A belated happy new & happy lunar new year! I just came back from a vacation and some personal commitments, so this month’s notes are nice and short.
ThingsCon
As we enter the new year, there’s a flurry of activity in the ThingsCon world. Salons are about to happen in Amsterdam (today, Jan 27th!), Cologne (April), Berlin (likely March), and a full-blown conference in Shenzhen (April, details soon). The Amsterdam crew also is working with David Li to offer a fully organized tour for about 20 pax to go experience the Shenzhen hardware ecosystem first hand. I’m told ThingsCon Labs are taking more and more shape. And finally, at long last, in February we’ll set up a non-profit structure (a German e.V.) for ThingsCon-related activities in Germany, too
Not to get too political here, but if anything, the new presidency is a good reminder if there’s ever been one why we need to protect data—and, maybe even more importantly, not raise and/or store non-essential data beyond immediate needs. So we’ll be doubling down to make 2017 a pivotal year for a human-centric & responsible IoT.
Zephyr Berlin
Just (!) before the holidays we shipped the first batch of our Zephyr Berlin Kickstarter edition pants. If you got one, we’d love to hear what you think. This is an ongoing project for now, and based on feedback we’ll be deciding if we continue and how. (If you haven’t got one, there are still a few available in our online shop!
Also, our head of design Cecilia represented Zephyr Berlin at a Kickstarter-run event in Berlin, Embrace your hustle: How to produce your 1st fashion collection, as one of three Berlin fashion labels that were funded through Kickstarter. I wasn’t able to attend myself, but from what I hear it was a lovely (and all-female to boot!) panel and a great event.
What’s on the horizon?
Lots of writing. Lots of ThingsCon-related work. Some workshops. It looks like February and early March there’s going to be some availability before it gets crazy again, so if you’ve been meaning to hit me up now’s the best time.
