This document discusses software above the level of a single device and how mobile apps and sensors are examples of this. It provides definitions of key concepts like cloud integration and how mobile apps like Google utilize the cloud. Specific examples are given around how sensors like the accelerometer and microphone in mobile phones can be used for inputs in apps and how games rely on cloud servers for multiplayer functionality and data sharing between users.

1. Software above the level of a single
device
A Pechu Kucha presentation
By Danica Brassington, Alicia Harding and Francesca Sadio

2. Definition by O’Reilly himself...
• Every web application is software above the level
of a single device.
• Applications use a client on a local computer and
one or more server computers.
• In the case of applications like Google, the server
end may consist of hundreds of machines, and, of
course, the data held on those servers is
gathered from literally hundreds of millions of
other computers. So clearly, this is software
above the level of a single device.

3. Google mobile app’s
• Mobile phones are first class devices.
• Google mobile app for I-phone introduces
speech recognition.
• There are two key elements;
1.Sensors-based interfaces
2.Cloud integration

4. Sensor-based interfaces
• I-phones touch screen
• I-phones accelerometer
• Google uses the accelerometer as a key
component
• The accelerometer has been used in games
like the “I pint” and “tilt”.

5. Accelerometer
Mobile phones are
coming out with
accelerometers built in
which is basically a
device built into the
phone that “tells” the
phone which way it is
being held up, down,
left, right, moving etc.

6. I-PINT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcffEsVGK0E

7. The I phone has an array of sensors, these include:
• Microphone
• Camera
• Touch screen
• Accelerometer
• Location sensor (GPS)
However Google have gone further than the
accelerometer by using the I-Phones main
sensor… the Microphone.

8. E.G. The microphone has
voice recognition therefore
allowing it to unlock and
access your private data.
Future applications will
surprise us by using the
sensors in new and
innovative ways and
combinations.

9. Tim O’Reilly wonders if…
• “A phone could recognize the gesture of
raising the camera up and holding it
steady to launch the camera
application?”
OR
• “Could we talk to the phone to
adjust camera settings?”

10. Definition of cloud integration ( The
2nd
element)
• Cloud integration is where consumer and
business products, services, and solutions that
are delivered and consumed in real-time over
the internet.
OR
• Instant access to data currently locked away in
systems.

11. Cloud intergration
• Cloud integration is instant access to data
locked away in other systems.
• For example speech recognition does not
currently happen on our phones yet, it
happens on Google servers.
• Google has a large speech database that
makes the speech recognition work so well as
it would be hard to pack it all into a local
device.

12. • I Tunes works in such a way that it is always
connected to the I-tunes database but its
seamless design means that you may not even
notice it.
• To achieve this your computer will always
need to be connected to an I-tunes server,
you are relying on many different computers
in order to receive the data which Apple
provides through the I- tunes store.

13. Gaming
• Some games require Internet authentication to
access the online elements of the game – you have
to rely on the Internet and the servers in order to
run the game.
• Also to play games online you are relying on
multiple computers in order to play the game – if
no one else were playing at the same time as you,
you would have no one to play with.

14. • With traditional games it doesn’t matter if
you’re the only person who owns the game as
you are able to play against the computer AI.

15. Online Sharing on games
• With Spore for
example you can share
creatures which you
have created and
share them with
people through the
internet.
• You connect
seamlessly to the
internet to access
these features and are
able to share your
creations to different
users from around the
world.

16. In Conclusion…
• Software above the level of a single device is
one of the areas of web 2.0 where the
greatest changes and technical advances will
occur as more and more devices are
connected to new platforms.
Thanks for watching