Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by shared devices: TVs, stereos, and appliances in the home; copiers, fax machines, and projectors in the office; phones and vending machines in public. Because these devices don't know who we are, they provide the same interface and functionality to everyone. This lack of personalization in the real world is reminiscent of the World Wide Web in its infancy--no matter who you were, you saw the same Web pages as everyone else. Today, personalization has made the Web more friendly, efficient, and profitable. Our research seeks to personalize shared real world devices to reap some of the same benefits. This talk covers three topics: (1) the design of the PIPs system for personalizing multi-user document devices such as projectors, shared displays, and multi-function copiers; (2) the experimental method we employed, which is applicable to other HCI, CSCW, and ubiquitous systems research; and (3) how data collected over the past two years has helped us refine and evolve our research and prototypes.