It’s easy to do environmental sensing at ground level. But how about up in the air over our heads? If we could somehow reach it inexpensively and safely, can we directly explore what lies above, perhaps making our own discoveries? One of my projects for Dinacon 2019 will create a party-balloon platform for inexpensive aerial environmental sensing. Everyday balloons offer a …

Balloon Environmental Sensing Read more »

For the latest Digi Hackathon, I headed overseas to hold our first ever creative construction event at Digi’s office in Logroño, Spain. Using XBee WiFi Cloud Kits, the four teams hacked away for what was the most competitive session yet. In a matter of hours, each team had to quickly brainstorm, build, and present their cloud-connected projects. Their results were terrific. Projects …

Digi Employee Hackathon: XBee Wi-Fi Visits Logroño Read more »

Last week, we held a Digi Employee Hackathon to put the new XBee Wi-Fi Cloud Kit to the test. This is one of several ways we are working on designing outstanding user experiences for new Digi products. With the kits, the teams were able to build projects that connected with the cloud right away. One team member reported, “I got from the box …

Digi Employee Hackathon: XBee Wi-Fi Cloud Kit Read more »

Our brand new XBee Examples project site just went live! Check out  the first tutorials that Matt Richardson and I’ve published on Digi’s instructional library site: examples.digi.com. Right now I’ve got a big pile of different sensors, lights, motors, scent emitters and more on my desk. We’re going to demonstrate XBee hookups for ’em all, then show how they can be linked to one another, …

New XBee Examples Site Read more »

Here’s a rundown of the final projects from my Fundamentals of Physical Computing class at the MFA in Interaction Design at SVA this spring. Keep an eye on these students for more masterful interactive works! Curious Rotary, by Joonseo Bae & Myn Kang: A Pig, a Bird and a Mailbox by Min Seung Song, ShanShan Gao, Nikki Sylianteng & Minnie Choi: Soundscapes by Sana Rao, Prachi Pundeer, Guri …

MFA Interaction Design Final Projects at SVA Read more »

There’s a terrific new article (login required) in New Scientist featuring my friend and colleague Ted Hays. Back in 2009, Ted created an Internet-enabled bubble gun in the Networked Objects class I taught at ITP. His Bubble Gun announces incoming email with a stream of soapy spheres. It’s a whimsical demonstration of how simple devices can join the Internet, transforming data from …

New Scientist: Amateurs Create Internet of Things Read more »

My Sensitive Buildings class was covered in the latest issue of MAKE Magazine in a short piece by Michael Colombo. He writes: At NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, students in Rob Faludi’s “Sensitive Buildings” course were given access to a 28-story apartment building in Manhattan. Using XBee radio modules, students created a variety of projects utilizing both the building’s existing systems and a …

Sensitive Buildings in MAKE Magazine Read more »