Dear Diary, no one needs you anymore.
Memories are about to get a lot more real — Google was just awarded a patent to create searchable video for every moment in your life.
Here’s how it would work: Wearing a headset similar to Google Glass, you will be able to record audio and video using a mounted camera. You could set the camera to record constantly, you could turn it on or off with a command, or you could set it to automatically start and stop recording during a set period of time or when you are at a particular location.
As the video gets uploaded to Google’s servers, you’d be able to go back and “Google” your own memories.
To trigger memories, customers would ask Google questions like, “What were the paintings I saw when I was on vacation in Paris?” or “How many books did I read in May?”
Those are harmless but some of the search criteria suggested by the patent get into tricky arenas. Asking “Where were my friends last night?” may illicit feelings of jealousy if you see people at a party you weren’t invited to.
According to the patent, Google would let you choose people to share memories with. Each memory snippet will be indexed with a time stamp and a location tag.
Although the patent includes technology that looks a lot like Google Glass, the patent was filed in August 2011, well before the first Google Glass Explorer Edition was released in 2013.
It’s too early to say if and when the technology well ever come into being. Many patents never end up becoming products, and Google Glass has been taken off the market (though a new Glass product for corporations is in the works).
Also, this Big Brother-esque media capturing device might be getting too close for comfort. Even if the stalker vibe of people filming all day, every day, might be manageable, the prospect of your every memory being hacked in the cloud remains a concern.
Still, if it does become reality, forgetting (for better or worse) could become a thing of the past.
