[LINK] surface

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/May/31, at 10:22 AM, Antony Barry wrote:
> On 31/05/2007, at 2:21 PM, Pilcher, Fred wrote:
>
>> - How do I type this e-mail on the coffee table, let alone write a  
>> structured document? Maybe a virtual keyboard appears, but how's  
>> that for ergonomics?
>
> Back around when the first touch screens came out (late 1980s?) a  
> guy who worked for me, Tony Ashcroft, said he had an idea for a  
> computer which would open like a book with display on one page and  
> the other would display a screen which you could draw on or would  
> display a keyboard which you could type on. You could of course  
> choose the font and language. We were having a problem automating  
> Thai, Chinese, Devangari and Vietnamese text at the time.

I have a little pocket Chinese dictionary.  It uses a plastic pen to  
draw the character and is much more useful to someone like me who can  
not often tell what a character sounds like.  Character by character  
if you draw a character with the correct stroke order (which isn't  
hard once you learn the technique) it is remarkably accurate.  A  
table top computer like this would be excellent for a person who  
wanted to write Chinese but who hadn't learnt the weird keyboard  
input methods.  It could be just the right position too.  Come to  
think of it artists would probably really like it too - painting with  
real brushes on a desk with your hands virtually manipulating the  
picture just like life really.

So maybe half the world would find this a much more comfortable and  
intuitive way of interacting with computers.

I'm sure it would be possible to work out some kind of keyboard system.

Not sure what you do about random objects placed on the surface  
obscuring the "screen".

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961