Yesterday was the last day of class and my students did excellent jobs of putting together their presentations. The first group was focusing on a small device for Philadelphia Residents. The name of the device is called PUC (Philadelphia Urban Communicator). It could be a Personal Urban Communicator. It is a small round device that has VoIP, pedestrian navigation service, IM and some other functions. This is a UI prototype of the device. It still has a lot of details that need more work and refinement, but an interesting concept. They suggest a partnership with Yahoo. The suggested retail price of $99 and monthly service fee of $20 through Philadelphia Wireless. Given that MIT Media Lab's OLPC is only $100, the price of PUC should come down substantially. The price for the service plan also need to come down significantly. It can also incorporate QR bar code and interact with buildings with QR to get information (offices, shops and restaurants inside the building, for example).
Students also took video from their field research. These are three clips from them. First, why do you live in Philadelphia?
Second, what can be improved?
Third, can you design a device for Philadelphia wireless?
