Buildings consume more energy when empty or partially occupied for extended periods because they are designed to depend on human interactions.
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Buildings are designed for people to live in, but what happens when no one is present or only half of the occupants are there?
When employees step into a workplace or shoppers into a shopping mall, they’re unaware of the presence of the smart technology that surrounds them.
Denys Nevozhai/Unsplash
Smart street furniture can do a lot of things at once. Some of these functions offer the public clear benefits, but the data collection and surveillance capabilities raise a number of concerns.
Abandoned trolleys are an all-too-common sight. A solution to this intractable problem depends on a combination of policy and legal changes, public engagement and tracking technology.
Toys are becoming increasingly advanced, but this can be more of a hindrance than a perk.
Pixabay
At Christmas shopping, you may have noticed toys are becoming very complex. They fly, hop, jump and follow you around – some even need to be ‘connected’. But why are we seeing such technical advances?
Bad customer service is increasingly good for companies who use it.
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Faced with the eye-watering costs of building infrastructure, it makes sense to turn to much more cost-effective smart technology to get traffic flowing.
As our worlds are become increasingly digitised, we’re starting to rely more on machines and devices for everyday tasks. But in an age when even pacemakers can be hacked, how do we know when and who to trust?
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Research shows we’re pretty gullible as it is. And our increasing reliance on machines for completing everyday tasks makes us all-the-more vulnerable to being exploited.
Telstra’s new digital advertising payphones can be found at Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall. In this photo, the older centre booth sits between two of Telstra’s larger high-tech booths.
City of Melbourne
The new payphones have Wi-Fi, mobile charging and transport information. But city councils are concerned they’re digital billboards for Telstra, which could cost billions in lost productivity.
Ullswater in The Lake District National Park.
Andrew Locking
Researchers are installing sensors to collect data about the use of public spaces. This can improve the management and public amenity of these places, but will users see the technology as intrusive?
Revelations about the fitness app have turned up the heat on the privacy and security risks of wearables.
Lots of parking: the extraordinary amount of valuable land used to park cars in most cities could soon be freed up for other uses.
Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock
Cities around the world are starting to rethink the vast areas of land set aside for parking. The convergence of several trends likely will mean this space becomes available for other uses.
The floor scrubber of the year 2000, as seen from the 19th century, complete with attendant human.
Wikimedia Commons
A host of spaces that were once immune to commercial intrusion – from parks to our friendships – are now being infiltrated by advertisers. Are we being enslaved by a ‘merciless master’?
Smart cities work on developing a shared vision of their preferred future.
Andrea Danti/from www.shutterstock.com
Smart cities do more than develop products to increase productivity and prosperity. Mayors, CEOs and leaders engage entire communities in shaping the future of cities.
Does that smartphone app help you get a better night’s sleep?
Shutterstock/Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley
Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society & School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre and Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Healthcare, Monash University