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Clothes Make the Network
Roland Piquepaille writes "Howard Rheingold is looking at how "wearable computers create ad-hoc wireless communities." Here is the main idea, introduced by Gerd Kortuem, a 38-year-old assistant professor, who recently moved to Lancaster University in England from the University of Oregon's Wearable Computing Lab. "As he sees it, the crowds who surround us every day constitute a huge waste of social capital. If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material. Dynamic networking makes it possible to tap those resources through a momentary alliance among transient interest groups." Check this column for a summary or the full article if you have more time."
I remember seeing ads for some little keychain thingy you programmed your intrests into and when you passed near someone with similar intrests both persons devices would go off. They didn't really catch on here, but i think they were popular in japan. Here i think so few people had them that if you fond someone with one you could pretty much gaurantee you had some similar intrests *cough*geeks*cough*.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
A beowolf cluster of people???