Your Whole Life is Going to Bits
From: The Age - 04/14/2007

Kareem Tawansi, a Sydney information technology specialist who manages his
own software company, has two home computers capable of recording up to five
shows at once, and can turn on his air-conditioning and open and close the
blinds, even when he is not home. Tawansi keeps all of his appointments,
thoughts, ideas, and even his feelings in a digital device that acts a
portable computer, organizer, camera, and phone. Gordon Bell is the head of a
Microsoft project called MyLifeBits, which aims to record not only
significant moments, but the mundane and trivial as well. Every phone call,
television and radio program, Web site, and amount of mouse and keyboard
activity is recorded. Bell wears a Microsoft SenseCam around his neck, which
detects any nearby people and automatically photographs them. The SenseCam
also takes pictures anytime Bell enters a new room based on changes in light
levels. Bell also carries a portable global positioning system device that
works with the camera to log an exact record of every photograph. Microsoft
researchers say the ultimate goal is not only to collect all that
information, but to continually analyze it as well. This analysis could lead
to time management programs that make suggestions on how to be more
productive, educational programs that inform parents how their child is doing
at school and how they could improve, and health programs that monitor a
person health, send notifications if they are eating too much, need more
sleep, or if they should see a doctor. Much of the technology for these kinds
of programs already exists, but evangelists at Microsoft note potential
problems, such as privacy concerns. In Scientific American, Bell and his
colleague Jim Gemmell wrote, "Digital memories will yield benefits in a wide
spectrum of areas, providing treasure troves of information about how people
think and feel."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/your-whole-life-is-going-to-bits/2007/04/14/1176575723758.html

Links:
Gordon Bell
http://research.microsoft.com/users/gbell/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bell

MyLifeBits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyLifeBits

Microsoft Wants to Create Digital Backup of Your Life
http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2006/10/microsoft_wants_to_create_digi.php

MyLifeBits Project
http://www.research.microsoft.com/barc/MediaPresence/MyLifeBits.aspx

Download your life onto this computer
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-11/ns-dyl112002.php

Total Recall
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov05/2153