18 Nov The Connected Stop Sign

As I said in previous posts, technology and innovation happens to be one of the main reasons why I wanted to study at SFSU and live in the bay area. Therefore, I take in my responsibility to inform you of the most “advanced technology” I have seen so far in the bay area;

It was early in the morning and I was waiting on the corner of Chestnut and Laguna for my bus. Everything was just like usual. I was sleepy and did not really felt social, so when this likely-to-be-homeless guy tried to interact with me, I tried to stay day dreaming the longest I could but eventually had to give up and was forced to interact with the outside world.  I smiled at the guy and said “pardon me sir?”.

The guy started shaking vigorously the stop sign that was right by the bus stop. Then, he came closer and explained to me that everything was connected in this city, so much that there was now a trick to make the bus arrive faster. I kept listening to his funny story with interest. I had then the chance to learn about how, by simply shaking the stop sign on the corner of the street, it created magnetic waves which in turn created traction for the bus and apparently told the bus to get there faster. I told him I never heard of that one, and he told me that I could learn much more about all the applicable possibilities of connected things in this city if I went to Sesame Street…  About a minute after, the bus arrived. I looked at him again with a smile and said thank you for the tip.

Given that I am contributing at the moment to an Internet of Thing Project,  something in me felt that this man had the connectivity of things at such an intuitive level that I might have miss the opportunity to ask him more and get insight on intuitive response to IoT that could have help us develop a better product…

I also found it quite amazing that technology and the Internet are so deeply assimilated in the spirit of this city, that it is even assimilated by the less fortunate people suffering from mental illness that wander the streets of San Francisco.