6 degrees of Kevin Bacon? Try the 4 degrees of hard drives

We’ve all heard of the six degrees of separation…the concept of a small world, and that we are all connected somehow. The same concept was applied to the actor Kevin Bacon and the assumption that any individual can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. Given the digital world we live, I thought it would be fun to see how many degrees of separation are between anything digital you do and a hard drive.

Communications:

• Email: you – computer – Microsoft Outlook – hard drive (3)
• Gmail: you – computer – Google Gmail – server – hard drive (4)
• Mobile Email:  you – smart phone – server – hard drive (3)
• Mobile Voice:  you – cell phone – telecom provider – server – hard drive (4)

Entertainment:

• Streaming Netflix:  you – TV – Netflix – servers – hard drive (4)
• DVR:  you – TV – DVR – hard drive (3)
• iTunes:  you – computer –  iTunes – servers – hard drive (4)
• Facebook:  you – computer – Facebook – servers – hard drive (4)
• Sports Event:  you – ticket scanners – servers – hard drive (3)

Creativity:

• Flickr:  you – camera -memory card – computer – hard drive (4)
• YouTube:  you – video camera – memory card – computer – hard drive (4)
• Blogging: you – computer – WordPress – servers – hard drive (4)

Shopping:

• Online: you – computer – retailer – servers – hard drive (4)
• Retail:  you – sales associate – register – server – hard drive (4)
• Self-serve Checkout: you – register – server – hard drive (3)
• Pumping Gas:  you – gas pump – servers – hard drive (3)
• Dining Out:  you – waiter/waitress – POS system – server – hard drive (4)

Based on this rather rudimentary look, I cannot come up with anything beyond 4 degrees of separation.  What will be fun, is to walk the floor at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January and see how many exhibitors are outside of the 4 degrees of hard drives.   My guess…. not many.

What other everyday activities can you link to hard drives?