Siftables

Siftables are "...cookie-sized computers with motion sensing, neighbor detection, graphical display, and wireless communication. They act in concert to form a single interface: users physically manipulate them - piling, grouping, sorting - to interact with digital information and media." They "...enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives."

These toy/computers, developed by David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi of the MIT Media Lab, seem like so much fun - just watching people play in this TED talk is almost enough. Since I first saw the TED demonstration, I haven't been able to stop myself from thinking about the depth of this innovation, the games, the fun, the creativity, the learning these little compu-cookies could unleash.

So far, this is my third wave of insight into the computer-enhanced future of fun. The first was when I read Howard Rheingold musing on the interpenetration of technology with the social/physical world in Smart Mobs. The second when I started hearing about Pervasive Games on sites like Ludocity and IPerG, in events like the Hide and Seek Festival and Pac Manhattan and from visionary friends like Celia Pearce.

And now, Siftables.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith