Scott Jenson

The internet of things isn’t about simplistic automation but a profound reinvention of products and how we will use them. We won’t see a one hit wonder but a coevolution of products that respond to this new way to communicate and control devices.

The current approach to Home Automation is far too simplistic. As a UX designer, I know how random and down right goofy people can be. Simple rule-based “if this then that” approaches are doomed to fail. We need to give the control system to our homes the attention it deserves.

Deconstructing IoT Part 2. Too many journalists were discussing science fiction scenarios about swarms of devices without realizing that there are much simpler, and viable alternatives. This post moves proposes a simple 2×2 grid, allowing us to discuss products in a more precise way.

The web has been on it’s back footing for too long, aspiring to catch up to the legacy of the iPhone native app model. There are several things the mobile web can do to encourage a new type of interaction. While still experimental, the W3C can at least open the gates and encourage new interaction styles in an open and collaborative manner.

I was invited to the 2013 fooCamp this past weekend. It was actually my second fooCamp, having gone in 2007 as well. It is an amazing, exhilarating weekend where 250 ‘Friends of O’Reilly’ come together to have an unConference. They now do Ignite talks, where you have 5 minutes to run through 20 slides that […]

The goal of this post is to convince you that the much maligned SmartToaster actually is a bold new vision of the future. If I can unpack what it means to be smart, so that even a lowly toaster starts to make sense, we’ll be thinking about the IoT in a much broader context.

The building hype… The hype surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT) is building. People are getting excited, almost too excited really, about its potential. We’re oscillating between smart lightbulbs and smart dog collars, not really clear what this all means, yet we’re convinced that something transformative is coming. The Gartner hype cycle charts the rise […]

I’ve written previously that the history of mobile has been a long, painful process of copying desktop computers and then sheepishly realizing that it just doesn’t quite work right. This is actually the way of all progress, not just in technology. Art and music follow a similar pattern of copy, extend, and finally, discovery of a new form. […]

Some innovations transcend short term competitive advantage Since capitalism and design are, for the most part, governed by market forces, there’s symmetry between them. Capitalism tends to be most effective at its lowest levels, meeting demand through efficient supply. Companies that do that well succeed and those that don’t fail. The same is true for […]

Small, cheap devices will disrupt our old-school UX assumptions. Recently, Verizon and T-Mobile announced they would be shipping $50 Android phones quite soon. Technology pros know about Moore’s Law but often forget a critical aspect: it’s not just about increasing power, it’s also about decreasing cost.