Trace Encounters stickpin
We're thinking that proudly wearing this hardware pin outside of the Ars Electronia festival would be like sporting the accessories' equivalent of the pocket protector, but 1,000 festival goers received these as part of the Trace Encounters social networking project. The stickpins use IrDA limited range infrared data transmitters to remember the other pins it encounters, and when the wearer walks by a certain area, a network downloads the contact information onto a plasma display panel. The resulting visual display looks like a bunch of lines connecting your dot to everyone you hung out with that day. It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, with you in place of Kevin Bacon.
[Via Near Near Future]
