Bruce sends along a pointer to the new Samsonite Hardlite 625 laptop case. It seems very cool, although you wouldn't know it from the distracting Flash. What I like best about it is the embedded Bluetooth chip that synchronizes devices and notifies the owner if the case is being removed. Add laptop cases to the list of intelligent appliances you didn't know you needed. [The Shifted Librarian]

Make them self propelled and add some of the AIbo's intelligence, and you'll have a bag that will follow you anywhere (not unlike the luggage from Discworld.) 

2:38:16 PM    

Let's assume there was a service that provided and metered all content, including registered web sites.   It costs $100 a month and lets me consume as much as I want.  If I paid $100 a month for this full featured online content system (that included TV and Internet sites) and $40 a month for connectivity, here is some wild speculation on how it could be paid out to artists and authors.  [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Make sure you read the rest of John's post, because what he is referring to is the Heavenly Jukebox, a concept I talk about a lot in my presentations. It's like the internet in that it's a mysterious cloud of digital content that exists somewhere "out there." You subscribe to the service, so you're really paying for access, not ownership. As much as I like this concept on a personal level (a flat fee for access to all-things-digital), there are many problems inherent in this type of setup.

1. Will all of these publishers really agree on a single platform for delivery? I think two platforms is even stretching it for these guys, but in this scenario you should be able to access your subscriptions from your home computer, your work computer, your cell phone, your PDA, your home media entertainment unit, and your car.
2. The prerequisite is that pesky subscription, so the digital divide gets even bigger for those that can't afford either the hardware or the monthly fees.
3. In the past, libraries have mitigated this situation, but look closely at John's scenario and you'll see that there is nowhere for libraries to fit into that process. Publishers love the idea of the heavenly jukebox because it lets them interact directly with the consumer, cutting out the middleman and taking in those fees for themselves. That's why digital rights management (DRM) is so important to them. They don't want to let libraries act as a proxy for consumers, and it's impossible for libraries to do this when the DRM locks into individuals.

When I first started talking about the heavenly jukebox, it was in the context of advocating that libraries position themselves in the loop so that they can still circulate digital content. Now when I talk about this, it will be in the context of how the DMCA and CDBTPA are going to cut libraries out of that loop altogether. [The Shifted Librarian]

This may well be the direction that we are heading in, between Sony's initiatives and the Moxi box I've been raving about, why not add in a feature that lets you buy a movie and save it locally. If new features for that flick come out, you can "upgrade" your version using something similar to Valve's Steam engine for version and download management.

Alternately, your favorite band just released 16 new tracks. You only like four of them. You only buy those four tracks, get it downloaded onto your system, and can then burn them to a custom mix disc of your liking, as many as you want to. Someone does a remix of a track you like and already own? You can then get that remix for a discount, or for free for being a loyal fan (here's where CRM kicks in.)

Oh darn, someone/something messed up my harddrive. That's OK, the system recognizes that the drive has "issues" and sends you a new version of the file(s) in question.

So what is to keep someone form cloning a drive, or ripping the content to another machine? Nothing, and that's the point. Since the machine is gathering data on your tastes, it can then promote to you things that you will likely be interested in. Whoa, what about privacy? Well, have the preferences of the user separate from their personal information, and NEVER the twain shall meet. Maybe use some sort of custom neural net to keep that interface indecipherable.

10:52:09 AM    

Platform Independent Gaming? [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]

Sun is proposing the developers use a JAVA engine to program their games. Neat idea, but the first problem I see is in how to address conflicting filesystems. This should prove interesting especially if the hardware manufacturers back it.

10:26:51 AM    

Re-Engineering the Helpdesk - Supporting users in a new world. How do we support users in today's Information Technology environments? Is there a better way ? Some insight and techniques I have used as an IT Manager to improve client support and perception of Information Technology as a whole. [kuro5hin.org]

Interesting take on how to manage a helpdesk, emphasizing the quality of the relationship with the clients over the speed with which to resolve issues.

10:23:50 AM    

Volume Control Knob Turns Heads. It's a volume control for computers, but why is it so hot (and so expensive)? Well, it can do ... so much. Leander Kahney reports from Macworld Tokyo. [Wired News]

A simple design, make a metal knob that attaches to your computer via the USB port. Add an LED that glows through the transluscent base, and software that lets the knob take the place of a keyboard command. Watch it sell like hotcakes at $40.00 USD a pop as people start using it to control the jog/shuttle on video editing, brush sizes in PhotoShop, volume control in music players, and an on off switch.

While this is basically a detatched wheel from a wheel mouse, I think it's great that Mac users are finally getting to use one. Maybe soon Apple will add that second button to allow for right clicking.

10:20:32 AM    

"The idea is that we should have all our information services always available, no matter what we are doing, and as unobtrusive as possible. If I pick up your cell phone today and make a call, it charges you, not me. With our prototype H21s, when you pick one up and use it, it recognizes your face and customizes itself to you—it knows your schedule and where you want to be. You can talk to it, ask it for directions or make calls from it. It provides you access to the Web under voice or stylus command. And it can answer your questions rather than just giving you Web pages that you have to crawl through.

The E21s provide the same sorts of services in a pervasive environment. The walls become screens, and the system handles multiple people by tracking them and responding to each person individually. We are experimenting with new sorts of user interfaces much like current whiteboards, except with software systems understanding what you are saying to other people, what you are sketching or writing, and connecting you with, for instance, a mechanical-design system as you work. Instead of you being drawn solitarily into the computer’s virtual desktop as you work, it supports you as you work with other people in a more natural way....

In 10 years, we’ll see better vision systems in handheld units and in the wall units. This will be coupled with much better speech interfaces. In 10 years the commercial systems will be using computer vision to look at your face as you’re talking to improve recognition of what you are saying. In a few years, the cameras, the microphone arrays will be in the ceiling in your office and will be tracking people and discriminating who is speaking when, so that the office can understand who wants to do what and provide them with the appropriate information. We’re already demonstrating that in our Intelligent Room here in the A.I. Lab. I’ll be talking to you—then I’ll point, and up on the wall comes a Web page that relates to what I’m saying. It’s like Star Trek, in that the computer will always be available." [MIT Technology Review, via bOing bOing]

A very thought-provoking interview with Rodney Brooks (the Director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab) that is well worth your time. Plus, I'm adding Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us by Rodney Brooks to The Shifted Reading List. [The Shifted Librarian]

9:55:14 AM