Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers

The computer revolution has made it easy for people with little to no technical training to use a computer for such everyday tasks as typing a letter, saving files, or recording data. But what about more imaginative purposes such as starting your car, opening a door, or tracking the contents of your refrigerator? "Physical Computing" will not only change the way you use your computer, it will change the way you think about your computer-how you view its capabilities, how you interact with it, and how you pu

Tom Igoe is a professor of physical computing at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.