Principal Investigator Andrew Lippman
Project Website http://viral.media.mit.edu/projects/psd/
Point & Shoot Data explores the use of visible light as a wireless communication medium for mobile devices. A snap-on case allows users to send messages to other mobile devices based on directionality and proximity. No email address, phone number, or account login is needed, just point and shoot your messages!
The realm of wireless communications has primarily, by design, been confined to invisible radio waves. This limits a user's ability to understand what data signals are, how they carry information, how their performance can be modified, or how broken communication links can be debugged. In certain applications, a visible communications medium may provide a more intuitive and meaningful user experience. To explore this concept, we use visible light to transmit information due to its deeply rooted role in human perception and non-verbal communication.