A book I designed and presented to Resource Interactive based on some research that I have done about the future of the interplay of digital and tangible objects.

1. Tangital Webject
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A brief thought exercise into the future of digital objects.
For: Resource Interactive
Date: Monday, March 29th, 2010
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Shay-Jahen D. Merritté

2. Tangital. Webjects. Defined
Tangible: Adj. /ˈtæn•dʒə•bəl/ Digital: Adj. /ˈdɪ•dʒ•ɪtl/ Web: Noun. /wɛb/ Object: Noun. /ˈɒb•dʒɪkt/
Capable of being touched; Available in electronic form; The complete set of anything that is visible or
discernible by the touch; readable and manipulable by documents residing on all tangible and is relatively
material or substantial. computer. Internet servers. stable in form.
Adj. /ˈtæn•dʒ•ɪtl/ Noun /wɛb•dʒɪkt/
Describes the ability of something manipulated The designation for any physical thing that was made
digtially to move to the physical realm. An example of from a digital file with both the physical and digital
something tangital is a photo on a digital camera that item having the same properties. An example of a
exists as digital information until it can be printed out webject would be a lego mini-figure.
as a physical photograh.

3. In the future you’ll be able to order a
custom spork from a designer’s website
for the specific types of foods you are
going to eat at your company’s potluck.
The website then sends that information
to the 3D printer in the break room.
Consumer+Software Interface Software Interface+Hardware Interface Hardware Interface+Product Product+Consumer
First the consumer goes to the From the CAD interface, the consumer The tangital spork file is sent to the The plastic printed webject is
designer’s website and uses their CAD can build a tangital file that can be 3-D plastic printer in the break room available for the consumer to use for
interface to create their webject used to create the actual webject. to create a webject that matches the their company’s potluck.
one the consumer created through the
designer’s web interface.

4. Unfortunatly, that But tangital
future is far off. webjects do have
Rapid prototyping machines have been
a present. a near future. And
... or at the very least,
around for decades, however, CNC (computer they are creating new ways for business,
numerically controlled) routers, laser, water- technology and consumers to interact with
jet and plasma cutters, lathes and 3D plastic each other.
printers are for the most part still too expensive
for the average consumer. Furthermore, the
software and hardware also requires technical
expertise and a learning curve that is beyond
the average consumer. Consumers Business
Technology

5. Tangital Webjects
In The Present.
Consumer-Centric Pricing:
3.8M
The number of Webkinz active users,
the most prevalent instance of physical
and digital objects interacting.
10K
The number of products designed
and sold by Shapeways, a social
networking and open-source 3D 3D Animation Tools 3D Modeling Tools
printing collective. Autodesk Maya: $4,090 Autodesk Maya: $3,999
Blender: $0 Google Sketchup: $0
20K
The number of products designed and
sold by Ponoko, a social networking
and open-source laser cutting
collective.
500
The number of proposed franchises of
Techshop, a chain of tool shops that
include 3D printers, routers and CNC 3D Printing Machines CNC Routing Machines
machines for the average consumer. Desktop Factory: $125,000 Thermwood 400: $130,000
MakerBot: $995 BlackToe CNC: $4,000

6. Implications of
Tangital Webjects
on Strategy
Intellectual Property Cost of Increased Customization Long
Capital Rivalry Environmental Tail Customers Employee
Footprint Cost Accounting Material Retailer Relations Scheduling
Waste Sales Channels Publicity Training Time Tables State Of
Future Planning Localization The Economy Sales Volume
Competition Transportation Office Networking Design Morale Layoffs
Layout On Demand Inventory Hardware Investment Publicity
Materials Selection Depreciation Process Design Outsourcing R&D
Product Life Cycle Market Project Management Trending
Research Software Investments Finance Planning Internationality

7. Tangital Webjects
With the dissemination of portable location aware devices, many
marketing companies are looking to location-based marketing as
the future of marketing, providing on-demand, relevant messages
And Location to consumers. One of the most popular of these new applications is
Foursquare, which combines a gaming aspect with location information.
Based Marketing
The use of tangital webjects could greatly improve this experience.
The Foursquare application networks with the user’s
friends’ Foursquare applications competing to see who
frequents the greatest variety of places and the same
place multiple times to win mayorships and rewards.
The Foursquare application requires users to be
constantly engaged with the application to remain
competitive, to score points and gain rewards.
On-Demand, when a user achieves a new badge
or becomes the mayor of someplace that involves a
reward, a custom coin is instantly produced and sent to
the consumer..
The FourSqaure users receives they’re mayorship coin
that was personalized with their name, and the custom
design created by the establishment that they are the
mayor of. Provides and tangible reward that moves
beyond the digital realm to make their rewards even
more personal, engaging and exctitng.
iPhones with Four Square App 3-D Plastic Printer Mayorship Coin

8. Tangital Webjects
Augmented Reality (AR) is an exciting technology that merges the physical
world with the digital world, which means that tangital webjects are
incredibly relevant. In this AR game example, two players are playing a
And Augmented role-playing adventure game.
Reality Games
AR Player Chip
AR games are engaging because the combine the
excitement of a video game with the imagination of a
AR Board board game. These aspects are furthered by tangital
webjects, which allows the player to not just play the
game, but actually make the game at the same time.
The game application is built to be networked with your
friend’s phone who is playing the adventure with you
next to you, as well as the rest of the people throughout
the world who are also playing the game, working
together through their own adventures.
As the players go through the AR adventure, their
characters grow and develop, with new skills, weapons,
etc. The player’s character becomes more personal both
in the physical world as well as the digital game play.
As the players’ characters grow and develop, their
physical playing piece changes. The new character
piece will be on-demand be sent to a laser cutter to be
cut out and sent to the player for new dynamics in their
AR gameplay
iPhone with Game App
iPhone with Game App
CNC Laser Cutter

9. Tangital Webjects
Tangital Webjects also have interesting applications for strictly digital
objects such as digital magazines on the iPad. In this case, the digital
magazine directly translates to directly physical solutions. In this
And The Tablet hypothetical situation, the digital version of Wired is showcasing a new
phone design, if a consumer is thinking about purchasing it, they can
print out a 3-D model of the phone to take it around with them and see
how it fits into their daily life.
Digital magazines for the iPad are inherently networked
to the content servers as well as advertisers. If there are
any new promotions or market or product changes,
they can quickly and easily be updated in the digital
magazine, in this case, the webject phone promotion.
If the reader wants to take advantage of the webject
phone promotion, they would just have to click,
complete some information and immediately their
sample phone will on-demand be printed and sent to the
reader to use, with no inventory being held.
The webject phone is made personally for that reader,
the phone was specifically made for that person,
they get to be early adopters and get to experience
technology without spending a lot of their money. They
can also pass it along to one of their friends.
A printer 3-D sample webject far surpasses the
engagement of a print ad or even a video. The phone
is thin? Now I’m really experiencing. It fits comfortably
in your hand and the breast pocket of your jacket? Why
yes it does. A webject is engaging.
iPad With Digital Wired Issue 3-D Plastic Printer Webject Sample Phone
And Phone Advertisement.