Building an Open ‘Internet of Things’
20:13 minutes
Lights that talk to window blinds. Sprinklers that check the weather. The ‘Internet of Things’ promises to revolutionize our daily lives, but only, MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld argues, if our appliances are connected to each other via an open framework like the rest of the Internet—not hindered by proprietary systems. Scott Jenson, an interaction designer at Google, adds that building smart technology that understands the whims of its unpredictable human owners is a harder challenge than it appears.
Segment Guests
Neil Gershenfeld
Neil Gershenfeld is director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Scott Jenson
Scott Jenson is an interaction designer on Google’s product strategy team in Palo Alto, California.
Related Links
Meet the Producer
About Christopher Intagliata
@cintagliataChristopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.