Google aims to weave sensing capability directly into everyday materials

Evidence

Google has developed internet-enabled fabrics, claiming that it aims to bring inductive yarns to every garment and fabric on Earth. “If you can weave the sensor into the textile, as a material,” explains project leader Ivan Poupyrev, “you’re moving away from the electronics. You’re making the basic materials of the world around us interactive.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 769

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth tracing how far Google’s connected-fabric program has progressed since 2017, and whether it stalled or pivoted.
• XREF: connects to: Physical space is being redesigned as browse-able environments of sensor data — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 647; Researchers aim to translate every physical space and behavior into searchable information — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 650; Battery-free smart skin enables perpetual, inconspicuous ambient surveillance networks — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 753 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Google’s surveillance power depends on massive physical data infrastructure #expands (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 590
• Battery-free smart skin enables perpetual, inconspicuous ambient surveillance networks #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 753