I did what?
I have often written about combining my two favorite passtimes–signal processing and narcissism–into new inventions. Here’s another one in that column:
I’ve been watching TED videos lately, and I created a spreadsheet to help me track which ones I’ve watched. The spreadsheet has the name, link, time, and some notes by me. By why should I have to record all of this information? Wouldn’t it be really easy to have a little piece of software that automatically tracks which videos I watch when?
I suspect a lot of companies already track similar statistics online for YouTube watching and Hulu and whatnot. But why shouldn’t I know as much about me as they do? I know there are existing programs that track your browser history, but I want something a bit more intelligent, that can tell me if I was watching videos, checking email, whatever. Additionally, I’d like all of these things linked into a calendar and a journal so I could tie things together. Lastly, how about a nice graphical interface so I could sail back through my own past?
Now, much like washing your car guarantees rain and mud, or going to the bathroom in a restaurant summons the waiter to deliver your food, I trust that having written about this will mean that somebody has already done it.