Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing-wax, and... DAVE?
Okay, it's new-technology review day. (Mostly because I can't think of anything meaningful, and if I'm going to have my own cathartic, angst-ridden blog then I reserve the right to bore my hypothetical readers to tears.)
The gadget which I feel is truly going to affect my technology experience in the near future, is a device called DAVE. It's developed by Seagate, and the acronym stands for Digital Audio Video Experience.
Essentially, it's a little portable hard drive. What makes it interesting is that it's a completely self-contained battery-powered device which uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for connectivity, in a cellphone-sized package. Imagine just grabbing your DAVE on your way out the door, throwing it into your handbag or backpack, and having an extra 10-20 gigabytes' worth of music to listen to on your phone, directly off the pre-paired Bluetooth hard drive.
Luckily, the possibilities do not end there, or this would be a very poor gadget.
Imagine this device, not just in your pocket, but in everyone's. Imagine pre-arranged pairing keys and the rise of Personal Area Network filesharing. A simple Bittorrent client on your phone, a Python-on-Symbian script constantly checking for a pre-defined list of media that you're interested in, and a couple of DAVEs in your backpack... I'm all in favour of doing this filesharing legitimately, by the way. Add a unique identifying code to each piece of media, and arrange a micro-payment system that makes a deduction off your phone's account for each successful download of, say, your favourite TV series.
What does all this add up to? A totally legal filesharing system, with all the convenience of today's illegal peer-to-peer networks.
Why would people choose to go the legal route than the illegal one? The same reason that people are more than happy to pay US$1.29 for a DRM-free track on Apple's iTunes, rather than US$0.99 for a DRM-encumbered track. If I could download quality media from my peers and pay for it directly from my phone's (prepaid or credit) balance, I would rather do that than download the same media illegally. Many media consumers are teens, or do not have a credit or other charge card with which to buy digital copies of there media... But many people have cellphones. It's safe to assume that, if they've got the wherewithal to afford a DAVE, they can afford a prepaid airtime voucher with which to make a micro-payment contribution towards the cost of the media which they are consuming.
Or maybe I'm an idealist. Time will tell.
