This document describes ambient computing and new types of internet-connected devices. It discusses how current devices demand too much attention and proposes ambient devices that are peripheral, seamless with the environment, and glanceable. Such devices push information to users through pre-attentive means like color and motion rather than requiring navigation. Examples discussed include the Orb device, swappable faces, and embedding information in common materials like glass. The document argues that ambient devices could quietly wait for users to attend to them and address issues like medication adherence through smart packaging and behavioral feedback loops. It outlines growth areas for ambient devices in homes, offices, and on one's person.

1. Designing Ambient
drose@media.mit.edu
@davidrose

2. the age-old fantasy: to know

3. PCs, PDAs, and smart phones will not be
the primary way most of us use the Internet

4. .com has given us portable content which people care about

7. Today’s interfaces demand a great deal of attention
push pull
Interruptive Complex
Intrusive Time-consuming
Rude Requires navigation
Often embarrassing Fraught with
maintenance
problems

8. Ambient: quietly waiting for YOU to attend
push ambient pull
Interruptive •Peripheral Complex
Intrusive •Seamless with environment Time-consuming
Rude •Glanceable Requires navigation
Often embarrassing •Pre-attentive Fraught with
maintenance
•Calm problems

9. How do we perceive?
Stage 1: Stage 2:
Early Processing Late Processing
• Rapid parallel • Slower serial processing
processing
• Emphasis on symbols
• Feature extraction
• Volitional
• Involuntary
• “Software”
• “Hardware”
“basketball”

10. Pre-Attentive Processing
• Independent of number of distracters
• Parallel processing
• < 250 ms acquisition time
• Other tasks don’t degrade
• Non-distracting

11. Pre-Attentive Examples

12. Pop Quiz: Which is pre-attentive?

13. Simple
Affordable
Elegant
Peripheral
Calm
Even Polite?

14. A new category of Internet object?
never breaks, never needs upgrades, never makes you feel stupid,
that you’re delighted to live with for decades?

16. Summarization is worth more because it requires less of your time
motion color angle pattern text
Ambiguous Specific
more summarized more detailed
FAST RICH

17. Knowing without thinking...
How simple can we make an
information awareness object?

18. Orb

19. Ubiquitous bit-trickling connectivity
Scalable. Currently serving over 200,000
devices. Scalable to over 10 billion devices.
Vast coverage. Data-casts currently cover
over 90% of US population. Largest
footprint of any wireless messaging
network.
Cost effective. Like a radio for Internet
data, so no mandatory subscription fees.
ambient

20. Ambient Information Channels
Finance Travel Outdoors Health Messaging News Enterprise Other Shopping
DOW Traffic Weather Air Quality Email Election Sales Web Traffic eBay
Forecast Waiting Polls Trends
FTSE Commute Ski Pollen IM Buddy Opinion Customer Online
Time Index Status Polls sat Transactions
NASDAQ Frequent Surf Mobile plan NewsFutures Inventory Homeland
Flyer Miles minutes Security
My Portfolio Sailing Next Profit
Meeting Margins
Bank Golf Employee Developer*
Balance Utilization
Credit Card Competition
Balance
ambient

21. The opportunity for Ambient Devices is 10x larger than handsets, because
people spread multiple devices around their living environments.
Investment trends Co-worker availability
Weather forecasts Sales trends
Family budget monitor Online marketing effectiveness
Health tracker Balanced scorecard
Media minder Security status
Home Office
Car Person
Traffic congestion Golfing/Sailing conditions
Family whereabouts Buddy status
In-touch social reminders Meeting countdown
Sports betting odds

22. Ambient datacasting system
Online content
Web Personalization
eBook
Umbrella
Bulb
Meter
Mirror
8000 towers Post-it
90% of US
GPS
Watch
Pillbox
Fridge
ambient

24. New York Times Magazine, December 2002
November,
2002

27. All devices are configured via web or (800) number
27

28. Fishing

29. Fishing

30. Fishing

31. Fishing

32. Fishing

33. Fishing

34. Developer* Open platforms have delightful serendipity,
people currently use Ambient Devices to track:
Call center metrics: customer satisfaction, wait time
Salesforce.com sales performance
Real-time energy pricing for Southern California Edison
Build status for at Microsoft’s development center
Google Adword conversion rates
Visitors to my companies web site
Firewall status
My Book’s position on Amazon’s best seller list
Hot or Not rating
Betting odds for the next Yankee’s game
Friends online now
ebay bids
Blood sugar trends for diabetics
Steps walked for weight watchers
34

35. ambient

36. ambient

37. After color -> angle

38. Temperature Forecast

39. How to not to be mistaken as a clock?

41. Single purpose, like the Orb, but infinitely configurable.
What about Swappable faces?

42. How do we make it generic, like the Orb. Infinitely configurable?

43. But, co-axial doesn’t support three different types
of data with different scales…

44. Ambient Dashboard
ambient

45. Smart-swappable faces. Insertioninstantly reprogram the device.
s
ambient

46. What’s a common material, in which we could embed information?
Glass

47. Weather Forecaster
47

48. LG Refrigerator
In BestBuy HomeDepot & Sears stores now.
ambient

49. Weather Wizard
ambient

50. Weather Wizard
50

51. Defining Ambient: a new consumer electronics category
Design Characteristics Technology characteristics
Pre-attentive Tiny computational footprint
Glance-able, no cognitive load little local processing or power
required. requirements
Calm Browser-less interface
Non-intrusive, seamless with requires no navigation, zero-training, or
environment. Evergreen. Friendly. lag-to-information.
Universal Persistent connection
No language, characters or numbers. information is continuously updated.
Bit-trickled.
Open
Able to represent multiple types of Decision-driven data
data, coded, private.
sophisticated algorithms on the server-
side personalize and summarize data
feeds.

52. 52

53. 53

54. Behavioral feedback loops
address some billion dollar problems:
Glanceable portfolio makes you trade 3x more
Glanceable traffic makes you spend less time
stuck in traffic jams
Glanceable steps makes you walk 2x more
Glanceable energy pricing makes you conserve
30% more
Glanceable nextbus predictions makes you
trust public transport and ride the bus 20%
more
Glanceable bloodsugar levels makes you test
yourself more often and better control your
diabetes

55. Precise information, in precisely the wrong location

56. Exposing customers to energy prices
flattens the demand curve.
SCE Implementation: Off-Peak -------------------------
----------------- Event Planned / Active
C A IS O D a t a
This saves a utility from
buying energy on the spot
market, laying new lines
and building new plants
56

57. Joule

58. Energy Joule
6 mo trial begins in May in 1000 NY Apartments
Consumer Powerline manages 400k customers

60. Bus Pole
ambient

62. Ambient Umbrella

65. Google Clock
ambientclock.com

66. ambient

67. Growth areas for Ambient: People spread multiple devices around their
living environments.
Home Office
Car Person

71. Sailing Zone
ambient

73. People spread Ambient devices around their living environments.

74. People spread Ambient devices around their living environments.

77. Our approach is to daily behavior with packaging

78. 3.5 Billion

79. Dramatically improving medication
z
adherence through smart packaging,
reminders, reports, and rewards.

81. VITALITY Non confidential
confidential

82. Vitality addresses each of the root causes of non-adherence
VITALITY

83. Patterns of adherence
Took Missed
May June
A
B
C
Call and missed
Call and took
Persistence
Issue

84. This is what poor-adherence looks like...
Each row is person, each column is a day. Red indicates a missed dose.
Control group=71% of doses taken

85. This is what adherence looks like with GlowCaps
Over 95% of doses taken over 6 months

86. 1) Pharmacist deliver medication in a GlowCap
“The smart pill cap will help you to remember with
light, sound, and if you want, a reminder call.”

87. Each GlowCap has a unique IP address and barcode

88. 2) At home, you plug in the reminder light.

89. 3) Every day, the GlowCap and reminder light
flash for an hour, then play a ring tone every few
minutes until you open the GlowCap.

90. 3) Every day, the GlowCap and reminder light
flash for an hour, then play a ring tone every few
minutes until you open the GlowCap.

91. Simple
No PC, Wifi or broadband required

92. 4) If the cap is still not opened, Vitality places an
automated call to ask “WHY?”

93. VITALITY Wellness offerings
Cellular Hub
GlowCap 2.0 Vitality Card Vitality Watch
Mood +
Meds Activity Food Sleep
Stress

94. Vitality Watch • Stress is measured via galvanic skin response and pulse rate variability
(shining a light into the arm under the wrist to get pulse rate)
• Activity is measured via accelerometers
• Sleep quality is also calculated
• Schedule is presented on the face of the watch

95. Vitality Card
• Tracks steps and uploads wireless to the Vitality hub
• Local display shows progress with an e-ink fillbar
• Couples activity with financial incentives