The EPSRC financed Professor Bill Gaver of Goldsmiths Interaction Research Studio to investigate the 'Digital Boundaries of the Home'; a project he called the 'Curious Home'. 'Inspirational' research was carried out and led to the production of 2 projects - Drift Table and History Tablecloth - following which a further 2 concepts were chosen for development and production: Local Barometer and Plane Tracker.

Local Barometer is a working prototype of a new way to interact with local 'listings' data, such as Loot, in which items are offered for sale. In order to deal with the overwhelming quantity of articles on offer, the Local Barometer filters the items on offer by a random, natural intervention - wind direction!