The Sony Memory Stick makes me wonder how we will store and transfer data in the future. Palm has a deal with Sony to support the stick and others are surely in the works. Of course Sony has multiple products that use it; one is a picture frame which plays back digital photos and video. Will we all be carrying and exchanging “sticks” with each other? Instead of making mixed tapes (the modern equivalent of the love poem), will guys be handing girls sticks of multimedia? Will I send my parents a stick of photos? More likely I will use the Internet. But where will a music album exist in the future…a place where I access it using a wireless, superhigh bandwidth Internet connection or on my transferable storage stick? How will cost and convenience play a part in determining this? Sony’s positioning this device as the universal storage medium for the future, and they’ve probably learned quite a bit since they released Betamax. So in the future, what will I store on transportable media and what will I just access over the ‘net (no matter where it is physically)? And when something is digital, what is the psychological makeup of its exchange? I want to “give” you this photo. I could point you to a web site, mail you the jpeg, or give you a storage device. If I just want you to see it, anything will work. What if I want you to “have” it? Will having access to something digital replace the concept of owning it?

The PalmPilot has most certainly entered mainstream culture. There at Macy’s amongst the midpriced women’s wallets were PDA cases…cheaper versions of the luxury ones (Coach, Dooney & Burke) that have been out for a while. When a technology item starts affecting women’s fashion accessories, it’s hit the big time. Will they sell? If I paid $300-$500 for a PDA, I’d wrap it in pricey leather, not the cheap stuff. Or nothing. My purse is heavy enough, thank you.

I needed a morale boost today, so Landon pointed me to Al Morale. “Al Morale, the virtual yes man and lackey, adds comic relief to your day.”

From Wired: “BitBoost’s PawSense is a background application that can tell the difference between cat walking and human typing.” I played the “Sound that Annoys Cats” from their web site and my cat promptly came running in from the other room and jumped onto my chair. Luckily “PawSense also provides you the option of recording and using the sounds that you find are most appropriate for your individual cat.” (emphasis theirs).

Someone asked me today “what is data modeling”? Well, there’s the database definition where you are defining the schema for your fields, tables, relations, but for object design, what’s the best definition? We looked at the definition on whatis.com,
but the one we found that I like for its clarity is:

“(Data modeling) focuses on what data is required and how it should be organized rather than what operations will be performed on the data. To use a common analogy, … equivalent to an architect’s building plans…” obtained here.

Observation from a few days ago:
“morbid curiosity” is a fabulous phrase.

Is randomness a useful survival trait?