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The Future PC as a Set of Pens?
Strudelkugel writes "The Wave Report covers a concept PC that NEC is working on, called P-ISM. (Maybe the name doesn't work, but it looks cool.) The design concept uses five different pens to make a computer. One pen is a CPU, another a camera, one creates a virtual keyboard, another projects the visual output and thus the display and another a communicator (a phone). All five pens can rest in a holding block which recharges the batteries and holds the mass storage. Each pen communicates wirelessly with the others."
The take up for this sort of thing will be very bad.
I'll stick to my CRTs and AT-style keyboards, thanks.
As often as I lose pens...
ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
Think how easily supplies disappear from the workplace..... this just makes it easer to fit a "box" of computers in your briefcase/purse. Clemster.
True. Unfortunately, people have been trying to develop good speech recognition for years, and it is still a long way from being viable as the main input method.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
> what does a virtual keyboard have to do with a real piano vs a midi keyboard
Both a virtual keyboard and a midikeyboard are shitty versions of what they're based on - they both have feedback mechanisms - which let you know which key you've pressed and how hard you've pressed it - which are simply not up to the job of serious typing or piano playing.
Someone needs to take less crack in the morning. This is not going to be the future of anything except toys for the rich.
Of course, there could be some sort of storage in the CPU pen, but not that much, surely.
Mod parent up!
So how does a $200 shitty keyboard compair with a virtual keyboard? They are different. A keyboard makes the same char no matter how you press the key, a piano makes different sounds depending on how you press a key. I just don't see how you can compair them.
but a pen with a 2GHz processor and a built in LCD projector is right around the corner.... ????
Without tactile feedback it is impossible to use a keyboard effectively without looking at it. I can detect typos by the feel of the keys, I know when I hit the wrong one. without tactile feedback, I'll be looking at what I'm doing rather than what I'm typing from. That slows me down a lot.
No-feedback keyboards have a place, but not for general use.
Anyone else see anything wrong with this plan?
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
There needs to be a single pen for the Cu/Display/Keyboard combo, and then optional pens for peripherals. This would also alleviate security issues of nearby keyboard loggers.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Instead of five pens, which you are not going to carry on your person, make it a couple pens, some glasses, a watch, and a wallet or something. (Remember all the fuss about e-wallet technology? h0 h0) Who the fuck carries five pens? Given that they're also computers, if they actually work as pens, I'll bet a dollar they're shitty pens. (And no, I didn't RTFA. It's a dumb idea.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Speech recognition will never replace the keyboard completly.
Take any action you do on a computer.
Now figure out a way to SPEAK that action, without any ambiguity. Now compare how long it takes to SAY that, with how long it takes to do via a keyboard or mouse.
Virtually every action take longer to explain than to simply DO. And the only way to have voice recognition come anywhere close is to have the computer try and guess what you mean. I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer it doing what I tell it to do, even if I occasionally make mistakes. The last thing I want is the computer misinterpreting something I said through no fault of my own.
As for simple text input, the biggest draw for voice recognition is for people who have bad or nonexistant typing skills. It is a valid issue, however it is one that as time passes becomes less and less important. Keyboard use has become ubiquitous among the young today, who will eventually push out the older people who never developed thier typing ability.
Also, can you imagine programming, or writing out abbreviations, or non-words with voice recognition?
int main left parenthesis int argc comma char asterisk asterisk argv right parenthesis left curly bracket printf left parenthesis doublequotes Hello World backslash n right parenthesis semi-colon right curly bracket
Frankly, speech recognition has some good uses for AUGMENTING input, but it's useless as a keyboard replacement for nearly every usage area.
I'm surprised at this. I figured more of the /. crowd was used to typing while looking at the screen. Isn't that the *best* way to know you typed what you meant? Don't you need to know that the *computer* knows that you meant to call the function certainFunction() instead of reference the array cwrtinFunctin[]?
/. posts...
Just typing this, I must have hit the 'i' key 4 or 5 times incorrectly, but you'll notice no typos after I hit "Submit" because I can see what comes up on the screen in *realtime* rather than stare at the keys until I'm done and then search for the typo in the paragraph-stack (I'm a good speller always, but a bad punner on Monday mornings). Then again, this does explain the massive amount of errors in
Much love all the same!
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
Due mostly to privacy, they keyboard (or some form of it) isn't disappearing anytime soon. Typing allows much more privacy than vocalizing. Passwords, sensitive letters, etc.
I think the argument here isn't that the user needs the keyboard to be tactile /instead/ of looking at the screen, but in addition.
/before/ my eyes register the same mistake.
Especially for situations where I've made notes elsewhere, or I'm following direction from someone else, I'm frequently looking at printed copy while I'm typing. Finding my place constantly in two separate places is not as fast as being able to keep a constant flow going.
I agree that it's nice to see the mistakes as you type them, but I find that my muscle memory tells me my fingers have made a mistake
tactile feedback will always be a good part of an interface - not always practical, but certainly useful. I don't always look at my phone when I dial, and I'm not looking at the display when I'm checking my voicemail - If there were no contours to the buttons, and confirmation of button presses, it would still be usable, but not as much so.
think about the rash of flat keyboards that were attempted in the 80s with calculators and even computer keyboards. Other than form-factor goodness, there hasn't been much change from the style of keyboard - there's still a need for distinct buttons, and a definite button-press.
You don't need Geeksintraining if you're on Slashdot.
How many pens would a web site need to not go down when it gets /.ed?
"Ain't I a stinka..." - Bugs
ppppphhphphtttBAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The other 4 pens are well and good but the 'projection display' pen is going to be sci-fi for a while. I hope you like your 10 minute battery life....ok maybe 20 mins with a nice fuel cell...
I usually look at the screen while I type, but if someone interrupts me, I can usually keep typing out the last thought without looking at the screen. The visual feedback is obviously useful, but with my fingers I can tell if I've hit someplace between two keys quite easily. I don't know about other people, but my fingers' motor memory can't quite guarantee perfect centering every time.
so it's more a difference between "certainFunction" and "vcertainFiunctiomn"