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Ultimate Yuppie Device
10/15/06 | self

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: cellphones; electronics; gps; pda
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1 posted on 10/15/2006 9:00:32 AM PDT by tomzz
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To: tomzz

I think that it is sold in the same aisle as the photon torpedos and the flux capacitors.


2 posted on 10/15/2006 9:02:07 AM PDT by Axhandle
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To: tomzz
Thats too much Beeber you'll get Stunned
3 posted on 10/15/2006 9:02:08 AM PDT by cmsgop ( President Mahmud Ahmadinejad Must Purify Himself in The Waters of Lake Minnetonka)
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To: tomzz

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.


4 posted on 10/15/2006 9:02:12 AM PDT by battlegearboat
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To: tomzz

If they give it to you all at once you only pay once.


5 posted on 10/15/2006 9:04:52 AM PDT by PaxMacian
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To: tomzz

Unless you're Methusalah's age, you'll probably live to see this wish fulfilled. But not for a while yet.


6 posted on 10/15/2006 9:06:47 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: tomzz

I want mine in blue, please. And it can't weigh any more than a paperback romance novel.


7 posted on 10/15/2006 9:06:57 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If you believe you can forgive, you're right. If you believe you can't forgive, you're right.)
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To: tomzz

I guess you missed all the PDA/cell phones with VZ navigator capabilities?

Or do you own stock in Dragon and just want to do a vanity?


8 posted on 10/15/2006 9:08:09 AM PDT by JoeSixPack1 ( Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English)
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To: tomzz

This is a great idea

I'll get right on it


9 posted on 10/15/2006 9:08:11 AM PDT by IncPen (Bush Iraq Truth WMD http://freedomkeys.com/whyiraq.htm)
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To: tomzz

If it doesn't have a built-in time machine, it's not worth it.


10 posted on 10/15/2006 9:08:47 AM PDT by SIDENET (Is it too early for flapjacks?)
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To: Tax-chick
And it can't weigh any more than a paperback romance novel.

Off topic for a moment...yesterday saw a Discovery Channel doc on Lance Armstrong and his hi-tech equipment. The bicycle manufacturer held up a frame and said it weighed the same as a small paperback.

11 posted on 10/15/2006 9:10:31 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (Meep Meep)
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To: tomzz

All I want to know is...where's my flying car?


12 posted on 10/15/2006 9:13:36 AM PDT by TADSLOS (Ezekiel 25:17)
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To: tomzz

...and don't forget diabetes, lumber moisture, pregnancy and AIDS test modes.


13 posted on 10/15/2006 9:14:12 AM PDT by gorush (Exterminate the Moops!)
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To: tomzz

I want a small PDA sized keyboard that will fit in my shirt pocket, the display would be "heads-up" in my glasses that contain an ear piece and swing down mouth piece. This would be my portable PC, cell phone, GPS, etc.


14 posted on 10/15/2006 9:16:54 AM PDT by umgud (I love NASCAR as much as the Democrats hate Bush)
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To: ErnBatavia

That's amazing! I'll bet it costs about as much as my house.


15 posted on 10/15/2006 9:17:12 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If you believe you can forgive, you're right. If you believe you can't forgive, you're right.)
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To: tomzz

However, if someone would make the ultimate anti-Yuppie device, an ultra-simple cellphone for seniors, they would sell a gazillion of them.

For there are huge numbers of people who neither want nor need confusing gizmos, instead who want simplicity adapted for the poor visioned and hard of hearing. They don't even need an LCD screen. They want a phone like what phones used to be.

Larger than a normal cellphone for arthritic hands, with a loud ring. Big, easy to read buttons, 15 of them, and three switches. 12 dialing buttons, a redial, hold, and HELP button with a safety switch, so it isn't pushed by accident. An on-off switch, and a ring-mute switch. The last thing it has is a power strip from green and yellow to red, so they can easily tell when it needs charging.

Have a charging stand so they don't have to futz with wires.

And on the inside of the cellphone, have a piece of paper with important phone numbers written in it.


16 posted on 10/15/2006 9:20:08 AM PDT by Popocatapetl
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To: JoeSixPack1

Typing is the fastest thing I do in life and I'd have no use for Dragon software on a normal computer with a normal keyboard. Nonetheless I've set up Dragon software for friends who don't type including friends in NY who speak pure Brooklynese, and the Dragon software even works flawlessly for them, as if they had a secretary translating from Brooklynese to English as she typed.


17 posted on 10/15/2006 9:20:12 AM PDT by tomzz
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To: tomzz

No video camera and laser pointer?


18 posted on 10/15/2006 9:20:42 AM PDT by null and void ("It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret."--Jackie Joyner-Kersee)
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To: tomzz

With simple voice commands there many on the market now. Any high end PDA. I can run a power point prestaion from mine and it's 5 years old. Dragon is the only part not ready last year. The GPS is a cf insert and it gives voices directions using mircosoft streets. But mine is 5 years old, no phone. no blue tooth.


19 posted on 10/15/2006 9:22:34 AM PDT by ThomasThomas (Real men use spell check!)
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To: tomzz
The Baker's, the folks that started Dragon, have just scratched the surface as far as voice recognition. I understand that they have a lot more up their sleeves.

It only makes sense that voice recognition will become a bigger deal until the devices can be directly linked in to your brain:)

20 posted on 10/15/2006 9:23:00 AM PDT by isthisnickcool (Sliding butt stock, carry handle, gas operated. Named after a horse. What am I?)
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