• a High End CCD with a lens capable of autofocus and control.
• Robotic or Non-Touch techniques for page turning
• Illumination with automatic adjustment for paper type, quality and color
• Bundled Software for OCR and automated PDF output
• Non-Standard Adjustable mechanical casing
• Demand Volume is much lower to throttle pricing creating a vicious cycle
  

If you really want to penetrate this space, then there is quite a lot that can be done. Here are a few suggestions

• Use CMOS Cameras with In-built Autofocus DSP functions (Monochrome should suffice for most needs.)
• Use in-built DSP for quick post-processing and OCR (Processors like the OMAP already make it possible.)
• Use minimal illumination and  partially closed box built on traditional flatbed scanner or OHP dimensions.
• Improvise on non-touch page turning (Robotics will need calibration and have component scalability issues.)
• Bundle Software that integrates well with Content Management Systems to support multiple output formats
  

I strongly feel that beating that price point and reaching a larger volume of people will create a compelling business case. New books are usually created on digital media and therefore have a digital alternative available. It is the volumes of old books containing priceless information that would need to be scanned. One could imagine a host of business models for such a case including Library centric Data centers hosting readable material accessible on almost any reading device.

 While as a road warrior, when I take a look at Internet access while I'm driving, even inside a city, I am presented with GPRS or CDMA web connectivity. For WiMax, I don't get too many high-end laptops with WiMax connectivity and have to resort to USB pluggable options which are available, but then getting a service plan is hard.

I found that the idea of WiFi to WiMax roaming was discussed as early as a year back in February 2008. This seems significant because Intel is also looking at chips that make this roaming possible without you having to run two RF intensive devices. So here's what they had out of their labs.

Finally, I found that the need being strong and market driven, there's a lot more comprehensive information you can gather about this. Here's www.wimaxroaming.org which has details about roaming from one service provider's WiMax to another (not something I have been addressing in the earlier paragraphs.) This too is key as GPRS/GSM or CDMA roaming is defined and works depending on yoru service plans.

The only thing that looks a bit daunting is the size of the USB WiMax dongles. They are versatile (if you've worked on WiMax before), but not the kind of size an end user would like for a laptop. My bother is also about the power consumption.

With one PCMCIA or usually ExpressCard slot these days, you could  have your GPRS/CDMA/EDGE card plugged in there.

With most of the computing needs moving into Web 2.0 with a lot of software content, the cloud applications (here's Google's Cloud if you're interested in further reading;) seamless web connectivity needs solutions.

The solutions sought for are

• In Part the Hardware that could possibly accommodate multi-band radios for GSM/GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/WiFi bg/WiMax
• The Software that keeps you connected managing your network for whichever Operating System you use.

While most companies are working at converging these, few have brought in consumer adaptable solutiions here.

Finding your Digital Identity

Considering the above, one thing I find missing is, how do you find out if a prospective client or a prospective acquaitance or business associate has valid credentials when they contact you online? I was trying to find ways to help me out with the same problem.

 Click on the picture for usernamecheck.com which finds out whether your common username has been taken over by another person on any of the listed social networking websites.

The concern of one's own identity being used by another person has been steadily increasing. Here is a report from Pewter (2007) that indicates searches on one's own identity to confirm whether it is secure.

That brought me to the next question. Are there dedicated search tools that can inform the usage of an individual's user identity? That search led me here (2008). The Search Engine Journal lists too few tools revealing that there is definitely a gap in this market.

People describe the activity of tracking and managing one's own identity online as Online Identity Management or Reputation Management. The former appeals more to an individual identity and the latter to a corporate or a brand identity.

One of the functions that I believed would be useful was an online alarm system that could inform us whenever our digital identity or brandname or alias is in use. Check out this post from ClaimId who labels them as best practices.

What's Missing?

• A Dedicated Tool for Digital Identity Creation, Management and Tracking
• A Tool to verify whether an identity is valid (without the person using it having to use digital signatures for validation.)
• Legal assistance to prosecute "Identity" squatters (not just domain squatters.)
• Digital privacy management tools to ensure that some information related to our identity is kept private or to a select network only.

Why?

• Identity pervades computing space from the Internet to the Desktop to our Mobile phones. It is as important as our Social identity in itself.
• Digital Anonymity is not an option anymore as communication media have converged.
• Digital Identity can provide credibility for actual acquaintance, meetings and business activity when used appropriately.
• Many people have tried to avoid creating and maintaing a Digital Identity because of the ease at which it can be hijacked if managed improperly.

What's in it for a Startup?

• The dedicated tool for Online and Digital Identity Management with various levels of security could be an instant Web 2.0 business idea.
• Mobile applications that extend the functionality onto mobile devices will help in better identity management and tracking.
• Mobile applications that can protect identity theft in the event of theft of a mobile appliance.

Despite its importance, Digital Identity has too few tools for managing it today. This has to change soon. What better time to get things rolling that "now"?

Where is storage technology heading?

The first is a rapid increase in choice of "External" storage devices that can be plugged into your PC.

This one is from SanDisk, you could find hundred others.

This too is another SanDisk product for HandyCams. It isn't bigger than 5 sq.cm and it's the size and the density of the storage that makes it attractive.

If you have been missing the technology race in storage, you ought to take a look at this video which is almost a year old. It has a comparison of the Solid State Drive (SSD) versus the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) which we conventionally use for storage.

Magnetic storage has always been able to keep up with the race for increased storage. We have seen them scale from a 20 MByte Hard Drive in the pack (1992 c.e.) to 1,500,000 MByte Hard Drive in a pack (2008 c.e.) - the new 1.5 TByte Hard Drive which (some) consumers can buy.

Multi-layer magnetic storage and retrieval, multi-head, single platter storage to reduce mechanical risk, On-Drive Flash to upgrade Hard Drive firmware are some of the refinements you can find in the market today. Almost all these Hard Drives come with Logical Access modes that are configurable on the on-drive firmware to abstract low-level configuration from the BIOS and the Operating System.

The next big thing was to reduce power consumption and provide lighter systems (yes magnetic storage still stays heavier than the power source on your PC.) So we have completely Solid State Hard Drives offering almost all the storage home users need.

The next leap of course is to put Solid State Storage (SSD) and Magnetic Storage (Mechanical Storage) together in a Hybrid form for improved data read/write access speeds. The Hybrid Storage alliance shows how the user can benefit from the marriage of both forms of technology. If you're wondering when this technology is making it to your laptop, the answer is "now." Operating Systems have started sporting support for it and manufacturers are packaging storage with PCs and Laptops on the shelves.

Here is what the above average consumer would be looking for:

A device that can be connected to a Network or Wireless  network and seamlessly provide a shared storage accessible as a shared drive. DSL Modem -> Wireless Access Point -> Wireless Hard Drive giving us a simple infrastructure to store data at home, while also moving around.

This will not take time and I would bet on a company that tries to completely de-couple storage from the PC without the need for extremely high speed access like Data Center : Network Access Storage [NAS] devices.

Here's what he shared with me.

A comprehensive Comparison Chart that named some models I hadn't even heard of.

• The BeBook Reader
• The Sony Reader
• The Amazon Kindle
• The Hanlin Reader
• The Netronix CyBook

This link leads you to a Feature and Price comparison chart that I found informative. The real price finally lands between $200 and $300. The $100 - $400 margin includes a larger classification of devices. 

I had heard a lot of buzz about the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader, but not the rest of them.

If you are interested in where the technology is heading, there's a company named Plastic Logic which seems to have a High-tech solution. They aren't retailing right now, and by my guess this isn't going to be anytime soon. You can take a look at their reader here. (Warning Hi-Resolution Picture.)

Panasonic started out with an e-Book reading gadget in 2004 (The SigmaBook), moved on to a color version and recently got a spot on enGadget for a mini e-Book reading gadget.

With e-Ink technology getting more aggressive, here are a few things that catch the eye with promotions from e-Ink. If you're a Gadget developer and you're interested in building your own e-Book, here's where you can find kits from them.

From 2004 till date, the industry has been churning out e-Book readers. So, has the charm dimmed out? It seems nothing would stop more people from trying. Check out Astak's Mentor e-Book.

This one made its debut in the recent Las Vegas CES 2009 show.

So if you're really interested in buying one, I suggest you read this MobileRead Wiki for a matrix of  a comprehensive comparison and costs.

The prohibitive thing in keeping e-Book readers away has been the business model which would take longer to come through. And yes, you can search for the iBook, I can promise you, there's one on its way.

I love collecting and reading books, but here is the present problem I face:

• Books are getting costlier on the shelves owing to rising costs of Paper and Printing
• Paper is getting costly and is not really environment friendly
• Storage of books require space, which is something that not everyone can afford
• Conventional books are difficult to search; locating a book with a particular reference can be difficult, if you haven't been reading it recently
• Carrying books on a long trip is diffficult, as even paperback and pocket versions weigh considerably
• Books have fixed formatting rendering some of them difficult for those with vision difficulty to read. They have to buy exclusive hardback editions with larger fonts just to read the same content.
• A printed book does not necessarily guarantee its authenticity that it has been written by a specific author and provided by a Publisher because of the ease with which they get pirated or copied.
• It is usually difficult to create references from books while doing research as books remain a conventional physical medium.
• Damaged books have to be replaced in whole; they have to be bought all over again. Damage usually happens because storage requires special care to avoid infestation and some protection from fire.
• Libraries, private or public have to be manually indexed allowing room for manual error.
• Books which carry a lot of photographs and illustrations use higher grade paper which costs a lot more and increases the cost of the book heavily.
• The availability of books to the average reader is restricted by Book retailers and Libraries who stock them. This becomes a blocker for new titles to be quickly available to the end-user or reader.
• Magazines are more readily available, but the time they reach their readership is restricted by logistics. As readership increases many magazines struggle to reach their readers on time.
• The prohibitively high cost of newsprint renders magazines and books with lower profit margins.

The issues listed above have been identified and many solutions to them have been sought after.  Here is what has been done so far:

• Digital Books have been created as an easier mode of distribution. Owing to the ease of copying different techniques including DRM are being tried to restrict the distribution and usage to the customers (some of which seem overboard.)

The content of the books becomes easier to search and shopping for the books becomes still easier with the ability to check out the content without having to browse the book as a whole.

• Blogs, Online websites with shared content have made it easier for the Authors to reach readers. Sites like Scribd are testament to this fact.
• PDAs and PDA Phones have been equipped with software capable of reading books and form a small yet considerable group of users.
• Projects like Gutenberg have taken up a volunteer approach to the task of converting older paperback and hardback editions of books to an open digital format accessible to everyone.
• Dedicated e-book readers have been created to carry multiple (upto 150 or more) books and read them. These readers have been using the e-Ink technology that allows them to use far lesser power than conventional Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) making them a usable companion. Here is a short list (courtesy Wikipedia.)
• eSlick by Foxit (2009)
• Digital Reader 1000 by iRex Technologies (2008)
• Kindle by Amazon (2007)
• Cybook Gen3 by Bookeen (2007)
• GeR2 by Ganaxa (2007) ^[1]
• Star eBook STK-101 by Star eRead (2007)
• Hanlin eReader by Jinke (2007)
• Sony Reader by Sony (2006)
• iLiad by iRex Technologies (2006)
• Librié by Sony (2004)

The e-Slick reader with a 7.4" size that hasn't yet made it. It's lighter than the Kindle and is more of a PDF reader.

Books themselves were an attempt to reach out to a larger audience in the Sixteenth Century when written material was restricted to the elite and only those who could afford it. The natural evolution of books would therefore have to make them more (not less) accessible to a larger population at lower costs to the reader and the authors & publishers.

So here is what the existing solutions miss out and would be areas waiting for answers

• Localisation and support for regional Languages for Digital Books and Digital Book Readers needs work. Many latinised languages have good support, while East Asian and African languages would require work.
• Buying books in a language one doesn't understand and having the Digital Book Reader do the translation is an expectation that hasn't yet been fulfilled. I would love to read some text in Old Latin with an automated translation showing up half screen, but that isn't yet available.
• If you could have a dedicated Digital Book Reader than can digitize documents or articles and store them for search, that would turn out to be very useful. The device could do this with the help of an external scanner (which is not hard to imagine in these days of convergence.)
• Publishers and Authors do not have a simple mechanism for feedback from their readers. Popular books do make it to enough forums that the Author might be following. However there are many volumes that lie in the dark and a single comment on them will never make it to the author. This level of interactive feedback could be sorted out in the future with Digital Distribution Channels.
• Backing up books is something that is possible for non-DRM books but not for DRM books. For DRM itself to work, there has to be provisions for the rightful owner of the book to create a backup for fair use.
• Those who've bought books have the habit of lending the physical copy of the book to someone, usually a friend or a relative. Many books get lost this way. Presently DRM enabled books cannot be shared, while others can be abused or pirated. This needs to be addressed with a good solution coupled with a policy.
• Books should provide some items from new technology like interactive puzzles, touch selection of words to find their dictionary meaning and an easy method to choose a paragraph, chapter or section of text for reference in one's own research work. Digital media has provisions for all these, but they haven't brought them out to the end-user.
• Open and Portal Document formats should be easy to convert a book to without affecting the status of its formatting of the DRM (Digital Rights Management) component. This is to ensure that books can be transferred from one digital reading device to another with no extra costs. Lack of such conversion makes a user captive to one specific type of reading device.
• Faster distribution channels should allow for the release of books to a group of reviewers before a book is released for public reading (if this is necessary.) Presently, proof reading books and sending them back to the publisher is time consuming. The Distributed Proof-Readers initiative from Project Gutenberg is a nice example, except that it cannot be done on digital readers.
• Digital Book Readers for those having impaired vision should now be possible. Digital Braille display and text-to-speech technology exists today.
• A suggestion of books that have similar content for those pursuiing research interests and the ability to search books that haven't yet been loaded from a Digital Book reader (with some connectivity requirements to a network) would be very useful. This isn't yet possible.
• A single device that can help one read a book and author using the same device should be possible given the state of today's technology. The keyboard in itself is slowly obsoleted. Faster text entry mechanisms including speech-recognition and improvised user interfaces are available. Integrating these into one solution could be the dream device for many a bookworm.
• Reading Blogs, Blog Racks, News Articles from a digital text/book reader should be possible. Many PDAs today offer the capability to blog and to read blogs. The main scoring area of a Digital Text reader is the size that offers easier readability with lesser eye-strain.
• Many have been complaining about carrying an "extra" device for reading books, but if there were strong features dedicated to Text/Book Reading and Content creation, people would stop objecting. This has been primarily due to the convergence of the Mobile Phone with a PDA, Web Browser, Music Player and Text Reader constrained by size and battery life.
• While battery life has been extended on many Digital Book Reading devices, charging them with Solar power or similar means hasn't yet made it. Reading a book in sunlight is something that manufacturers of devices have to ensure (which conventional LCDs do not support in full.)

Startups and many Hardware Device Manufacturing ventures have been focusing on creating the better e-book reader with tactile feedback, low energy utilization, lighter weight and a host of other goodies. They should also keep the Book Reader in mind while creating a solution that really makes a strong case for user adoption by features (those listed so far) and usability & accessibility.

We would be seeing the following rising in demand in the immediate. This has already started:

• Energy efficient equipment using low power
• Telecommuting to avoid Commuting Energy spend
• Energy Storage Technology for highly energy efficient equipment

The Ultracapacitor or the Supercapacitor energy storage story was something just out of Sci-Fi. If any of you saw the newer version of Planet of The Apes you would have seen a display showing "energy capacitors" referring to the new Ultracapacitor technology. It seems that necessity does indeed drive technology to land earlier than it would have otherwise.

Here's a car that will be using ultracapacitors. You could read more about it here. Energy efficient technology has been a much anticipated need, but has huge challenges in integrating and providing solutions to the end customer. Here is a webmag that has a lot of information on the technology available today.

This is a radical idea , but the brain is really a superb scenario building system given the time and opportunity to think on it's own . 

http://io9.com/5107674/technology-puts-images-from-your-brain-onto-a-computer#c

I think this is a worthwhile idea to be invested in considering the huge amount of research in recent time's 

http://www.engadget.com/tag/brain/

Commercialization o tis technology to make it industrial grade is key so let my imagination run wild ...

Steven Speilberg puts on the "Brain Render" device and he has just read the script of his new SciFi movie " ET vs Jurassic Dino " :) you can imagine the rest ... and if it is production quality he might just release it like that ..:)

and we get instant movie reviews and downloads .. ( Crappy movie steve use real actors not your imagination ) 

Just a thought . 

Amazing what a simple change can do ... !!!!! the thing is it should be transparent and having a rock solid recovery system like reiserfs sould be great ... 

This idea seems to be useful for people with a large number o credit cards or subscribe to a large amount of loyalty schemes ( eg BP Petro card) .

The basic idea is to store the info from the original credit or debit card into the device using the card reader on the upper part of the card . 

After scanning all your cards they can be scrolled through with the LCD screen and teo directional buttons as shown in the figure. 

The numeric pad below the LCD screen can be used to enter a PIN code for security before using the device. 

After you select the card and enter the PIN code you can swipe the device's lower magnetic strip onto the shopping clerks card reader machine ... 

Happy shopping..:) 

There's an interesting list of safety systems listed:

1. Traction Control Systems: Introduced in 1971 by General Motors
2. Anti-lock Braking Sytsems: ABS was introduced in 1978 by automating steering control under heavy braking.  It was introduced by Mercedes-Benz.
3. Enhanced Stability Control: Anti-Skid systems were introduced by Robert Bosch in 1987
4. Emergency Brake Assist: Engaging an additional braking system to reduce the stopping distance by an extra 20% was introduced in 1992 by Daimler.
5. Pre-Crash Response Systems: These systems detect a possible crash, tighten seatbelts and activate all brakes. This was introduced by Denso. Sounds a bit scary to me, taking over braking and using pre-cognition. This was introduced in 2003.
   
6. Blind Spot Detector: Blind spot detectors introduced by Visiocorp detect cars in the adjacent lane within 10 meters. The trouble is in high traffic density these distance metrics don't work. This was introduced in 2005.
7. Lane-Departure Warning: This sounds off an alarm if the car strays away from the lane. This is quite close to what I was wanting for crash warning, but more of erratic driving warning is what I'd love, lane departure may be intentional. This was introduced in 2007 by Mobileye.
8. Automated Braking: Now this is the car trying to drive by avoiding low-speed collisions. This is in 2008 by Volvo's City Safety group.
9. Automatic Pedestrian Detection: This detects people or animals in the car's path. I guess this is meant for highways and possibly for night driving when vision is also impaired. This is also offerred by Mobileye. Mobileye is offering this in 2009.
   
10. Backover Detection: This is a feature I'd love to have for everyone else. This applies brakes on a car that's reversing potentially protecting both the car and if there was a pedastrian or obstacle behind the car, that too. I have been hit by cars reversing without warning at least twice and would love this feature. Ford and Mobileye are stated to introduce it in 2009. 

With the automobile industry facing tough times, technology might take time to hit the road and become helpful. Watching the Auto market in India, ABS, Airbags, Crumple Zones are among the few safety systems available in the fuel-efficient small car segments. The rest are reserved for the luxury car segment which includes Saloons and SUVs.

My thoughts on these features are mixed. If you are driving a car with this feature on the road and have a truck following you that doesn't have it, you are about to break for when you get too close to another car in front, while the truck without the technology is probably not. The result is left to imagination. The point is introducing these systems across vehicular segments that use the same roads. The automobile industry would therefore be pinned down to introduce true safety technology only through Government enforcement authorities.

Safety in my opinion, unlike other features, is a combined effort of vehicles, people driving vehicles, manufacturers, road/highway planners & designers and Traffic Control authorities. Technology alone would give you about 10% of the mileage in true safety. Formula One racing is an example of how combined effort can yield 100% safety inspite of a 300kph crash.

• A full-fledged on-board computer that acts as a black box, records data from various sensors in the car would be useful. Some of these are available as add-on installations, but most cars in the Saloon, Golf-Car, S-U-V segment don't come with one. This is not the in-car entertainment system that has become more powerful in today's models. This should be telling the driver when car fluids and parts need to be serviced or replaced. If the inside of the car has taken in too much of dust this should warn the driver and possibly initiate cleaning if the automobile provides capabilities to actuate that. this computer should be capable of wirelessly connecting to a home PC to send data collected and stored on the car. The converse should be possible with a lot of security checks limiting the type of data that can be transferred to the car from a Home PC.
  
• Fuel efficient automated gearshift with (optional) user tunable ratios for each gear. It is strange despite all the technology that we continue to build automobiles with manual gearshift. The automated gearshift can be provided with a manual "Paddle Gear" mode like the ones used for Race cars. Honda does provide the "Paddle Gear." When someone is driving through heavy slow-moving traffic this could be more optimal than the user engaging and disengaging the clutch/gearbox system.
  
• Realtime Fuel Tank Pressure sensors which can be interfaced to the on-board computer and sensor read-outs through a neat "Heads-up Display" (HUD). With an interface to the on-board computer, this could be used to check realtime usage and actual fuel efficiency of the vehicle. Gone ar ethe days when drivers wrote down the trip meter readings and then tried to calculate the fuel efficiency.
  
• Tyre Pressure Readouts that give the driver an instant colored read-out of Tyre temperature and Tyre pressure. These have been available for over a decade on Race cars and should be easy to bring to road cars. A good number of accidents can be caused by tyre failure, and a red tyre on the HUD or tyre health read-out of a car can forewarn a driver.
• A Digital Compass display on the HUD unless the driver requests a GPS read-out should be available. I don't see a simple digital compass on many of the In-car GPS models I have seen. Car navigation can also show a compass read-out until a satellite lock is received. 
• An In-Car Weight Calculator should be able to calculate the weight of the car while driving. If the weight of the people and luggage inside a car is higher than the prescribed limits, there should be a warning. Most suspension failure is caused due to extra weight or improper weight balancing of luggage loaded in a car. With all the sensors available today, this should be an easy one.
• User controlled Glass Tints would be a nice feature. Today we have light sensitive glass tints available for cars that darken everything except the driver's view. It would be nice if these were all user controlled. This is possible, but I haven't seen anyone offer a user controlled tint.
• Automated Route Learning and Mapping software that works with the car's GPS is also something that's missing. I can statically set the route before I start for setting "manual routes" on a GPS guidance system. However, a GPS system that learns routes from a drive, that one's not so common.  There would be some locations that remain unmapped and while driving through those streets for the first time, I'd like the GPS to learn. Now this doesn't sound too difficult to implement and would be really useful in places where available maps are obsolete or poor. A huge add-on could be the ability to share the maps I have learnt with my friends. by directly loading it onto their GPS.
• Most GPS modules do not tell you how "good" or "bad" the actual road is. If you are in for off-roading or are driving in territory that has no intention of maintaining roads this is something that can be recorded to keep you warned the next time you venture out in that direction.
• The amount of lighting available at night time on a particular road while driving could also be a comfort point for the car driver. This too could be captured on the GPS with the timing detail. I am seriously not asking for too much?
• Weather systems should be integrated with the GPS which should be able to warn the driver that she is going into territory experiencing heavy rain, snow or fog.
  
• Keyless entry systems are around. Remote controls to turn on or turn off head lights, parking lamps, in-car lamps of the car before entering would be an easy feature to incorporate. Remote In-Car lighting controls would be a simple idea if I wanted to locate my car in a parking lot without making it scream.
• Cruise Control while driving on the highways to let the driver take a breather are easier to implement. Efforts towards unmanned driving are trying to take a huge leap in one shot. However, cruise control where the car can drive itself only on highways with limited traffic with the possibility of the user to intervene the moment she uses the steering wheel is something possible without extremely high Image Recognition and AI algorithms.
• Driving Guidance Systems could be a good way of stepping towards automated car driving. We now have Parking Guidance System that can do most of the parking with user guidance. This could be targeted at "new" car users.
• A Driver Warning System is easy to implement today. This system can also initiate a siren or warning if the car is being handled erratic or at speeds not reccommended for that car model. The driver should be able to turn them off, but as a basic safety feature this would prove useful. If vital parts of the car like the brake or gearshift or hydraulic fluid or coolant fluid is below the safety level, the car can initiate a warning and request the user to pull over. The user should still have the freedom to drive despite the warning (I hate taking the freedom away from a user.)
  
• Infrared or Alternate Vision systems with support on the HUD for driving under conditions of poor visibility. These conditions may be heavy rain or fog or snow or just the car's headlight's malfunctioning and only the parking light working on a highway. The fog has always been addressed with fog lamps, but today we can focus on improving the driver's vision of the actual road and conditions with less powerful lighting.
• New Generation Alcohol sensors (not breathalyzers but the new skin-based ones) should be integrated with the car (steering perhaps). The car needs to warn the driver that she may not be in the best of states to drive. This could be recorded on the in-car computer.
• Stealth Prevention Systems need to take in new technology by integrating WiMax and 3G to help assist law enforcement authorities in identifying stolen cars. The car can start emitting a beacon if the owner enables one from a remote control point. The owner of the car can choose to shutdown the car (potentially disabling the ignition system.) or limit the speed.
• Advanced Climate Control systems that can darken or brighten the color of the car's chassis based on the ambient temperature and light would be a good advancement. This would help the internal climate control system to adjust temperature faster for the driver in the cockpit and all the passengers. Sensing the number of passengers in the car could help optimize the energy used for cooling or heating various parts of the car.
• Mobile Phone/PDA cradles should be available in the car which can directly connect the in-car systems to the mobile phone or PDA and provide the user with a way to interact with the mobile phone without disturbing their actual driving. Today I see most models having holders for mobile phones and external mods or kits which allow having a voice activated system. But these systems are still very primitive. The PDA/Phone can give an automated SMS reply stating that the person is driving, and based on friend settings provide location data or abstain. The same system can help making an emergency call with the least user intervention in the event it is required. (And yes, charging the mobile phone's battery can continue.)
• In-Car object sensors can be used to locate objects that have either remained in the boot of the car or fallen below a seat. These would be really helpful in locating that USB Pen Drive or MP3 player that fell from my pocket somewhere in the car. If something fell inside the boot while removing the luggage, it would be easy if sensors could locate it and report them.
• Terrain Warning systems could help the driver avoid terrain on which the car cannot ride, especially terrain which is unfriendly to the drive height of the automobile. If you were driving in India, a good value add would be a detector for "Speed Breakers" or "Rumble Strips" that helped in slowing down the car.
• Ambient Light Sensors that help you turn on the cars Lights would also be very helpful. Often, the driver has to judge when the lighting is poor or respond to other cars driving with the lights on. But truly, lighting is required once the ambient lighting has dropped. The same sensors can help dim the headlights of the car when in heavily lighted urban roads to save fuel.
• A Digital Car Manual like the Amazon kindle would be a real good idea. This could be upgraded (unlike car manuals) with newer data. It can incorporate suggestions from Automobile clubs and can be of much better help than a standard issue car manual. 

All these enhancements "I'd like to have" for my car are "Personal" to the car, just as my PDA or PC is personal. As a driver, I would always want a manual override option to avoid using these features. Given that all the technology described here or at least most of them have been around for a while, they should be affordable to the end-user. The key problem has been offerring a manual model the customer buying the car and positioning these features as "may-have" add-ons with a heavy price tag. These value adds have to come in basic versions of the automobile to make them more usable and less pricey.

Here's a look at what's already available in the car automation scene

• In car GPS for navigation; has been around for almost a decade, except that it is becoming more and more affordable today.
• In car Music entertainment systems have been around for decades together and now are coming up with Video solutions targeted at rear seat passengers.
• Location based services that inform the Driver to get to the nearest Gas station or Service station or Mall for shopping. This has slowly started coming in as GPS has become more accurate and usable.
• Reverse Parking sensors that help you make sure you aren't bumping into the kerb or the next vehicle parked.
• Rear View mirrors based on Camera technology and Infrared technology to help better driving solution for low light conditions. This might sound more like a luxury but does come in handy.
• Taxi cabs are equipped with Fleet management and point-of-sale terminals that ease their usage.
• Cargo vehicles have RFID tracking and reporting equipment that help locate cargo shipment. That really helps our DHL and FedEx shipments to be tracked anywhere on the globe.
• Automated braking systems based on simpler implementations are already available to complement the ease of driving experience offerred by Electronic Power Steerings (EPS); a new replacement to Hydraulic power steerings that dominated the automobiles of the past.
• Key-less entry systems based on remote RF activated locks or fingerprint scanning are available across different segments of automobiles.
• Ergonomic automatic adjustable seats are available in high end models and are slowly trickling into consumer models too. These are usually complemented with adjustable steerings.
  
• Paddle gear shifts are being promoted to Road cars (from the Racing car segment) as a luxury value addition by companies like Honda.
• Headlights capable of adjusting their brightness based on oncoming traffic and ambient lighting conditions are available today, but these are restricted to high-end sedans and luxury models.
• Automated car detection systems based on RFID or Bar Code integrated Number plates are also available. They facilitate in access control and parking payment system integration.
• Climate control which can be used to set the temperature inside the automobile without switching between heaters and air coolers are available.
• Crash sensors that deploy air bags and do a few additional safety functions before you crash are also provided with most automobiles today.
• Fuel economy for automobiles has improved and is at an all-time high if you were trying out one of the small car (not the gas guzzling SUV.)
• Automated systems that inform service stations and perform a system wide diagnostic check when the car is in trouble are available today in various forms. The most useful seems to be a wireless version that can connect to the car service provider who can receive the diagnostic data while you're stranded on a highway.
• A huge revolution in car lighting with HID lamps (did I say HID?) and LED light fittings for parking and turning indicators are available.
  

While the above list might sound incomplete, I have a huge list of "I Want" add-ons that modern day gadgets don't offer yet. I'll visit them in my next blog entry.

The most common interface for every day usage of gadgets are Keyboards or Keypads. If one is frequently working on a laptop or Desktop PC, a mouse or a touchpad is the second most used interface. Touchscreen enabled PDAs and phones are also available and rank next in terms of usage. Douglas Engelbart invented the most used interface device for the PC, the "Mouse."

The Gaming Industry launched a revolution in User Interface Gadgets by creating multiple versions of the Gaming Controller, The Wheel, The Joystick and User Interface Variations to use gestures (which appeared very early in Video Games like Mortal Kombat.) I am not forgetting Voice recognition and Text to Speech which are strong user interfaces which are also useful for the disabled.

Much of our productivity in work, and at leisure depends on the ease of use and responsiveness of these User Interfaces and User Interface Gadgets.  With the gadgets are the screens and the LEDs that guide us through the usage giving us responses to each of our keypresses or requests or gestures.

Touchscreen technology has evolved to take on the Desktop, except that there are few takers right now as the technology is a drastic change from the traditional keyboard/mouse and has an immediate productivity hit when you try to get used to it. (If you switched from a phone with keys to one without any like the iPhone, you would have a good understanding of what I am talking about.)

I feel there are a lot of gaps in today's User Interface Gadgets and the User Interfaces themselves. What exactly is lacking in the modern user interface and the user interface gadget?

I first start with the User Interface Gadget, because they define the method of our communication with machines (if you could put it that way.)

• Speech Recognition started out big, but hasn't yet become available in a form that is easy to use. Today there are some speech recognition solutions that can be language and slang specific, but are heavily constrained. Most of them require to be trained and can be used only in low noise environments. This is an area where we need change which could be brought forth with better technology. Telephony solutions need to use speech recognition more and this has to be friendly. No more "Dial 1 to continue", "The Pound symbol to exit" messages. Those are slow and many a time irritating.
  
• Computer Speech or Text to Speech is primitive. There are phonetic languages, Voice Fonts and other technology available, yet they haven't reached end users. I really hate having an operator manning a PBX or a reception today because we have enough technology to replace a mundane job with the right technology.
• Cameras are abundantly available today. Webcams are the easiest. Cameras can act as input devices if they could catch gestures or follow the focus of a person. With Digital Image Processing technology having matured a lot, this is a huge gap that can be bridged. We do see PCs slowly bringing in Biometric authentication based on face recognition which is dependent on this technology. 
• The Tactile nature of the traditional keyboard is still retained. This essentially means that people doing extensive text-writing will have the risk of RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury.) We have new technology like Capacitive Sensing. If you have experienced the iPod, you probably know what Capacitive sensing interfaces are. You spend the least amount of pressure to actuate an interface, so less energy, less stress, better feedback or expected output from the device. Capacitive sensors with Glass and superimposing LCDs can act as reconfigurable tactile input devices taking the primitive keyboard into a whole new space. You just need to have as few keys as required for a specific application or task.
  
• the iPod's touch wheel. Read this if you are interested.
  
• Text Entry can also be powered by touch interfaces combined with specialized user interfaces. Most people would not like to keep talking to a Machine for creating a text document that is visually readable. There are light powered keyboards that can be deployed on any surface. This technology has to mature a lot more to become usable.
• Optical Sensor based User Interfaces. These are typically ones which help opening and closing doors based on proximity, protecting people operating heavy machinery. They have not been brought into day-to-day usage except for certain embedded applications. Imagine how simple it would be if your computer woke up or switched on, the moment you sat in front of it. The "Power Button" is redundant. Doors which open automatically after sensing the presence of someone who is to pass through (controlled through some authentifcation mechanism), Car Doors that can automatically open when you are about to enter are all possible, but missing.
  
• Heads up Displays for Automobiles are missing big time. Having an In-Car telematics system deployed with an extra display is always asking for more effort to use. Many of these devices survive because legacy usage involved reading the speedometer and watching other controls or readings while driving. However the HUD could easily make driving much more easier and free up much needed dash-board space on cars. They could be also be deployed at museums with exhibits. Our visual sense is very powerful and can filter information very easily. Our limbic system is closely coupled with our motor senses making audio a bad idea when you are actually driving a car.

Engineers would lecture for hours on all the barriers in getting these technologies to daily usage, that is exactly opportunity to make things easier for everyone.

The Unusable User interfaces of devices today are fundamentally of two kinds

1. Crammed with so many options that you don't want to choose any of them or end up confused
2. Have too few options and not the one you are looking for

Here is where a lot of work can go in while building a User interface for Minimum User Intervention and better Usability.

There are key areas where User Interfaces need improvement

• Text Prompting and Text Entry at much faster speeds. Text prompting today is possible. Mobile phones already use some prompting technology to make text entry easy with fewer keys. However the Business and Work Terminals where we spend time keying in a lot of text simply forget this must-have.
• There are enough rules that have been laid out about layout of Graphic User Interfaces (GUI.) They are based on Left-to-Right, Top-to-Bottom scanning that our mind uses. However each User Interface ends up being defined differently. Today this is changing with the help of renderin engines which can decide placement, while controls are merely defined by the "Software Application" or "Firmware." Yet, these haven't yet made it to our desks. Imagine changing the theme of your computer to suit your needs and simultaneously selecting the best type of "Button", "Dialog" and "Tab" Layout.
• The Use of colors to communicate has been a part of human communication. There are even cultural significances for colors. But seldom do we see a laptop display going red when the battery is dangerously low. Colors and Auras on displays and On-Screen-Displays (OSDs) are easy to implement, yet seldom used.
• The use of beeps in computers, phones and many gadgets is probably the most annoying thing in an office. An office environment typically has multiple computers in proximity and everything going "beep" once in a while is certainly undesired. There are better ways to communicate or "pop-up" or "buzz" with all the technology available today. Yet everyone is hoping to "live with" legacy "beeps." With 5.1 Surround Sound technology and  a lot of capable devices, one can use sound as a better way to communicate with the user without annoying them.
  

I have a much longer "I want" list for User Interfaces, but much lesser time to type it in. But there is so much you could think of that is just passed on from one generation of gadgets to the other because no one really thought about usability. So the stronger message is to focus on usability for all devices and gadgets requiring human interaction. Reconfigurability of User interfaces and a more meaningful use of colors and theming should hopefully come in the near future.

There is much talk about Ergonomics and Ergonomic input devices. However the fundamental "Use case" is sometimes lost in trying to make an input device "Ergonomic." While some devices have to head in this direction, they sometimes lose the usability along the way creating a barrier for devices that really wanted to help assist in health issues that arised due to pizza boxed input gadgets.

The new breed of Netbooks partially driven by the advent of the Atom processor and its cousins have made us rethink the idea.

The above image is a Simmtronics 10.2" screen based netbook, one of the larger of the lot. I have seen 8.9" screens and a lot of non-standard screen sizes wondering how they would really impact the actual price to the end-user.Anyone hearing the name "Netbook" would be instantly reminded of Asus' EEE PC, the first of its kind to reach ears worldwide.

So what is the netbook model?

Back in 2003, AMD came out with their 50x15 programme which was, quite similar to a venture of Intel's intending to make low cost PC motherboards integrated with software in a box that could provide low cost computing. The key to this product was to tie the Microprocessor, the Motherboard and the solution to a Service Provider thereby decreasing the cost incurred by the consumer in availing "Network" connected computing.

Five(5) years from then, one would guess that this never took off in the big way it was expected to. A similar one was the OLPC story.  This was also "low power" computing that could be delivered at low cost to bridge the digital divide. The ambition of this project was definitely exaggerated.

These stories remind me of Larry Ellison's Network Computer (NC) idea which never really made it. To make the long story short, this was an attempt at the sub $1000 computer. Microsoft, with a knee-jerk reaction launched the "Network PC" at almost competitive costs but complemented with some of Microsoft's software stack. All of this never really made it big time.

While one side of the gadget spectrum is clearly targetted at:

• Powering the Mobile Phone to become a Multi-purpose Personal Information Manager
• Adding High Resolution Cameras, Music and Multimedia Capabilities to the Mobile Phone
• Making the Mobile Phone capable of web browsing
• Adding Office Document read/write capability to the mobile phone
• Introducing Mobile Phones to the consumers at subsidies through Service Providers intended as a Price subsidy and a Value addition
• Adding Wireless VOIP and Video Call capabilities (with or without Skype) to the Mobile Phone
• Enabling Application Developers to create simple value additions through easy application SDKs for mobile phones. (These are primarily Java or BREW based SDKs.)
  

Many would agree that the above strategy actually worked. I carry a phone that can do almost everything I have listed above.

Now there were down-sides to the strategy:

• Using my mobile phone for a corporate presentation isn't really possible yet although it does allow presentations and TV out
• Editing documents through the mobile phone would require me to buy at least a wireless keyboard that is compatible with the mobile phone.
• The mobile phone's battery isn't really equipped to help you handle long hours of WiFi connectivity, you will have to re-charge, this might potentially be a size constraint.

This gap needed to be bridged with an easy to carry device that can complement the user with Business use and use of Internet services seamlessly. 

The Netbook allows you to:

• Connect to the Internet using Wireless or if needed a wired network.
• Use purely Wireless services including WiFi and WiMax for connectivity.
  
• Provide simple video-conferencing solutions using a higher megapixel camera doubling up as a Videophone.
• Allowing you to create, edit and display your corporate presentations, especially if you are a road warrior.
• For the first time have a strong case of large scale deployment of Bluetooth and GPS on a Gadget that can truly help in location based services.
• Play your favorite music and connect to devices through USB.
  

For practical purposes the netbook almost just offers you a web browser on steroids with little or no native software installed.

The Challenges in getting the netbook down to the market are

• Size of the netbook (which is something that has been achieved with low form factor screens.)
• Weight of the netbook making it lighter than almost all the standard Laptops available in the market making it attractive to carry for the road warrior.
  
• Usability in terms of tactile keyboards and easy solutions for the mouse like a track point.
• Cost of the netbook to make it compete within the Mobile Phone / PDA segment, rather than the high power laptop segment.
• Have the netbook adopted by Wireless or Mobile service providers by offering WiMax and 3G alternatives as the netbook relies heavily on being connected to the Internet.
• Today the netbook looks like a Low-cost or 'Cheap' Laptop, which is an image that has to be squashed and replaced with its role as the PDA-Laptop inbetween that can be carried around.

Unless the above challenges can be met, the Netbook will remain one more semiconductor driven attempt at offering large scale computing to tap a new kind of market. It might become an eerie reminder of the earlier technology like the OLPC or the AMD 50x15 or worse still the NC that never made it. Given the economic scenario today, there is a lot of hope for the Netbook if it can only get to market faster with the right value additions.