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Brainstorming New Uses for a Mobile Processor
Lycestra asks: "When carriages became cars, cars still looked like carriages. This caused people to see them as much the same as carriages, which cars are not. Getting back to processors, now that we have one designed for long term portability, we need to get away from the dinosaur that is the personal computer. PDAs are different than PCs, but only because they are underpowered. If you look at the Newton2k, you've seen what an overpowered PDA can become. So, my question is, what /can/ we do, now that we can have a powerful micro-portable? I know this must go beyond just better battery life and wearables." What do you think Mobile Computing will be in the future? How will this differ from how we compute now?
Who gives this person the authority to declare that the PC is a dinosaur?
The PC has just entered it's golden age.
HIGH SPEED wireless internet access is what will prevent PDAs from becoming the device of choice.
When we can get PDA that are as powerful as that day's PCs and the ability to access our data no matter where we are, THEN the PC will be a dinosaur.
The PC as we know it isn't going anywhere any time soon.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Electronic toys are cool until you start to see them proliferate. Take pagers for example. They used to be owned by drug dealers and doctors, not 10 year olds get them from their parents. Every time I hear someone's pager go off I want to take it off their pocket and stomp it to pieces. Nothing personal of course, I'm just tired of everyone's day being interupted by someone else's pager. If it's on vibrate I don't give a crap since it bothers no one else. If everyone has a PDA or cell phone or what have you no one will ever relax again. All these new wireless technologies are what I like to call DistractoWare. You have to give a large portion of your attention to these sorts of devices and by doing so distracting yourself from doing anything else. I can drive and listen to the radio or a CD but can I drive and watch TV or read my email? I doubt you'd like to be near me on the road if I was trying. People are surrounded at work and at home with electronics and now want to have them everywhere. What do all the PDAs and cell phones really do for people? It's leading to a society ruled by the transistor rather than by the people living in the society.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
sitting down in front of a nice 17-19" screen,
;)
and typing on a responsive keyboard, using a
nice, accurate mouse to click on little pictures
is just an aesthetic and ergonomically pleasing
experience, and i don't think it will ever just
go away. (well, at least not for a long while.)
That's your opinion. Most people consider what you just described to not be aesthetically or ergonomically pleasing at all. In fact, most people hate it. They hate having to read from a computer screen, and like books better. They don't like the desktop PC's immobility. Sitting around is definitely not ergonomically pleasing. The fact that you have to consciously interact with the computer is in itself an indication of the failure of the PC human interface. All in all, I'd have to say that the desktop PC experience is something of which we should get rid altogether.
Then again, that's just my opinion as well.
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
So why not voice recognition on cell phones, since that's already the main interface pardigm for the device? Why is it WAP phones and all the newfangled cell phones have/use LCD displays and buttons, when it seems to make sense to just *talk* to the phone?
Of course, don't get rid of the buttons(legacy support and all), but it makes as much sense for a phone to be spoken to as to use a keypad to enter numbers or names, text, dates, etc.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Thats one thing I was thinking of for what would be a GOOD mobile interface for PDA's that you use all the time.. Why use voice recognition? Its slow, its noisy, and its disturbing to others nearby.. Its also unnecessary for a lot of uses..
:)
Think of it, an eyeball-tracker.. Look at an icon for a couple of seconds and it activates.. Look focus off of the top or bottom of the screen and it scrolls. Look at a link for a second and it activates.. Instant internet tablet that doesn't even need a SCREEN as such.
Or combine it with a hand-keyboard or twiddler. (To act like a 'shift' key.)
Or for a palm-pilot PDA, except for data entry, really what else does a palm pilot need?
This fixes one of the big problems with voice recognition, in that its slow, while you can speak fast, correcting a mistake is very unwieldy and slow.. Overall, voice *is* pretty high-latency, at least compared to a keyboard, mouse, or eyeball-tracking.
User Interface, just because everyone said that it would be the ultimate interface, (remember the newton and handwriting recognition), doesn't mean that it will be, or that it won't take 10 years to get it good enough to useful (Graffitti on a Palm). Personally, I think that the interface of the future will be very unexpected...
Just because its possible doesn't mean that it can be practically implemented.. Just because its implementable doesn't mean it'll be reliable. Just because its reliable or implemented doesn't mean it will be useful.
Don't forget the eyepiece monitor. A virtual 17" screen that looks something like the Borg-Bill icon would be pretty awesome.
Thanks for your comment.
Actually, I see the problem as a software issue: to communicate we have to create an adaptive vocabulary that lets the user, and his or her guardians, determine a relatively limited list of commonly used words or phrases. You and I communicate via keystrokes typed on a keyboard--because you and I have learned a language based on characters that combine to form phonemes, which combine to form words, which combine to form sentences. The breadth and depth of English-language expression requires the ability to assemble speech with detailed precision--we don't need that kind of precision if we're using a total vocabulary of 400 words. ("I want to go home" can be thought of as a single word in this context.)
Communication for the mute isn't the same as it is for you and me. Kids with very limited language skills learn to use "cheap talkers"--devices with a few pre-recorded sounds related to buttons. The buttons have symbols (from a symbol set named PCS, from Johnson-Mayer Company). The user presses a symbol and the talker repeats the sound. The problem with these devices are manifold: they're very limited (they might have 32 or 40 words); they're focused on single-word vocabularies (typically for very language-deficient kids); and they have no means of data collection--you can't tell what words the user actually selects. The key to this kind of adaptive speech is data collection--recording what the user has said, identifying words and word forms that the user has used, and playing back a day's conversations so that Mom and Dad can work on new words or phrases for tomorrow.
There are many brilliant people working in bioengineering, trying to create a link between a person's nervous system and bionic/robotic devices. That is promising, and (I'm told) is deeply rewarding work for the people who do it. The kids I'm thinking of have little or no control over their own muscles (that's part of what cerebral palsy is) so connecting to their muscles won't achieve anything. What I'm concerned to do is to give these people a voice--so that they can communicate with the world outside of their bodies.
(Truth in messaging: I'm a programmer, so I see a software-based solution to every conceivable problem. A hardware guy might view the matter differently.)
The user interface is the key. So long as you tie computing to a keyboard, it will feel a lot like a PC. Handwriting recognition is a step forward, sure, but it's still not ideal. I can type 60 words a minute, but I can't write that fast, so my input is hampered. Speach isn't the answer either. I can't quite picture the whole world running around talking to their computers. Too disruptive and public. Do you want the people around you to know what you're making your assistant remember? I think the leap we want to make is to that of a Personal computer assitant, the term PDA is too scope limiting. The term Data is just not descriptive enough.
What interesting UI ideas are there out there? Heads up display is also neat but not ideal. There have been very few changes in history that have added new things to our outward appearance. Clothes have changed, yes, but they've been around for AGES. The things that are new we stick in a pocket or on a wrist. New things have been fairly unobtrusive. Do you think that will change?
I treat my Palm as a second brain, something to remember the things I can't, do things that I couldn't do on the run before, something that is a less obtrusive alternative to the lower tech solutions. I suspect I'm not alone in that. Help me find a better assistant!
Cheers!
-Termi
Today is all we really have. We should all live it well: it is our stepping stone to all of our tomorrows.
I'm worried that newer PDA's and such are going to start using voice recognition (don't some phones already do this?). Cell phones in restaurants are bad enough. Imagine being on a plane full of people whispering into black boxes . . . yeecch. I know that there is something called the "Twiddler" that is basically a one handed keyboard. Anything else on the horizon that might work?
Hello, I must be going. I'm here to say I cannot stay, I must be going.
Today's modern Hi-Tech addict owns at least 4 devices ;-):
In the future these these devices will communicate/collaborate with each other wirelessly using Bluetooth ("pocket clients" see later in my post) or 802.11 wireless networking ("pocket server") It cold look like the following:
In short words, your PDA will deserve the name "personal digital assistant" even more than it does today.
1. email and internet surfing.
2. built-in GPS and mapping.
3. icq/gaim chat.
4. latest hot stock reports.
5. streaming audio/video.
6. built-in webcam.
7. integrated cell phone/answering machine/pager w/ caller ID.
8. built-in CD/DVD player. (mini-Japanese techno. size- all under 3/4" (1.9cm)
9. expansion/pcmcia slots.
10. 8-hour battery.
...some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...
"PC" is an abbreviation for "Personal Computer." I don't believe the PC is obsolete, and it probably won't be for quite some time. Just like the first cars were known as "horseless carriages," we'll continue to use the term PC for what a new term will be needed.
I see in the future, not a society where information is retrieved at libraries, in the corner of someone's home, or at a workstation in an office complex. The PDA will become an extension of a PC, more so than ever before. Technologies such as Bluetooth and CDMA will allow PDAs to directly connect to the Internet with bandwidth which seems "overpowered" to us now. Processors such as the Crusoe and StrongARM series will give our "overpowered" PDAs a "real" engine to run "real" programs.
The Internet plays hell with our new definition of "Personal Computer." The boxs sitting on your desktop now will move to under your tables or hidden away in the basement. A silent blinking box with a wire to the Internet via your personal lan and net domain. Your PDA will connect to these systems and run the services YOU want. Mail, web hosting, data storage, and more data processing than your "overpowered" PDA will ever support. This can happen because the PCs will always have more space for more stuff than a PDA will.
I used to think protocols such as the ones used in X-Windows would be given a new life when this happens. Your PDA would become a simple X client to your P.C. at home. If you didn't have a PDA, there would be public access terminals that you could give your username and domain to log into and VIOLA, you'd have "full" access. However, I've reconsidered and see a world where the PDA is a condensed information processor with sensoria. You can do little tasks (surfing web, editing documents, and equiv) on your PDA, but when you need that SETI@Home client running, it'll be on your PC.
Maybe I've stolen quite a bit from authors like Greg Bear or Neal Stephenson. However, I believe we will have a completely different definition of the "Personal Computer" when we have a new architecture.
Great, so we can have a really small doohickey to do stuff quickly. The problem I see in the future of portable computing is interface. Get this little doohickey to understand me when I'm talking (or thinking) to it, then you've got a product. Until then, much smaller than a palm pilot, and you've got problems.
(1) Run in hotter environments such as outdoors or in desert climates, while still providing plenty of processing power.
(2) Run from within a totally air tight sealed metal box (CPU heatsinked to case) box. This lets machines operate in dirty, dusty, smokey environments, that would gunk up fans in no time.
(3) Run in isolated environments where high reliability is needed and maitenance personnel simply cannot check hardware often. e.g., radio repeater controller atop a mountain peak accessible only by helicopter. A cool CPU makes possible a machine with no moving parts to break down and lead to other failures.
Get the TM chips into desktop CPU's now!
1. Face recognition mode. I look at someone - mentally hit the "who the fuck are you" button - and I get a head-up-display of name, context, wife/children's names etc. Could also be used to make "advice" on food choices etc.
2. Deja vu mode. Hit another button and a data base of previous frames and situations is searched to tell me if this has actually happened before.
3. "I told you so"/"But you said..." mode. Quick search and replay of what was *really* said way back then.
4. Diplomacy mode. When you can't be bothered or you're too tired to consider what the right thing to say is, then a rolling AI-generated script appears before your eyes. Keep to the script and you stay out of trouble. Having the PDA activate my mouth and vocal chords automatically could also be cool but maybe a step too far.
5. Drive me home mode. PDA takes control of my limbs to let me sleep/read/watch TV on the way.
OK, rediculous impracticality limit reached. Time to go.
Regards, Ralph.
I have a dream. A dream I have had since 1992, when I first met a boy named Bobby. Bobby has cerebral palsy, and is extremely affected--he can move his left arm at the shoulder, but his elbow wrist and fingers are essentially rigid. Bobby has an electric wheelchair, which he can control with his left arm. Bobby cannot speak.
There is a cruelty to cerebral palsy--oftentimes there is a perfectly normal child trapped inside that horribly disfigured body. And, sooner or later, that child realizes that he is permanently, utterly, royally screwed. It will never get better--he will always be the Hunchback. (What is child abuse? Send a severely-affected CP kid to a school named "Notre Dame.")
Bobby's parents heard of me because of an educational game I created for kids with limited language skills. They asked if I could help Bobby. Long story--but the resulting program helped Bobby go from a "spoken" vocabulary of 0 to 400 words over the weekend. But--the program was written in Visual Basic, which required a PC. I had a dream....
What I've dreamt of for eight years is an Assistive Device. Plugged into an electric chair it provides the kind of smart battery intelligence that we take for granted with notebooks--but that is completely missing from wheelchairs. Gain #1--longer battery life for chairs. In the end user's chair we have the ability to extend the simple user interface for non-verbal users--they can "mouse" to the words or phrases they need ("excuse me", "is this the A4 bus?", "please let me off at the Whitehall Mall"). Using a recorded mix of Mom's voice and Dad's, the user "speaks" with a voice that is recognizably part of his family. Gain #2. With that UberPDA the end user can communicate with a buddy--"Help! I'm stuck on a sidewalk covered in snow!". With GPS and wireless our end user is never lost, and never alone. Gain #3. For the end user who is not permanently confined to a chair we can make the uberPDA wearable--using a simple handheld device he can identify the words or phrases he needs to say--and the device "speaks" them through speakers. If he is blind we can offer GPS-based guidance--and perhaps IR-based (or sonar?) collision-avoidance.
I have a dream. With big MIPS, big bandwidth, and very, very low power consumption we can give sight to the blind, and a voice to the mute. We can take the shattered and the crippled and let them experience that most precious of dreams: independence. Autonomy. Freedom.
In 1992 I wrote an article that stated that from that day forward I was a has-been: I had written the best software of my life, and from BobbyWrite onward all would be downhill. Perhaps--maybe--I was wrong. Perhaps, with the incredible advances of technology, we can take that nascent germ of an idea and make it really useful.
One can only dream of the possibilities....
While most folks think of the portable computer as an easy interface to a networked world, and a link back to all the disparate machines you need to use (home PC, work PC, ISP, soon house and car), I think it could become the logical place for storing your personal info and serving up the apps you want the rest of the world to see.
That way, the various desks you encounter will be nothing more than generic ports for high-speed access, high-featured interfaces, and peripheral usage.
What I'd like to see would be for this model to make it possible for my personal server to be THE secure, authoritative source of data about me (not the marketeer's databases) and to be the primary way that the world's computers (my employer, stores, government, banks, etc.) interact with me. If it also made digital cash possible, that wouldn't hurt, either.
Mind you, storage and bandwidth of portables needs to advance greatly to make this real, but you asked for a vision...
"You can't get something for nothing." - my grandfather, on the stock market and Reaganomics.
With processors like the Crusoe, and other late make mobile processors, the power cunsumption would be dramaticly reduced, the heat output will be less, and if you have a good powersaving scheme in each processor, the power needs would dynamicly vary depending on the number of seperate threads needed at a given time.
True, this isn't a mobile system, but it is a definant possible side-effect of these new processors.
Or am I missing something?
Little Brother, watching the watchers