Your lamp has no idea your phone exists. Our lives are full of such products that share no common standard besides the electricity that flows into them.
We invented a way for anyone to create functional connections between diverse electronic devices by making the technology transparent.
Information Architecture
With Interstacks, an internal research and development project, we didn’t really create a product as much as we created an infrastructural capability that can be expressed in many products, from home use to military applications.
System Architecture
Interstacks eliminates boundaries by creating a system of interoperable devices, even if they were never intended to work together. Modules can be plugged together in any combination and number by using hardware that is inexpensive and readily available.
Interface
By using a graphical user interface reminiscent of can-and-string telephones from childhood, non-technical people can create connections that pass data and multimedia information in arbitrary connections.
Results
Interstacks is a building block in MAYA’s pervasive computing agenda. We’re not introducing a whole new set of machines to the planet. We’re giving existing products, from chairs to electric razors, integrated information capabilities — not just because it’s possible, but because we want to make technology serve human needs.