A critical problem for ubiquitous systems engineering is to exploit resource-rich environments without burdening the user with their configuration and management. A particularly important aspect of this problem is to support continuity in the face of mobility and dynamically varying resources. In this paper we argue that a solution to this problem requires new system-level com-ponents and architectures. Specifically, we describe our design of a personal “Aura” component that acts on behalf of a user to manage resources, provide continuity, and support high-level user tasks.