The Internet fridge is probably the most oft-quoted example of what the Internet of Things - when everyday objects are connected to the Internet - will enable. Imagine a refrigerator (so the story goes) that monitors the food inside it and notifies you when you're low on, for example, milk. It also perhaps monitors all of the best food websites, gathering recipes for your dinners and adding the ingredients automatically to your shopping list. This fridge knows what kinds of foods you like to eat, based on the ratings you have given to your dinners. Indeed the fridge helps you take care of your health, because it knows which foods are good for you and which clash with medical conditions you have. And that's just part of the sci-fi story of the Internet fridge.
The dazzling new trend of "augmented reality" mobile applications, software that puts layers of information on top of a mobile device's camera viewer, is something that's left iPhone owners feeling out of luck. Now one company developing such an app says Apple has said the technology required will be officially enabled in the next version of the iPhone OS - which is expected out in September.
Developers are able to access the necessary controls in the phone illicitly, but when Apple offers a stable and official Application Programming Interface (API) for layering data over the camera viewer - that's going to be game changing. The particular app in question is a subway route finder that shows route signs when you point your phone one direction or another. The list of possibilities is long, though, so we hope this September date is for real.
Video apps that cater to Twitter users are all the rage at the moment, but this particular bandwagon is filled to overflowing with apps that rock jostling for mindshare with apps that barely function.
We've spent the past couple of days testing and retesting a slew of these sites, and we are ready to present our top five picks for sharing video content on Twitter. Read on to find out which app comes out on top and which ones didn't make the cut.
In an unsurprising move, Apple is said to be working with major record labels to provide an "interactive album" to consumers. The company is rumored to be working with EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal to bundle photos, lyric sheets, liner notes and videos with album purchases in the iTunes store. According to the FInancial Times, the move is meant to increase album sales. Nevertheless, a number of critics have already argued that the attempt will be ill-fated. While it's true that "interactive" music material has already been executed in various iterations, Apple's move may have a extremely positive affect on the music industry as a whole.
Google announced today that it is running a contest for the next ten days where visitors to the controversial and under-loved Google Books site can win a Sony Reader eBook device. Literature-related trivia will now be hunted for using the site's new search inside the book feature and people who find the right answers will be entered into a drawing to win a Sony Reader device.
The contest is the kind of traditional marketing that more web applications could benefit from and will no doubt introduce many new people to the features of the service. Our question, though, is this: why not do this every day of the year? At under $300 retail price (and you know Google could get a deal) it would cost around $100k to give one away every day. How much do you think the Google Books team has spent on legal defense in the last year? Millions of dollars, we're sure.
The product that used to be a personal wifi hotspot in your pocket will now become an API-enabled connectivity hub with apps.
The MiFi portable multi-person wireless router that we first wrote about in December and joined a chorus of positive reviews for in June now allows outside developers to write network-leveraging applications for the battery powered device.
Swedish music service Spotify just announced their application's submission to the iPhone App store. Similar to the company's Android application, the iPhone app gives users the ability to search for tracks and create music streaming play lists. One key feature of both applications is that it allows users to cache music for offline play. With this sort of functionality, it will be interesting to see if Spotify's app will be taken as a threat to iTunes. If this were the case, then Spotify's little green iPhone app might never make its way onto the device.
Last week, iPhone developers were taken by surprise when Apple unceremoniously removed their ability to promote their "mature" applications (ages 17+) using promo codes. These codes allow application creators to raise awareness about their work by sending out free copies of apps to select individuals, such as those working in the media, in the hopes of having their new app reviewed. Now it seems that Apple has reversed this earlier, controversial decision and is allowing promo codes once again. But we have to wonder: why were they ever removed to begin with?
A group of scholars from Germany, Austria, and the U.K. recently put together a case study about the tweeting habits of conference attendees. Entitled "How People are using Twitter during Conferences," this research report (available here on Scribd.com), reveals some interesting, although not altogether shocking, insights into the role the microblogging service plays during major events. Most notable of their findings is the number of individuals who actively use the service during conferences - a figure showing high participation levels among attendees.
During my recent visit to MIT I met up with Henry Holtzman, Chief Knowledge Officer of the MIT Media Lab. We discussed the Internet of Things, which Holtzman has been actively involved in since the 90s. Holtzman said that consumer apps for Web-connected objects are becoming more common; he refers to this as an emerging "ecology of devices." There are many real world objects being connected to the Internet nowadays, he said, and they are beginning to act in concert.
Read on to find out which Internet of Things products have most impressed Henry Holtzman lately, plus we explore some of his own projects.
