Remains of the Day: Bit by Bit
dan tynan on Feb 09 2008 at 2:40 pm | Filed under: Future Tech, PC World
(A version of this story originally appeared in the March 08 issue of PC World magazine.)
We have met big brother, and he is us. Incredibly small cameras and wireless Net connections may herald an era of “sous-veillance” — literally, observation from below – says CRN’s Jaime Cascio. Tiny cameras and microphones in your glasses or shirt buttons will record every waking moment of every day, upload it to the Net, and let you replay the good bits later.
The concept isn’t new. University of Toronto researcher Steve Mann has recorded nearly every moment of his waking life since 1981 using wearable computers. Over time, his gear has shrunk from bulky Borg-like getups to a miniature computer built into his sunglasses. In his MyLifeBits project, Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell has collected everything he has ever written, photographed, presented, or owns in digital form.
“It seems really weird today, but in 25 years this will be incredibly easy to do,” says Cascio. “Imagine recording every conversation you’ve ever had with your spouse, or that really great bottle of wine you had at dinner, or the name of an author someone mentioned in passing. That kind of enhanced, easily searchable memory will change what it means to be a person in a way that most technology doesn’t.”
