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New! Choose the location of your digi.me library!

Using Digi Me, ,

We’ve just released a new version of our desktop app – and it’s a big one.

Now, for the first time, you can decide where your digi.me library will live.

Yes, in what we know will be a popular move, you can now move it to Dropbox if you want to access it from more than one computer.

But we didn’t just stop at library location! Nope, we’ve updated all of our apps so that you can access your library from all of your devices, provided they run Windows, macOS, iOS or Android.

So how does this work? Well, when you open up digi.me after updating you will see a new prompt offering you to move your library to Dropbox, and guiding you through the process. It’s as simple as that.

And it’s not a one-time deal either – you can do this, or change your library location at any time, by going to the General Settings.

This has been a mammoth task by us to ensure that no data is ever lost or corrupted as it is moved

There’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes, much of which is not visible, but we have also fixed a couple of sync and search issues that a few of you had identified.

Now we’re working on another new version that will look a lot different, with lots of exciting new features – so stay tuned!

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Spreading the joy of tech at MESTival

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We were delighted to take part in the MESTival festival at St Swithun’s School in Winchester this week.

With over 1,000 students from years 5-13 attending from across Hampshire, the festival aimed to give those attending lots of information about, as well as inspiration for, the STEM careers of science, technology, engineering and maths.

Our aim was to demonstrate the joy of tech and how rewarding a career where you can change people’s lives can be – and our demo showing just how easy coding can be to get in to went down well.

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Naturally, we also didn’t miss the opportunity to explain why the Internet of Me is the way forward for personal data and privacy, as young people now will arguably be the biggest benefactors of this in years to come.

With exhibitors including the Army and Navy, a host of STEM-related activities including rocket-powered cars, plus lots of information on potential careers and universities, hats off to St Swithun’s for organising an excellent MESTival!

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digi.me iOS app demo (trust us, you’ll love it!)

Using Digi Me, , , , , ,

We’re very proud of our digi.me iOS and Android apps, which are available to download here, and thought you’d like to have a look at all the cool features we’re added so you can make the most of your data on the go.

Everything we do, we do it for you (as Bryan Adams almost said), so sit back and enjoy – and then download!

Have something to say? Simply shake your device to leave feedback – you can’t say fairer than that!

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digi.me raises £4.2M ($6.1m) in Series A funding round

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Digi.me, the pioneering start-up revolutionising how consumers and businesses harness the power of personal data, has secured £4.2m ($6.1m) from Series A funding led by global re-insurer Swiss Re.

With the new funds digi.me will accelerate the development and launch of its unique permissioned access platform, which will soon let users bring together wide-ranging data such as health and financial information and share it – if they wish – with businesses in exchange for personalised services, convenience or reward.

Businesses who are granted access to this 100% accurate, rich and deep personal data can develop truly personalised services for their users. Digi.me’s approach delivers a true win-win proposition, enabling a value exchange that is transparent and mutually beneficial, increasing consumer trust as well as opportunities for innovation.

Digi.me founder and chairman Julian Ranger said: “This is a watershed moment for digi.me. Following our extensive work and innovation in the concept of each of us truly owning and controlling our own personal data, this investment enables us to make the Internet of Me available to everyone, consumers and businesses alike.

“This concept, which is better for the individual and also better for businesses who can access rich data with full user permission, while meeting all new data protection rules such as the GDPR, will allow digi.me to accelerate its activities with a number of multi-national companies who we are already working with, and bring further major businesses into our new ecosystem.”

Daniel Ryan, Head of Digital Analytics Catalysts at Swiss Re, said: “People want to be in control of their data, and many have strong views over what they are willing to share and what they want to keep private.  We’re excited about digi.me because it will enable people to go one step further, and provide full transparency over how they can use their data to access services and benefits.”

Digi.me’s current version of the app, which gathers pictures and posts from the major social media networks, already has over 400,000 users in 140 countries. It proved that aggregating personal data streams to bring them to life achieves greater value and personal insight that is impossible to get when that data is scattered across the web.

With the digi.me app, users have their online life at their fingertips with tools including universal search across all platforms, daily flashbacks, the ability to create custom collections of content, data export and more. Soon, it will be possible for users to add their financial and health information. Other streams of personal data will be added in the future.

Digi.me’s unique approach and technology also guarantees that all user data remains wholly private to the individual. Digi.me doesn’t see, touch nor hold any of the personal data downloaded by the user. The app, now available on PC, Mac, iOS and Android, simply aggregates, normalises, indexes and encrypts the data allowing it to be searched, presented and shared in ways that were impossible until now.

The successful Series A funding builds on a very strong period of growth and influence for digi.me. The last 12 months saw the announcements of its partnerships with Toshiba, Lenovo and Evernote and the appointment of Jim Pasquale as Executive Vice President North America as part of its international expansion plans. The company also attracted prestigious members to its advisory board including internet visionaries Doc Searls and Gordon Bell, as well as industry leaders Rafael Marin, Stephanie Liston and Guy Whittaker.

Digi.me, which has now raised £7.1m ($10.2m) since launching in 2009, has huge ambitions and is working on projects with world-leading businesses in the health, finance, FMCG and telco sectors. It is also on course to set up a ‘living lab’ that will be announced later this year.

Digi.me is available on desktop for PC and Mac https://digi.me/download-trial and for mobile on iOS and Android http://try.digi.me/

Journalist? Find our press pack here

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digi.me and the Internet of Me is all about user centricity

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There’s been a lot of buzz around ‘user centricity’ lately, as a technology megatrend that will unite all others before it.

It stems from an excellent post by Andy Weissman of USV, where he expands on the theme of people being the CEO of their own health, with doctors as their consultants.

As he says, and we agree wholeheartedly with, technology is becoming more and more personal – and people expect that to extend to every area of their lives, including how they manage their health.

In short, they want to be at the centre of their medical universe – and with an increasing number of phone apps that can do actual medical tests and track the likes of fertility, there’s clear evidence that this is already starting to happen.

Aggregrating different streams of information to provide a whole more useful and insightful than the sum of its parts is our guiding vision here at digi.me.

As part of that, we will shortly be giving users the ability to add full health and financial data to their personal data libraries, making them a more rounded and complete picture of their owners’ lives. And with it the ability to do more with that data as well as be in control of it. More data streams will then follow.

Uniting lots of common technological themes and magnifying them is what makes user centricity a megatrend. So platforms such as digi.me, which unlocks the power of personal data for the benefit of users and consumers, and the Internet of Me which seeks to put users at the centre of their connected lives are both prime examples of user centricity, writ large and actually in existence in lives today.

Andy goes on to note: “What is happening may be that the components of medical care are being reordered into something new – patient demanded and patient centric. Defined by the user and user needs…The thing that ties all these together is putting the user – the consumer of the healthcare – at the center of the universe and building out from there.”

User centricity is a growing trend and belief that we can expect to see and hear more and more of in every aspect of our lives, as industries of all kinds acknowledge the power people have in their phones, their data and the associated personal data stores they create, and work with that rather than against it.

And because user centricity is a trend that each of us will be part of and benefit from, we look forward to that happening sooner rather than later.

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How Facebook plans to change the face of personal data

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It’s an exciting time for personal data – and the time is now to innovate around the defining debate of our time.

That’s the view of Stephen Deadman, Facebook’s global deputy chief privacy officer, who has just launched an impassioned plea for a new debate and structures that will maximise the use of data for innovation while preserving individual freedoms such as the right to privacy.

In launching a consultation report aimed at creating a new coalition on personal data (in which digi.me participated), he pointed out that the current debate around who should share, use and be protected by data stemmed back to the dawn of computing, when no-one anticipated how important the person in personal data would become.

He said: “As a result, many now think there is an unavoidable trade-off between two apparently opposing forces – the desire for innovation and growth, and the right to privacy and security. That if you want innovation and growth you must be prepared to sacrifice privacy, and that if you want data protection and privacy it will have to come at the expense of innovation and growth. Neither is true.”

In fact, he says, what we have is the worst of both worlds – traditional industries being overtaken by more innovative technologies, and plummeting consumer confidence and trust despite decades of regulation designed to create the opposite. And the debate between the two sides is becoming increasingly adversarial – a war on data, as we have called it.

But yet, as he also pointed out: “No one wants a trade-off between privacy and innovation. I can’t remember the last time I met a business leader who thinks riding roughshod over people’s fundamental rights is a good idea. Likewise, none of the many policy makers and regulators I’ve met over the years actually wants to stifle growth and innovation. We all want both.”

And this is so true, but rarely understood or acted on – which needs to change, and fast.

At the launch, he quoted digi.me as one of three business from the 175 who took part who exemplified everything he wanted the new data economy to be: “Consumers want more control over their data. They want to get more value from their data and entrepreneurs are now rushing to give them both. Just look at digi.me, which is creating a user-controlled marketplace around personal data.”

And we’re proud to be at the forefront of innovation in a vastly important area that affects each of us.

But we all need to be moving and pulling in the same direction if this new movement around personal data is to achieve its full potential.

It’s great news that Facebook is launching a new collaboration over personal data, based on its work over the past 12 months – big names getting on board is always important to any new set of structures and thinking being adopted.

But, as Stephen says, we all have our part to play: “Europe has just adopted a new framework for data protection. But this is just the start – the success or failure of the GDPR is ultimately in the hands of regulators and industry. If the intention is to enable Europe to capitalise on its enormous creative talents, we need to find ways to harness that creativity to deliver the things and experiences that people want – including the way people’s data is controlled or protected.

“That creativity will largely need to come from industry – and our plea to policy makers and regulators is to give industry the space to act and innovate in this direction. We will need to adopt a new collaborative approach: If we’re going to build people’s trust in European industry and regulation, we need to start by building trust between industry and regulators.”

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Facebook Moments picture delete: back-up with digi.me instead

Data Privacy, Using Digi Me, , ,

Facebook has announced it is deleting photos “privately synced from your phone” to the website unless you use its new app – but what does this mean?

Well, in line with Facebook’s previous aggressive pushes to get users to download its stand-alone apps (see also Messenger), it’s trying to get people to use its new Moments photo-sharing app.

Photos previously synced to Facebook (but not shared on profiles) were moved across to Moments earlier this year, and now users are being warned that they will be deleted unless they download and login to the Moments app by July 7.

And it seems to have worked – according to reports Moments soared to the top of the free iPhone download charts as this became public, from a position of around 90-100.

Of these, many are likely users who panicked and didn’t know what this meant for them or their personal photos – so what lessons can we take from this?

One, really – always back up your content. Always have it in at least two places so no-one else can delete it or take it away from you.

While we couldn’t have helped in this specific instance as the pictures weren’t posted to profiles, they were effectively just synced with your account, it is a good idea to back up your social media content generally.

And as we offer so much more, including universal search, insights and our new mobile apps, it makes sense to do it with us!

But whatever you choose – stay in control and don’t your data be held hostage. It’s too important for that.

digi.me now available for free on iOS and Android

Announcements, Data Privacy, Using Digi Me, , , ,

mobile digi.me

We are delighted to announce that a digi.me app is now available on the Apple App Store so everyone can see, search, save and share all their social media pictures and pins on the move.

digi.me has brought the best of its desktop application available on PC and Mac to mobile, so you can see all your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr and Pinterest pictures and pins you’ve posted and liked in one place.

The digi.me app automatically shows you all your content, which you can browse through at leisure. It also features improved search as well as filtering functions so you can narrow down what you look for by keyword, platform post and type, person, time period, album, board or a combination of these.

When you have found what you are looking for or you have re-discovered a forgotten gem, one Swipe helps you save it to your device, send it in a message or email, see it in its original location, complete with likes and comments.  You can also save your favourite searches to come back to quickly and easily to the content or topics you are regularly looking for.

“The team have worked hard to make sure you get to the photo you’re looking for as quickly as you can think of it. We’ve had a lot of fun building, optimising and using the app and hope that is reflected in your day to day use”, said Pascal Wheeler, digi.me Chief Creative Officer.

“We’ve created widgets for Flashback, your posts, your likes, and photos you’re tagged in – and more are in development, so stay tuned!”

As with the digi.me desktop version, all user data remains wholly private as digi.me doesn’t see, touch or hold any of your information, which you download directly to your device or your personal cloud that only you have access to.

An Android version of the App has also been launched and can be downloaded here.

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In pictures: a month in the life of digi.me

Data Privacy, ,

We always working hard to improve both our apps and personal data privacy in general – but we get around the world a bit as well!

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Our founder and chairman Julian Ranger is in demand as a privacy expert and speaker worldwide, and here he is speaking at a conference on the future of data in banking in Iceland…

Icelandic-press

…and making the Icelandic press with our defining vision of the Internet of Me, where the individual is at the centre of their connected life.

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The digi.me team are based all over the world – but a meet-up near our Farnham HQ was a welcome chance to catch up as well as discuss strategy for the (exciting) year ahead. Our EVP North America Jim Pasquale here with Julian…

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…and our CEO Rory Donnelly…

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…and meeting some of our developers (and making them laugh, he’s a funny guy!)

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There was time for a few photos (here with Chief Creative Officer Pascal Wheeler)…

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…before he and Julian headed back to New York for the UN ID2020 event…

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… a global initiative looking at how to provide legal identity and inclusion for trafficked people, refugees, children and disaster relief victims

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Rory presenting digi.me at The Next Web’s Super Launchpad in Amsterdam…

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…before taking charge of the stand in the Microsoft booth demonstrating our app to eager attendees

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You, yes YOU, should be the most important thing in the Internet of Things

Data Privacy, Using Digi Me, , , , ,

The second part of the extensive interview with our founder and chairman Julian Ranger has been published, focusing on why the IoT needs an Internet of Me to make it real and fix obvious and glaring privacy and security issues.

It’s a cracking read, and covers a lot of ground including the war on privacy, why data collection needs to move from behind us to in front of us, and why the way apps and devices handle data needs to undergo a fundmental shift.

I can’t recommend it highly enough if you have any interest at all in the field of personal data privacy and the personal data economy (which we all, of course, should have) – so here are a couple of choice quotes to whet your appetite:

“The Internet of Things at the moment is being built on data that is collected behind us. It needs to move in front of us. We need a path towards that, from the dark side to the light side. The IoT can’t work behind us, which is the way it’s been built today. That’s just loading more rubbish on a rubbish framework. There needs to be a new framework.”

“A large part of the cost of IoT is that all this data is being racked up into offline storage that companies are having to do. It is uneconomic to keep supporting old stuff. But what would happen if the data came to me first — not necessarily just into digi.me but wherever I choose to keep it — and I then decided where it went? If a business no longer wants to support it I can still keep this piece of kit and it keeps talking to my system for ever if I want, but more importantly I get to control where the data goes.”

Tempted? Excellent – it’s well worth your time.

And if you missed the first interview, which took place over on the Internet of Me forum which we sponsor and support, you can find that here.