As E Ink and E-paper technologies grow in number and quality, Calm Tech Institute is especially interested in new methods and products that highlight what's possible in this medium. Electronic paper now includes a growing family of reflective, low-power displays, including E Ink's electrophoretic screens, color e-paper, reflective LCDs, ChLCD and microfluidic displays, all of which show images by reflecting ambient light instead of emitting their own. Today, we're announcing

HiRO is a screen-free speaker for kids. Instead of navigating a screen, kids use printed NFC cards: they pick a card, tap it on the speaker, and the music or story starts playing. The speaker asks for as little attention as possible and uses only the technology needed to do its job, so the child's focus stays on the story, not the device. It's something a two-year-old can use alone, without a parent's phone anywhere in the room.

The buttons for pause and play from a physical stereo are transferred over into the digital space on music streaming sites like Spotify.

Philips Hue introduced a set of three affordances that bring the digital into the physical, using familiar interactions.