1. INTRODUCTION
When Weisner introduced “ubiquitous computing”, he motivated
his discussion by articulating problems with current computing
paradigms. “Even the most powerful notebook computer, with
access to a worldwide information network, still focuses attention on a single box” [18]. Strikingly, this criticism can be applied to
most of today’s technology, particularly smart phones. Smart
phone “boxes” engross and isolate us with their power to capture
our attention, a problem that has negative social and physical
consequences. Ambient and tangible interfaces can solve many
of these problems—they can leverage a wide range of our existing
physical skills and can convey information without demanding all
of our visual and cognitive attention [12]. But, while tangibles
have many advantages, they aren’t as common as traditional GUI
systems in part because they are difficult to design and construct
[16, 17]. Ambient interfaces to smart phones are especially rare,
perhaps because they are particularly challenging to build [2].