HP is working on something that sounds something like Spider’s photo shades from Transmetropolitan:

Casual capture is HP’s term for a method of taking snapshots that involves a minimum of effort on the part of the photographer. Ideally, the consumer could don an always-on, wearable camera, visit an event such as a party, and afterwards find that the camera had automatically selected and cropped the most memorable images.

Researchers admit that this is probably an impossible goal, but are working on a more limited, and possibly more realistic, version of the technology. But for now, the method involves a device that would continuously record images; and when something memorable happens, the user would make an indication of some kind, by saying a word or pressing a button. The camera technology would then zoom in and, using complex pattern-recognition technology, select what appeared to be the best images, and appropriately adjust and crop them.

CNet: Taking the shutterbug out of the picture.