d.stix: Testing and Analyzing with Wireless Prototypes

Computation is no longer tied to the desktop, and rapid prototyping tools shouldn’t be either. It can be difficult to test prototypes of information appliances that are still tethered to a desktop inside a lab. Thus, we built d.stix, a wireless prototyping toolkit to enable designers to rapidly prototype the wireless devices of tomorrow. Our work most strongly contributes to the ‘test’ stage of the design-testanalyze prototyping cycle. The results of our user study demonstrate that wireless prototypes allow for new testing environments and new user insights.