The voice box vs. hand
Nothing is more disturbing than having to use a keyboard (keypad) when away from the desk. On the other hand, nothing beats the convenience of speech. People happen to never leave home without this precious little instrument, the voicebox. The question arises; can we use our voice to communicate with computers as easily as we communicate with each other?

If not, is there any other way to emulate the comfort of speech, while having it easily interfaced with technology?

Voice recognition technology has matured over the last decade and works impressively well today, but still it is, and will remain, far from perfect. Put simply, voice and computers don’t match. Pronunciations and accents differ even among siblings. There are personal idiosyncrasies and speech impediments. And interfacing voice with computers is a complex task; it requires a microphone, amplifiers, filters, and sophisticated software to analyze the recorded sound and translate it to text – altogether it takes a substantial chunk of hardware and a lot of computing power. Still the translation accuracy rate may never reach a full 100%, and it is easily and adversely affected by ambient noise, while generating audio noise of its own anytime when used. Finally, in order to make the voice-computer communication universally useful, every receipient device would have to be equipped with a standardized voice receiver/translator of its own. Such solution is obviously impossible, as the current voice recognition software cannot work well with all the voice variations of every potential user. The solution would be to design personal voice-computer data entry device, the personal voice commander, capable of of translating speech of a dedicated user into the machine language. Not so bad idea, again assuming near error free voice recognition.

These are some among a number of reasons why the keyboard still remains our interface of choice.

On the other hand, Glancing Pad, being simple, small and inconspicuous, is perfectly suited to serve as an autonomous universal data inputter. Direct hand generating of symbols removes the complexity and ambiguity of voice transcription. There are other advantages coming with this solution, such as automatic language correction; between-languages translation; automatic message encryption; direct access to computers allowing instantaneous browsing; ease of use; and the highly desirable feature of being noiseless and discrete. The latter will prove useful in meetings and in crowded, dark or otherwise difficult environments. 

Cell phone.
The present day cell phone is actually a PDA with a phone capability - or the other way around. But wasn’t the telephone's original job to be connecting people acoustically together, and doesn't it hold true today?  There are two essential components to the telephone: a speaker and a microphone, both of which may be conveniently contained within an earpiece. And, yes, some means of data entry would be required, but about that later.

PDA
The present day PDA is a hand-held computer. Every computer has to have a data entry interface. Hand-held devices use small keypads, generally intended for a thumb operation. Enlarging the keypad to allow two hand operation comes with the price of having to secure a sturdy support for the device.

Because both the PDAs and cell phones require alphanumeric data entry, and from the early inception were considered indispensable, the natural progression was to fuse their functionalities into one box. This is where we are today.

Deconstruction
At present PDA-cellphone hybrids dominate the market, and whenever we want to talk we have to hold the whole box to our ear, and, whenever we want to write, we have to focus our entire attention on a tiny screen and on the Lilliputian keypad. Inevitably the further progress will require some radical changes: splitting and reconfiguring of the device. Here is a recipe of what should be done, in four easy steps:

1. The cell phone should become an earpiece. The speaker of the phone will double as a universal audio output for any other of our gadgets.
2. The screen should be arm-mounted (like a watch) or take a form of an eyeweare, to be easily carried around and looked at.
3. The computer itself, if not small enough to be merged with or hidden under the screen, should be pocketed and out of the way.
4. The data entry device should be a completely separate, uni-manually operated, easily accessible pad.

This pad should function as a universal data entry interface, capable of communicating not only with our computers, but also with EVERY OTHER DEVICE in our technological environment.
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