LIKE many people who continually travel, I always carry a selection of pictures of my wife and children. These automatically appear on my laptop as part of my screensaver function, and I can also manually pull up pictures to decorate my hotel room or office wherever I might be. Like the paper versions I no longer carry, these provide a level of home comfort, and augment my email and telephone conversations. I always find it reassuring to look at a picture of my wife and children as I talk to them from some distant location.

I also find myself thinking of my family during the inevitable lulls in meetings and conferences, and while travelling by air, train and car. Mostly, I resort to gently turning the wedding ring on my left hand as I contemplate recent days at home or, more frequently, days to come at the end of a trip. It was this almost unconscious habit that prompted me to contemplate the prospect of communicating jewellery. The wristwatch phone is with us, and soon it may become a badge or a broach. How reassuring it would be if moving my wedding ring resulted in a gentle, "thinking of you" movement of my wife's ring, wristwatch, bracelet or earrings, and vice versa. How comforting it would be to realise a degree of invisible tactile communication between family members.

If the simplest of pagers can be programmed to vibrate and give a visual readout every time Manchester United score a goal, or England take another wicket in the West Indies, and give urgent news updates, why not emotional connections to our loved ones? The technology realisation is straightforward enough, and may even prove irresistible once available. At last we could, literally, always be in touch.

Another travel-related service I would appreciate is online, real-time views of my home from cameras in the garden and drive. There are cameras on the Net showing motorway junctions, airports, people's living rooms and even a few bedrooms by subscription, so why not my house? Think of the personal reassurance potential: is my house still there, has there been any storm damage? The applications and opportunities for emotional reassurance seem endless. This could be extended to other objects. Chips and cameras in cars can now detect a thief, take photographs, activate a radio system to alert the police, and provide a tracking beacon so the culprit can be apprehended in the act. By connecting a mobile phone to the Global Positioning System we could locate vehicles almost anywhere on the planet, including the car park when we have forgotten where we parked. I for one would like my car to flash its lights and sound the horn so I can find it. I would also like a remote rundown on the status of my vehicle on my way back to an airport, and be able to disable it if stolen. I would also like access to the burglar and fire alarm of my home, and the personal safety alarms of family members. In fact, why not every human I care for, and every artefact I buy and value?

No doubt, some people will balk at this prospect, thinking, "Big Brother... beware". But the evidence points to such technology giving us greater freedom, and a new route to a more relaxed life.

Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is:
http://cochrane.org.uk