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I've wanted something like this for a while, but with audio as well. Thing thing I've come to realize is that it must be an integrated system that is automatic

by TrevorJ 17y ago

I've wanted something like this for a while, but with audio as well. Thing thing I've come to realize is that it must be an integrated system that is automatically indexed and searchable, tagged by date, time, location as well as having speech recognition and face detection in order to be truly as useful as it should be. I think the ideal device would also have a 'bookmark' button that indexes sections you want to be able to find later on - very handy for remembering names, faces, etc. I also think there should be a 30 second rolling frame buffer so that you can hit 'record' and capture five minutes of full-motion video starting 30 second earlier so that you can fully capture important conversations and the like. All of the tech exists, it's just not been integrated in an intelligent way as of yet which is a real shame.

dstorrs 17y ago
Good news! For several years now, Gordon Bell at Microsoft has been working on exactly what you describe. AFAIK, it isn't available publicly yet, but there are articles on it. Google for "Gordon Bell" and "lifelogging."
- borism 17y ago
  Who was the guy at MIT who had camera, wearable computer, projection glasses etc. with him at all times? I've read long time ago (more than few years) via Slashdot about how he got in trouble with security often, but I can't remember who it was. Anyway, if you read the article it is the same tech licensed from MSFT.
  - TrevorJ 17y ago
    Kevin Warwick? http://www.kevinwarwick.com/ http://www.kevinwarwick.com/
  - dstorrs 17y ago
    Steve Mann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann http://wearcam.org http://wearcam.org Interesting factoid: he was the one who invented the word "sousveillance".
    - borism 17y ago
      That's more like it. Thanks!
alain94040 17y ago
We all just know that this will be technically feasible in our lifetime. The challenges, as you pointed out: if it's not searchable, then we'd have to spend a second life browsing through our first. Then there are some privacy issues, which will probably be ignored in practice, if past history is any guide. But it has some very interesting consequences on human interaction.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  if it's not searchable, then we'd have to spend a second life browsing through our first. Just having the "faces" technology from iPhoto '09 would go a long way towards organizing this record. Have a WiFi enabled device that uses Bonjour to auto-upload when you are at home, and iPhoto can go and index the visual record based on who. There can also be an "auto-event" splitting based on dramatic changes in lighting. GPS could also be used. An interval where a person is moving across the city would constitute one event, and the interval where they are at one location would constitute another. GPS could also auto-assign names to events, like "Minneapolis Convention Center, October 16, 2009 2:30pm."
gwern 17y ago
> Thing thing I've come to realize is that it must be an integrated system that is automatically indexed and searchable, tagged by date, time, location as well as having speech recognition and face detection in order to be truly as useful as it should be. Absolutely. But do we need those systems to exist before we start life-logging? As long as the data is available, we can always go back and then index. As it is, it looks like the recording capability will be there long before the software is polished to perfection. If people wait until the software is perfect, then every day they wait is a day they'll never be able to put into the database. > I also think there should be a 30 second rolling frame buffer so that you can hit 'record' and capture five minutes of full-motion video starting 30 second earlier so that you can fully capture important conversations and the like. Short-term optimization. The real goal is just default full-motion video; collect everything. The long-term storage space is essentially here already: you can right now buy 1.5TB for ~100$ (see http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152175 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152... ). The problem is on the collection end - I mean, a fish-eye camera with 1gb for $800? How much is a 16gb flash drive these days, 30$? Instead of hacking around the limits, let's just do the right thing: a small video camera hooked up to a couple dozen gigabytes of Flash. How much? Well, I've heard that a minute of H.264 480 x 272 is about 3.5mb, let's call it 4mb. Recording sleep is useless, so 4 * 60 * 16 = 3840; 3.8 gigs per day means that even a basic flash drive would suffice for multiple days of video, and that we fill up our 100$ 1500mb hard-drive in ~394 days, or more than a year. (I keep wondering: is it really that difficult to have a small video camera, that all these researchers keep using still cameras? Why don't we have easy life-logging now? As you say, all of the tech exists.)
- ams6110 17y ago
  Why don't we have easy life-logging now? I don't get why you'd want to do this. Sorry I just don't get it. Why would you want to record your whole life, especially on a pendant-cam that would be bouncy and pointing at something irrelevant half the time. If a lot of people would want something like this, I must really be getting old and out of touch. I guess it might appeal to the types of people who keep diaries or journals now. I'm not one of them, and neither is anyone I know. Do you keep an audio record of your whole life now? That's been feasible for a long time. Why not? What about video would make you start?

by TrevorJ 17y ago

dstorrs 17y ago

Good news! For several years now, Gordon Bell at Microsoft has been working on exactly what you describe. AFAIK, it isn't available publicly yet, but there are articles on it. Google for "Gordon Bell" and "lifelogging."

borism 17y ago
Who was the guy at MIT who had camera, wearable computer, projection glasses etc. with him at all times? I've read long time ago (more than few years) via Slashdot about how he got in trouble with security often, but I can't remember who it was. Anyway, if you read the article it is the same tech licensed from MSFT.
- TrevorJ 17y ago
  Kevin Warwick? http://www.kevinwarwick.com/ http://www.kevinwarwick.com/
- dstorrs 17y ago
  Steve Mann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann http://wearcam.org http://wearcam.org Interesting factoid: he was the one who invented the word "sousveillance".
  - borism 17y ago
    That's more like it. Thanks!

alain94040 17y ago

We all just know that this will be technically feasible in our lifetime. The challenges, as you pointed out: if it's not searchable, then we'd have to spend a second life browsing through our first. Then there are some privacy issues, which will probably be ignored in practice, if past history is any guide. But it has some very interesting consequences on human interaction.

stcredzero 17y ago
if it's not searchable, then we'd have to spend a second life browsing through our first. Just having the "faces" technology from iPhoto '09 would go a long way towards organizing this record. Have a WiFi enabled device that uses Bonjour to auto-upload when you are at home, and iPhoto can go and index the visual record based on who. There can also be an "auto-event" splitting based on dramatic changes in lighting. GPS could also be used. An interval where a person is moving across the city would constitute one event, and the interval where they are at one location would constitute another. GPS could also auto-assign names to events, like "Minneapolis Convention Center, October 16, 2009 2:30pm."

gwern 17y ago

> Thing thing I've come to realize is that it must be an integrated system that is automatically indexed and searchable, tagged by date, time, location as well as having speech recognition and face detection in order to be truly as useful as it should be. Absolutely. But do we need those systems to exist before we start life-logging? As long as the data is available, we can always go back and then index. As it is, it looks like the recording capability will be there long before the software is polished to perfection. If people wait until the software is perfect, then every day they wait is a day they'll never be able to put into the database. > I also think there should be a 30 second rolling frame buffer so that you can hit 'record' and capture five minutes of full-motion video starting 30 second earlier so that you can fully capture important conversations and the like. Short-term optimization. The real goal is just default full-motion video; collect everything. The long-term storage space is essentially here already: you can right now buy 1.5TB for ~100$ (see http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152175 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152... ). The problem is on the collection end - I mean, a fish-eye camera with 1gb for $800? How much is a 16gb flash drive these days, 30$? Instead of hacking around the limits, let's just do the right thing: a small video camera hooked up to a couple dozen gigabytes of Flash. How much? Well, I've heard that a minute of H.264 480 x 272 is about 3.5mb, let's call it 4mb. Recording sleep is useless, so 4 * 60 * 16 = 3840; 3.8 gigs per day means that even a basic flash drive would suffice for multiple days of video, and that we fill up our 100$ 1500mb hard-drive in ~394 days, or more than a year. (I keep wondering: is it really that difficult to have a small video camera, that all these researchers keep using still cameras? Why don't we have easy life-logging now? As you say, all of the tech exists.)

ams6110 17y ago
Why don't we have easy life-logging now? I don't get why you'd want to do this. Sorry I just don't get it. Why would you want to record your whole life, especially on a pendant-cam that would be bouncy and pointing at something irrelevant half the time. If a lot of people would want something like this, I must really be getting old and out of touch. I guess it might appeal to the types of people who keep diaries or journals now. I'm not one of them, and neither is anyone I know. Do you keep an audio record of your whole life now? That's been feasible for a long time. Why not? What about video would make you start?