The Future Computer 6

[ajetrumpet]

Anyone want to comment on the computer environment that we saw in "Minority Report"? The stock market wizards seem to think that this is the next big step for interface. Anyone think we'll get there soon? An interface based on the user's hand motions?? I see voice recognition as the next "kick", that still has a long way to go, like the "Demolition Man" movie!

-J

 

[ajetrumpet]

hey Stella,

A lot of companies today still use voice recognition systems with help centers, but that is also coupled with the touchtone automation, they just don't tell ya that. Many a time I've had to call in somewhere and the system says, "Please tell me why you're calling today...say things like 1,2,3,etc...).
There's always the internet if things get totally out of hand. Forgive me for allowing my brain to operate until I die.
Dennis Miller says...

The drinkable doughnut - I can only assume this is for fat people who are too lazy to CHEW

Will we someday be too lazy to think, or even worse, be forced out of it by voice instruction? Almost laughable...

 

[burtsbees]

NO, actually I am not a programmer, but that's how I started out. Hell---I was 8 years old in 1979! The Windows 98 was a dumb post, just to liven up the post a bit. I am a server systems engineer, working on old VAX's, Alphas, Sun, Compaq/HP and Dell servers. I am also a CCNP, but can't seem to find a networking job. And yes---I have invested much money in Burt's Bees products. You are only the second one to have indicated recognition of the product. This is a great subject.

Burt

 

[strongm]

>The flaw with Voice recognistion is a simple one, language & dialect

Actually, I think the flaw is open plan offices ...

"No One will ever need a Personal Computer with more then 64mb of Memory" Bill Gates 1974

Actually, he really said 64kb.

Actually, the quote that is attributed to him was that "640K ought to be enough for anybody", circa 1981. However, you'll find it impossible to actually find a genuine citation for this quote. And Gates has denied ever saying it on several occassions

 

[aarenot]

Eye focus controlled mouse, snap you fingers right or left for clicks. They already aim guns on helicopters by where the pilot looks for what 30 years?

 

[Stevehewitt]

Going to be QWERTY keyboard and mouse for quite sometime I think. People don't have the time/patience to train a system for their voice, and offices are too noisy.
Plus after a while of using a keyboard, people can generally use a system quicker than voice command.

The motion thing will probably kick off in the next 5-10 years, but as a consumer thing. There's going to be little business benefit in rolling it out to an enterprise. Maybe on future desktops for homes, but the keyboard will be king for a good decade or so looking ahead.



Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[ajetrumpet]

Aarenot, do you what tech NASA is working on for commercial aircraft carriers right now? I saw it on Discovery a while back. Something to do with infrared I think...

 

[burtsbees]

I'm still fascinated with The Clapper.

Burt

 

[Sympology]

Eye focus controlled mouse, snap you fingers right or left for clicks

Oh no, she'll know I'm looking as she'll have a cusor hovering over her........

(Guess the same could be subsituted with Oh no, "he'll" etc etc)

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[Opieo]

ajet mentioned there about people talking on the phones just to look busy.
I recently read an article somewhere (reuters I believe) about how girls will use cell phones if they think a guy is interested in them and do not want to be talked to,
Where as guys will use the phone to try to impress girls.

It sounds kind of weird, but I could swear that I have had girls bust out the phones before to ignore me. /cry

~
Give a man some fire, he will be warm for a day, Set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

 

[burtsbees]

All I know is that when I see people driving while talking on their cell phones, I avoid them the same way I avoid someone who appears to be drunk. In fact, I can't tell the difference until I see a cell phone (or worse, a two-way in their face, blocking their view). The "hand-free" is a big joke too, but it made the person/people who thought of it a LOT of friggin' money. As if the fact they stop driving with their knees helps...HA! They still suffer from the cranial rectumitis.
The more convenient computers and technology in general becomes, the lazier and more obese the national averages become...human nature dictates this. I think that there is a ceiling with the ease technology will offer---we are going to do ourselves in because of it. Who knows---you may see me on the corner with a sign that says, "The End Is Near" (until someone tells me that there are three V-Dubs for under $18,000---ha ha...commercial).

Burt

 

[pinkgecko]

I don't see motion recognition as going anywhere. With keyboards, anyone but the visually impaired can hunt and peck away. It might not be fast, but it can be done. With motion detection, you bring in a much larger group of people who are unable to use the product: elderly, infirm, people with the "shakes" caused by everything from disease to coffee, etc. And the VI still can't use it either, since they can't see what they're supposed to be interacting with. If anything, this will be a supplemental input method.

Voice recognition software again is supplemental, for the problems discussed above. You would need comprehensive grammatical and spelling checkers; if you've ever read a paper by someone who uses a spell checker without really looking, you can imagine the disaster if grammar and spelling were automatically corrected with no proofreading by the user. I work part time for a transcription company, and we found that paying people to type out spoken interviews was much more cost efficient than trying to automate the process and then proofread all the finished materials.

So I agree that keyboards and mouses will be around for a while yet. Some of these other input methods might make some headway, but I don't think any of them will be used more than keyboards.

[blue]Never listen to your customers. They were dumb enough to buy your product, so they have no credibility. - Dogbert[/blue]

 

[ajetrumpet]

What IS with the hand-free mechanism anyway? I went into a radio shack the other day and saw the manager walking around talking into an earpiece that had a wire comming out of it. It looked simply like an earplug you use for swimming (which I assume is a phone of somekind, but who knows...)! I also saw one at BestBuy. I don't understand why people don't feel stupid for walking around like that....wouldn't you?
I tell ya, rational business thinking, in my opinion, has gone right out the window the last 5 years or so. It's taken a direct turn into 'ridiculous'. Do we have corporate greed to thank for this??

 

[burtsbees]

You should see the Bluetooth earbud things that people use now---I see people walking down the street talking on these these all the time---it looks like they've gone off the deep end and are talking to the voices in their heads!

Burt

 

[dilettante]

Sometimes I wonder if some of them are simply non-working props. Like those old "cell phones" they sold with candy in them.

 

[Sympology]

The problem with "future" computing is it tends to end up in executives hands. The least able to cope with anything slightly technical.

Stu..

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[lionelhill]

The problem with voice recognition for me is that I can't think as fast as I can talk. Humans have struggled with this problem for thousands of years.

 

[ajetrumpet]

For me its the other way around, the brain has to take a break so I read things into the headset the correct way and don't skip over any sets!

 

[Opieo]

I feel like my mind is so fragmented sometimes anyways, it just jumps from topic to topic.
If I got into the habit of talking to the computer for it typing as soon as I thought about something different than what I was doing, I would probably say it out loud, and then end up with sentences that completely don't belong in whatever I was talk-typing to.
Besides, video games taught me to type fast enough. Its still nowhere near speech speed, but at least its accurate and helps me focus.

~
Give a man some fire, he will be warm for a day, Set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

 

[ajetrumpet]

I am thinking that part of the reason for the need of voice recognition is to help those who cannot keep up with the speed of change in technology. Although some people might find this kind of instruction insulting, I'm sure it actually other people. If we really want to go into the pits, it actually contributes some to peoples' existance...I don't know if that's good or bad really....

-J

 

[Olaf Doschke]

this is the latest in user interface according to Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

And this is the parody on that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY

I assume keyboards will stay for quite a long time.

Bye, Olaf.