NYTimes.com Article: Michael K. Powell: Zap! The Form’s Filled Out

This article from NYTimes.com 
has been sent to you by klotz@graflex.org.


Today's New York Times has an article on 10 Technology Wishes for the future from US technocrats and celebrities.

The wish from Michael Powell, chair of the FCC, is for a personal data appliance that negotiates with businesses and government and fills out their forms for you.  He calls it the MePod.

klotz@graflex.org

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Michael K. Powell: Zap! The Form’s Filled Out

October 30, 2003
 Michael K. Powell is Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. 



 

As a husband, father, citizen and professional, I am
constantly having to recall personal data and financial
information and information about my kids' dates of birth,
Social Security numbers - just a myriad of information.
When the mortgage rates drop, I have to fill out 10 sheets
of paper. When I get my car registered, I fill out other
sheets of paper. When my kids sign up for soccer or
gymnastics, there are more forms. 

I would love to have a small device like the Apple iPod in
a small relational database to store virtually everything I
would need for family and personal records, including
health records. Let's say it would be coded so that when
you went to the doctor for a checkup, it could beam your
records to you, and when you went to the D.M.V., you could
just get scanned and it would get your information. When
you file your taxes, the I.R.S. would give you an interface
to fill out your tax forms and your mortgage records. And
you would have Wi-Fi so you can upload and download
information. 

So when my mortgage broker calls and says, "Rates have
dropped; fill out the forms," I could instantly upload my
data into the housing mortgage forms. When my kids go to
sign up for soccer, they would give me the form and the
device would automatically fill out the form with this
simple iPod-like interface. Same thing with the D.M.V.
registration. 

Until we start giving families something more useful than
just the gadget that the 10-year-old kid has, I don't think
we've started to turn technology into something for the
masses, for everyone. This is the MePod. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/30/technology/circuits/30hand.html?ex=1068532929&ei=1&en=e37532c6277e0ee9


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Received on Thursday, 30 October 2003 11:56:15 UTC