Noun: A real life physical object with knowledge of itself.

Possesing the following characteristics:
1)Small, inexpensive means of remotely and uniquely identifying objects over short ranges; in other words, radio-frequency identification.
2)A mechanism to precisely locate something on Earth, such as a global-positioning system.
3)A way to mine large amounts of data for things that match some given criteria, like internet search engines.
4)Tools to virtually construct nearly any kind of object; computer-aided design.
5)Ways to rapidly prototype virtual objects into real ones. Sophisticated, automated fabrication of a specification for an object, through “three-dimensional printers.”
6)“Cradle-to-cradle” life-spans for objects. Cheap, effective recycling.

Spimes are objects precisely located in space and time.
They have histories. They are recorded, tracked, inventoried, and always associated with a story.

Spimes have identities, they are protagonists of a documented process.

They are searchable, like Google. You can think of Spimes as being auto-Googling objects.

(Coined by Bruce Sterling at SIGGRAPH 2004)