Here is the presentation that we gave, with the audio track:

as well as some photos from the workshop:

(Actually the photos are frame grabs from the Full HD video that the Singularity University Media Production team led by Matt Rutherford have been shooting of everything that happened!)

After the lecture, as usual, we engaged the audience to apply what they have just learned in imagining spime-based Internet Of Things applications, and we were delighted to see not only the students forming groups, but also the people from the outside jumping at the opportunity to be active participants in the event.

This event was the first being streamed live from the Singularity University, so while the groups worked, we walked among them asking questions, giving some feedback, and guidance, and chronicling in general what was going on to keep the people watching the stream entertained. When the time came to make the presentations by the groups, there was even one formed by online participants, who created an ad-hoc skype chat and conference call, and created collaboratively their presentation, shown to everybody in the room alongside those of the other groups! This was a real surprise, and a great testimony to the active engagement, and creativity of the participants.

To keep things interesting, we used WideNoise as an applause-o-meter in judging the presentations, and awarding the winning one.

Today at 2.45 PM PST we will be speaking at CISCO Live! about sensor networks, and their applications together with Adam Dunkels, and Jean Philippe Vasseur.

Some of the issues that we plan to touch, in the panel session moderated by John Jainschigg are:

• What are sensor networks and what are they used for?
• What is their state of the art today?
• What does ‘The Internet of Things’ mean?
• How do network scale at various levels?

From the panel presentation:
Convergence of micro- and nano-devices, RFID and smart tagging, mobility, HPC, and IPv6 are framing emergence of “the Internet of Things” — a spectacularly fertile field for research and innovation that will in relatively few years, some predict, add 50 to 100 billion endpoints to today’s internet, changing both the architecture of the net and life as we know it.

In this eye-opening panel discussion, you’ll hear from experts in each of the critical core technologies enabling emergence of the Internet of Things: from the micro-operating systems, pseudo-thread architectures and tiny IPv6 stacks powering the next generation of nanodevices; to the wireless and
physical network architectures and protocols connecting them; to the ultra-high-performance data-acquisition and application platforms coordinating their myriad inputs to produce value.

Embedded systems, wireless and other engineers attending this session can expect a concise update on low-level and high-level components for contemporary sensor network solutions. Software architects, insight into the logic of platforms and tools required to wrangle self-organizing distributed networks. And business decision-makers will gain understanding of the bottom line importance of this exploding field to the future of virtually every field of industry and commerce.

The event is free, and to attend you can register directly online.

The Spime Design Workshop hosted at CISCO that we together organized has been a great success, and has been amply reported and documented by Dennis Mancini of CISCO on the Virtual Worlds blog. Dennis very perceptively says: “…the implied given opportunities that present themselves in the near future remain dependant upon your organizations willingness to disrupt, change or shape itself. The increasingly expanding scope necessary to adopt and craft our performance in our virtual rolls will ultimately develop goodwill and trust between clients and customers as we share and experience our digital stories together.”
There’s been a fair amount of twittering about it too…

We are setting up more events, and you are invited to apply to the next Spime Design Workshop in Second Life, which is going to be held in the second half of June, hosted by L’École de Design.

The impact of technological change in our lives has increased at a rate that itself is increasing. Two three hundred years ago you could live your life without experiencing any change at all: its pace was so slow that within a generation it could not be felt, or at least would not be felt everywhere. Then change changed. From your dreams being the only way you could hope to live in a better world, or what you believed would be the afterlife, it became possible to hope for something better for your children, or maybe grandchildren. You would not sacrifice yourself for a mythological payback, but actually start to work, and sweat in the knowledge that your direct descendents would benefit. Then, at the middle of the twentieth century, approximately, it became plausible to invest in your own education, and development, because you realized that it would impact the way you spent the rest of your life, and the opportunities that it gave you.

At each step these new ways of looking at the world meant a different perception of the future. From an untouchable and unfathomable distance, it grew closer, and closer, and became more and more manageable, at least apparently, its shape still fuzzy, but with a profile that you could start to perceive, or even design yourself.

We are now definitely in a period where the futures we design deserve a clear sight and an alert mind, as we don’t have the excuse of not realizing how decidedly our actions impact the world overall, and ourselves within it. Technology has been the driving force of these changes. Technology in the broadest possible sense. Not only the capabilities of material transformation, but also those of interpersonal communication, and social organization. Our inventions helping us leaving longer, fuller, and more meaningful lives.

How will the next technological revolutions then impact the individual, and society, is a necessary, and fundamental question to ask. We have started to ask it with the speech that we gave at the recent conference in Amsterdam: “FIFI 2008 – fear it fix it”

You can see the video of our speech in its 10 minute version, or including the introduction to spimes in its 30 minute version.

You will also be able and follow the developments of OpenSpime at the following two events:

ID World, Nov 18-20 in Milan
Where will we talk about:
“Extending the reach: an open approach to the coming internet of things”

All over the industry different identification and sensor technologies are being developed and adopted, as it has been the case for vertical applications for the past decades. In order to leverage the power of networks a new open approach is desirable. Taking lessons from the development of the Internet, and open source software and recently hardware, the real promise of an Open Internet Of Things is a radically new understanding of the world around us. Wether we look at the natural and urban environments around us, and our necessity of creating sustainable systems, or to economical models of manufacturing and distribution processes, without enhanced monitoring and management capabilities we will be unable to increase agricultural, and industrial productivity needed ultimately to maintain and increase quality of life in developed and developing countries worldwide. What are the scalable systems that are needed to reach this goal? Are we equipped to deal with the degree of autonomy that distributed high granularity smart sensor networks will require? What are the implications in terms of privacy, best practices, industry adoption and obsolescence of the coming Internet Of Things?


Fifi 2008, Nov 28 in Amsterdam
where we will cover
“A New Help: Spimes All Around Us”
The complexity of today’s society is increasing, and many people have a hard time adapting to it. Our environment, the cities where we live, the way we travel, consume energy, are all under increasing scrutiny. The new generations of smart sensor networks, or spimes, constituting the coming Internet Of Things are going to provide a new tool, and a new way of looking at everything around us, helping in an increased understanding of the world. How will the Internet Of Things develop, and what can we do to maximize its benefit to humanity?

Tomorrow we will be presenting OpenSpime at TechGarage ‘08. TechGarage enables startups to meet with potential investors, in an energetic and interactive environment, where the exchange of ideas is encouraged. We are glad to have been chosen to be one of the presenters there.

Public debate through presentations of scientific information, and the data collected from distributed open sensor networks complements the policy making process. OpenSpime met Al Gore at the launch of Current TV in Italy, and we asked him about how the community of Current can help evolving, and accelerating the enactment of legislation that implements the desired changes concerning the Climate Crisis. – Watch this video on Current_

Do you want to experiment with spimes, have a first look at the preliminary OpenSpime architecture? Are you a hardware hacker, a maker, a mashup-wizard? Want to play with spimified Arduinos, SunSpots, iPhones, and more?

Than come to Bastard.it for the OpenSpime Drink-Link!
When: Wednesday, April 9, starting at 6.30 PM.
Where: Via Slapater 19, Milan, Italy

In a relaxed and friendly environment in design-crazed, fashion-full Milan, we will pass an evening together mashing up our ideas to see what comes out a few brains knocked together.

The event is open to all, but registration is required.