Here's What I Learned Today

Wondering around the New Island Festival, on governors Island, NY, this weekend, I stumbled upon the “Boom-Bench”. It’s a bench equipped with speakers that allows you to play music via Bluetooth enabled devices (e.g. cellphones with music players). I love the interactivity of this idea: stroll up with your device and… instant party. Reminds me of Ben Cerveny’s (@neb) comments about the future of urban spaces at this years’ #SXSW interactive. Ben’s point was that technology will increasingly allow cities to provide opportunities for spontaneous interactivity with the urban environment in the future. The boom-bench may not be appropriate for every bus stop (oh the noise!), but it’s a cool experiment in interactive urban environments.