When your yogurt pots start talking to you: Europe prepares for the internet revolution

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/952

cheap meat dreams and acorns: Sun Suckers at Vague Terrain

cheap meat dreams and acorns: Sun Suckers at Vague Terrain

nfc chip application

TEI dates 2010

Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction 2010

TEI'10 is the fourth international conference dedicated to presenting
the latest results in tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction.

Papers submissions due: 3 August 2009
Studios submissions due: 3 August 2009
Explorations submissions due: 2 October 2009
GSC submissions due: 2 October 2009

is that D-I-Y overuse(d)

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/diy-hci-%E2%80%94-a-
showcase-of-methods-communities-and-values-for-reuse-and-
customization/6612273

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/thelongweekend2009/thelongweekend2009.htm

http://openmaterials.org/

RF TO NFC

http://ercim-news.ercim.org/content/view/492/705/

http://code.google.com/p/nfcip-java/

http://www.primianotucci.com/default.php?view=112

http://www.diganttechnologies.com/nfc_1.pdf

http://www.diganttechnologies.com/

http://www.libnfc.org/hardware/pn53x-chip

MIFARE Classic vulnerabilities

One of the protection elements of the MIFARE Classic card has been
the confidentiality of its cryptographic algorithm.

If the algorithm were to be known, it can be exploited in an attack
with the respective expertise. Researchers of the Radboud University
have used knowledge of the algorithm to develop attacks to retrieve
the keys and the data that is stored on the MIFARE Classic card. As
attack software is now publicly accessible on the internet, we expect
that attack equipment will become available soon in order to
facilitate a variety of attacks on MIFARE Classic infrastructures.

These attacks would allow that:

* Through overhearing successful communications between the
reader of an existing infrastructure and a valid card, the data and/
or the keys involved in that transaction could be read
* While overhearing failed communications between the reader of
an existing infrastructure and any card, the key used by the reader
during that transaction could be retrieved
* These attacks could be carried out in minutes or less and with
means involving a laptop and equipment which can be built with
limited material cost (100 Euros)
* Card only attacks are possible in lab environments and at
considerable precalculation time. This is expected to further evolve
into an attack that does not need lab conditions and may require less
precalculation time.*
* One particular card only attack can, with a certain
prerequisite on knowledge about the card, retrieve all keys and data
from the card in about a second per key using a laptop and limited
value equipment. Interaction with the card can be limited to two
times less than a second: first to get material for key recovery and
then once the keys are retrieved an interaction to retrieve the data.*

Although a residual risk remains, there are techniques and
countermeasures to detect cards and data which have been tampered
with, some of which are described in the confidential application
notes published by NXP. We are happy to provide such application
notes to the interested parties (such as system integrators and
service operators) under a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

* (The recent vulnerabilities are courtesy to Radboud University
Nijmegen, who have given early warning to NXP in order to allow
timely communication such that system integrators can take measures).

Web 2.oh badges

http://www.web20badges.com/

http://www.ajaxlessons.com/2006/02/16/web-20-badge-tutorial/

http://designmeltdown.com/chapters/Badges/Part3.aspx

SPIMES OPEN UP

htttp://www.openspime.com

http://developer.openspime.com/
http://www.widetag.com/

According to the restricted definition adopted by OpenSpime, an object is a spime if it has:

• a GPS unit, or other location-aware technologies to know where it is, and when it is
• communcation capabilities with the Internet, directly, or through gateways
• memory for storing its data until it can communicate
• a sensor, to measure a value about the world around it.

Social Hardware

We eagerly participate in online activities, investing our time, and resources to enrich the knowledge that the Internet holds on us. Isn't it time that we started to use the machines to better serve us, instead of the other way around? With the development of ubiquitous sensor networks it won't be necessary anymore that humans serve as eyes, and ears of machines.

These networks will start to collect information about the world in an autonomous fashion, and develop a more active role in the online conversations. Machine to machine communications will be at the basis of these conversations, with the network nodes becoming part of what we call the new social hardware!

THE WEB 2.0 EXIT STRATEGY BADGES

First published on September 28, 2006.
In about a month and a half, there will be in San Francisco the third conference dedicated to Web 2.0 – a favorable location for a discussion about the existence (or not) of a "Bubble 2.0".
With the definitive affirmation of blogs, podcasts, wikis, video and photo sharing, social bookmarking and all the other instruments that value the single user as an 'active' part of the web, the continual creation-sharing-reuse of contents ride with an rhythm high as the growth of the number of services that support it. As in 'new economy' era, infact, every weeks born tens of startups (more of 300 in the last two years, as Go Web 2.0 and Categoriz confirm) ready to call for the attention of users about a service, and magazine cover's successes e billionaires acquisitions had the power to expand the capacity of this boom: this time, further, hardware and software costs are decidedly lower, and the offered service is something of 'tangible'.
The success of a new service, if really demonstrated itself different from all the others, however could decree the end: where there's a lack of Venture Capitals and/or the ads are to cover the band costs, naturally proportional to the traffic, the only reason of survival remains the sell to a big company. A favorable choice from the beginning, and it's for this reason that many startup born only to be acquired, creating sometimes a software compatible with other ones of a big group already existent.
Massimo Moruzzi from DTCM, in a post published some weeks ago, said:

It's a bubble, and there isn't other exit strategy that sell to Google or Yahoo! - or to Murdoch, or to many others, saying the truth - and if Google or Yahoo! decide to make it in their home, you're scrubbed. To Writely folks, for some strange reasons went well, but the spreadsheet, instead, has been done in Mountain View. And the calendar, too. And Kiko has been forced to sell itself on eBay.

With an exit-strategy of this kind, anyhow, the problem remains to emerge from the competition sea making public, before the others, this specific goal.

It's at this point that a fundamental pawn of a web startup, the graphic designer, could give his crucial contribute for the salvation.

As we know by now, Web 2.0 web application's interfaces have their peculiar style defined by reflections, fades, drop-shadows, strong colors, rounded corners and star badges, these standing out in the header of every homepage.
Badges are the key element of this kind of design, being the first to flash user eyes, and so extremely important for the right communication of a message with fundamental importance.
Below you'll find some example badges, arranged in four incremental levels, each one related to a different business model.

Level 1

Jim Wood

Mphil/Phd Design

jim.wood@gold.ac.uk