Bristol Brings The Noise To Everyday Objects With Talking Lamp Posts

The Internet of Things is coming to the British city's street furniture. The city of Bristol is to be turned into an interactive playground, complete with talking street furniture. Hello Lamp Post!, a proposal put forward by a London-based design studio, will allow inanimate objects such as post boxes, lamp posts and bus stops to converse with passers by. Think of the concept as an Internet of Things thing, but with the accent on art rather than usefulness. The proposal, by PAN studios, "enchanted" the judges, filling Google designer Tom Uglow with "a childish delight." Passers-by will be invited to text a code, plus the object's name and its individual code, which ranges from anything to two digits (bollards) to a 14-digit one (storm drains.) Users will then receive a reply from the object! So, an exchange with a bench could turn into a longer conversation, and, hey, before you kn...