While reviewing a white paper by a colleague on the subject of personal digital archives, I realized that I hadn’t followed through on a plan to consolidate a few different caches of digital photos from various digicam and computer eras. So of course, when I went looking, things weren’t exactly the way I remembered. One particular batch was missing, and there were some anxious moments while I booted up dormant computers and mounted shelved disks. In the end I found the missing set, but although I could have sworn they were in three safe places, there was really only one.

In these moments of panic, the need for a lifebits service becomes crystal clear. But the moments pass, and we move on. Most people, most of the time, don’t yet feel the need for that kind of service.

Inevitably that will change. I wonder how, and when?