Oracle AppsLab

I’m drinking coffee in a Starbucks next door to an Applebee’s. Tough to tell that I’m in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The AppsLab reunion tour is here looking for new band members. Did you know that Oracle has a 450-person development center here in GDL? Me neither until I joined Applications UX a few months ago.

Mexico is a hotbed for talented software developers, and we’re here to find the next Rich (@rmanalan) before s/he hits it big and leaves the band over creative differences.

Yeah, I’m a little punchy, been a long week.

Anyway, some nuggets from my first trip to the land down under . . . Texas, Arizona, and small parts of New Mexico and California.

Internet is air

The right to internet access movement sounds noble to me, and as soon as I landed, I started to suffocate from lack of connectivity. So, now, I’m fully on board. Internets for everyone!

International data roaming is incredibly expensive, $10-15 per MB according to Anthony (@anthonyslai), so I left the States hoping to get by on wifi and by channeling me from 2007. You remember that guy who carried a RAZR, the pre-iPhone me?

I tried to find a Mexican SIM before I left the US. After all, I’ve been bragging about the international portability of an unlocked GSM/HSPA+ phone like the Nexus S GSM or the Nexus 4 that I currently carry.

Turns out this is easier said than done, at least before you leave home, and at least here, it’s not super easy even after you arrive.

The SIM adventure

All of us were carrying unlocked phones, and we quickly found out that SIM cards were scarce. Of course, we needed two sizes, regular and micro, making our search a bit more complicated. After trying three stores and kiosks, we finally were directed to a Telcel store inside a mall.

Rafa (@rafabelloni), one of the local Applications UX developers who had been guiding us on our quest for SIMs, made what I thought was an offhand comment about avoiding the Telcel store because it would take a while.

It wasn’t offhand. He was right.

The front of the Telcel store was very inviting, like any wireless store, with lots of phones displayed on glass and white surfaces. In the back was where you do the business though, and it looked just like a DMV office.

There was the obligatory maze for queuing people and about 40 counter stations, about three of which were staffed. We first explained what we needed via two interpreters, Noel and Rafa. We then received three SIMs and went to pay.

For the activation. In another line.

Once activated, we returned to the first station to have the SIMs installed, and then went to pay.

Again. For the service plan. In another line.

So, it took four stops to get us online, and even after that, we had issues. My phone and text services never worked. Noel had issues getting his plan working. Anthony ran out of data between the activation and plan steps. The SIMs came with a courtesy 150 MB, and I think his phone ate that up before we could pay for more data.

Or maybe something else. I don’t recall exactly because I was numb to the experience.

Luckily, we arrived at a calm moment, but it still took about an hour start to finish. Even so, Rafa was right. Thanks dude.

In the end, we got a nice deal for 1 GB of data for the week, even factoring in all the wait time. And wow, was it ever liberating to have data flowing to my phone again.

Pics, it happened.

The good news is that I now have a rechargeable SIM should I venture to Mexico, or at least to Guadalajara, again.

Random observations

I am very lucky to be traveling with a native Spanish speaker, i.e. Noel (@noelportugal). I’ve always meant to learn Spanish. I even bought Rosetta Stone years ago with that intention. Obviously, that never happened.

As soon as I finally got on wifi, Google fired off a suspicious activity email to my Gmail account, which was nice to see.

I’m horrible at metric conversions.

Google Now really shines when you’re traveling abroad, adding cards for currency conversation and translation to the other travel-specific cards, like flight details and tourist attractions. The workflow is still a bit wonky, i.e. pulling out the phone to convert prices and translate, but just wait for Google Glass to see these services really show utility.

Speaking of Google, two-step verification becomes a real chore when you’re using a different SIM. Why? The second step of the verification process sends a text to your phone, but if that SIM happens to be inactive, you’re stuck.

I had to burn an emergency wallet code at first, but then I realized that since my Portland number is tied to Google Voice, I could elect to receive a phone call with the code for the second step. Happily, that automated service repeated the code several times allowing voicemail to capture it. I could then listen to the voicemail via the Google Voice app.

Obviously, this only works because my phone didn’t force me to re-authenticate to Google when I swapped SIMs, which I suppose is an exploitable gap. An attacker could easily swap SIMs and pwn your phone and all its data, assuming the phone is unsecured or its unlock sequence is easily cracked.

I remember having a similar discussion with Matt (@topperge) years ago when he first started using Google’s two-step verification.

Larger point here: This is why no one uses good security practices, too damned hard.

And finally

The area around the Oracle office is very new and still under construction, including the structure next door, which is still a shell of steel. Whenever I got a little sleepy, I’d head out to the balcony on the ninth floor, which extends away from the building, to watch the construction workers do their jobs, largely untethered. Scary stuff and a great way to get the juices flowing.

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By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Google will shut down Google Reader in July.

This is extremely sad for me, since Reader is an essential tool that I use several times a day to keep up with hundreds of items. I’m not joking or exaggerating; I scan hundreds of items on a (mostly) daily basis. Reader makes this manageable, and I will miss it.

When I read the news on Reader, I took to Twitter to join the hand-wringing and fist-shaking movement. That’s a double irony, reading the news on Reader and using a service that has surely hastened its demise to complain about it.

I’m not surprised by the out-pouring of sentiment. Reader has been on life-support since its neutering in late 2011. Google has given plenty of notice that Google+ is its future for social activities, and the related-but-not news of Andy Rubin’s departure shows that Google continues to narrow its focus.

Anyway, if you’d like to petition Google to save Reader, there are several you can sign over on Change.org. This one has the most signatures.

It’s actually for the best that Reader will be killed, since it was dying a slow death anyway. I think we all knew this was coming. Think about this: how awesome would it be to see Google sell Reader to its users, like I proposed years ago for Flickr?

Win-win for everyone. I would pay to keep it as-is.

So, now what? I’ll be collecting replacement options over the next three months, and they’re pretty easy to find.

Hirish Mittal (@hrishio) actually made a list of alternatives, good on ya.

Some of the more interesting or funny to me options:

• Crowdfunded RSS.GD
• Digg, yes Digg, you read that right
• The Old Reader, h/t John (@jpiwowar) and J-P (@lawduck) for that one
• Feedly
• Flipboard, duh

There’s lots of coverage (e.g. here, here) natch because the sky is falling today. It’ll die down quickly though as we all move on to the next shiny object.

Lost in all the weeping for Reader was a possibly bigger deal, h/t to Bill (@btaroli):

CalDAV API will become available for whitelisted developers, and will be shut down for other developers on September 16, 2013. Most developers’ use cases are handled well by Google Calendar API, which we recommend using instead. If you’re a developer and the Calendar API won’t work for you, please fill out this form to tell us about your use case and request access to whitelisted-only CalDAV API.

It’s very murky, but this seems to be a Google-Microsoft tiff. Details are missing, but if Google doesn’t whitelist Apple or Mozilla, Google Calendar becomes orphaned because its users won’t be able to use their preferred clients.

Stay tuned for details.

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News seems to come in inverse proportion to my level of busy, e.g. SXSW is happening now. Noel (@noelportugal) is attending, so here’s to hoping he brings back some content.

Anyway, here are some stories that have caught my very limited attention lately.

Ultan (@ultan) has a nice overview of Endeca Information Discovery, including its origins. Spoiler alert, there’s beer. EID is one of those cool acquisition byproducts.

Another Applications UX post from Gozel over on VoX details the team’s upcoming trip to  OBUG Benelux Connect in Antwerp, Belgium. If you’re going, check out all the AUX activities and find time to participate.

Elsewhere:

Troy Hunt makes a compelling case for all web sites to disclose their password storage strategies, love the idea of public shaming the properties that don’t take your privacy seriously enough. Troy’s blog is a great read; he describes complex issues in easily readable ways, a difficult task.

Steelcase did some UX research and found new postures that we’ve adopted for our new devices, fascinating stuff. How many of those do you practice?

I’m a big fan of applying interdisciplinary skills to my work, and Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling are gold for anyone making anything for other people.

Speaking of interdisciplinary skills, this brief portrait of Ralph Baer, the father of video games, is strikingly inspiring and sad all at once.

Even before the SXSW Glass session, the possibilities of Google Glass started leaking out into the world. I, for one, am stoked for Glass.

Update: Forgot these concepts from JetBlue for Glass at the airport.

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I’m happy to welcome Noel (@noelportugal) and Anthony (@anthonyslai) back to the team.

This has been in the works for some time now, so it doesn’t really feel like news to me. Since I joined Applications User Experience back in November, I’ve been trying to assemble a crack team to follow emerging technologies and create rapid prototypes to investigate what users will be using in the not-so-distant future.

Sounds a lot like what this team was initially created to do back in 2007.

So, it made sense to put the band back together, or as much of it as possible. This particular iteration will have some new members, so stay tuned for that.

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A few months ago, I decided to change my personal policy on spam. For years, I just ignored spam, mostly because it was easier to delete messages than to follow the unsubscribe instructions on each of them.

Given the high profile hacks of the last 12-18 months and the nature of spam lists, i.e. lists of email addresses are sold without explicit consent in some cases, it’s difficult to know who has your email address, what they plan to do with it and how good their security is.

So, I started unsubscribing from spam as it arrived, and during this process, I’ve observed a wide range of options, which I’m ranking here for posterity. Unsubs are an odd use case because the motivation of the user is opposed to the motivation of the provider.

While legally, a bulk emailer must provide an unsubscribe function, it’s not in their best interests to do more than the absolute minimum. In fact, some of the implementations I’ve seen make it just confusing enough to persuade the user to stay, or at least, not leave before giving up more personal information.

Without further ado, here are the unsubscribe methods I’ve observed, from best to worst for discussion and humor purposes.

One-Click

Without a doubt, the one-click, instant unsubscribe link is the best. I’ve found that some links are described as instant in the spam message, but are not in practice. This one functions as advertised, click it and you’re magically removed from the list. There’s usually a confirmation message and sometimes a timeframe listed for the unsub to take effect.

One-Click and Confirm

Sometimes “instant” means clicking the unsub link drops you on a confirmation page, i.e. the page wants to make sure you want to unsubscribe from the list and you haven’t hit your head or fat-finger-clicked the link by mistake. Because the benefits of subscription are so good, it’s likely that you made a mistake.

It’s one extra step, not a huge deal, but a little more annoying, especially if they go overboard on the benefits of their spam.

One-Click, Confirm and Tell Us Why

Quite a few unsubs have an optional step at the end of the process, like the break-up that won’t end.  I keep hoping to see the “It’s not me, it’s you” option, but alas, not yet. This one is obviously marketing, and it’s a little sneaky. With unsub function completed, there’s no reason to stay on the site, but this question, usually in form of radio buttons, takes just enough cognitive effort to make you question yourself.

I find myself plowing through this process, hoping to get it done as quickly as possible, and I know I answered that question a few times without even thinking.

Links That Make Me Work

Beyond confirming, some unsubscribes claim to be generic and require you to enter the email address you want to remove because there’s no way they could know what email address you mean, even though those links carry when look like unique tokens in their URLs. Don’t make me do work to unsubscribe, and definitely don’t pretend like you don’t know who I am.

Even worse is the lazy unsub link that actually doesn’t carry any tokens or identification. It’s just a generic unsubscribe page; I’ve found those usually also have the sneaky break-up question too.

Hall of Fail

Now, for the best of the worst.

I suppose the worst should be spam with no unsubscribe offered at all, which is technically illegal, but good luck enforcing that. These emails come from bots that scour the interwebs looking for email addresses, or so I assume, since they never seem to be solicited in any way.

Slightly better, but still highly annoying, is the reply with “Leave Out” or “Unsubscribe” in the subject. Or put differently, please confirm this is a real person and optionally provide more context about yourself in your signature. There’s never any confirmation that these work, and they feel a lot like bait.

I love the unsubscribes that tell you how long you should expect the “process” to take. It’s usually listed in days, sometimes with the hilarious caveat of “business days.” If only technology could automate the removal of a data point from a data store.

And finally, the worst and funniest unsubscribe I’ve seen so far: optionally send a letter. I kid you not. This spam message had a perfectly good unsubscribe link in the footer, and they conveniently offered a snail mail option, complete with a PO Box.

That made my day. Then, I felt a little sad that people might actually try to use that option.

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One of the cool things about the last half decade is the influx of people and technology from acquisitions. You’ll recall that this team’s original incarnation included two PeopleSoft people, Paul (@ppedrazzi) and Rich (@rmanalan).

I’ve found over the years that one cool byproduct of acquisitions is hidden technology gems. You know, projects or products that you didn’t know a company was doing or ones that didn’t seem obvious, e.g. Sun SPOTs, Cloud Office, Endeca’s Information Discovery capabilities, or RightNow’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine, Intent Guide.

Maybe you knew, but I didn’t. And if so, kudos for being so well informed.

Anyway, these gems, hidden or otherwise, can help existing applications by injecting new technology into them.

NLP may not grab as many headlines as something like the latest iPhone, iPad or Google Glass, but it can and does help make devices and their software easier for users to use. Many of us have changed our approach to search to suit the tool, e.g. the number of keywords in the average Google search has been increasing for years as users adapt their searches to fit Google’s engine. If you’re like me, you translate your mental question into a keyword string that fits what you think Google will understand best.

These mental gymnastics are common for frequent information seekers like me, but not for the average user, which is where NLP can help. Its goal is to understand a conversational question and provide answers without forcing iterations. If you’ve used Android’s voice features, Siri or have ever crossed horns with an automated telephone system (“I think you said spay my pill. Is that right?”), you’re familiar with NLP and with its decidedly mixed results.

These experiences run the gamut for users, which is why I’m interested in NLP, both good and bad.

I first heard about RightNow’s Intent Guide in a project introduction right after I joined Applications User Experience. After mentally high-fiving myself, I made a note to remember that because a) good NLP is hard to find and b) Intent Guide has RESTful APIs, making it perfect for the type of work we like to do.

So recently, Misha (@mishavaughan) went on a trip to Amsterdam and met some nice people who came over in the RightNow acquisition. She, correctly, assumed that NLP would be nerd-candy for me and was kind enough to connect me with one of those people, Margaret Salome.

Intent Guide uses its NLP engine to help online customers seeking assistance get the most relevant answers possible, quickly. Makes sense, right, but easier said (pun!) than done. Intent Guide has to account for many languages and both long and short queries, some real sentence questions, others Google-style keyword phrases. Oh, and then, there are the inevitable typos too.

But wait, there’s more. There are also industry-specific terms to consider, e.g. cashing a check or drawing money have different meanings in context, and also customer-specific brand names that may overlap with language definitions.

All of this has to happen quickly to give the best experience. Users want answers, immediately. So, relevancy and speed are what they want.

I would go on, but there’s a whitepaper that describes all the inner workings and coolness. However, I’m having one those exact moments with the Google, and I can’t seem to find it.

Update: Turns out, the whitepaper I have isn’t publicly available, which explains why I couldn’t find it. Never fear, there are several whitepapers and data sheets over on the Intent Guide resources page that will give you all the specs and goodness you crave.

Anyway, turns out Intent Guide is used by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, so I had the opportunity to test it out live.

When you hit KLM’s home page, you’ll see a search field with an Ask button, which is where Intent Guide lives. The first question that came to mind was “what operating system does the in-flight entertainment system run?” suitably nerdy, and driven by a conversation Jeremy and I had last week, so top of mind.

Intent Guide results pop over the home page, and it did quite well interpreting my rather dumb question as a query about the in-flight entertainment. Nice. I then asked it a more germane question, “can I carry on a stroller?” which it perfectly identified in its results. It also adjusted for my colloquialism, matching “carriage” and “pram” to my Americanism, exactly like you want an NLP engine to do.

I played around a bit and discovered that KLM has Android and iOS apps; discovery is one of the things you want from NLP. I also tested its tolerance for typos, another must have. It performed well, e.g. “can haz android?” did return mobile-related results, until I tried too many typos, e.g. “do yo hav android” failed. Probably a good thing.

Anyway, after some light testing, I’m impressed and looking forward to finding a use for it in one of my percolating projects. NLP definitely helps bridge the gap between information and seeker, and when applied to datasets and user profiles that are relatively predictable, it can save a ton of time and frustration.

Imagine applying NLP to all the data in an enterprise. Then compare that to a trillion or so indexed web properties, or the Facebook status updates of a billion users. This is another one of those areas where enterprise users can benefit before consumer users.

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Interest is temporal, so I knew my case of the blahs about content would quickly resolve, and the Mobile World Congress has certainly helped.

So, here are some nuggets I found interesting on a Monday.

Mobile News from MWC

LG buys webOS from HP, or some of it anyway, for smart TVs and maybe phones, and an interesting turn of events for webOS, even if LG isn’t sure what to do with the OS.

Samsung is merging parts of Tizen and Bada. That sentence sounds completely made-up, and as a fun experiment, I plan to say it in casual conversation, just for giggles.

Lots of details of Firefox OS, its apps and carriers, and its first phone, the ZTE Open are emerging, good stuff.

Google Glass Review from Joshua Topolsky

This is by far the most detailed review I’ve seen of Google Glass, covering form-factor, operation, data connectivity and usage details. Definitely worth a read.

Ultan (@ultan) and I are alike in seeing a ton of enterprise use cases for Glass, and hey, if you’re wearing them for work, you have an excuse for looking like a cyborg.

That’s what I used back when I carried a pager. “Oh, I have to carry this for work.” Translation, I’m a nerd hiding in the open.

One thing is certain, wearable computing is happening, and it’s going to unleash a torrent of privacy and security concerns.

The Over-Quantified Self

By way of Flowing Data, this story in Wired about one man’s over-quantification of his work and the implications and reasons why he does it is an interesting read. I’d like to know more about the sensors he’s using, and there’s an mashing of services collecting and documenting his actions. Philosophically, it’s scary, but inevitable that information work will eventually be quantified and subjected to efficiencies, just like every other major industry.

Power Tools Retrofitted for the Amish

This is a fascinating story about how the Amish want power tools, not powered by electricity.

And Finally, Missed Connections by State

This map shows the most common location of Craigslist’s Missed Connections by state. On the plus side, it’s probably a map if you’re looking for love. Let’s leave it at that.Possibly Related Posts:

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Google has been in the news a lot this week, releasing the Chromebook Pixel and giving the World a sneak peak at Glass. Couple these with persistent rumors about Google retail stores, and you have an interesting trail of breadcrumbs leading into Google IO.

The Pixel is a head-scratcher. The Verge has one of the better reviews, especially with respect to the construction aspects, and if you factor in a retail angle, Google seems to be trying to establish itself as a premium brand, Glass, Pixel, Nexus devices, which adds to the caché of its ancillary services and growing selection of hardware.

The Pixel’s cost is very high, given what it does, but that might be enough to get consumers (and enterprises) in the door to buy something else. Glass is similar, at least in cost, and it’s definitely sexy enough to draw people into Google stores.

Techcrunch makes the point that the average consumer will absolutely want to test drive Google’s devices before buying. Even if they don’t buy, stores bring physical presence to Google, which is historically a virtual brand, something you use, but can’t really touch.

So, while the Pixel seems odd, it does feel like a halo play for Google’s online empire and for the Google brand, which will gain momentum when Glass releases. The Pixel may not move a lot of units, but it might get people to buy into the Chromebook philosophy and buy one of the lower cost models.

I read an interesting post about how Google is killing the Android brand. This makes sense from a branding perspective, differentiating Google’s Nexus devices from the right-wrong-indifferent view of Android as a low-cost alternative to the iFamily.

All this makes sense when taken as a whole, and I’m reminded of a debate Justin (@kestelyn) had about Google years ago. Google isn’t just an advertising and search company. They have much bigger aspirations, and I’m intrigued to watch how they evolve.

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I haven’t had much to say here recently, combination of work and general boredom with technology news.

However, my colleagues in Applications UX have been blogging.

Ultan (@ultan) talks about the Oracle Fusion Applications User Experience Design Patterns and Guidelines in his latest post, which includes knitted aliens, always a plus. These design patterns have been tested in the Applications UX labs and in the wild by real users with real tasks, and they are a great way to guide customers and partners who wish to tailor their Fusion experience or build new ones.

Misha (@mishavaughan) who serves as my AUX spirit guide, has a post charting several concepts on the road ahead for us, including simplification, voice, gamification, and tailoring and extending applications user experiences. Check out her summary of each and her thoughts about what’s next.

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Many years ago, Rich (@rmanalan) and I decided to try out Disqus for comments, and I’ve been using it here happily since then.

Disqus aims to aggregate comments across all blogs and web sites by a) providing an easy way for site owners to add the Disqus commenting plugin and b) allowing commenters to create a centralizing profile that can be used on any site that has added their plugin.

It’s a good idea for frequent commenters who participate in discussions on different properties, allowing them to consolidate their comments in a single place. I’ve used my Disqus identity on other sites over the years, and it’s been nice to avoid creating new identities for each site. Having a central profile lowers the bar for discussion, which is, for the most part, a good idea.

This may sound odd to some, but back in 2008, people actually read blogs and commented on posts before Facebook and Twitter consumed all that discussion.

I’ve been happy with Disqus, and their team has been great providing support on rare occasions when their service is having issues.

However, today, I’m turning off Disqus and going back to the standard comments. No worries, comments have been duplicated locally over the years, so I don’t think any have been lost. If any have fallen through the cracks, they’re probably so old, no one will notice.

Why?

In December, Disqus began adding links via their plugin, a feature called Promoted Discovery. These links were appearing above the comments in a section called Recommended Content, maybe you noticed. I didn’t, until I read this post.

To be fair, I believe they did notify me of this new feature, but I obviously ignored it. They also provide an option to turn off the feature.

As I said above, I’m happy with Disqus and understand the reasons why they are pushing new features. It’s a business. However, I can’t have any ads here, lest somehow they be construed as endorsement by me or my employer.

Mostly though, I’ve turned off the plugin because I’m a control freak by nature. I’ve learned from the demise and neutering of other services that it’s often better to own my own data, or at least pay someone to manage it.

FWIW, I’ll still keep my Disqus handle, so I can use it on the rare occasion that I decide to comment elsewhere.

Anyway, if you notice that comments are less functional then they were, this is why. I hope that doesn’t ruin your day.

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Having been at Oracle in Applications development for a really long time, I’ve heard about the Applications User Experience Usability Labs.

In the past, the labs have always been a blindspot for me and a bit of a mystery, but now that I’m a member of Apps UX team, I have the opportunity to see the labs in action. Last week, I got the chance to do just that and observe a session.

The experience was eye-opening and is one that I thought was worth sharing.

Bringing users into the design and development process early is critical to ensuring that what you’re building is actually something they want (or can) use. During my time in consulting, I had the opportunity to work side-by-side with users, tailoring their applications to do exactly what they wanted, even down to button position, tab order, field labeling, even color and font choice.

These sessions left a lasting impression on me and have helped guide my later work in development, especially with respect to feeling empathy for frustrated and happy users.

Bottom line, there’s nothing like watching the joy and pain your software causes users.

Anyway, getting back to the Usability Labs, the session I observed was virtual, although users can come into the lab and sit in a room to interact with the software being tested. The labs are very high-tech, with a staged area, designed to mimic a typical cubicle or office setup for the participant, and a control room, where the usability engineers guide the user through the test steps, observe, ask questions and log feedback.

The virtual session ran in much the same manner, using a web conference.

The whole process took just under two hours, with lots of time to talk to the user about impressions, feedback, suggestions, all the important information we need to know about what we’re building.

Although I haven’t participated in the design and development of the product tested, I had several ah-ha moments where the user went off course or was confused due to what I’m pretty sure were design decisions, very useful feedback to get before a product launches. Similarly, when the user was happy or satisfied with the product, I knew that would make product team happy.

Although I only went to one session, this particular product was being tested by several different users over a two-week period, and the aggregate feedback will definitely help the product team understand where their design works and where it could use some tweaks.

All-in-all, it was a very valuable way to spend a couple hours. Thanks to Luke and company for allowing me to eavesdrop.

So, if you’re an Oracle Applications user, I highly recommend signing up to participate in a lab. Apps UX runs sessions at user group conferences and at OpenWorld, plus you can get involved virtually.

Depending on the product, there is some vetting to ensure that you’re a good candidate, e.g. if you’re an accountant, you might not be a good test user for CRM. However in some cases, you don’t even have to use Oracle to participate.

If you’re interested, check out the UX Customer Participation Program for more details, or if you’re at a conference and see Apps UX people there, ask about how you can participate.

Find the comments.

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• Notes from Collaborate 13
• NWOUG 2012 Conference

I found out today that my old pal Noel (@noelportugal) started a blog, focused on Web of Things, erm things, called WOTLabs. One of his first posts is about the Nike+ Fuelband and how to use its API, whose documentation apparently isn’t complete just yet.

Semi-related, can we standardize on what to call internet-connected objects? IoT used to be just fine, but now I’m hearing M2M and WoT. Confusing.

Speaking of things, Chris Muir (@chriscmuir) penned a post about how he put ADF Essentials on his latest cool thing, the Raspi. Check out his full writeup for details.

One more thing, lots of them, specifically the barometers in many Android phones, which are now being harnessed to collect distributed data that can help scientists predict severe weather. An app called PressureNet is following the tried-and-true SETI@Home model to collect barometric data from people’s phones. I love this model.

And the last thing, a nostalgic history of the original hackers, phone phreaks, great stuff.Possibly Related Posts:

• The Enormous Potential of Interent of Things
• More Internet of Things
• Belkin’s WeMo Brings Your Devices Online
• Even More Internet of Things, SmartThings
• Auto-Tuning the Spoken Word