For the 4th of July I dedicated myself to Adam Greenfield's manifesto, Everyware, which argues that computing is about to disappear into every day objects that we will interact with without being conscious of the fact that they represent the post PC era of personal computing. The book is broken up into a set of "theses" that should really be called observations about how people behave in a world where every object is connected to the network and capable of serving as an input mechanism (sensor), a display mechanism (output), or both.

The best reference in the book is to a 1996 paper out of Xerox PARC on "calm computing" which basically argues that we will be able to deal with the information/data overload better in a world where we can interact with information/data via our regular contact with physical objects. Maybe, but only if these objects don't end up becoming the manifestations of Google AdWords 2.0, giving us an apocalyptic Minority Report-like future where every surface becomes a new opportunity for displaying an ad.

Everyware ends on a positive note by pointing out that we (as in regular every day hackers) are being given the tools to control our destinies through open source software, and more importantly open source hardware like the Arduino kits that are popping up all over the place. As folks like Jonathan Zittrain make the rounds warning us about losing control of our digital futures as we fall prey to the glossy experiences of the iPhone or the Xbox, it's good to remember that we can still assert our independence by voting with our tinkering.