The Internet is awesome... it has everything you could want. Movies, TV, music, knowledge, and sweaters. Problem is, it is too big, and you were always stuck staring into a computer to find stuff. Then came the devices, your cell phone, PSP/Gameboy, iPod, iPhone, PDA, smart phone, camera, camera phone, cellular iPDApod, yada yada. These devices usually live fairly independently, occasionally connecting to each other in order to share ability, or minor information.
With these, you can talk to others, listen to music, check your schedule, watch TV/movies, show off your photos, check your stocks, find out the current bid of the Wookie costume on eBay, or check the weather in Bolivia. Each device you have is tuned to do some of this better than others, but who really watches movies on their phones? Have you tried calling someone using a PlayStation Portable? How about making your calendar in your office computer, home computer, iPod, phone, and PDA all match?
I have a solution.
We need a Personal Information Server (P.I.S. for short). What is P.I.S. I hear you asking... it is essentially a tiny hard drive which stores all your media and information. Your music, your movies, your photos, your contacts, and your calendar. There is no screen, no buttons, just a few lights and a wireless connection to any available wifi or cellular network.
Then there are the devices that will connect to your P.I.S. to form a Ubiquitous, Redundant Information Network... or U.R.I.N. for short. Each device does its own thing... your cell phone no longer plays music, it just makes calls. Your PDA doesn't need to play games, it just acts as a data assistant. Your camera can dump photos directly to your server, letting you instantly free that memory card.
But why the shift in paradigm away from the wanna-be all-in-one type devices. They cost lots, when they break your hosed, they never do everything, or anything perfectly, and sometimes you don't want your "cellular iPDApod" with you, but you do need the cellular part of that. Device size alone is a huge reason... now your phone can be small enough fit in your jeans pockets. Another huge advantage is the dreaded upgrade. Upgrading your phone doesn't mean you need to upgrade your camera. Information sharing would also be extremely simple... want to try your buddy's camera out, just tell it to send the photos to your P.I.S. instead, and tada. Your phone breaks, and you need to make a call... grab anybody's phone, pass the biometric security, now your dialin'. Stream your music to your friends sound system.
The system comes alive when it gets smart. Your going to Vegas for your friends wedding, you put it in your calendar... now your P.I.S. goes and gets information from the internet for you. It grabs airfares, hotels, maps, show information, all the standard stuff. It also knows you like to climb, so it gets maps for Red Rocks, and digital guide books for the climbs. You can look at all this information when you are ready too, without needing a live internet connection, until you want to book something that is. When your in Vegas, your pNet suggests restraunts based on your location, it will even serve up the menus.
Apple just released what could be the first step for this. Their iTV Media Router connects your media to your TV without tapes, discs, or cords. It simply streams your media to your device, just like my hypothetical U.R.I.N. stream.
The 'i' is dead... long live 'p'.
