We all have experienced a lapse in memory from time to time. It’s especially disappointing when the memory you’re trying to recall is one of importance, such as a special family event or vacation. Over the decades, the popularization of camcorders and cameras have helped us forever capture memories, but only the moments chosen by the person operating the camera.

Microsoft Research has developed a device called the SenseCam that is proving to be a great tool for memory loss. The digital camera is worn around the users neck, and is equipped with a fish-eye lens in order to capture as much information as possible. The SenseCam takes up to two pictures a minute without having to be prompted, and can store up to 30,000 photos on a 1GB flash memory card. This allows the user to view a thorough recount of their day picture by picture, or by compiling them all in a stop-motion fashion.

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I recently came across a story of that is gaining a significant amount of support behind it. And I wanted to know where it might lead us as cinematographers if it were to happen. There are a couple of similarities amongst two people that I found to be quite interesting. Both are artists, both are creative and very passionate and both only have the use of one eye. Here is where things get interesting; both have one prosthetic eye… which they hope to install a web cam into. Rob Spence is a filmmaker who hopes that installing a webcam in his eye socket would help him to become a so-called “lifecaster.” While Tanya Vlach is an artist who hopes that installing a webcam in her eye socket would become a source of “augmented reality.”

As a video enthusiast I found the story very compelling in that it makes me think of the days of when webcams first hit the market and now, the idea of inserting one into a human eye is not that far off from happening. What do you guys think?