tuesday...then we can meet and discuss ok! talk to you soon...

:: The Internet of Things ::

Federal authorities arrested a 20-year-old California man on Thursday, accusing him of creating bot software to compromise nearly 400,000 Windows computers and using his control of the systems to garner more than $60,000 in profits.

http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11353

So hopefully Alex’s “extension” will give us an easier time at doing the rest of this project and allow us to really focus on delving into the IOT instead of focusing in on requirements.

However, even with the extra time we really need to get cracking and avoid a last minute rush. So as we briefly discussed in our “meeting”(extremely loose terms: sorry I was distracted) we should define what are our signals.

To get these signals we discussed reading over the report (everyone should have it) and also the other teams’ reports too. This will allow us to get an idea of the trends that we all researched. Next we felt that the best way to extract these signals was to look at the trends and then extrapolate the signal within. This is our homework for the weekend. List as many signals as possible so that we can re group them and begin to see a picture of our next report.

My last point is that we should maybe stop using the term IOT/ Internet because this may be a bias and somewhat confusing term. Just a thought but maybe something like Object Hyper linking or interconnected objects (too avoid confusion)

And finally Just to clarify this is the definition of a weak signal from the Glossary:

Weak Signal
A half-hidden idea or trend that will affect how we do business, what business we do, and the environment in which we will work; a new and surprising signal from the receiver's vantage point; sometimes difficult to track down amid other noise and signals; a threat or opportunity to your organization. In general, any information that is difficult to detect or distinguish because of the noise in the system. There are three varieties of weak signals.
1. Any difficult to detect signal, which indicates a disruption in the normal operations (homeostasis) of a system.
2. Any difficult to detect signal which indicates a linear trend in the development of some idea or system.
3. A non-linear, hard to predict trend that has yet to reach mainstream recognition.

And as an example Alex mentioned the example of P2P

Trend = P2P
Signal = People willing to play music on computer

So BLOG away!!!! Once you have come across a signal let us know and we can help each other!!! Yeah happiness!

Sorry for rambling but…. Check out the link on the right for 7.5 Floor a great blog on IOT and the podcast “killer innovations” This is especially helpful for this stage!!!

hey guys...remember we are meeting today at 3 to talk about the next report so we can start getting some stuff done...mike...u werent here when we made these plans so i hope you can make it...we are going to meet at school at 3 on the 5th and go grab a drink somewhere.... to have a working/social meeting.....as well....thought the report is pushed back a week...so we now are t-minus 14 days...we should still get cracking this weekend so we arent flipping out next weekend k....see you soon....
ter

2:07am

Holy crap. Listen to this.

In our first report, we noted that The Internet of Things is connectivity. The function is to create a bridge for humans to connect to humans.

What do humans have? Brains. What are brains? The most complex system we know of. What did we create? The internet.

So what is the REAL connection?

The Human mind. IS an internet of things.

And that is the closing line of our last report. The full circle of life.

During researh I found this articles really interesting:
Guide to the internet: Introducing the internet.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/311/7017/1422?view=full&pmid=8520280

Journal of medical internet research
http://www.jmir.org/2001/2/e20/

Hello All!

I hope you had a good reading week catching up and doing school work. I hope you guys are ready to get back to work because Report 2: Signal Amplification is due NEXT WEEK! Thats right...we have t minus 10 days and counting...so time to get cracking. We are meeting on Wednesday at 4 pm on the 5th in the Sharp Centre, open area...so come prepared to do some thinking and some work, and most certainly suggestions on how to re-structure the work because it turned out to be a bit of a headache for some on certain parts. I talked to Matt in the Beal during reading week and he had some comments and suggestions for the next report and they are as follows. He really enjoyed the report, some things to consider next time are: a proper bibliography, better glossary. He said we did a good job at presenting the information, it flowed well and used good language, and we didn't over-distill informaiton either. For the next report, Signal Amplification, we need to amplify the signals that we determined existed in the first report. This I assume will be a hybrid between our context sections and critical trends while on the path of "People Helping People". I think the structure of information could still use some work so it is a bit more professional and smooth. Anways, Matt said we have to accelerate our current thinking and truly expand/extend the possibilities. "Free your mind!". The challenge in this report is whether we can be creative enough and come up with some original content. Anybody can come up with half ass future scenarios but we need to devleop some far reaching scenarios that carry all of our themes and intensify them, scenarios that truly push the boundaries as opposed to something some Sci Fi authour came up with 70 years ago. We need to step back and think lateral...push your thought to the brink. Remember!...at this stage we are still doing research but not nearlly as much, so don't concentrate on it because most of the this report's work should start with a pen and paper...sitting in a room and thinking to yourself and making notes. We are not closing doors at this stage and filtering... so anything is acceptable as long as it is creative, try not to think negatives quite yet...just imagine that IOT is accepted by everyone and everything...What opportunities does IOT hold for us if it was widespread and inherent in all? What could we accomplish? How will this change us and our level of existance and interaction with life/? Think big guys! I will see you tomorrow afternoon...chew on that in the meantime. LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT! I haven't heard from anybody as of yet so I assume everybody is coming. Later.

T

FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS IN 2 YEARS

The Polymer Vision PV-QML5 is an ultra-thin (100µm) featherweight QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) active-matrix display with a diagonal of 5 inches. When not actively used, the display can be rolled up into a small housing with a radius of curvature of less than 7.5 mm. With four gray levels, the monochrome display provides paperlike viewing comfort with a high (10:1) contrast ratio for reading-intensive applications. Even in bright daylight, the display is easy to read. Using a bi-stable electrophoretic display effect from E Ink Corp., the display consumes an exceptionally low amount of power. It is thus ideally suited for mobile applications.

Check it out here

Primary School Security Robot in Tokyo

A primary school in Tokyo is experimenting with stationing a robot at its entrance to register its pupils' movements in and out and guard against intruders. Approach within four metres and the robot will hold out its right hand and ask you to hold your ID card over the IC chip reader in its palm; once you do, it will greet you by name and let you know that your teacher has been informed of your arrival or departure.

How long would this guy last in any other country before being stolen & reprogramed by the kids, comments Core77.

Full article here

GOT SMARTDUST!

Karen, this is for you:

RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Tokyo, the world’s largest research centre devoted exclusively to the study of mentality & intelligence has set goals for themselves by 2017 to have a complete understanding of Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and Down’s syndrome, and treatments for all of them.

Someday soon, your doctor will slip a bonnet on your head and it will announce the first warning signs of dementia or disease. Or it will be placed on your newborn’s crown at birth and the printout will reveal whether she’s on her way to Oxford, or Kingston Pen.

Andrej Cichocki, the head of RIKEN’s Laboratory for Advanced Brain Signal processing, says ‘in the near future, we will be able to screen someone at 55 and predict Alzheimer’s disease with high probability. Predict, yes, but not cure. But we can give you a first warning – in time to maybe change your diet, maybe change your lifestyle, maybe yoga.’

Object Identification
Objects in the Internet of Things will require ways to identify themselves. The key technology for this is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This technology is an embedded chip that can transmit data to an RFID reader. Already in use RFID offers the next step in product identification after UPC. Each RFID can transmit any piece of data about the object. This can include date of manufacture, place of manufacture; order of manufacture and unlike the UPC code it identifies each product as being unique. It does this by using something called an EPC code (Electronic Product Code). Each RFID tag is unique and requires no power to operate. To read one, the reader points to the tag and send an electric signal to the RFID that then broadcasts its EPC to the reader. The small size and low cost make it ideal for the transmission of this data. Currently these tags are being used by larger corporations to track inventory in their warehouses or stores.

Another method of product Identification already in use is QR Codes. These graphic codes allow users to identify objects by taking a picture of the code through their phone which will then connect them to the products web page. There are currently many varieties of this technology, which is a low tech and inexpensive alternate to RFIDs.


However truly “smart” objects would be able to tell you about them selves without pre-programmed information. This is achieved using MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems). These are essential miniature sensors that are special developed to understand data. They can sense movement, air quality, temperature, humidity and any number of things. They are a good example of how nanotechnology and miniaturization can be used in object identification. Their main use in objects is to collect data and in conjunction with an RFID tag, transmit this data to a reader. In addition new systems of machine learning (eg. Intel’s SHARP system) will allow MEMS to make more informed decisions on how to operate. They offer “intelligence” to objects allowing them to work autonomously.

In a network of things it is necessary to identify each individual object uniquely. Although an EPC code is unique it cannot be used as a communication tool on a network. For this each object would need a unique IP address to connect to this network. Currently IP addresses identify each node on the Internet uniquely, however the number of unique IP addresses is limited because of the numbering system. To allow every object in the world to be connected more IP addresses are required. One solution is IPv6, a new numbering system that would allow for an almost infinite amount of addresses.
The implementation of this system is necessary for the progression of both the virtual Internet and the Internet of things. This system would give each EPC code its own IP address and allow it to also obtain an Object Name the same way each web IP address has an assigned Domain Name.

In addition to its own IP address, Global Positioning Systems can be used to position objects in space. Newer systems such as Galileo, will allow objects to be located precisely in all areas. This will give objects even more intelligence facilitating a greater range of functionality.

The combination of MEMS, RFIDs and IP addresses allows every object to act independently while also maintaining its ability to be controlled via a network. The proximity and amount of these objects will allow for a mesh network so intricately knit that signals and communications can be effortlessly processed to obtain seamless autonomy.

Object Identification
Objects in the Internet of Things will require ways to identify themselves. The key technology for this is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This technology is an embedded chip that can transmit data to an RFID reader. Already in use RFID offers the next step in product identification after UPC. Each RFID can transmit any piece of data about the object. This can include date of manufacture, place of manufacture; order of manufacture and unlike the UPC code it identifies each product as being unique. It does this by using something called an EPC code (Electronic Product Code). Each RFID tag is unique and requires no power to operate. To read one, the reader points to the tag and send an electric signal to the RFID that then broadcasts its EPC to the reader. The small size and low cost make it ideal for the transmission of this data. Currently these tags are being used by larger corporations to track inventory in their warehouses or stores.

Another method of product Identification already in use is QR Codes. These graphic codes allow users to identify objects by taking a picture of the code through their phone which will then connect them to the products web page. There are currently many varieties of this technology, which is a low tech and inexpensive alternate to RFIDs.


However truly “smart” objects would be able to tell you about them selves without pre-programmed information. This is achieved using MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems). These are essential miniature sensors that are special developed to understand data. They can sense movement, air quality, temperature, humidity and any number of things. They are a good example of how nanotechnology and miniaturization can be used in object identification. Their main use in objects is to collect data and in conjunction with an RFID tag, transmit this data to a reader. In addition new systems of machine learning (eg. Intel’s SHARP system) will allow MEMS to make more informed decisions on how to operate. They offer “intelligence” to objects allowing them to work autonomously.

In a network of things it is necessary to identify each individual object uniquely. Although an EPC code is unique it cannot be used as a communication tool on a network. For this each object would need a unique IP address to connect to this network. Currently IP addresses identify each node on the Internet uniquely, however the number of unique IP addresses is limited because of the numbering system. To allow every object in the world to be connected more IP addresses are required. One solution is IPv6, a new numbering system that would allow for an almost infinite amount of addresses.
The implementation of this system is necessary for the progression of both the virtual Internet and the Internet of things. This system would give each EPC code its own IP address and allow it to also obtain an Object Name the same way each web IP address has an assigned Domain Name.

In addition to its own IP address, Global Positioning Systems can be used to position objects in space. Newer systems such as Galileo, will allow objects to be located precisely in all areas. This will give objects even more intelligence facilitating a greater range of functionality.

The combination of MEMS, RFIDs and IP addresses allows every object to act independently while also maintaining its ability to be controlled via a network. The proximity and amount of these objects will allow for a mesh network so intricately knit that signals and communications can be effortlessly processed to obtain seamless autonomy.

PAN
On a small scale technologies such as Zigbee and Bluetooth facilitate communication between devices in close range. Known as Personal Area Network Devices, these are presently used in devices such as smart phones and PDAs. As of now Bluetooth is the preferred technology in these applications, however Zigbee is cheaper to produce and easier to use. It has the ability to self organize in a mesh network and can run for years at a time on a single battery. Already Zigbee has been used in alarm and home automation systems. It is capable of transferring data from node to node rather than from node to server to node, creating faster and simpler communication.

LAN
On a larger scale, Ultra-Wide Band wireless communication allows users to quickly transfer large amounts of information at close range. This type of network is ideal for working in collaboration with other kinds of networks.

The more versatile networks facilitate communication that is outside the range of the previous networks. The most popular system in this range is WiFi. Since its inception, WiFi has been the most popular choice for Wireless Local Area Networks. It offers users broadband speed, wirelessly, within a range of 150 ft. It has enjoyed a widespread acceptance in home and business settings. However the short range of its signal makes it impractical for creating wireless mesh networks or bringing Internet into remote locations.

MAN
WiMax offers a larger range and higher speeds than Wi-Fi. Its main use is in creating Metropolitan Area Networks. With projected ranges of 50 km and proven ranges of 8 km, WiMax allows for powerful networks within cities and in remote areas. Major US cities have already installed WiMax systems, which can facilitate wireless Internet and mobile device connectivity. The huge bandwidth of WiMax is equivalent to more than 60 T1 lines. It also is capable of transmitting with a line of sight, which is ideal in urban environments.

Both WiMax and WiFi provide broadband connection to users, however they are only usable at speeds under 100 km/h. Mobile users would be unable to maintain a connection using these networks. MobileFi provides users low latency connection at speeds of up to 250km/h. Although it is better suited for quickly moving mobile connections it only has half the bandwidth of WiMax.

Mesh Networks are another step in realizing an Internet of Things. Currently most WiFi and WiMax networks are centralized and require a lot of infrastructure to scale beyond small networks. Mesh Networks offer a decentralized network that uses the power of each signal or node to create a web of communication that is more efficient at distributing signals. Mesh networks also allow for an even division of bandwidth between users. Mesh networking also facilitates long distance connectivity in weak signal areas through transmission from device to device until it makes a connection.

Thought You all would be interested in this podcast with Bruce Sterling on the Internet of Things

Podcast: Bruce Sterling Link

(you will need itunes or any RSS reader/podcast receiver)

THE INTERNET OF THINGS
PART 3/3 - The Future of Learning


IOT & LEARNING
- IOT exhibits qualities of building learning experiences in doing everyday things, cquiring knowledge and skills in a collaborative context
- Users learn and grow through developing relationships, not only between the individual and the technology, but between the individual and other individuals, and groups

This means that the IOT has the power to connect, its just that right now its used mainly for commercial/research/social purposes. If the direction was changed so that the IOT could benefit humans, would the possiblities change?

There are RFID tags for tracking things, Semacodes for logging things. What if 'things' became 'humans'?

Could we theoretically create a 'RFID tag' for tracking a family's genetical makeup, which would in turn determine whether or not you have any hereditery diseases, and change your life style to prevent it? There is a humanity aspect that is yet to be tapped, and I feel like there is a huge opportunity to present that as a part of our many perspectives in the report.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS
PART 2/3 - Freedom of & from Technology


IOT & COMMUNICATION
- Humans are really separated into two catagories. Those who embrace the change (obviously those who MADE the IOT) versus those who are afraid to use it
- Humans have an innate preference for familiarity in things like 'warm technology' or tactile tech, versus 'cold technology' or computers/digital hardware (look up The Teddy)
- People care about having an Experience as much as they care about Funtionality. Its not enough that it looks good and works. It has to have Meaning.


IOT & MOBILITY
- The IOT is NOT about ‘create the most awesomely high tech thing’
- IOT should be about learning experiences and how to connect individuals so that we can be useful to EACH OTHER as well
- “Smart mobs emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation…”
- The benefits do not come from technology. The structure isn't tech-benefit-human, it should be human-benefit-human. The technology will not create the benefit, the benefits should be created by the humans who use it

THE INTERNET OF THINGS
PART 1/3 - Humans & Objects

This is a summary what we talked about last week with Matt. Hopefully this will become a departure point for our paper. Actually, when you put all of our points together like below, you end up with a definition of what the IOT means to us, which is a fabulous start:


IOT & HUMANS
- IOT stems from our obsession with wanting to control changes/environment around us
- All living things to seek to control their environment with whatever means they have; it’s just that we as humans have evolved to increase our means of control in a spectacular way
- We control things by tracking them
- So was the IOT created as the 'solution' to our lack of security, knowledge, control, and predictability?

IOT & OBJECTS
- IOT is the concept of attaching data to objects
- The IOT is the concept of a world where every human, object, and space will become a link to and a holder of information
- Taken individually, technology AND products are novelties. Together, they collapse of the boundary between the digital and the physical
- So the IOT is a bridge. And we should think of it as an invisible channel for change

I'll be typing them up and posting them in sections so its not so hard to digest. Feedback is needed and welcome, as always.

:: The Internet of Things ::

Just something a that popped into my head. Using the internet of things to indicate when crimes have been commited or to solve crimes. Using the ability of rfid to connect with other products, and communicating with other technologies.

:: The Internet of Things ::

I found this lecture from a professor from MIT This may aid or give us something to build from in the education area of the project.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5689559450361442035&q=internet+of+things