ReadWriteWeb

Is 'checking in' at places using location-based mobile apps like Foursquare and Brightkite resulting in us enjoying life a little less? Is there such a thing as too much data for a fun activity such as running? We address these and other questions in the final installment of our interview with Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing.

Modern web applications are packed with features that ostensibly connect us more to the real world and our activities in it. Foursquare uses location data to connect us with places and people. Nike+ shoes deliver data from your feet to your iPod. All of this new data from the real world is good progress, right? Yes, the more data the better! On the other hand, is our focus on data distracting us from actually enjoying life?

In part 1 of our interview with Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing, we discussed the impact of the iPhone and other smartphones on the Internet of Things.

In Part 2, we explore how the Apple iPad may also become a key device. Adam Greenfield thinks it may become the missing link between Internet-connected items in your home, for example the Internet fridge, and the Web.

Last week I had the privilege of meeting Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing. It's one of my favorite books about the Internet of Things and is still ahead of the curve, even though it was written in 2005 and published in 2006. Greenfield was in my city Wellington for the week, so I sat down with him at a local cafe to get his views on the current state of Internet of Things and where it's headed.

If you're unsure what the world will be like when everything is connected to the Internet (hence the term 'everyware'), then read on for Greenfield's acute observations and examples of what's already happening. This will be a multi-part post, published over the course of this week.

The Internet of Things, the growth and bringing online of sensor data to create a foundation for innovation, is expected to be a big trend in 2010. ReadWriteWeb has been covering it extensively and we offer below the three top stories in Internet of Things over the last 24 hours, from around the web.

A new report on airport satisfaction points to opportunities for more sensors. RFID to track interactions between prisoners and guards? It's happening now. And a hospital that will use sensors to alert staff of the location and medical histories of patients in crisis, on a big electronic whiteboard centrally located. Those are our three top stories for today. (Editorial selection assisted by OneSpot.)

Remember POGS? Don't feel bad if you don't - you've just dated yourself, that's all. These round collectible discs were used to play a children's game (also called POGS) back in the 1990's. Thanks to the incredible popularity of these little tokens, collecting POGS became a generation-defining fad for the demographic group known as the millenials. Where baby boomers had baseball cards and Generation X had Garbage Pail Kids, the young members of Gen Y had their POGS.

Now prepare yourself for POGS' return - POGS 2.0, if you will. Except this time around, the chips have been wired for the digital age. And today, the "game" is a social network called FaceChipz instead of a old-fashioned variation on marbles.

Green Goose is a new financial management service that launched today, which connects sensor activity to your savings account. At first Green Goose sounded a little gimmicky. Using green Internet-connected eggs, it measures how much energy you expend on your bike or how much water you use in your shower - and transfers amounts from your checking account to your savings account based on the 'savings' you made doing those activities.

What's interesting though is that the savings are calculated based on the actions measured by small battery-powered, wireless sensors. You stick these sensors on your bike, thermostat, showerhead "and even your keychain."

At the recent DLD Conference (Digital - Life - Design) in Munich, Germany, Esther Dyson moderated a panel on the Internet of Things. The subject of the discussion was giving identity to things, just as people have an identity. In essence, creating social networks for things.

On the panel were Ulla-Maaria Engeström (Thinglink), Doug Krugman (Personal Commerce), Michael Silverman (ThingD). Dyson began by noting that people have always had identities and there are countless services for that, but things don't have that yet. So, she asked, will there be networks for things?

One of the trends we're exploring this year is how the Internet is being integrated into everyday objects. Called the Internet of Things, it's seeping into some massive consumer industries. One of them is fitness. Many of you have heard of the Nike+ running shoes, which sends running data to your iPod via a sensor. Adidas recently joined the race to connect your running gear to the Internet, with its miCoach system. There is also the Wii Fit and innovative Web fitness services like NordicTrack's iFit.

Keep up, because tracking your fitness progress on the Internet - via sensors attached to your body or workout gear - is going to become very popular.

As ever more data flows onto the Web, we need tools to track changes in that data and alert us to new data that we're interested in. Examples of data that can be tracked include shopping deals, places, companies, home prices, sports scores, local events, even crime reports! Add to that emerging Internet of Things sources such as sensor data, RFID tags, proximity, and more.

Last week we listed and categorized some of the leading topic-tracking tools on the Web (see also the follow-up post). The tools we listed were geared towards tracking news or media information on the Web. In this post, we look at a leading service that tracks more discrete, faster changing types of data.

Arrayent is a new Internet of Things company being billed as the "Cisco of small things." It is basically middleware for companies wanting to connect their products to the Internet. In particular it's targeting smartphones, which is a trend we're closely tracking too. Arrayent made its first public appearance earlier this month at CES.

Arrayent offers a "turnkey communication system" called the Internet-Connect System, which enables product companies to connect their products to smartphones and computers via the Internet. It counts toy company Mattel and audio/video components supplier Monster Cable among its early customers.