An announcement was made last week that introduced a change to the way we will live our lives. Metaplace is coming…
The site looks kinda hokey, but that’s ‘cos it’s aimed at its initial target market – cheesy gamers. Eventually though, it will affect each and every one of us, for Metaplace could be just the kick in the arse that Virtual Reality has been waiting for.
Since that fateful day in the 80′s when the ZX81 moved in I’ve stumbled through a couple of decades of technology consumption, leaving a dusty trail of discarded beige computer casings and screens in my wake…towards…I dunno…just the next funky little box I guess. Whatever ‘They’ come up with next for me to use, consume and discard. I’m probably a little more addicted to gadgets than the average bear, but I doubt this pattern is too different to most. Looking back, the most interesting and disturbing feature of this acquisition and disposal cycle is that I’ve rarely needed (not wanted – I’m addicted, remember) any of this shit until it’s hit the store shelves. But the point is, I’m a Technology Victim – and I doubt I’m alone.
In capturing and documenting our lives online we’re providing a potential surveillance feed of ourselves – and of those around us. When you chuck in geo-tagging using cell towers, and the time and date saved with your files, it’s possible that you are providing whoever wants to see it with a complete record of where you’ve been, when you were there, who you were with and what you were doing. And as network speeds and devices improve, the ability to stream video from webcams in your house or in your hand means that this record will be available real-time…