People have interesting problems. With technology, I mean. If we went into problems related to life, ‘interesting’ would hardly begin to describe some of them. Some of us would rather have devices that just work, while some of us, ahem, want to program everything including the kitchen sink.

In the Design of Interactive Systems class today, Prof. Harrison asked a genuine question, “Has anyone identified a problem with their porch light, that could be solved if you could program it?”

Caleb, an undergrad, was the only one to raise an emphatic hand. “So, what’s the problem?”, asked Prof. Harrison.

“That it’s not programmed?”

Laughter ensues … but hey, that’s how some of us are! :)