k wrote:
] ] The Ambient Office Dashboard is one of those desktop
] ] gadgets you didn't know you needed.
]
] I really like this. Its three analog dials that are controlled
] by the pager network. I hope they release an SDK.
]
] [ Meh.

The idea of these devices is to be able to present information from computers in a way that gets burried into my environment in an artful way. Its a ubiquitos computing concept. You get home and you can tell by the color of the little globe in the corner whether or not you have new email. It can serve two purposes. The first is to reduce the amount of effort required to get at a particular peice of information. This can make you more efficient. If you are waiting for an email to come in you don't have to keep checking your laptop. The second is to force you to become aware of something you usually ignore, like your stock portfolio, by putting it into your environment in a way you cannot ignore.

Decius wrote:
] The idea of these devices is to be able to present information
] from computers in a way that gets burried into my environment
] in an artful way. Its a ubiquitos computing concept. You get
] home and you can tell by the color of the little globe in the
] corner whether or not you have new email. It can serve two
] purposes. The first is to reduce the amount of effort required
] to get at a particular peice of information. This can make you
] more efficient. If you are waiting for an email to come in you
] don't have to keep checking your laptop. The second is to
] force you to become aware of something you usually ignore,
] like your stock portfolio, by putting it into your environment
] in a way you cannot ignore.

[ I understand all that, but am just not all that compelled by it. As an artistic argument, I'm down with it, but as a device with much needed functionality, I'm just not seeing it. I'm never "waiting for an email" in a general sense... I am, *maybe*, waiting for a specific email. If the interface is rich enough to handle that, I guess I see it, but my inbox is essentially always marked unread because of spam, so the toggle becomes meaningless. Also, if the interface is that rich, then I have to spend time configuring it, which eliminates a lot of the point. I feel like most other potential uses for this thing also fall into that category.

I like gadgets and widgets and blinkenlites as much as the next guy -- i used to just sit and stare at the VU meter on my dad's stereo when i was young. I have a fair bit of interest in unique ways to represent data (primarily rich visualizations of audio) and when those guys developed the network Auralization project, I thought that was innovative and potentially useful. I guess mostly I'm just thinking this device falls into a dark niche between art/shiny object and useful product. I suppose, for the sake of the developers, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not lining up for one. -k]

k wrote:

] My inbox is essentially always marked unread because of spam

No reason you couldn't whitelist the light.

But I understand your point. I'm not lining up for one either. I think they are neat, but I don't have an application for which I require one...