Using Wave we would post a requirements document. Then, since it is possible to start a conversation on any snippet of text each and every requirement could become a discussion. When a consensus is reached with the stakeholders the document owner could make the changes. No more random emails or marked up Word documents floating around. The whole document history and discussion are in one place. Nice.

Now, if only I could get a Google Wave invitation...

I finally watched the promo video on Data Robotics web site and I must say that I see why. I've been wanting to get some external storage for my computer for quite some time and I must say now that all other solutions pale in comparison to the Drobo. I am totally sold.

In a traditional external storage setup you have an enclosure with one disk. When that disk fills up you need to by another disk and either transfer your files to the new disk or use the two in parallel. Spreading your files across different volumes. If a disk fails you are out of luck and your files are gone. There are external RAID enclosures that will protect you against drive failures, but upgrading their size is a huge problem. All the disks in a RAID array need to be the same size. So, if you have a four disk array and you want to upgrade the size then you need to buy four new disks. Expensive.

In contrast, the Drobo has all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of both single disk and RAID enclosures. With the Drobo you can stick up to four drives in the enclosure, but they appear as one disk. As the Drobo runs out of space you can add in another disk, of a differing size, and it will automatically distribute the data between disks. You can hotswap disks in and out and things just work. The demo video on their web site is really the best way to explain how it works. Essentially, this means that as drive prices come down and you want to swap an older smaller drive out for a larger drive that you need not worry about copying data. Just pull the old one out and stick the new one in. It is a hotswap operation and takes literally seconds. The new drive will be configured and the space will instantly become available to your computer.

One thing past experience has taught is that while technology itself advances the networking or interface protocols tend to remain for some time.  Consider ethernet and how long it has been around.  USB, bluetooth, and firewire have all become standard ways for devices to communicate with each other.  So, while these connection technologies may eventually face the same obsolescence as the devices they interconnect, they are likely to remain standards for a long time.

Automobile manufactures could capitalize on this and instead of pre-installing all the bells and whistles they could simply provide, for example, a car-wide USB hub where all devices could interconnect.  One could envision a vehicle with a built-in computer having a touch panel screen.  As "auto ready" devices are plugged in the computer would download the appropriate drivers, buttons, and screens from the device.  So, plug in an auto ready MP3 player and a new button representing that device would automatically show up.  Put a DVD player in your trunk and LCD screens on the back of each seat and the computer would link them together and stream video over USB (or bluetooth or cartooth or whatever protocol).

Having an in-car USB network would be the ultimate car hackers delight.  What if the engine computer provided read-only data on the USB bus.  A car could be customized the way personal computers are now.  You don't like your dash board?  Swap out the dash for a new one.

I, of course, am dreaming here, but the technology already exists to do this sort of thing.

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