For the first time in history the World’s urban population has outnumbered its rural counterpart. Cities have become the predominant habitat of humanity. The requirements of rapidly growing cities, coupled with the contemporary technological possibilities bring about new urban reality that is data. amberConference takes up the relationship between city and data as its theme: "New technologies play an ever-increasing role in the social life and administration of cities in various forms and functions. Read more

From Zach Shelby's  blog: "The 6LoWPAN WG is finishing its main objectives of finishing the new Header Compression and Neighbor Discovery optimizations. We expect both drafts to start the proposed standard process soon.  This document specifies an IPv6 header compression format for IPv6 packet delivery in 6LoWPAN networks. The compression format relies on shared context to allow compression of arbitrary prefixes. How the information is maintained in that shared context is out of scope."

Measuring Behavior "is a conference centered around methods and techniques in behavioral research. While most conferences focus on a specific scientific area, this conference tries to create bridges between disciplines by bringing together people who may otherwise be unlikely to meet each other. At a Measuring Behavior meeting, you will find yourself among ethologists, behavioral ecologists, behavioral neuroscientists, developmental, social and work psychologists, ergonomists, human factors researchers, movement scientists, psychiatrists, linguists, psychophysiologists, toxicologists, usability testers, and others!Read more

a GigaOM Pro report by Laurie Lamberth: "The “Internet of Things” (IoT) will likely be one of the most important technological advances of this century. The emergence of Cloud computing, meanwhile, has created the application and device management backbone needed to scale to and support billions of connected objects. Consumer, governmental and business trends are also pushing us toward the IoT. And despite inhibitors to growth, such as privacy issues and creating sustainable business models, we will see increasing benefits in our personal and community lives as the IoT takes hold."Read more

Gordon Farrar in 'Untangling the web': "WOULD you feel hurt if your refrigerator stopped returning your emails? Would you be annoyed to have your dinner interrupted by a pot plant demanding a drink? Are you friends with your toilet on Facebook? Do you like the idea of a virtual avatar that contains your personality and memories — the essence of you — that could communicate with your descendants? It's only a matter of time."Read more

During the IoT conference last month in Brussels, I noticed a general confidence in the possibility to shape the Internet of Things into whatever form we see most fit. But I am asking myself how much of this power is real and how much is imagined by the different participants in the universe of IoT. The European commission has power to restrain by rules and to nurture by subsidies. And corporations have a choice in product, service and presentation. Consumers have an influence by choice in purchases.Read more

From June until the end of September 2010 you can get a unique discount at seventeen shops in Amsterdam Zuidoost just by paying with Bijlmer Euros. The Bijlmer Euro is a regular five or ten Euro note with a re-usable and removable sticker containing an RFID-tag (comparable to the chip in a disposable travel card). By scanning this chip every time the note is used to buy something, the flow of money in the local area will be made visible in a publicly accessible way. Read more

"Together, GS1 Sweden and .SE takes an important step in the development of the Internet of Things. Jointly, they will develop an Object Naming Service (ONS), which opens up to the possibilities of connecting products to the net, and eventually get all physical objects online – an Internet of Things.Read more

The current generation mobile phones can decode product barcodes with ease. In this way mobile phones are becoming a medium to connect everyday objects and provide an ‘Internet of Things' environment. This technology can be used to personalize and extend the package of products and enables consumers to choose those products that are in line with their personal values and preferences, such as good health, respect for the environment and ethical choices.Read more