A group from New York University (NYU)’s Interactive Telecommunications program has come up with an intriguing idea that seems to have struck a chord. Their “Needies” are soft stuffed toys with microprocessors and wireless technology that not only vocally request attention from the people around them and respond well to being petted and held, but actively compete between each other for attention. Jealous Needies may shout out “me, me, me!” or even “throw him!” if another Needy is being held. A video interview shows the Needies in action.

This reminds me of Paro, the Japanese robot seal, which responds to affection (but without the jealousy). It has successfully been tested with autistic and handicapped children and with elderly people, who can respond by becoming more social and interactive with other humans. Other robots are being used for similar therapeutic applications based on human/ machine bonding. While the Needies are intended as novelty toys, there is no question that people will will increasingly form emotional ties with robots. Tamagotchi was just the beginning. When robots are cuddly, responsive, and can speak, real bonds will be formed. A robot nanny that children will love will be here in a basic form in the next few years. Of course it would terrible if people left robots to bring up their children. But emotion-focused robots can and will play a positive role in play, care, and society.

The big story this week has been how Sony BMG has way overstepped the mark by how they have used digital rights management (DRM) technology to prevent copying of its music CDs. This could shift the course of the debate and public perception of DRM. For those who haven’t read about this yet, Mark Russinovich, a specialist in the deep innards of PCs, stumbled across a “rootkit” installed in his computer. A rootkit is software that installs itself at the heart of the PC operating system and reconfigures files to hide its presence. Not surprisingly, this technology is usually only ever found in “malware” that is designed with nefarious intent. In this case, it turned out to have been installed when Mark had played a Sony CD on his PC. There are a couple of interesting implications of the installation of the rootkit. Anyone who tries to delete this uninvited presence on their PC risks irremediably damaging their computer. In addition, the presence of the rootkit makes it far easier for people less benevolent than Sony to hack into the PC and hide their activities, including from anti-virus software. This is potentially a massive security risk. While Sony states on the CD packaging that it has used copy protection software, it doesn’t indicate in any way what this software does. While consumers can ask Sony to uninstall the rootkit, they need to apply, provide personal details, and are then given another piece of software to uninstall it.

There is no question that Sony has gone too far here, certainly ethically, and potentially legally. While the protection software was extremely carefully hidden, it was naïve at best to imagine it would not be uncovered, and for this to become a public issue. Increased transparency is one of the most powerful trends today. The reality of transparency is not only that things get found out, but that if people are interested, word will spread very rapidly. While all the mainstream media reported this story after the case, this was first reported on a blog, and news spread through blogs. The very measure of people’s distaste for Sony BMG’s activities is how quickly this became a major story. In trying to hide what they are doing in their customers’ PCs, Sony BMG has created security risks for their customers, and created a major problem for itself. Openness is and will be rewarded in the market. Sony BMG doesn’t understand this, and undoubtedly will be punished in the market. Digital rights management has a role, but precisely how it works must be visible. Otherwise the backlash will be far bigger than the entertainment and content companies seem to comprehend.

I am currently flying on Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Hong Kong. Lufthansa is one of the first airlines to use Boeing’s Connexion service, which allows in-flight internet access. This post is going live while I am approximately 30,000 feet above Kazakhstan or thereabouts. So, airplanes no longer provide that personal space where you are far from responsibility, and can’t access email on what’s going wrong in the office, or find out the latest news. The other side of this story is the fact that we have to exert choice. If we are always accessible on our mobile devices, we are the only ones who can press the off switch. Many people tell me how they can’t resist checking their Blackberry’s, even at home or during the night when messages come in. So far we’ve been able to get out of mobile range or away from email. No longer. Strong will and managing others’ expectations are essential in choosing and creating pockets that are entirely your own, unbeholden to others. Are you up to it, or will you be always connected?

One of the most important concepts of the digital world is aggregation. The Internet gives us access to far more information and services than we can handle. We have to choose what we access, unless there is a way of bringing together relevant sources into one place. In this vein, Lycos has recently released a dating seach aggregator, which allows users to search for potential partners across iMatchup, loveaccess, Matchmaker, and True. One point provides access to all of the people across these sites. A company currently getting a lot of attention, Oodle, searches and aggregates classifieds listings across eBay, Craigslist and many more sites. Why go to the individual sites when an aggregator can give you access to them all? The increasingly open nature of the Internet, based on web services, published APIs (application programming interfaces), and other tools to integrate digital flows, means that aggregation is far easier to implement than in the dot-com days. Expect many more innovative plays in this space.

The New York Times reports on increasing valuations for start-ups, with venture capitalists having to pay more to get into deals such as the recent rounds for the school social networking company Facebook and podcasting platform Odeo. That these companies are so hot is a great illustration of the themes explored by this blog.

On another level, this is one possible early-warning sign of another tech boom. For around four years now the technology sector has been subdued, hardly surprising after the extravagances of the dot-com boom. What’s interesting is that in this decade we have in fact seen many of the wild predictions of the late 90s quietly come to pass. Moving on from the selling-pet-food-over-the-Internet phase of technology commercialization, there is now a swelter of new technologies and – more importantly – applications that are compelling (or at least appear to be). Social networking technologies, pattern recognition, bioinformatics, new generation content production and distribution, location-based services and far more represent some of the new wave of opportunities. I believe it is inevitable that at some point within the next five years we will go through another technology boom, perhaps not dissimilar to that of the turn of the century. Those fateful words: “This time it’s different,” will be heard. So for those that missed out on the first boom, position yourself well!