Violet's DreamLet All things Be Connected |
Violet was inspired by a simple fact: the rift between the virtual world - everything happening on the other side of your computer screen - and the physical world we live in is growing, and growing fast.
On the other side of the screen, in the digital world we explore with the click of a mouse, everything is possible and accessible. On the Web, information can be customized for each user's needs: you can set preferences on any given page, information can be targeted and updated in real time. You can gather news from different sources, mix personal and professional, fun and utilitarian aspects in a single place. In virtual worlds such as Second Life, in computer games, in instant messaging and chat-rooms, you can become whoever you want, take on any guise you like, meet strange and nonsensical creatures. In a world of bytes, everything can be recombined, everything is flexible. Everything can be wondrous and magical.
Unfortunately, we were born on the wrong side of the screen. We are not made of bytes, but of flesh, blood and atoms. We spend the greater part of our life in a physical world that is tough, unfair, inflexible and devoid of magic. The objects that surround us have reduced, rigid, limited functions; they are unaware of our presence and are unable to adapt to us or to other objects. We can seldom define “preferences” or “options” in the real world, unlike what we are used to in most software. You can visit Amazon.com twice and it will recognize you and provide relevant and personalized advice. You can live in the same house for all your life and you will always be a foreigner.
Can we really go on living with such a rift, increasingly looking at the world through screens? Must we stay trapped in a kind of submarine, forever doomed to contemplate idyllic worlds through the periscope?
Violet founders Olivier Mével and Rafi Haladjian have dedicated the whole of their careers to the development of the on-line world, cyberspace. In 2003, they decided that the "totally digital/virtual" revolution was firmly on track. It's now accepted that almost anything can be done with bytes, that possibilities are virtually endless, all you need to do is draw them on a screen.
This is when the Violet founders set themselves new objectives, new territories to conquer: the real world, the physical world, what is bluntly called meatspace as opposed to cyberspace. How can we add/import everything that we're used to in life on-line into the real world, into our daily physical routines? Flexibility, customization, interconnection of things, renewed functionalities and content, permanent enrichment by the community, magic…
Violet's dream is therefore to make the physical space in which we live – our homes, offices, public spaces – a better place: rich, intelligent, connected, personalized, awe-inspiring, fun. Not a space that simulates 3D, but that naturally is 3D. A space that you don't need a browser to explore, only your own two feet; that you navigate not with timid mouse clicks, but that you can embrace fully; whose icons are not little drawings, but true objects; that doesn't need training, as it is able to comprehend your daily habits. A world that does not simply call upon your eyes, but passes through all your senses: sight, hearing, touch, gestures, speech, smell. An environment that is not a metaphor for our environment, but rather its tautology. A world you live in rather than click in.
A rabbit, obvioulsy
Violet thus envisions a space in which most of the objects surrounding us would be: endowed with intelligence; able to react or interact with us; and, most importantly, be connected to the network.
A quick look around shows, beyond doubt, that there are many, many objects in the world. Olivier Mével and Rafi Haladjian were faced with a major problem: “If the point is to connect all this, where do we start?” The answer quickly emerged, almost naturally. We must start by connecting the Rabbit. A Rabbit, to follow the same path as Alice in Wonderland but in reverse, to come back to our side of the looking glass. A Rabbit, to prove that a smart object is not only a device with functionalities, but also an experience, a whole world in which to immerse yourself. A Rabbit, because that's the perfect ambassador for the world of smart objects. A Rabbit, to prevent smart objects from being merely utilitarian. A Rabbit, to prove that beyond the world of high-tech Internet “boxes”, emotional relationships are still possible. A Rabbit, because rabbits personify many of the world's characters, from Bugs to Playboy. Bunnies are not clear-cut characters, but multifarious animals. A Rabbit, because rabbits don't have a voice and are open to one or more of them. A Rabbit, because a rabbit has ears. And finally, because if you can connect a Rabbit to the network, you can connect anything.
And then suddenly, in 2005, Nabaztag burst out into the real world. An unclassifiable device, an icon of Internet the Things, a symbolic representation that brings a bit of intelligence and magic to our side of the screen and tears down the barriers between the virtual world and the real world.
The "Internet of Things" : a revolution in the making
Nabaztag is the first of a new species. Miniaturization, the reduced cost of electronic components, and the availability of communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and RFID mean that, now, any object can be made communicant.
In the coming years, computers, phones and game consoles will no longer be the only devices in our environment deemed worthy to be intelligent and connected. Gradually, imperceptibly, our environment will become populated with new types of objects, and our familiar objects will become increasingly open and communicant.
Nabaztag was created to carry users into this revolution, to show the possibility of a world where: PCs and telephones are not the only gateway to news and entertainment; devices can function without a screen and keyboard; objects are based on the user's environment; and objects don't have to sacrifice emotion for functionality. Most importantly, the Internet of Things – like the Internet itself – will be fashioned mainly by its end users. Its new and unique uses will be created by the community, not by corporate visions of how we should live with their objects. Nabaztag invites the user to take part in creating the post-PC world in which he will live.
