Tools for lifestreaming become available

I have had extensive media coverage this week for my forecasts for social technologies for 2016. One of the predictions that has attracted the most attention is that lifestreaming will become commonplace. Many of us will capture videos, images, audio of conversations and far more. This may be to record for our own purposes, to share with friends or family, or to provide access to teh world at large.

The underlying technologies to do it are certainly available, including cheap storage. However the practical tools that make it easy are only just now getting onto the market. It is not easy to rig up automated cameras or head-mounted video recorders and automatically synchronize with online systems.

The latest is a tool specifically designed for lifestreaming. New Scientist says:

Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer. It can fit 30,000 images onto its 1-gigabyte memory.

The Vicon camera will be marketed to researchers initially at around US$820, and be available to consumers next year.

Interestingly, the device has emerged from the Microsoft Sensecam, which has been shown to help people with Alzheimers and dementia to recall the events of the day. This kind of memory aid could be equally as valuable to the rest of us.