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It's all spinning wheels and self-doubt until the first pot of coffee.

Quick mind interface thoughts

I've got a few longer-length blog entries building up, but a few of my semi-usual quick thoughts:

  • There's a difference between "ease of use" and "ease of adoption", isn't there? Think vi versus MS Word. Maybe Doug Engelbart versus Jabob Nielsen? More to think about this.

  • So, in a collision between my speed reading digestion of Charles Stross' new Accelerando and remembering this race between thumb-typing and Morse code--I've got a notion to explore morse code as a human/computer serial interface for wearables.

    I'm sure this just can't be a new idea, except to me.

    I would like to use two fingers to tap out dots-and-dits on a thigh, or my other palm. Either that, or I want a Bluetooth version of this Palm Radio Mini-Paddle.

    And, I want a buzzer worn somewhere--like a shoulder or a collarbone--so I can use a little neural plasticity to train myself for morse code input. And, it would be very nice if I could manage all this with a minimum of attention, say while walking around and not colliding with walls.

    In the end, I want something akin to Quicksilver, only invisible, fairly attention light, and with me everywhere. This is just a start, but eventually I want a wearable exocortex like Manfred's--the ultimate GTD accessory.

Archived Comments

  • Chris Dent
    "There’s a difference between “ease of use” and “ease of adoption”, isn’t there? Think vi versus MS Word. Maybe Doug Engelbart versus Jabob Nielsen? More to think about this." Absolutely. By ease adoption do you mean the ease with which it is possible to use something the first time around. That's more traditionally called ease of learning. Adoption is usually saved in the literature for uptake of the technology in whatever the audience happens to be. There's a mythical sweet spot where ease of use and ease of learning are nicely balanced. I haven't seen it yet.
  • Bill Seitz
    When I hear about Morse code as I/O I think of Cryptonomicon where Randy enters some case by hitting his space bar in Morse, and gets back his final decrypted message by having it output to his laptop near-keyboard LEDs. http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/CryptoNomicon