Let me describe an average, believe it or not, scenario of current end-users in today's world.

1. A device of some sort like a smart'ish phone.
2. A laptop
3. A home desktop
4. Mp3 player (iPod, Zune, Sansa, etc...)
5. Game Console (Xbox 360, Wii, PS2/3)

Some of the common tasks that are accomplished are:

• Browsing the Internet
• Bookmarking
• writing reports or documents
• listening to music
• checking e-mail
• watching video
• gaming
• social networking stuff (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc...)
• Phone conversations / chatting / text-messaging

The above is where things break down they are almost all broken apart each "device" does something different or in a broken manner where the other "device" doesn't benefit or help the other.  Take music for example you may have music on your laptop, desktop, iPod and Game console. However, there may be different music on all of them, but to get them all "synchronized", for lack of a better term, would take hours and usually beyond the scope of the average end-user of these products.

We can also look at browsing the Internet and bookmarks.  Currently, if you are on your laptop looking at something you won't be able to access it with a single click from the mouse, or that simplistically.  It would take remotely connecting into the other computer, synchronizing bookmarks or going to a social bookmark site.  It would take quite a bit of work to accomplish this.  In the end it would be a HUGE headache, and the end-user still has to do a lot of leg work.

Here is how things _should_ be:

You get to your desktop at home in the morning check your e-mail that has all your tasks, todo's, and events easily noticeable location so you can glance at it quickly make a change or two and get back to your e-mail.  Next, you go looking through your e-mail and see a link you want to read so you open it in your browser.  Wait, you realize that you want to listen to some music, but you want something different.  You log into your music download app say iTunes.  Download some new music and turn it on and listen while going through more e-mail.  So, now you are done with your e-mail and get up and go to the kitchen for breakfast, but like the music you are listening to so you quickly turn on the game console in the living room that is adjacent to your kitchen, but away from your office.  You navigate to that song and pickup with the music you just downloaded and queued up without hitting anything extra like sync or get.

A little later you are off and out the door dressed you have your phone/mp3 player, keys and laptop for work and/or school.  Then you get an e-mail you open your phone check the e-mail, not important so you continue.  Now, you are parking and have a few block walk to your office for work or school so you open your phone and turn on the music you just got from your desktop. Next, you are on your laptop browsing the net.  Wait, you opened up a site in your browser at home, but got distracted and don't remember exactly where you got the site link.  No problem you hit a button now all the sites on your home browser are in new tabs in your current browser.  While going through the new site you decide to open up iTunes on the laptop and download some more music so you do, but unfortunately you have to go so you don't get to listen to the music.

Finally, you are home for the evening and want to prepare a nice dinner, but remember you have music you want to listen to that you got earlier from the laptop so you walk over to the game console and hit play.  After dinner you sit down and start a movie that you are really getting into, but realize you forgot to do some work so you go into your office flip on your TV and continue the movie from where you left off and get to work on your desktop doing what ever you needed to do.

That is how technology should work for the end-user.  Completely seamless, everything you want or do is always at your fingertips with little to no effort to get what you want or need.  Now, I have no idea if this is even possible at this point in time from my experience it is close, but has a way's to go and takes a lot of leg work to get working properly. Even then it fails to much. The above scenario is where we should be for the end-user and I am always on the look out to get there for the masses.