Meta Products: Building the Internet of Things

Vague, vapid, and devoid of any real insight. The authors seem to mistake hyperbole and excitement for the anticipated digital transformation for actual content.The only redeeming aspect was the examples and references that allow the reader to chase-up more meaningful information. The book also seems to be a prototype that should have failed early on, rather ironic for a book on design: the formatting is horrendously inconsistent, reflecting the muddled content; header, emphasized, quoted text, feature pages, and many figures are seizure-quality fluorescent orange; the text does not appear to have been proof-read very carefully.

A lot of new products are hitting the market that blur the divide between the physical world and the web, yet with the potential of these products and services very few people are thinking about why something should be Internet enabled. We're all familiar with the failed products - the classic Internet fridge for example - Meta-Products tries to articulate a way of thinking about digitally led physical products and to catalogue the new skills and techniques we require as designers to do this.There is a significant portion of User Centred Design within this book so those who are familiar with this process could skip it yet their explanation and examples of Network Focussed Design is an excellent articulation on this process.Meta-products won't answer a lot of questions on the topic area, however if you're interested in the space it will give you some tools in order to think about product design differently and work out where is the appropriate location for networked services as part of the overall product design.