Technology Outpacing People's Ability To Use Meaningfully!!

Computer storage technology is getting so cheap a person could record every conversation of a lifetime and decades of photographs, but experts must improve search systems so users can make sense of such mind-boggling amounts of information, Microsoft is focusing on working with cutting-edge gadgets - for predicting traffic jams, for example, or turning countertops into full-blown computers. Richard F. Rashid of Microsoft says, technology in some ways is outpacing people's ability to use it meaningfully. Button-sized computers of the future could be worn on a shirt and equipped with cameras and other sensors to record all a person's movements, activities and conversations. The challenge would be in perfecting the ways to store the vast amounts of information generated over a person's lifetime and still permit them to retrieve important details later. Researchers are automatically recording hidden details associated with a piece of information, such as the geographic coordinates where a digital photo is taken, that can be used later to help retrieve it. A family could call up vacation photos by typing the name of the state where they went camping.Prototypes of life-recording gadgets already are used by patients with some types of memory-loss ailments, who frequently benefit from keeping detailed logs of their activities. He also said police departments, which use dashboard cameras to record traffic stops, are interested in using shirt-pocket recording devices to protect and monitor cops on the beat. Few things may not change - computers will use traditional keyboards even 10 years in the future, despite enormous investments by Microsoft and others in handwriting software and speech-recognition tools to let users dictate to their computers. The worry for the US research community is the expected drop in interest in computer science enrollments in academic world. Many advanced countries have ageing population and are increasingly relying on usage of technology to manage issues like healthcare, funds management etc.