Photo courtesy of David Rose

David Rose has spent much of his career designing products that try to make the ordinary devices we use every day more magical: an umbrella that can tell you whether you actually need an umbrella that day, a pill bottle that alerts someone if you haven’t opened it in a while. We ask him how our products are learning more and more about us… and why that’s both good and bad.

Three Takeaways:  

• Rose coined a phrase for products that are functional, but also surprise and delight us: “enchanted objects.” With a little tweaking, a simple object can give you a host of information.
• He tries to take advantage of the way in which people notice changes in their environment. So, the products he creates often catch our attention out of the corner of our eye.
• With such cheap data storage available today, Rose says that companies have little incentive to erase our information. He hopes more companies will provide easy ways for consumers to delete the data collected by their devices.

More Reading

• Check out some pictures of David Rose’s other “enchanted objects” here.
• Rose is creating an innovation center in the middle of a futuristic city on Boston’s South Shore. In October, The Boston Globe described the progress of the city so far.
• Innovation Hub is collaborating with the Museum of Science in Boston to feature the work of today’s inventors and innovators. Our inaugural exhibit, featuring the work of David Rose, is now at the Museum! You can check it out if you’re in in Boston anytime over the next several months.