Technology

As a follow up to my earlier fantasy of new possibilities regarding a documented generation I would like to blow out some steam regarding social software as well.

One of the problems we see today is that there are only a few people producing the information that is consumed by all the rest. Those reading are participating with tagging, bookmarking and rating of the content, but even this should be easier. The production of the content could also be easier.

So let us play with the idea of a documented world. On our way forward we have a few stops on the way. Some of them we are experiencing right now, among else by using Facebook, Linked-In, Plaxo or other social networking applications. By blogging and micro-blogging what we do and what interests us we are giving the world knowledge and information that can be used by other applications as what we often call value-added content.

Consider this, you are watching a video or listening to a podcast on the net regarding some information. The video or audio is tagged in such a way that as you play the content, different meta-information rolls by in tandem with the content, and the media player might then display related information based on automated searches as you watch. We are talking hypermedia that intelligently can give you information that you need or want. You will be able to decide where the information is gathered from.

In the next generation of social software I expect us to be able to increase the value for each other in even better and easier ways than today. And as always, the enabler of these features will always be technology.

So in the future, expect great things. Probably not some of the small ideas I present to you here. What we will see will probably be better.

And you will be a part of it. By easily producing content, and adding meta-information and grading what you see. The world will give you more of what you want and of what interests you.

Whether it is semantic technology or intelligent search engines, I bid welcome to interesting and feature rich social networks, in a documented world where you can have an even more enhanced life experience.

Soon, in a life near you!

In the future: You will be able to rewind your whole life. Everything you have ever done, ever said, ever seen and ever heard will be reviewable, analysable, searchable and last, but not least, available.


We are getting closer to something a lot of people are calling the documented generation. Even today most of what we do is documented in some way or other. I myself have used my archive of digital images gathered over several years to remember when and where I visited some place. I’ve tagged all my images to simplify finding and searching, but I welcome the day this is an automatic process.

Most of your financial transactions are documented and traceable today when you use a debit or credit card for paying. Often you even use a membership card to get other benefits as well.

Most of your movements are traceable today, whether you use a car with an Autopass chip to pass trough highway toll boots, or you pass traffic cameras that watch the traffic. If you fill gas at a gas station you pay using a credit or debit card. When you go by train you use an electronic train ticket containing an RFID chip. When you go by plane you pay by card and you have to show a picture ID before boarding the plane.

Actually you are filmed by surveillance cameras almost everywhere, and most of what you do at work is logged on your computer.

All of your life is already stored on a plethora of computers all over the world and the internet.

These are known issues and something we have seen emerging over several years. Science Fiction authors have suggested this for years and the last decade these issues have been and are discussed in mainstream literature and media as well. And this is only the beginning.

What this will have to say for us personally, for our security against ID-theft and against the misuse of personal information is probably something a lot of people already have felt.
As long as our information is as available as it is, id-theft and misuse of information will become more and more common. The only way to prevent this is to change the routines and the systems available for those that need to verify our identity. They need a more secure way to verify that we are who we say we are, and they need to increase their efforts for protecting our data.

The way technology improves and evolves makes the possibilities for tracking and storing all kinds of information better each day. A new generation of people where everything they do is documented, from the day they are born until the day they die, is not that far away. The documented generation!

I would venture the guess that very soon we will see solutions in the consumer market that enables us to document events while they happen in new and exciting ways. Things like video-goggles that store everything you see, hear and say while attending a meeting or conference. The information might be stored on small, flexible, secure and large storage devices or directly on network storages units. This information may even be integrated with GPS-data and other environment information like weather or temperature, or with auto tagging features that adds other automatic metadata to the different parts of the recording. Face-, object and speech recognition will be automated and stored together with video and sound. And maybe not that much further in the future, this might be available in a 3D video with better than HD-quality.

The benefits that come with this kind of easily available information will of course be both a curse and a boon for us users. I often wonder where I met some people for the first time or what some customer said about some technical problem. Together with the stored information and multimedia we will probably be able to cross-reference our ”life-stream” with all other kind of information. With automated image and speech recognition everything we do, experience and say will be searchable and analysable.

What do you think? How soon will this be available? In 15 years? In 10 or 20 years? Will it be possible to rewind you whole life?

And as a small idea: When will we see the possibility for creating alternate experiences that makes it look like you have led a more exciting life than you really have? Will we see jamming equipment for jamming people from recording you on their life-streams? If you have an idea, please add a comment below.

PS: Yes I am aware of this little thing from the US, but I am saying that people are willingly going to do this just because they can.

Yesterday Google launched their new Google Chrome web browser. The follow-up in miscellaneous media has been enormous. I've tested it myself and I do find it a very interesting application. There are a few features I miss, but I guess Opera has made me a demanding web user. All in all I expect Google to release a solid and innovating new browser when the final version is finished. As usual regarding Google, a few questions concerning the content and other privacy issues do surface. The new secure surfing feature is great, but a few people have issues with the licensing terms:

"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."

That is a direct quote from this article at Slashdot. I am not sure this is an issue to fear. It seems that they need that in order to display content on your screen, but we will see I guess.

Finally, if you have not seen the comic from Google explaining the new browser, please read it.

While I was on vacation The New York Times had an article about the latest research on the Antikythera Mechanism. If you want to read more there is also a web site for the research-project itself.

If you have no idea of what I'm talking about, and want to know what the Antikythera Mechanism is, then Wikipedia as usual has a good explanation.

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator (also described as the first known "mechanical computer") designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, in 1900. Subsequent investigation, particularly in 2006, dated it to about 150–100 BC, and hypothesised that it was on board a ship that sank en route from the Greek island of Rhodes to Rome. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until a thousand years later.

So, it might be considered a historical anachronism. Something so advanced that many people do not believe it could have be created 2100+ years ago.

The latest research connects it to Corinth and possibly Syracuse (the hometown of Archimedes) and also informs us that the mechanism could among else calculate solar eclipses and the four year cycles of the Olympiad.

I wonder what more knowledge they can wrestle from this very interesting artifact.

The New York Times has this very good article on early ideas of the world wide web. "The Web Time Forgot" describes the how a Belgian called Paul Otlet tried to index all known knowledge, and realised that this was too hard to do by paper alone. So in 1934 he dreamt up this concept of doing this with "electric telescopes". That is an electric device that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. According to NYT he described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even collaborate or congregate in online social networks.

This proto-Web relied on a patchwork of analog index-card and telegraph machines, but it included an idea of a hyperlinked structure of information.

“This was a Steampunk version of hypertext,” said Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired, who is writing a book about the future of technology.

I personally liked this little nugget.

...Otlet’s version of hypertext held a few important advantages over today’s Web. For one thing, he saw a smarter kind of hyperlink. Whereas links on the Web today serve as a kind of mute bond between documents, Otlet envisioned links that carried meaning by, for example, annotating if particular documents agreed or disagreed with each other.

The article goes one to discuss Semantic Web in a not so nice way. I admit that I don't agree with the author on that account, but all in all an interesting read.

Please read the original article in The New York Times.

There is a new application in beta from Microsoft these days for all of us with Windows Mobile devices. The overview says it all:

Windows® SideShow™ for Windows Mobile® is an application for Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PCs and Smartphones that allows you to use your Windows Mobile device as a Bluetooth SideShow-compatible device. This enables you to use your phone as an extra window into your PC. You can both access your computer’s information from your Pocket PC or Smartphone, and control the computer through a gadget interface. While the phone is out of range, or when your computer is off, you can continue to view content sent to the phone previously. This makes it easy to send information to the phone that you'll need later on.

So check out the Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile Developer Preview

As we should've expected (and maybe did?), the dispute around ODF and OOXML is gearing up. There are probably some out there that thought that NOW this issue is dead. We have two formats, what more is there to discuss. Well, a lot it seems. There are open letters in the media, people are protesting against OOXML and the conflict seems as hard as ever. For example has Gisle Hannemyr from the University of Oslo written a little answer to a report that came in February. Actually he pretty much rips it apart. For those of you that read Norwegian and is interested in this issue I refer you to his essay "Formater til besvær - Hvor mye koster det å ta i bruk ODF?"

His main point is that the report is based on one view of the world, and does not include all the facts. He claims that if you want a better model of the world you need expertise from multiple fields of knowledge. You cannot use only economists and not computer experts if you want to model the impact of some new computer technology on the world. Well, I think I agree with him on that at least.

His final words are probably most interesting. He refers to a poem called "The blind men and the elephant" by John Godfrey Saxe. That poem is probably based on one or more of several parables that all tell a somewhat similar story. Several blind people feel up different parts of an elephant and make up their mental model of the animal based on their limited view. Afterwards they disagree fervently on what the animal looks like.

You cannot model something based on only knowledge of a part of the whole. And if you do, your model is highly likely to be wrong.

I am not sure if you have a Canon 40D, but if you have, and you live in Norway, this Canon EOS 40D Firmware Update might be of interest to you. According to imaging-resource.com the following issues have been fixed.

1. Fixes a phenomenon in which Image Stabilization operation emits a sound when certain buttons are pressed, with the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens attached to the camera.

2. Fixes a phenomenon in which the Image Stabilization operation emits a sound from the lens when IS lenses are attached to the camera.

3. Fixes a phenomenon in which a part of the image looks unnatural when reviewed on the LCD.

4. Corrects errors in the Spanish and Norwegian menu screens.

You better do like me and visit the Canon EOS 40D firmware download page.

This is just fantastic. Bruce Schneier has a blog-entry called For a Safe Night's Sleep that covers a product named Quantum Sleeper. I just can't shake the feeling this is published due to April first, but anyway. For a laugh check out some of the specs. Whether it's a joke or not it doesn't matter. It's still funny.

The Quantum Sleeper Unit is a high-level security system designed for maximum protection in various hostile environments

Quantum Sleepers can also be fitted to provide protection from destructive forces of nature such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.

The Quantum Sleeper is the ultimate in protection, entertainment and communications, “ ALL ROLLED UP IN ONE”

...

Features:

• 1.25" Polycarbonate Bulletproof Plating/Shielding
• Bio-Chemical Filtered Ventilation
• Rebreather
• Control Panel Mode Selection (i.e., Basic System Ops., Intruder Setting, Energy Status, Lock Down, etc.)
• Cover & Door Actuators w/ Emergency Release
• One way see through head cover (reflective mirror on 2 sides and front)
• Safety Features (Proximity Sensor, O2 Sensor, Smoke Det., Motion Det. Ect,)
• Emergency Communication system (Cellular, Short-wave Radio, CB ect.)
• Audio Amplifier (Amplify sound from out side unit)
• Air/Water Tight Sealing
• External Override Key Pad & Remote Control
• Battery Backup Power
• Toiletry system

A thing that makes it look real is the patent number. The USPTO web site actually shows a patent #7137881 for a protective bed unit. But all the typos makes it somewhat less real.

I leave you to make the decision for yourselves. Enjoy.

A friend of mine and I had the same little need lately. We would like a portable and easy Depth of Field Calculator for our camera. We both have a PocketPC with Windows Mobile 6, and there are several formulas for depth of field available on the net. So, here you are. This is a beta version of my little Depth of Field Calculator. Please tell me what you think.

Update 20080226 - Updated with Sony Alpha Digital SLR's as well

Note: This version only works with a full Pocket PC (Not Smartphone!)

Easier to find URL: >>Download Depth of Field Calculator

Update 2008-07-13: New Depth of Field Calculator Site

A lot of you out there probably know this, but Word 2007 has blog capabilites that seems to work even with open source blog servers, like my blog server based on Serendipity. This entry was actually written in Word 2007. The integration with MOSS 2007 is of course better than with my little server, but even this little feature is a sign that MS is trying to open their view of integration. I'm quite impressed so far. More to come later!

Update: What is more of a shocker is probably that I didn't test this until recently. I've after all had Office 2007 installed on my job-laptop for several months.

A colleague of mine has his own blog focusing mainly on Semantic technology. If you are interested I recommend you to read this entry(it's in Norwegian though). It's a reply to a comment in Computerworld late last year. I've translated some of the more interesting points.

"The Web was never meant to be only links between documents, and Tim did not make only technological choices. He made political choices too; he did not try to control the direction of the web development in any other way than to participate in the development trough the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)."

...

"While topic maps has a small foothold outside of Norway, RDF is a part of whole range of Semantic Web technologies that have put an entire industry in motion."

The author does not pull his punches.

When you read the news from anti-virus companies and security advisors you get convinced that 90% of the software you find on the net is malware, and the last 10% have so many security issues that it turns out the same thing. At the same time a life seems to be worth less than the copyright interests of media companies.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but I feel that the whole world has been overrun by solutions and programs that want to harvest personal information about me. The products that don’t ask for the information grab it anyway.

Trusted computing is a much debated architecture, maybe rightfully so. That kind of architecture might limit the spreading of free/open source software. Microsoft has proven that they can offer this trough their HD-Video support. There they have signed code in all layers, and only approved hardware devices are allowed in the pipe from storage media to screen. I am not saying that it is impossible to bypass this pipe in some way, but the threshold to perform such a hack has been raised a fair bit.

So, when you consider the stack of components needed to display HD-Video, what do you need to have the same security/quality for our computers? Especially when you are connected to the Internet?

The question then is if we maybe should take a look at this “cursed” subject again. Financing solutions in order to secure that open source software can be verified and approved might become a reality. There is one thing that we have learned so far. It is impossible to count all evil. You cannot permit the execution of all software except the bad ones listed in a list. Such a list will never be complete. But you can allow all enumerated good software and block the execution of all other code. Anti-virus software tries to perform this enumeration on our behalf, but still they do not know everything and ask the users what to do when in doubt. When they do, the s**t hits the fan. Users do not know what to do. They do not realize the consequences of their choices.

Again, the driver is the money. It is somewhat of a symptom of the state of the world that it’s more important for Microsoft that a video is not copied than to secure the personal information of a user. If somebody steals all our personal details, all our money from our bank accounts and our identity, that is not as important for Microsoft as a video unlawfully duplicated and distributed.

So what is my wish for 2008?

My wish is that our lives and our identities will become more important to protect on the net than the economic interests of a few.

A test has just shown that a 20 years old Mac is quicker than a modern day computer when it comes to regular office applications. It seems quite fitting to ask who is pushing the technology, the software, the hardware or the users. Functionality wise the progress might not be as large as we expect.

Maybe it's not as secure as you think. According it this article and the following post on Slashdot, Hushmail has been caught red-handed in backstabbing their own marketing.

"The only way to decrypt or unscramble Hush messages is by using your passphrase when you open up your Hushmail account. Carnivore cannot decrypt your mail, and is therefore, powerless against messages sent between Hush users."

Now it seems that they have handed over the private keys of users to the government, and thus voided their own technology. I would guess that they soon will have a few trust issues with their customers. I am not going to discuss the old saying, "if you are not doing anything wrong, why do you worry about the government reading your email".

At the same time some people within the U.S. government wants to redefine "privacy" so that it doesn't include anonymity, and that NSA seems to have included a backdoor to a random number generator for use in encryption programs.