Interactive Environment

We were talking about the car brand Lexus the other day, and how Lexuses (Lexi?) have a large touch screen in the front of the car, which can automatically connect to your phone through bluetooth, and allow calls to be dialed and taken with the car's speaker (and microphone, I assume) system. Lexi also have keys which work by proximity, so you don't actually turn the key to start the engine, or press any buttons to unlock the door.

What interested me the most was how the car reacts to your presence, whether it's the door unlocking, or being able to pick up contacts and numbers from your phone. It is integrating you into the environment, and allowing you to interact with it in more natural ways.

I was taken by the idea that the environment is static, but waits for data (stored in the phone) to come to it. One thing it reminded me of was the whole software as a service idea. The concept here is similar, that the car waits for input before doing anything. It also reminded me of one of my professor's ideas, where at a party a computer would choose music so some people like it and some people don't, driving the activity more than choosing music randomly. This would work for art galleries, gatherings, or any other social event as well where the different interests of people could be exploited.