Everyone has their fantasies and dreams of what "ubiquitous computing", or "ubicomp" for short, would be. Adam Greenfield shares his thoughts and observations in Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing.
Contents: What is everyware?; How is everyware different from what we're used to?; What's driving the emergence of everyware?; What are the issues we need to be aware of?; Who gets to determine the shape of everyware?; When do we need to begin preparing for everyware?; How might we safeguard our prerogatives in an everyware world?; Conclusion; Index
The book is made up of 81 short "thesis", or general thoughts/musings by Greenfield on the subject of ubicomp, also referred to as "everyware". This isn't a technical "how to" book on connecting the different parts of a wireless network together. Rather, he delves into the social, ethical, and logistical issues (among others) about what it would be like to live in an always-connected, pervasive computing world. For example, what are the privacy issues surrounding a house that is designed to monitor an elderly person for health issues? Do you (or should you) have the ability to decide who gets notified in case of an emergency, or is that out of your hands? Can you opt out of the monitoring? And if something doesn't work, where is the point of failure? Hardware? Software? Interaction between the two? If you're in the mood to be contemplative and think about issues, the book will spur some interesting twists for you. The only problem I had with the book is that Greenfield has you reaching for your dictionary every couple of pages to look up some new word that you've never heard of before. The concepts and issues are great, but it was almost as if he wanted to make the book as intellectual as possible, and it seemed to change the focus from the ideas to the author's skill in writing and turning a phrase. On the other hand, you'll learn a lot of new words... :)
Good material, and worth reading. Just don't approach it from a "how to" angle, and you'll enjoy it a lot more...