3 things I really need
The three devices that I wish existed:
1. Universal copyright manager - I don't mind paying for a movie or an album...once. I deeply resent being asked to pay for something twice. Just because an industry changes formats (ex. DVD to Blu-Ray) doesn't mean that I should have to pony up another twenty bucks. Ditto for music that I want to listen to in the car (either car--I have two), or in my house or on my iPod. I want the right to keep copies everywhere as long as I'm the one listening to them, although that concept is a little silly if you really think about it. So I want a system that will "check in" my license to copyrighted material when I buy some and allow me ubiquitious usage of same on any device, at any location and in any format device that I choose.
2. Brain-in-a-box - I don't want a cellphone and pda. I don't want a car GPS. I don't want a browser with a Google toolbar. I want everything rolled into one--a universal brain-in-a-box that will answer any question that I ask and anticipate what I haven't. It should know where I am, where I need to be and who's trying to reach me, as well as helping me solve crossword puzzles and connecting me to my family. The form factor should be irrelevant. It should have video and audio, be "always on" and essentially be my major domo in the cyber world, even to the point of representing me through an AI avatar when people come a'calling in cyberspace. Oh yeah, it should also be my personal historian and archivist, keeping track of who and what I know.
3. A super-duper digital vault- an encryption device so good, so secure that there will never for a second, be a possibility that the government or anyone else is listening in. I can drop anything into this box; video, audio, pictures, text. If, by an chance, a small piece of it gets compromised, it will not undermine the integrity of the whole. I will never fully trust the digital world until I have one of these things.
Posted on March 19, 2007
