[TML] Seemingly High Tech Computer Stuff

[Jerry W Barrington]

On 11/7/07 1:44 AM, Leon Wu wrote:

> I'd see something that incorporates a variety of sources, the keyboard
> would read your fingerprints, a retina scanner would check your eyes, a
> workstation sensor would check your weight (if you weighed 150lbs on
> Monday you shouldn't weigh 180lbs on Tuesday) and the computer would
> keep a track record of how you actually type.

Of all the methods suggested in this thread, measuring your typing is the
most likely.  A fingerprints, retina/iris scans, weight, DNA samples, blood
flow, all those could be faked fairly easily.

Even implants could be stolen, if you don't care about the health of the
user.

But the metrics of a persons typing are very idiosyncratic, and if you can
monitor somebody's typing that well, you obviously could just spy on
everything they do anyway.

All of which will be irrelevant if you can simply access the hardware like
Bruce mentioned.

Like Steve said: it's the human element.



On 11/7/07 1:44 AM, Bruce Johnson wrote:

> On Nov 6, 2007, at 1:03 AM, Jerry W Barrington wrote:
> 
>> On 11/5/07 6:46 PM, James Ramsay wrote:
>> 
>>> Really, why would I want to make working on a computer harder?
>>> There is
>>> nothing I can't do with a keyboard, a mouse, and a big display.
>>> The only
>>> input device that will change computing will be neural interfaces.
>> 
>> Excellent point.  It looks pretty, but nobody will actually use
>> it.  At
>> least, not for long.
> 
> Actually, they said the same thing about GUI's back in the day...
> 
> What isn't obvious yet is the 'killer app' for these devices. Well,
> maybe. Apple's sold how many million iPhones?

The iPhone merely integrates a lot of things that people were already doing
into a convenient saleable package.  None of it is stuff that wasn't already
being done by those people: pushing buttons on a little box to make calls,
play music, do a little math, etc.  Now it's just 1 little box instead of 2,
3, or more.  I suspect it will run into the same problem as all in one
computers & TV/DVD combos.  To repair or upgrade any part, you have to do
the whole thing.

You missed the point about making work harder.  Yeah, I'd love to have a
screen that covers an entire wall.  That doesn't mean I want to stand in
front of it making large arm gestures all day, or even having to walk from
one end to the other, just to use it!  Would you?  Would anybody?

I notice all the demo's show *multiple* people working on them
simultaneously.  In that *narrow* field of use, sure, it has some utility.
Even there it has to compete with other collaboration techniques.  But for
single use (which is what most people need from a computer) distinct input
and output devices remain more practical.

Were the people who scoffed at GUIs using any sort of logic?  Or just
grognards poohing something new?  :)

Again, it looks fun to play with, or in a movie.  Otherwise...  :P



On 11/7/07 1:12 PM, Ewan Quibell wrote:

> Things like HUD glasses with wireless connectivity for a display (in
> development/been done), free space finger pointing for I/O (mouse
> manipulation in development/been done), and/or free typing (in
> development/been done) combined with something like Microsoft Surface,
> or electronic fabric (been done) with voice and handwriting recognition
> could all combine with GPS positioning and mobile communications to
> produce a completely different computing environment and experience
> without the restrictions of a fixed computer with a keyboard and mouse
> for I/O.

HUD glasses run into problems with people who already wear glasses (contacts
are no solution, they dry out to much when I'm on the computer).  Also
requires all looking to be done by eye motion, no head motion.  Examine how
you look from corner to corner of your screen.  Odds are you move your head
a good bit (my glasses cause a good bit of chromatic aberration and
pincushion towards the edges, and my eye muscle fatigue).

Free pointing/typing lack tactile response.  Interface studies show that's
pretty important.  Plus, how do you "click" without a device?

Also, the mouse converts small hand motions to large pointer motions.
Pointing at *any* screen I want to use requires much larger hand/arm
motions.

Lack of fixed hardware seems to imply renting somebody else's...  Or did you
just mean smaller, more mobile hardware?

Yes, it's all been done.  So why hasn't it *sold*?