Designing addicted products for UX London 13

Conversation of people and things

As part of connected/projected experiemental program here @ frog i came out with this rant about smart devices:

“We often hear about smart objects, smart homes, and smart cities. Are we aiming at the wrong target when we assume that everything needs to be smart? A drill should know about speed. A fridge should know about temperature. A toaster should know about toast. The real goal is not how smart each individual node can be, but how intelligent it can become while in a collective network.

This aggregation, translation, and horizontal connectivity is what creates new value and, ultimately, makes us smarter. Things will not only talk but explain what they do or what they need. They will follow one another, discuss, collaborate, create events, and complete tasks together. They will even fight and disagree. What if all my tools could collaborate as I build my house? What if they talked to other products and learned from their experience? What if they competed to be used or suggested what was best in a given situation? What if they learned with us and from us? 

Today, a billion new voices are rising in the network. They will talk and be active agents in our lives. But it’s not just about talking. It’s about creating a worthwhile conversation.”

Addicted toasters " define an internet of the sensible objects" on Internetactu.net →

Being defined as a toaster whisperer on Wired is kinda amazing →

The first time that addicted toasters became a bit more public, in italian, but in a pretty amazing TEDx. Florence 2012.

Sorry for the absence of subtitles, but i promise it makes sense.

The story of Brad the toaster

The final vision of my graduation project.

It is the story of Brad, a toaster which is part of a new breed of products that love to be be used.
It shows the implications of agency of products in everyday life.
What could happen if a product wants to be used?

The London Experiment video

A week, 5 toasters around London. A lot happened.

View high resolution

After the first day of Brad at the Trampery, the London addicted toaster experiment begins.

3 toasters have been sent today around town. 4 days of testing. 3 hosts and possibly more applying.

One at the main Pachube office, one at the Trampery and one at the headquarters of Yammer. All working and comparing to each other. Soon the 4th will also enter the network and if more people apply maybe one of the hosts will loose their toaster too if they don’t use it properly.

Let’s see what is going to happen…

The Service Interface

Addictedproducts.com is the real fictional web interface of the service, which visualise the average use of the toasters (in columns of bread), their hosts and possible new hosts.

It links to the list of their tweets and actions and allows people to apply for one of them. When one of the products shows heavy dissatisfaction from it situation, it will try to leave and look the best possibility between the possible new hosts. Who loses a toaster gets in the black toast list and cannot receive toasters till a new one is created.

The Addicted Products

The final set of Addicted products. Do you want one? Apply here!

Fully connected and lever moving toaster with electronics hidden inside and in the black box in the bottom, handle for carrying, tag for identifying and a full branded set of boxes.

Ready to be shared.