Calm Technology
I like how it breaks the dichotomy between high tech and low tech. An interesting middle ground overall, almost a new (to me) angle on its own to consider tech.<p>A few comments on the examples:<p>* the Jawbone Up is well designed but it still falls under the "quantified self" tech, which as a category, relies solely on user attention, notwithstanding the data privacy concerns of sending sleep data to a 3rd party.<p>* Roomba. Roomba not only is calm tech (as per their definition), it _feels_ alive. The designers added the subtle touch of not getting it to clean in straight lines, it looks like it wanders and searches more dust to actually accomplish its duty. The motion patterns of the Roomba are a great design achievement, and I'd very much like to know how much thought has been put into them.