CONNECTIVITY
Forget Net objects. Henry Holtzman dreams of an Internet in which everyday objects are the key to online interaction. In Holtzman's pervasive-computing vision, if you hold an empty pill bottle up to your PC, it will call up prescription information. A child's toy will trigger online games or link to related sites. Walk into a Starbucks, flash your card in front of a reader, and you'll get your usual, charged to your account.
Holtzman developed the concept of connecting physical objects directly to the Net at the MIT Media Lab, where he also helped develop the MPEG-2 compression standard. In 1998, he founded Presto Technologies (www.prestotech.com) along with lab professors Andrew Lippman and Michael Hawley.
The Presto network works by embedding radio frequency tags in objects. The tags can then be recognized by readers built into mousepads, computer kiosks, and handheld devices. Unlike bar codes, which denote a class of objects, Presto's serial numbers are unique to specific items and individuals. "Our technology allows you to transmit a burst of data to any device very efficiently," says Holtzman.
While the potential apps are almost limitless, Presto is rolling out as an ecommerce tool. Pending the success of a six-week beta test with one of the largest banks in the US, Presto will hit 1 million readers this year. Once the readers are deployed, tags will follow - Presto is now working with Sabre and the Ritz Carlton. The technology is being pitched as a tool to make the Web more user-friendly, but the real play may be on the supply side: In a Presto-enabled world, products become roving portals for the companies that make them.
MUST READ
Silent Scream
Spy vs. Spy
Superhuman Hearing
Tracing Paper - with Lasers!
Kozmo's High Hopes
Ask Dr. Bob
Tails of the City
People
Jargon Watch
Beatnik's Remix
Digital Do
eBay's Top Cop
Scoring a Grammy
The Thing Network
Seeing Digital
Raw Data
