Glass That Glows and Gives Stock Information is the title of this story from NYTimes which is about Ambient Devices, [which] is producing devices that display limited information in ways that can be understood with just a glance.
Ambient started with a $299 color-shifting glass orb sold primarily through Hammacher Schlemmer and Web sites like ThinkGeek. The direction of the stock market deep red when the Dow Jones Industrial Average is headed down, shading to bright green when it is surging has been the most common subject of interest for the 800 or so early purchasers, Mr. David Rose said.
The orbs are plugged into the wall and are meant to be left on like clocks. They receive their data wirelessly through radio signals sent over pager networks. The orbs can represent any type of information available on the Internet, but such content is translated and compressed by Ambient’s main server into a proprietary code so that only brief snippets of data are needed to control the orb’s color.
Ambient offers a few data streams like stock indexes and weather reports free with the device. But it charges a subscription fee, generally $7 a month, for more specialized data, like tracking a particular stock.
Stories like this are a tribute – and challenge – to one’s imagination!
