Most hotels have fancy chandeliers hanging in their lobbies, but a new one in Palo Alto has something a lot more apt for its location: a "participatory" light fixture. This high-tech chandelier, which has a hundred bulbs that can dim and move independently, was designed by engineers from the IDEO Digital Shop. It's been basing its light shows for the past month on math equations and noise functions, but since it's not your run-of-the-mill lighting, it works in many different ways -- like visualizing data streams from online sources such as social media. For instance, it can come to life when someone mentions the hotel on Twitter or Facebook, or move in a way that mirrors the weather in the area according to info from the internet. It can also light up in step with someone moving up or down the stairs and match the level of activity at the hotel bar. You can see this chandelier in person in The Epiphany, but if going to Palo Alto is not quite possible, you can watch it flicker and undulate into life after the break.

(PS: We'd really like to see this chandelier in the same room as this interactive floor.)


Interactive chandelier turns data streams into a light show