You've seen my scrawl then? It kind of looks like an army of spiders crawled across the page and then someone dropped a book on 'em. However, people can read it. No HWR can.
And judging by John Siracusa's experiments, Inkwell ain't too hot.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It took a while for the Newton's HWR to reach the point where it did. At least Inkwell seems to be waaaay beyond, say, the Newton 100. It's effectively a 1.0, so I'm guessing that it'll get plenty of real-world refinement. Just as the Newton's did.
Whether - or when - it gets to the point of being able to read your legible spiders or my "pretty, but illegible" (in the words of my organization's receptionist) scribbling remains to be seen. I do think that with a rough sense of grammar, fuzzy matching against an extensible dictionary and some training it could probably do it. In my case, it would have to be able to accomodate cursive e's, uncial e's (two varieties!) and printed e's - often in the same word - but hope springs eternal.
[edit: I had to use the back button and Submit this post again before UBB would take it. 'ing UBB...]
<strong>I do find it highly amusing that the people I know who still use Palms/Handsprings/iPaqs/... have all bought these silly little keyboards for them...
The keyboard rules, and will do for a long, long time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's Belle, the original Tablet killer! Good to see you participate in discussion again.
Personally, I have very little interest in a Tablet. At worst, I need to input a name, address and number on the road. For that I don't mind pecking. If I'm going to enter more data and work with it, I bring my iBook anyway.
What I'm really intersted in is data-retrieval and voice telephony, two tasks for which the symbiotic phone/PDA device would be perfect. Whatever futuristic communications device Apple makes, I hope it is smaller than an iPod. For true mobility, I want to carry my iPhone in my pocket, not in a bag or even purse. But I don't want to lose my pants because I have a brick in my pocket.
<strong>BTW: The Jobs quotes above are from an article in the <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/70264.html"; target="_blank">International Herald Tribune</a> first noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/"; target="_blank">Mac Rumors</a>.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ummmm you are wrong about that. MacRumors stole the quotes and the link from my post here and didn't even bother to provide the source of where they found the info. How do I know? I was the one who put the formatting (see below) to make things easier to follow and and I also attributed where the quotes came from.
Q: xxxx
Jobs: yyyy
Finally: 'Approved/Edited by arn on Wednesday September 11 09 08 PM' while I stated this thread 'posted 09-11-2002 01:40 PM'
Just hate that... if your gonna take someone's text 'word for word' at least they could have sited were they took if from... <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
I do find it highly amusing that the people I know who still use Palms/Handsprings/iPaqs/... have all bought these silly little keyboards for them. In fact, many are looking to update to the newer models like the Sony Clie with a built-in keyboard.
The keyboard rules, and will do for a long, long time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hmmm. When I got my Newton MP2000 I bought a keyboard with it. I used it twice I think, and then carried my Newton with me everywhere for three years without it. (After three years I was getting a shoulder problem; the problem with then Newton was that it was too big and heavy.)
Well, if it's possible for a human to recognize your natural handwriting, it should be possible for a computer.
<hr></blockquote>
Well, if it's possible for a human to pee, it should be possible for a computer as well, no?
I have actually used one at Microsoft LA. Nifty device. It has some cool technology but IMO is still a first-gen product meant for enterprise customers only. FYI the model I used is the Acer.
I was just going to ask if anyone has seen any good discussion of inkwelling techniques out there. I think it would behoove Apple to put a short course on Inkwelling on their site. I like the application, but I wish that instead of writing big giant huge letters on my screen that an entire sheet of paper would appear on my screen and let me continue to fill it up until I'm ready for it to dump into whatever application I'm using. Heck, maybe it can do that now.
But, I'll sing along in the "paper and pencil is best" Hallelujah Choir.
already you see several intel machines running windows XP on touch screens.
it is not difficult for a hardware manufacturer to make a touch screen for windows, and apple could easily convert an iMac to touch screen, for example.
however, the point is that basically you should be thinking that touch screens are most effective at input for simply that: touching the screen with preformed boxes or set instructions that tell the box what to do or where to go. introducing handwriting is ofcourse not fun since it depends on character recognition etc etc.
but in terms of a touch screen panel for os x, it will happen. as the digital hub it is destined to be, you want to have a station that can be used to simply start up yr iTunes, or adjust yr airport settings, or to go to a url that you use frequently to check for weather forecast, or the local train time, etc etc.
this sounds like a great product. SOOOO many times ive been watching tech tv and ive been like "MAN! i wish i had a little tablet/notebook so i could goto that webpage their talking about without going into the computer room"
or im on the toilet and i think of somthing but i dont have a computer in teh bathroom
or im cooking dinner and i lost the recipy for the chicken. without going into the computer room ive got my recipi webpage on favorites on my tablet.
workin in teh garage, on the car. "what part was supposed to go their again?"
i can think of a million uses for somthing like this. smaller and lighter than a notebook/uses less energy than a notebook, and can do more than a notebook cause this thing is just transmitting the signal from the PC. so i can do EVERYTHING a PC can do, upgrades etc, PLUS i have the mobility of a notebook.
you'll still need notebooks for when you leave the house cause the tablet is on a short range WI FI.
personally i think if the price comes down low enough on these you could see the average user getting 1 free tablet with their PC along with the ability to buy as many more as they want for about 150-200 a pop? id have at least 3. hang them in like the bathroom, livingroom, garage, bedroom.
i really think apple should do somthing like this. i really think its gunna get popular as soon as ppl catch on to the possibilities and freedom they would have with somthing like this.
EDIT: also. apple has always been talking how they see the computer as teh central hub of everyday life. something like this would fully realize an idea like that.
EDIT again: also, you could have a proggy on your computer that could controll the TV/entertainment system. and it would transmit the image of the proggy to the tablet. and the tablet would controll the entertainment system.. oooooh i want one soooooo bad..
<strong>SOOOO many times ive been watching tech tv and ive been like "MAN! i wish i had a little tablet/notebook so i could goto that webpage their talking about without going into the computer room"
or im on the toilet and i think of somthing but i dont have a computer in teh bathroom
or im cooking dinner and i lost the recipy for the chicken. without going into the computer room ive got my recipi webpage on favorites on my tablet.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>
powerbook is too bulky for just using around the house. powerbook is for when you leave the house.
a tablet would just be a video singnel via wifi from an actual computer. so you wouldnt have to give up the expandability and usefullness of a powermac for mobility around the home.
their IS a market for this kind of product. apple needs to wake up and take advantage of it
EDIT: you ever try to walk around with a notebook and use it? without fumbling with it.
a tablet WOULD be a beautifull and functional extension of a mac.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Aris ]
EDIT: i do foresee this type of product becoming a standard with personal computers in the near future. it will happen. the only question is will apple be on board to take a piece of the market? i hope so.
Average writing speed? 25-30 WPM (actually that's pretty fast for writing)
Average typing speed?
I dunno. I can't touch type worth a damn, but just from hunt & peck repitition I get over 50 WPM. I've no doubt that anyone who takes some time to learn it right could go over 100WPM.
Average speaking speeds?
They vary between 150-300WPM. So at first glance this looks like the only thing with a legit chance of replacing the keyboard. Still, while 95% accuracy sounds good, that's as many as 15 errors per page. And unlike typos, when a voice dictation gets screwy, it tends to muck up the word (or sometimes even the phrase!) in spectaculary misleading fashion. I had very high hopes for Naturally Speaking and VIaVoice when they first came out. I trained both extensively for my voice when I reviewed them as possible assistive technologies. They went from very frustrating to (after a lot of training) moderately acceptable. For people who can't type (because of disability), they're the only real option, but for people who won't learn they'll find it no faster than typing things out at a moderate-fast speed.
For me the other problem was that writing and speaking are not the same activity at all. What you produce when you sit down to write is different from what you get when you just open your mouth and blab. My 'writing' in these posts is as much like vocal blabbering as I get, mostly because I don't care to correct the dozens of little errors I make in every post, and 'cause I just click away as divergent thoughts enter my insomniac brain. But I try not to 'write' this way. I found that dictation upset the dialogue between my mind, my fingers, the screen, and my voice. I didn't like it, perhaps I could get used to it, maybe a smarter computer will make techno-emanuensis possible, but I don't think so.
Typing will be with us for a long time. It may be far more fruitful to see some brave company standardize the DVORAK layout than to fiddle around with writing and voice.
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>
I disagree.
The tablet is being messed up by MS who are treating it like a laptop. All you end up with then is a bad laptop/tablet mutant. See <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27133.html"; target="_blank">this recent article</a> for why.
I don't think it should be purely a thin client thing, I think it needs a full OS and ports etc to make it compelling for consumers. But there's no reason why you can't make 2 models.
Apple could do this right, all their technology points to it. They know about ergonomics and beauty.
I work in an office and it's wall to wall meetings. On average I take 5 A4 pages of notes every 4 hours, most of which need typing into Word later. There is also the fact I could be on the intranet at the same time, not to mention the 3 hour journey there and back which could be made useful.
Yes, a powerbook could fill the role, but they aren't really suitable for note taking or quick on the spot use. I only take mine in occasionally.
I'm just an office worker, but a Mac Tablet would definately fill a need.
So, JD, are you saying that a pad of paper and pen is all you take with you to work? :laughs:
A tablet computer isn't superior to paper in all ways, as you spelled out, but it is in some (what about when I want to go back and insert something in my notes? what about other people being unable to read my handwriting?).
But who cares? What's more important is that it is superior to the laundry list of things it is intended to replace: carrying around a bag stuffed full of pens, highlighters, a calendar, a rolodex, a calculator, and not just one pad of paper but 5 notebooks and 25 pounds of textbooks. All this plus web integration, data integration, having everything I ever wrote or read accessible at all times, and the sheer coolness of it all.
Your slight of hand cannot face down the reality that a tablet computer -- no, not one of those mockeries with a keyboard; no, not one of those mockeries with a DVD player -- replaces quite well all of these things, in a
lighter (5 pounds instead of 25)
cheaper (I've spent 2000$ on textbooks)
more accessible (never again will anyone write on a napkin; never again will I have to transfer the day's dozen scraps of paper to their proper project notebooks)
more flexible (see footnote)
package
footnote - All this about typing being faster is terribly onesided. How many meetings, classes, or projects have you been to or worked on where all you had to do was create or record a text document? I have to organize my notes spacially, and often include diagrams and graphs, which, frankly, cannot be done with a keyboard. Where paper beats the heck out of a computer, this beats the heck out of a keyboard too.
And think of not having to print out 400 copies of something to pass around, or having everybody have reams of paper in their bag...
This is all the benefits of both, and worth 1000$ easily.
The problem, as some people are starting to realize, is that the notebook with the keyboard lopped off, just won't do it, period. The device will NEED to mimic paper very closely. It has to be convenient to write and read from. 5lbs? Way too heavy. 2 lbs? Maybe, at least it's getting there, but in reality it should be even lighter.
You have to ask yourself, "How can I get as close to the experience of paper as possible?" not, "How can I make a mini PC?" Most people start with the wrong question and that's why 99.9% of the tablets we've seen, from MS to the fantasies described on these pages, are complete abominations.
Be like paper. The screen has to be very high contrast, thin, very high resolution, and readable in natural daylight and sunlight. Like paper. That means black and white, transflective, or electroluminescent, maybe something like the iPod's, but it has to be matte -- the surface, completely anti-reflective.
Battery power is more important than processing power. Paper has zero processing power, but it works because it's always ready when you are (among other things). One li-poly battery please. Storage is important. Ruggedness is important. It wins if you don't have to carry a half dozen reports, novels, texts, whatever... with you. They sit on the machine. One 1.8" HDD please. It loses if you lose info from a jolt or a bump, so one nice big iPod style cache to keep HDD spin to a minimum.
It has to be small. You've never written on a letter size clip board while standing for any extended period. Too big. Take letter size page and fold in half. That's your footprint: 8x5.5. That's the size of A5, just a smidge smaller actually, but plenty big as far as book pages go. The small surface will keep the screen rigid against bumps and such, a flip around cover will keep the screen safe from scratches. It travels easily in a brief, bag or purse, even a labcoat, but not your back pocket. The trade-off is that you can actually write on it standing or sitting. It should be thin: about 5/8ths, no more.
Software. A voice recording mic wouldn't hurt, direct to MP3. Record interviews, meetings and lectures so you can store literally 1000's of hours of material (or play songs). Provide an app that lets you chapter mark the recorded material so should you need to bring up a timely bit of speech, you can find it easily. Handwriting recognition, natch. A very good file viewer/converter. Everything should be able to go into PDF (and/or QT, as capabilities advance), along with the ability to open most popular formats.
Firewire data/charging. Bluetooth sync. Basically a super eBook, with good connectivity and support for standar formats. MUST BE LESS THAN 500 USD!!!
It can morph into something more like your super PDA's as technology/cost allows, but that would be it for now, and very useful too.
For me, the main use of a tabMac would be to read through my mail and those standard webpages that I scan every day. These could be downloaded automatically by the PowerBook which is my DIGITAL HUB (NOT central server!), and then transferred to the tabMac.
This task would not need any feedback mechanism but merely a control item, like the scroll wheel. Likewise, data would be transferred through FireWire, as with iPod. If it had 1G RAM, it could contain the data in compressed form, thus needing no harddisk.
The price level could then be around $300 for a device with a 11" screen.
A device with touchscreen would be different: the price would increase by at least $150, and that is if there was no built-in harddisk but it was something like a thin client - ie, sending everything through an AirPort connection to a hub unit. There would be battery issues here, since it would not be able to survive on the iPod battery that the former device could use - on the other hand, the amount of RAM could be lowered somewhat.
Finally, there is the full-blown tabMac: harddisk, at least 13" screen, not necessarily a wireless device but instead a stand-alone unit (a stand, keyboard and mouse would turn it into a basic desktop unit. Price: $ 1300
It's either going to be a Mac (fully), or a peripheral (digital hub peripheral).
No crippled mini-computers that are a waste of money and a terrible value that you regret after the first week. Not one of those feature-overloaded, jack-of-all-trades, multi-function, mucked-together creations that are so bad at everything they do that they're worthless.
Mac, or peripheral.
One. or. the. other.
The only two things I can see Apple combining are (a) PDAs and mobile phones, and (b) media storage and media presentation/playing devices (and they're already half there with the iPod which stores/plays MP3s and also functions as a FireWire hard drive).
Comments
<strong>
You've seen my scrawl then?
And judging by John Siracusa's experiments, Inkwell ain't too hot.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It took a while for the Newton's HWR to reach the point where it did. At least Inkwell seems to be waaaay beyond, say, the Newton 100.
Whether - or when - it gets to the point of being able to read your legible spiders or my "pretty, but illegible" (in the words of my organization's receptionist) scribbling remains to be seen. I do think that with a rough sense of grammar, fuzzy matching against an extensible dictionary and some training it could probably do it. In my case, it would have to be able to accomodate cursive e's, uncial e's (two varieties!) and printed e's - often in the same word - but hope springs eternal.
[edit: I had to use the back button and Submit this post again before UBB would take it.
[ 09-12-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
[quote]Originally posted by Belle:
<strong>I do find it highly amusing that the people I know who still use Palms/Handsprings/iPaqs/... have all bought these silly little keyboards for them...
The keyboard rules, and will do for a long, long time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's Belle, the original Tablet killer! Good to see you participate in discussion again.
Personally, I have very little interest in a Tablet. At worst, I need to input a name, address and number on the road. For that I don't mind pecking. If I'm going to enter more data and work with it, I bring my iBook anyway.
What I'm really intersted in is data-retrieval and voice telephony, two tasks for which the symbiotic phone/PDA device would be perfect. Whatever futuristic communications device Apple makes, I hope it is smaller than an iPod. For true mobility, I want to carry my iPhone in my pocket, not in a bag or even purse. But I don't want to lose my pants because I have a brick in my pocket.
Escher
[ 09-12-2002: Message edited by: Escher ]</p>
<strong>BTW: The Jobs quotes above are from an article in the <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/70264.html"; target="_blank">International Herald Tribune</a> first noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/"; target="_blank">Mac Rumors</a>.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ummmm you are wrong about that. MacRumors stole the quotes and the link from my post here and didn't even bother to provide the source of where they found the info. How do I know? I was the one who put the formatting (see below) to make things easier to follow and and I also attributed where the quotes came from.
Q: xxxx
Jobs: yyyy
Finally: 'Approved/Edited by arn on Wednesday September 11 09 08 PM' while I stated this thread 'posted 09-11-2002 01:40 PM'
Just hate that... if your gonna take someone's text 'word for word' at least they could have sited were they took if from... <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
D
[ 09-12-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</p>
<strong>
I do find it highly amusing that the people I know who still use Palms/Handsprings/iPaqs/... have all bought these silly little keyboards for them. In fact, many are looking to update to the newer models like the Sony Clie with a built-in keyboard.
The keyboard rules, and will do for a long, long time.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hmmm. When I got my Newton MP2000 I bought a keyboard with it. I used it twice I think, and then carried my Newton with me everywhere for three years without it. (After three years I was getting a shoulder problem; the problem with then Newton was that it was too big and heavy.)
[QB]
Well, if it's possible for a human to recognize your natural handwriting, it should be possible for a computer.
<hr></blockquote>
Well, if it's possible for a human to pee, it should be possible for a computer as well, no?
I have actually used one at Microsoft LA. Nifty device. It has some cool technology but IMO is still a first-gen product meant for enterprise customers only. FYI the model I used is the Acer.
I was just going to ask if anyone has seen any good discussion of inkwelling techniques out there. I think it would behoove Apple to put a short course on Inkwelling on their site. I like the application, but I wish that instead of writing big giant huge letters on my screen that an entire sheet of paper would appear on my screen and let me continue to fill it up until I'm ready for it to dump into whatever application I'm using. Heck, maybe it can do that now.
But, I'll sing along in the "paper and pencil is best" Hallelujah Choir.
Amen.
Brother Drew.
already you see several intel machines running windows XP on touch screens.
it is not difficult for a hardware manufacturer to make a touch screen for windows, and apple could easily convert an iMac to touch screen, for example.
however, the point is that basically you should be thinking that touch screens are most effective at input for simply that: touching the screen with preformed boxes or set instructions that tell the box what to do or where to go. introducing handwriting is ofcourse not fun since it depends on character recognition etc etc.
but in terms of a touch screen panel for os x, it will happen. as the digital hub it is destined to be, you want to have a station that can be used to simply start up yr iTunes, or adjust yr airport settings, or to go to a url that you use frequently to check for weather forecast, or the local train time, etc etc.
portable, and no-fuss. point and go.
you will have one within a few months.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Gametes ]</p>
<a href="http://www4.tomshardware.com/business/02q3/020911/idf_day2-02.html"; target="_blank">http://www4.tomshardware.com/business/02q3/020911/idf_day2-02.html</a>;
bottom of the page
"The 17" ViewSonic AirPanel"
this sounds like a great product. SOOOO many times ive been watching tech tv and ive been like "MAN! i wish i had a little tablet/notebook so i could goto that webpage their talking about without going into the computer room"
or im on the toilet and i think of somthing but i dont have a computer in teh bathroom
or im cooking dinner and i lost the recipy for the chicken. without going into the computer room ive got my recipi webpage on favorites on my tablet.
workin in teh garage, on the car. "what part was supposed to go their again?"
i can think of a million uses for somthing like this. smaller and lighter than a notebook/uses less energy than a notebook, and can do more than a notebook cause this thing is just transmitting the signal from the PC. so i can do EVERYTHING a PC can do, upgrades etc, PLUS i have the mobility of a notebook.
you'll still need notebooks for when you leave the house cause the tablet is on a short range WI FI.
personally i think if the price comes down low enough on these you could see the average user getting 1 free tablet with their PC along with the ability to buy as many more as they want for about 150-200 a pop? id have at least 3. hang them in like the bathroom, livingroom, garage, bedroom.
i really think apple should do somthing like this. i really think its gunna get popular as soon as ppl catch on to the possibilities and freedom they would have with somthing like this.
EDIT: also. apple has always been talking how they see the computer as teh central hub of everyday life. something like this would fully realize an idea like that.
EDIT again: also, you could have a proggy on your computer that could controll the TV/entertainment system. and it would transmit the image of the proggy to the tablet. and the tablet would controll the entertainment system.. oooooh i want one soooooo bad..
[ 09-16-2002: Message edited by: Aris ]
[ 09-16-2002: Message edited by: Aris ]</p>
<strong>SOOOO many times ive been watching tech tv and ive been like "MAN! i wish i had a little tablet/notebook so i could goto that webpage their talking about without going into the computer room"
or im on the toilet and i think of somthing but i dont have a computer in teh bathroom
or im cooking dinner and i lost the recipy for the chicken. without going into the computer room ive got my recipi webpage on favorites on my tablet.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto
<strong>
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>
YES. And as for the iPhone, I'd give it 95% chance of happening.
<strong>
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>
powerbook is too bulky for just using around the house. powerbook is for when you leave the house.
a tablet would just be a video singnel via wifi from an actual computer. so you wouldnt have to give up the expandability and usefullness of a powermac for mobility around the home.
their IS a market for this kind of product. apple needs to wake up and take advantage of it
EDIT: you ever try to walk around with a notebook and use it? without fumbling with it.
a tablet WOULD be a beautifull and functional extension of a mac.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Aris ]
EDIT: i do foresee this type of product becoming a standard with personal computers in the near future. it will happen. the only question is will apple be on board to take a piece of the market? i hope so.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Aris ]</p>
Barto
Average typing speed?
I dunno. I can't touch type worth a damn, but just from hunt & peck repitition I get over 50 WPM. I've no doubt that anyone who takes some time to learn it right could go over 100WPM.
Average speaking speeds?
They vary between 150-300WPM. So at first glance this looks like the only thing with a legit chance of replacing the keyboard. Still, while 95% accuracy sounds good, that's as many as 15 errors per page. And unlike typos, when a voice dictation gets screwy, it tends to muck up the word (or sometimes even the phrase!) in spectaculary misleading fashion. I had very high hopes for Naturally Speaking and VIaVoice when they first came out. I trained both extensively for my voice when I reviewed them as possible assistive technologies. They went from very frustrating to (after a lot of training) moderately acceptable. For people who can't type (because of disability), they're the only real option, but for people who won't learn they'll find it no faster than typing things out at a moderate-fast speed.
For me the other problem was that writing and speaking are not the same activity at all. What you produce when you sit down to write is different from what you get when you just open your mouth and blab. My 'writing' in these posts is as much like vocal blabbering as I get, mostly because I don't care to correct the dozens of little errors I make in every post, and 'cause I just click away as divergent thoughts enter my insomniac brain. But I try not to 'write' this way. I found that dictation upset the dialogue between my mind, my fingers, the screen, and my voice. I didn't like it, perhaps I could get used to it, maybe a smarter computer will make techno-emanuensis possible, but I don't think so.
Typing will be with us for a long time. It may be far more fruitful to see some brave company standardize the DVORAK layout than to fiddle around with writing and voice.
<strong>
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, a tablet it a Microsoftian device. Hide a personal mainframe in a room, use a tablet as an interface for web/office/whatever and X-Box for games.
Apple's philosiphy is that Macs should be beautiful and functional enough to use anywhere. What a portable Mac? Then get a PowerBook.
Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>
I disagree.
The tablet is being messed up by MS who are treating it like a laptop. All you end up with then is a bad laptop/tablet mutant. See <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27133.html"; target="_blank">this recent article</a> for why.
I don't think it should be purely a thin client thing, I think it needs a full OS and ports etc to make it compelling for consumers. But there's no reason why you can't make 2 models.
Apple could do this right, all their technology points to it. They know about ergonomics and beauty.
I work in an office and it's wall to wall meetings. On average I take 5 A4 pages of notes every 4 hours, most of which need typing into Word later. There is also the fact I could be on the intranet at the same time, not to mention the 3 hour journey there and back which could be made useful.
Yes, a powerbook could fill the role, but they aren't really suitable for note taking or quick on the spot use. I only take mine in occasionally.
I'm just an office worker, but a Mac Tablet would definately fill a need.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Blackcat ]</p>
A tablet computer isn't superior to paper in all ways, as you spelled out, but it is in some (what about when I want to go back and insert something in my notes? what about other people being unable to read my handwriting?).
But who cares? What's more important is that it is superior to the laundry list of things it is intended to replace: carrying around a bag stuffed full of pens, highlighters, a calendar, a rolodex, a calculator, and not just one pad of paper but 5 notebooks and 25 pounds of textbooks. All this plus web integration, data integration, having everything I ever wrote or read accessible at all times, and the sheer coolness of it all.
Your slight of hand cannot face down the reality that a tablet computer -- no, not one of those mockeries with a keyboard; no, not one of those mockeries with a DVD player -- replaces quite well all of these things, in a
- lighter (5 pounds instead of 25)
- cheaper (I've spent 2000$ on textbooks)
- more accessible (never again will anyone write on a napkin; never again will I have to transfer the day's dozen scraps of paper to their proper project notebooks)
- more flexible (see footnote)
packagefootnote - All this about typing being faster is terribly onesided. How many meetings, classes, or projects have you been to or worked on where all you had to do was create or record a text document? I have to organize my notes spacially, and often include diagrams and graphs, which, frankly, cannot be done with a keyboard. Where paper beats the heck out of a computer, this beats the heck out of a keyboard too.
And think of not having to print out 400 copies of something to pass around, or having everybody have reams of paper in their bag...
This is all the benefits of both, and worth 1000$ easily.
You have to ask yourself, "How can I get as close to the experience of paper as possible?" not, "How can I make a mini PC?" Most people start with the wrong question and that's why 99.9% of the tablets we've seen, from MS to the fantasies described on these pages, are complete abominations.
Be like paper. The screen has to be very high contrast, thin, very high resolution, and readable in natural daylight and sunlight. Like paper. That means black and white, transflective, or electroluminescent, maybe something like the iPod's, but it has to be matte -- the surface, completely anti-reflective.
Battery power is more important than processing power. Paper has zero processing power, but it works because it's always ready when you are (among other things). One li-poly battery please. Storage is important. Ruggedness is important. It wins if you don't have to carry a half dozen reports, novels, texts, whatever... with you. They sit on the machine. One 1.8" HDD please. It loses if you lose info from a jolt or a bump, so one nice big iPod style cache to keep HDD spin to a minimum.
It has to be small. You've never written on a letter size clip board while standing for any extended period. Too big. Take letter size page and fold in half. That's your footprint: 8x5.5. That's the size of A5, just a smidge smaller actually, but plenty big as far as book pages go. The small surface will keep the screen rigid against bumps and such, a flip around cover will keep the screen safe from scratches. It travels easily in a brief, bag or purse, even a labcoat, but not your back pocket. The trade-off is that you can actually write on it standing or sitting. It should be thin: about 5/8ths, no more.
Software. A voice recording mic wouldn't hurt, direct to MP3. Record interviews, meetings and lectures so you can store literally 1000's of hours of material (or play songs). Provide an app that lets you chapter mark the recorded material so should you need to bring up a timely bit of speech, you can find it easily. Handwriting recognition, natch. A very good file viewer/converter. Everything should be able to go into PDF (and/or QT, as capabilities advance), along with the ability to open most popular formats.
Firewire data/charging. Bluetooth sync. Basically a super eBook, with good connectivity and support for standar formats. MUST BE LESS THAN 500 USD!!!
It can morph into something more like your super PDA's as technology/cost allows, but that would be it for now, and very useful too.
This task would not need any feedback mechanism but merely a control item, like the scroll wheel. Likewise, data would be transferred through FireWire, as with iPod. If it had 1G RAM, it could contain the data in compressed form, thus needing no harddisk.
The price level could then be around $300 for a device with a 11" screen.
A device with touchscreen would be different: the price would increase by at least $150, and that is if there was no built-in harddisk but it was something like a thin client - ie, sending everything through an AirPort connection to a hub unit. There would be battery issues here, since it would not be able to survive on the iPod battery that the former device could use - on the other hand, the amount of RAM could be lowered somewhat.
Finally, there is the full-blown tabMac: harddisk, at least 13" screen, not necessarily a wireless device but instead a stand-alone unit (a stand, keyboard and mouse would turn it into a basic desktop unit. Price: $ 1300
</hobby horse rant>
engpjp
It's either going to be a Mac (fully), or a peripheral (digital hub peripheral).
No crippled mini-computers that are a waste of money and a terrible value that you regret after the first week. Not one of those feature-overloaded, jack-of-all-trades, multi-function, mucked-together creations that are so bad at everything they do that they're worthless.
Mac, or peripheral.
One. or. the. other.
The only two things I can see Apple combining are (a) PDAs and mobile phones, and (b) media storage and media presentation/playing devices (and they're already half there with the iPod which stores/plays MP3s and also functions as a FireWire hard drive).
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]</p>