The new "cool" is perceived green, ecologically responsible, environmentally conscious! I say perceived because an effort in this direction goes a long way. Everybody jump on the green machine...and get GREEN HOT!!
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Digital Footprints
With all the talk over the last few years about the "Ecological footprints" that we humans are leaving on the planet, it has me thinking about other types of footprints.
When I was a kid growing up in the South you'd be walking through the country with some guys, see a print/track and (insert old geezer voice here) "That's a white tail deer track there."
Footprints mean tracks, tracks mean you can be followed, and being followed means you can be caught.
Which pulls me to the place where I am today...if humans leave footprints everywhere we go, that doesn't have implications for just mother earth...but in so many other facets as well. We leave footprints everywhere...and that's not always bad, or easily avoided.
Digital Footprints - are tied to your credit-card purchases, web activity, and possibly your keystrokes if you work for an untrusting company. But, that's about it right? Maybe for now...but what happens when Near Field Communication is a standard operating procedure in our lives. NFC is like BlueTooth with money. Instead of your PDA hooking up with your printer via a short range wireless connection, this would be your cellphone being used to purchase a can of coke from the vending machine, using short range wireless technology. It's coming...and soon.
But the best one yet is Skinplex. Skinplex is patented by a German Company called Ident Technology. Essentially it would allow the user to wear an "identifier" on his or her body and when their skin comes in contact with, say a car door with receptor pads on the handle, then the car door could be unlocked. One could presume that in the future this would allow us to simply shake hands and transfer vital documents via skin, that could later be downloaded to a computer. "Hey Earl, do you have that word document I asked for?" Oh yeah, here it is (hand shake)
"And, hey - I need that PowerPoint file you created for a presentation I'm giving, do you have it on you?" "Oh sure, but it's a HUGE file...come here and I'll French it over to you."