INTRODUCTION

CONNECTIVITY IS AN EMERGENT TOPIC in home automation. Your tablet should be discovered automatically by your home entertainment system, offering you full control of the film you want to see or the music you want to play. Your refrigerator should be smart enough to keep track of all the groceries in your home and even tell your smartphone what to buy when you arrive at the supermarket. Your car should connect to your cell phone automatically as you turn the ignition on, enabling it to access your music library and all of your contacts — as well as reject incoming phone calls with a pleasant voice, kindly informing whoever is calling that you’re currently driving and shouldn’t be disturbed.

The idea of a connected life where anything digital sends and receives data from the Internet, and not just your TV or fridge, is something we’re both working with on a daily basis as researchers and teachers at Malmö University’s School of Arts and Design, Sweden. This research field and new computing paradigm is known as the Internet of Things. It centers its efforts on analyzing the implications of connecting our everyday life to the network through a multitude of devices.

We spend our days bringing to life visions of the future. This book is about some hands-on techniques that will help you realize your own ideas. We would love to see you get your hands dirty experimenting with hardware and software, which is why we want to give you that little extra nudge into the Maker movement. ...

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