nano generation 49
Yesterday I was talking with Emil about changing our 4 gb ipods with the new 8 gb ones. (The ones with a hard disk have a too big size.) Ioana and Ionut were mocking us (they are the light shuffle users and that explains it all): Why would we need an 8 gb one for current stuff? My explanation: because I always want to listen to the album I have just deleted yesterday. Emil’s explanation: an audio-book has 600 megas; putting 3-4 audio books on an i pod barely leaves you any place for the music. I hove everyone agrees with me when I say that 4 gb is not enough. 
My futuristic solution is this: heaping up on a central server with high speed access through wifi,wimax, widracs Everyone should have its own secured backed-up virtual space with different access levels. Even more, the state should offer every person at birth an incipient space, with the possibility of buying extra space if needed. This could gather public things (ID card, birth certificate, CV, diplomas, tax and interest returns), personal stuff that can be accessed by everyone (for instance photos, blogs etc.), personal stuff with access for different security levels (pictures from private events, contract drafts, personal conversations etc.) and very personal stuff with access only for the owner. With this – association of the file with the owner and not with the device – all DRM (Digital Rights Management) problems could be solved. The access system, however, would put most problems – in order to be both usable and safe. Some embedded stuff could exist, so that the social structure be respected: parents can verify the space of children until a certain age, married couples could share a certain space of intellectual property – in co-ownership and so on.
Of course, there would be some things to discuss about the legality of order organisms‘ access. Plus those of scripted protocols – RSA? Biometric security (retinal, vocal, digital marks) for a certain privacy level. There a lot of things to consider.
My point is: the future is for small hardware clients who can access heaped information centralized by wireless, plus a comunitary definition for the concept of information. In this kind of future there are two big winners: technological aggregates (like Google), quality content producers (from persons to production companies). Who is going to have problems? The distributors who base on their dominant position: I mean, what point is there in having a public television in a world where everybody composes its own informational menu. If one wants to support culture, education and so on, better give subventions for the content producers. But this is another talk and I must start my work day.