Today's Debate: Ready for the Always-on revolution?

Since 2003 I have been writing sporadically about the World of Always-on.

The idea is that tiny sensors, motes and actuators would be linked together via your WiFi network to track your health, your house, and your property.

The "killer app" here has always been health. Tiny heart monitors might alert doctors to coming strokes, heart attacks, and glucose emergencies if the data was plentiful and analysis came in on-time for them to act.

That's where the new paper batteries developed at RPI come into play.

The technology imprints carbon nanotubes on a paper substrate. The result is a battery that is rechargeable, flexible, tiny, and can stand up to extremes in temperature.

This makes it perfect for use in tiny devices on your lawn, in your home, or on your person. They could alert your router when they need a charge, and a plug-in unit could deliver the new power quickly.

The question then becomes, are we ready to deal with the implications? Will you take action based on a data stream, or will you let that data stream take action for you?