Chapter 8: Timeshifting Life “The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” William Gibson The above quote contains inherent truths about any research and development related to new technologies. Based on the current state of technology, we make assumptions (visions, if you prefer) on how things will be, and then seek means of reaching that state of affairs. It is a matter of prior research, societal developments, business decisions, and other more or less controlled factors that fi nally determine who gets the vision right. In most cases, the big picture will only reveal itself after some time has passed, and in hindsight it is easy to see what really happened. We will see that many of us were right – and wrong. The combination of these fragments of successful visions can be called the future of the domain in question. And many parts of this future exist today, scattered across laboratories and start-up companies around the globe. Personal Content Experience: Managing Digital Life in the Mobile Age J. Lehikoinen, A. Aaltonen, P. Huuskonen and I. Salminen © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd