Taking into account that yesterday, January 27th, was the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I was wondering about the new way we are collecting our remembrance. The human kind has always relied on objects and visual aids to help remember the past and the important things of one’s mind or of  a collective group.

Think about the reminiscences boxes and rooms of the popes and kings, the cathedrals and books of medieval time. The archial mind of the illuminist created the science classification, the encyclopedia, the museums and other collector’s institutes. Mostly of it today has been digitalized and it’s available on internet. The computer has become our reminiscence box.

All we need to know and remember is saved there, somewhere in the virtual space. The interesting thing is that this new technology, although easier to access, has become very hard to keep. The biggest problem today is how to save all the data we produce.

The breakthrough seems to be the external data base servers that can also be used for processing programs that can’t be held in our own personal computers. When it is necessary to exchange a large number of data in real time, when the amount of bandwidth is increasing geometrically, one of the best solutions available today is to rely on an optical fiber infrastructure that allows not only the larger info exchange but also the real time interaction between personal computer and server.

Today I want to talk about a service improving your digital memory. It is a simple but effective solution and it is simple to use. I think in the near future people will become addicted to services like this.
ReQall (www.reqall.com) is a voice-enabled memory aid that seamlessly integrates your mobile phone, email, text messaging, IM and News Feed into an organizer, reminder system and “productivity assistant”. This service helps you to capture your ideas, tasks and commitments, and proactively it advises you. If you want to make sure you get your reminders reQall sends reminders to you.

ReQall has different ways to help your digital memory, because it analyzes your situation, looking at the current time, your location and the upcoming items on your calendar and automatically delivers important memory assistance.

You can choose to use email, text messages and instant messages to aid your memory and reQall sends you a notice when you add something via the phone and it can send you reminders. You may also get a daily memory to-do list.

It is possible to integrate reQall with the devices and programs that you are already using:  You can use reQall from any phone (iPhones, BlackBerry, smartphones), web browser, AIM, Jabber, Google Talk and Yahoo IM, Outlook Canlendar, Google Canlendar, Email, Evernote.

For example reQall for iPhone is a free application that you can download from Apple App Store and this client makes your iPhone a hub of your digital life because it captures tasks and ideas using your voice and automatically it organizes your information, integrates with your Outlook or Google Calendar, shares reminders with others and provides proactive memory assistance.

You speak or type your reminders into your iPhone; reQall will convert what you say to text and get your items organized automatically. It recognizes dates and times, location (you can see a map of what you need to do nearby) and certain keywords: “buy,” “meet”, “note”, “at home” and “at work” in your speech or text. You will receive timely reminders via email or IM and you can share these reminders with your friends, family and co-workers, using your iPhone’s contact list. I found very nice that if you shake your iPhone  reQall shows you “something you forgot”…
In the plus version you can add items by voice or text directly to your Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar and Tasks. You can even bring your iPhone to your ear and it will automatically start recording

So the real vision about a service to help you to increase your memory is to give a user a new experience about the value of keeping a digital diary, a place where to put all your digital Life: now there is a value only about reminders-organizer, but in the future, why not, even about health, entertainment, security… Who will be the winning players in this new business?