Totem: Find other… totems
A compass for local stuff.
It’s always interesting too keep an eye on new hardware developments that emulate something you might otherwise do on the smartphone platform. Anyone remember Sifteo Cubes? I always thought the great innovation with Sifteo cubes was the fact that they had proximity awareness as well as orientation and shake abilities. But alas, they were not to be, acquired by 3D robotics and shuttered in 2014.
However, this new device called a totem works without a wifi network or bluetooth—that’s creative. Watch it in action.
Now, I know this guy looks like your local cult leader at Burning Man, but before you judge, think about other uses for this device. Totem Labs seem pretty focused on Coachella, but there are other applications. There are child-care applications. Think family at Disneyland. There are purse and luggage applications. The fact that these totems establish their own 1000m range mesh network and don’t report to a mothership is what makes them really interesting.
In particular, I find this device heartening because I am working a little work of fiction called “Brother Dustfish” and in my book there are devices called “Texo compasses” that allow you tow find anything or anyone anywhere on a planet. Now, these totems aren’t that yet, but when quantum teleportation finally fits in your pocket, we’ll finally have the ultimate physical location tags.