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Monday
Jun222009

Lifelogging and 24x7 video

Soon you will be able, if you choose, to record every moment of your life. That's the basic premise behind Total Recall. When people hear this, they immediately think of rolling video 24x7. While that will be possible, I think video (and audio) recording will remain limited for a long time as society works out the issues. But some other aspects of life-logging will gain traction quickly. How about having every word you have ever read in your life only a few keystrokes away? Or a map of every place you visited on your summer vacation, with the detail of each street you walked down, and the exact time? Or a exhaustive record of your health? These are just a few of the great applications of life-logging discussed in the book that I believe will immediately gain acceptance and lead to tremendous changes in learning, work, healthcare, and more.

That said, “limited” video recording in the coming decade will represent a radical change. Instead of 24x7, suppose you had only around ten minutes a day of video over the course of your life. Suppose a lot of the video was little 5-second “cliplets” looking around a room, catching a friend laughing, or having the kids say hello. Suppose vacations and birthday parties have relatively more clips, and maybe they’re a little longer, say, a minute or two. You play sports, and your games are recorded, with your highlight-reel moments flagged. Now, compared to 24x7 lifelong recording, that’s still pretty skimpy. But compared to the record of virtually any person from the twentieth century it is an absolute windfall of memories. What I wouldn’t give for even one minute a day of my grandfather’s life.

The ability to record everything, even if not completely exploited, will still lead to a revolution in our lives.

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Reader Comments (6)

I think video (and audio) recording still limited for a long time as society works and other issues. Although some other aspects of life-logging will gain traction so fast. Remember having every word you have ever read in your life only a few keystrokes away?

February 6, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterjulius

Really wonderful information. I will go to share this to my friends...

Business week MBA

April 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSuman

I like this post very much. I will go to share this in my twitter page...

April 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSugi

I've found the quality of the videos, to my untrained eye, to be pretty darn good. There are a few tricks that have been producing some pretty good results that I'm sure apply to most any smart phone style video recording. Most sound pretty obvious however the details seem to matter!

October 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRichard Carter

Anyone who is considering the purchase of audio recording devices for security or spying should go out of their way to know their rights and limitations when it comes to the use of these devices. The law is rather wide when it comes to recording video of just about anyone. The same is not so of audio. In many states it is illegal to tape someone's voice without their express permission.

January 1, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterforex robot

Good music recording equipment will have high quality audio output. Many products in the market provide quality results. In most cases, a microphone is used as the main tool for recording for many years. There are many different types of microphones available in the market, which have different qualities and features.

April 14, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterliving off the grid

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