Russell Beattie (of whom I'm one fan among many) wrote something recently about Communicontent I've been puzzling over ever since.

The idea, which is valid, is that through blogging ordinary communication becomes content. I know this is true because my own newsletter, a-clue.com, has been losing readers ever since I started blogging here. It's not just that readers prefer getting my thoughts through the blog instead of e-mail. It's that the one-week lag between my writing and your reading is eliminated by blogging. You're not just an audience here, you're practically reading over my shoulder as I type.

But it seems to me this is old news.

The true revolution happens when new types of data, and programs, become invisible to you. That's really what Always-On is all about.

Let's look at one example.

Your shirt monitors your heart function, and software tells your doctor, or an ambulance, when to be worried about it. Or it can tell your coach how you really did during today's workout, so your training regimen is modified and you're certain to run your best race at the Olympic trials. (And let's not forget to add sweat analysis to those shirts, not just to detect drugs but to tell your doctor that you're at your best.)

We've had software that analyzes cardio data for years. We've had sensors that picked it up. Wireless networking is no big deal. But until now this could only be dealt with by a specialist, by appointment -- it was called a "stress test." Now it can be a constant in your life, mountains of data constantly analyzed, the output being slight changes in lifestyle to gain peak performance or just keep the old jalopy running a little longer.

That's a medical application. Let's look at a home automation application.

Sensors in the wall monitor, not just the temperature and humidity of ythe air in various rooms, but the level of contaminants. The results go into turning heaters, humidifiers, and filters on-and-off, to maximize air quality and minimize your fuel costs.

We've had thermostats a long, long time. Anyone whose kid has ever suffered through a bad cold has had a humidifier. (The simplest one is a pan of water on the heating grate.) Air filters are on every car.

But now, through data, we're making these things intelligent. More important, we're putting everything -- the intelligence, and the action taken as a result -- into the background.

You'll think no more about this application than you will about whether the yogurt in your refrigerator is cold. (And that's another Always-On application -- tracking the fridge so you know what you have, and whether it's spoiled, before you try and cook with it.)

What I mean when I talk about a wireless network as a platform is that you buy it for one type of application, and then you have everything you need on which to build another type of application, then another, then another.

But most of these applications have nothing to do with media, or content. They're all in the background. They're practically invisible.

The point is that, with a little bit of tweaking, simply by defining a new platform, they're all affordable.

So what do we call this? InvisibleContent?