We use GPS to map geographical data. And we use snapshots of time to track past events. Why not use atomic clock synchronization across the board to synchronize high-precision live data?

For example, in 3D television, the shutter speed of untinted 3D glasses is 60Hz per eye, and 120Hz on the TV, but the glasses and the TV have to be synchronized with each other. If instead the glasses and the TV were synchronized with an atomic clock down to high precision accuracy, one could travel around the world with the same 3D glasses and successfully view 3D content on different brands of 3D televisions with the same glasses, assuming all these televisions also used atomic clock synchronization.

Consider also how handy it would be for video editing if high definition video recorders stored high precision, atomic clock synchronized timestamps with each video frame. With a tap of a button in Adobe Premiere Pro (assuming it also supported this) you could synchronize multiple simultaneously recorded video streams without any special SMPTE time code synchronization techniques or anything like that. You just sync on the UTC timestamp.

I think it’s a fabulous idea. Remember, I blogged about it first! My idea! Mine! :)