Life on Mars Links

Personal Panopticon
June 12, 2004 07:09 PM

Yes.

Anyone who dismisses this item because of its obvious limitations (bulky camera and cable, clumsy belt-pack storage, 4 hour battery life, 30 second buffer, no ability to wirelessly send signals, no ability to play back recordings on the spot) hasn’t been paying attention, and should be cursed to wander the Earth using circa-1990 cellular phones and video cameras. This version is ugly, ungainly, and far too limited — but it’s a harbinger of things to come. We’re close to the era of “Personal Memory Assistants,” and should start thinking now about what we do and don’t want them to be able to do.