Re-thinking the mobile phone

Everyday Tangible Action

- Walking, we all do it and sometimes we get lost or are in unfamiliar places.

- Concept:- Shoes that can direct you in the right direction or

to your friends or social hot spots.- Create the sense of instinct through the ambient

feedback on the shoes.- Can send directions to shoes and can log proximity

to friends.

But why don’t you just use a mobile?

• Sometimes you can be a target when you have a phone out, running GPS and maps.

• When busy with looking straight at a mobile screen you can miss a lot in your surroundings.

• Have the feeling you are never lost, that instinct is guiding you. With a mobile there is an emotional disconnect.

Social Aspect

• Meetup with friends who you didn’t know were close by.

• Be able to know if there is something interesting close by.

• Can send beacons or meeting points co ords.

• No more, “I don’t know where that is” excuses.

Other Benefits

• Be guided around while our mobile is still in your pocket.

• Everyone wears shoes when walking so concept is easy to implement.

• Can be used to aid visually impaired (depending on hardware).

How?

• Google maps on mobile has latitude - does location based tracking of friends

• Send data and signals to Arduino(?)

• Embed LEDs (for prototyping) as an output.