Posted on 10/15/2006 9:00:31 AM PDT by tomzz
I've got a cell phone which is trying to die and have just ordered a replacement from Ebay, but I've held off spending any more than just over a hundred dollars because the thing I'd really like to have doesn't exist yet, which is a crying shame since nothing in the way of nonexistant hardware would be required; it would be a pure systems integration project.
I'm hoping somebody who sells or markets consumer electronics ends up reading this.
What I'd like to have would be a cell phone, PDA, GPS, and navigation device rolled into one thing with Dragon voice recognition software built in so that I'd not need a pet squirrel or mouse to operate a squirrel or mouse sized keyboard on the road. Squirrels don't travel well in cars.
That should be doable with today's PDAs and flash memory sticks. The first time Dragon software worked believably was in the late 90s when they first got PC chips over about 250 mh, and I have to believe that today's PDAs have at least that much compute power. The device should have about 8 gb of memory storage and a minimal version of some operating system which can run minimalistic gui apps. It would have to have some keyboard capabilities such as you see on advanced cellphones, but the main data entry would be via Dragon voice software, using the same mike which the cellphone uses.
Wow!
Will it translate political blovation into English as well?
Political bloviation has no content, so you'd just get a blank page.
To give you an idea of the sort of use you could put such a thing to if it could run applications, a friend had some free airplane tickets and dragged me off to Utah a couple of years ago where they had a late season on cow elks, and we actually saw some cow elks, but the closest we ever got was about 550 yards at about a 12 degree down angle with about a 10 mph crosswind. Obviously, since nobody on the East coast practices anything like that or even remotely like that, we simply chalked that trip up to experience.
Now, there actually are exterior ballistics programs for PDAs, and if we'd had THAT with us, we could have taken the 550 yard downangle shot in the crosswind, and probably made it.
Or, they sell you crap you don't want.
I'm wierd, but I don't want or need a camera, games, fancy ring tones, the ability to watch tv or listen to music. I don't need it to be ultra small, thin, or made of moon rock. I don't even use text messaging.
I just want it to be able to get and keep a signal most places I go, not have to charge it every day, and sync with my Mac and my address books. That's all.
I'd even give up the sync, ability for the first two.
Or, if you do puta camera on it, make it a USEFUL camera, like the ones you can get in Japan. The ones we get here are useless, take up far too much battery power, and clutter up the phone.
I'm tired of devices trying to do everything, but can't do simple things well.
Don't need a camera, already have those.
Don't need Internet on my phone, can't FReep while driving.
I don't need GPS. I just make a call and my wife is more than happy to tell me where to go.
I don't need text messaging. My wife never gets laryngitis.
Good point.
Your flying car is currently for sale on eBay. The latest bid is just over two million dollars for the M400X Skycar VTOL Prototype Aircraft from Moller.
Better act fast! Less than four days are left before the bidding closes.
Not unless you also had a laser rangefinder.
As ranges get longer, they get harder to estimate, and bullet drop per yard gets higher and higher.
So that's where my ex went...
If you're from Brooklyn, please, just stay there.
Use the subway map and forget the GPS.
That does exist. I heard a blurb about it last week. Check Clark Howard's website. I think it is marketed in Canada at the moment.
Those are cheap now, and everybody has em.
What? No tire gauge? Everything should have a tire gauge on it.
I'll second that.
The device you describe can probably be made with today's technology. Unfortunately, it will be expensive, and hence the market for it will be small. :P
And small enough to replace your Tongue Stud!
Pray for W and Our Troops
You have just about a year or maybe two to wait for your phone. It's on its way.
See these links. What you want is on its way, and sooner than you think:
http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA508718.html?text=scansoft&stt=001
http://pcworld.com/article/id,115273-page,1/article.html
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