Advertising Age - Animating machines.

HumanApi, Sports ECG in real life from uxebu on Vimeo.

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=142942

Advertising age is a blog/magazine for the advertising industry.

The article linked is on the "the internet of things" about how computers are beginning to be designed to interact with the social programs and interfaces to get more interaction between people and machines so we have more information at our fingertips.

NIKE+ and the HumanAPI
Athletes are notoriously data-focused so it makes sense that one of the first entrants into the space was the combo of Nike and Apple. Nike Plus is a clever piece of technology that allows people to transform their iPhones and iPods into personal trainers, collecting real-time workout data, allowing them to react in real time and letting them track their performance on their PCs. Taking the concept a step further, independent developer Nikolai Onken has created an iPhone app prototype for the HumanAPI that collects heart rate data and transmits it via Bluetooth to an application for real-time visualization. You can view a series of videos here.

Sony
The interplay between physical space or location and online events is ripe with possibilities. For the Sony Hopper Invasion campaign in the UK, Dare Digital and Tinker.it demonstrated how physical objects could become a real-time visualization tool for an online event. The team built a grid that allows 49 Space Hoppers (colorful balloons, really) to be inflated dynamically through the use of hashtags on Twitter and through the Sony website. You can view a video of the campaign event here.

Interaction is the key to future advertising, linking people with fun events that only passively promote the company.