Text the wallpaper... or the car

You already knew that you could send an SMS to a chandelier, now you can also text the wallpaper. Not-So-White Walls was the thesis project of Dario Buzzini from the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea (Northern Italy) is now being turned into a commercial product.

The surface and patterns of what appears to be ordinary wallpaper are actually interfaces that act as switches or displays. The back of it is covered with a grid of sensors, conductive materials and resistors.

The surface of the wallpaper can display text and images according to the input received, giving you the possibility to change patterns and contents on your walls. For example you can read your emails or SMS, but also view the images taken with your mobile phone camera.

The wallpaper will be shown at the Science Festival in Genoa (Italy), till 8 November 2004.

Speaking about it, Dave Slocombe and Natasha Sopieva, from the Interactive Design Institute, will also exhibit there an updated Fiat 500 that opens only if you send it an SMS (by keying in the registration number on your mobile.) The vehicle replies by flashing its headlights and sending a message of acknowledgement from the owner, with comments such as: "Good evening, welcome back! By the way, I'm thirsty, I'm out of fuel..."

Its sun visors feature make-up mirrors on the back, with TV cameras to film and/or photograph the crew, while the rear windows are screens on which you can draw or write emails and text messages to be sent in real time. "Through wireless networks and with GPRS connections", says Natasha, "messages, sketches and images are stored on the car's website".

Regine | 3:19 PM | SMS and the Arts |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2004/11/005922.htm