OK Techno Geeks, tell me...

[Keith]

Here is the same technology embedded in a Smart Phone..


You still have the points Chris! It's worth noting that the bright 'screen' on the previous picture is actually any old white board.

 

[Chris B]

Keith:

Any experience with laser keyboards? Do they really work?

 

[Keith]

Keith:

Any experience with laser keyboards? Do they really work?

I know nothing more than these pictures really, sent to me by a computer research Geek friend. He says it works fine though...

Can't quite get my head around it and I haven't it checked on Snopes yet!

 

[Keith]

More......

Last...

 

[David Morton]

Jeez - and I'm still trying to run a co-ax to watch Magic Roundabout on my black and white crt telly.........

 

[Chris P.]

I've read about him and that setup a while back - it's real as far as I know. Also, that keyboard has been around for years. I bought some penny stocks in the company that developed it - my god, 10 years or so ago? I guess there's your answer as to whether or not it works!

 

[Keith]

I notice that cutting edge scientific research seems to be equally split between finding solutions for existing problems and blue sky discoveries that don't, as yet, have a commercial application. It also seems true that many 'breakthroughs' are as a result of accidental discoveries on the way to other, and possibly higher, goals.

Alan Turing & Co's startling achievments with Colossus in 1944 led to it's destruction in 1946 because no-one could forsee any use for it! :laugh:

Or, more likely because they didn't want the Russians to get it, like they did the "Gadget" research right out of Los Alamos..

But that's a whole different story... :lipsrsealed:

 

[BenL]

It appears to be a very cool prototype built by NEC in 2003. I'd love to see a 2011 version released to the consumer market..

Pen PC - Pen Shaped Miniature Personal Computer

From an old NEC page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20031211055417/http://www.nec-design.co.jp/showcase/

P-ISM :
A Pen-style Personal Networking Gadget Package
It seems that information terminals are infinitely getting smaller. However, we will continue to manipulate them with our hands for now. We have visualized the connection between the latest technology and the human, in a form of a pen. P-ISM is a gadget package including five functions: a pen-style cellular phone with a handwriting data input function, virtual keyboard, a very small projector, camera scanner, and personal ID key with cashless pass function. P-ISMs are connected with one another through short-range wireless technology. The whole set is also connected to the Internet through the cellular phone function. This personal gadget in a minimalistic pen style enables the ultimate ubiquitous computing.