Why Pen Computing Could Put You Out of Business

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914619,00.html' target='_blank'>http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/sto...2914619,00.html</a><br /><br /></div>"Warning: Pen computing, handwriting recognition, and machine translation threaten your standing in the global marketplace. I'm not saying you're going to lose your job, necessarily. Just that there will be hundreds of millions more people, armed with tablet computers, ready and able to compete for it. I've been thinking about this for the past couple of days, ever since I talked to an executive from a handwriting recognition and tablet input company called Pen & Internet. It was founded in Silicon Valley by a group of very smart Russian scientists, the same folks who did the Apple Newton handwriting recognizer (which did not work very well) and sold Microsoft the technology used as part of Tablet PC (which worked much better). They sell their technology to hardware companies, software companies and, increasingly, wireless service providers in places like mainland China."<br /><br />The article goes on to talk about an automatic translation system that could drastically change the way we communicate - but the cynic in me has seen how well auto-translation systems work now, and I can imagine some comical results.

[QYV]

I had heard from people here that the Newton had superior handwriting recognition to our current Transcriber. I found it difficult to believe, but I don't recall anyone disputing it. Just curious.

I use Transcriber exclusively (except for passwords) and have for almost three years, despite trying every other popular input method and converting over from Palm's Graffiti. I've gotten to where it's pretty good and my editing of errors is lightning-fast, but it still definitely leaves a lot to be desired. My understanding is that the Tablet PC's significantly better handwriting recognition is a result of higher resolution sampling of the "ink" combined with more processor power - perhaps someday Pocket PCs will catch up!

[Foo Fighter]

Huh! Pen Computing could put me out of business!! Thanks for warning me, I will cancel my subscription immediately! :treadmill:

[doc]

The hand writing recognition on the original version of the Newton was horrendous. This was partly due to it only having a 10,000 word dictionary to compare against :roll:

By the time Apple decided to finally pull the Newton off the market, 98-99 (soon after Jobs took it over again), the recognition software was actually pretty good. But the media had already trashed it based on the first versions and it never really recovered.

As an owner of a Tablet PC, Compaq T1000, 8) I can say that the handwriting and speach recognition is greatly improved. It has no comparison to anything else I've seen in the public arena.

Now the translation part...that remains to be seen. If what's out there is any indication, it's still got a ways to go.

[SandersP]

oh gawd, not another one of those

"new and improved Handwriting recognition, with a working translator this time!"


I wouldn't be surprise if that combo will make babelfish sounds like a UN's linguist.

[Dr. Grabow]

I had a Newton 130 and a Newton 2000. The recognition was *barely* usable. PPC is much better. But then, I *am* a doctor ... :)

[dean_shan]

I have a Newton 2100 and the handwritting is pretty good. I also have a 140 and the handwriting is trash. They just got it down and then they killed it. I'm sorry not they, Jobs.

[Hyperluminal]

I have a Newton 2100 too. The HWR actually is very good; it usually recognizes what I write 8O , and it's pretty quick fixing errors...

I think it may be better than Calligrapher, but I can't say for sure...

[PatrickD]

I think it is rather simplistic to think that the QWERTY keyboard divides the world. I don't think a billion Chinese are sitting around thinking, "If only we had better handwriting recognition software we could get a decent job". :)

[dean_shan]

I have a Newton 2100 too. The HWR actually is very good; it usually recognizes what I write 8O , and it's pretty quick fixing errors...

I think it may be better than Calligrapher, but I can't say for sure...

Yeah I am split on that desicion too.

[koriel]

I have a Newton 2100 too. The HWR actually is very good; it usually recognizes what I write 8O , and it's pretty quick fixing errors...

I think it may be better than Calligrapher, but I can't say for sure...

Yeah I am split on that desicion too.

My favourite was the gesture recognition for things like "scrubbing out" errors etc. Does anyone know of anything available for PPCs that will do this?

[Oleander]

I followed the discussion in the article that Jason mentioned.

You just have to try this out:

http://home.cwru.edu/cgi-bin/multibabel

It really tells you how difficult it is to translate the meaning of what someone intended with a sentence. :twisted:

Being someone with english as a second language, i tried with a sentence i only recently found out the true meaning of:

Go on, get your skates on!

It came out:

If he is continued, you he receive your ice-slides here ignited! :roll:

Being non-english, i for one couldnt care less for character recognition as long as theres not even support for my 3 extra national characters in the keyboard on a PPC...

[Stephen Beesley]

I have a Newton 2100 too. The HWR actually is very good; it usually recognizes what I write 8O , and it's pretty quick fixing errors...

I think it may be better than Calligrapher, but I can't say for sure...

Yeah I am split on that desicion too.

No contest for me - the printed HWR on the Newton (which was developed in-house by apple) definately works better than Calligrapher. Interestingly Calligrapher is based on the cursive HWR used in the Newton which never worked quite as well for me.

The one big advantage both the Printed and Cursive HWR in the Newton had IMHO was the error correction method and the fact that they did the conversion on the fly rather than waiting for you stop writing.


Goldtee

[joelevi]

I owned a Newton 130, 2000, and 2100.

I specifically compared the Palms with the Newtons ("Message Pads" as they were called). I couldn't get past the fact that I had to adapt my handwriting style to work with the Palms. On the otherhand, the Newton's adapted to fit me!

The handwriting recognition was very good (and got better with the faster processor speeds (~162MHz on the 2100), and got better the more you used it (it got used to your writing, cursive and/or print).

When Jobs killed the Newton, I sold mine and jumped ship to the "closest thing out there" which was a Casiopea E-100(?).

At the time they had no handwriting recognition, just character recognition (much slower). After a while Microsoft introduced Transcriber which looked and acted a lot like the Newton HWR, but failed miserably. Even Calligrapher doesn't match the functionality of the Newton HWR. I can't "scub out" my mistakes, I cannot correct mis-interpretations "on the fly", I don't have nearly as easy of a "correction panel." It's just not the same, and not even close in terms of functionality.

Faxing, emailing, and emailing were built-in to the OS, I could be writing a document, decide to fax it, hit the little routing icon (which looked like an envelope) and choose to email, fax, print, or do other things like ftp with 3rd-party add-on software.

Sure you can do all those things with Pocket PC, but you need to have purchased 3rd-party software for each, usually need to close your document, open that software, then print/fax/ftp. It's just not intuitive, takes more taps, and is a pain for someone who has "seen it done the right way."

I truely can't wait until Pocket PC becomes as user-friendly and as powerful as my 5 year old Newtons were.
_______________________________
Newton MP130 > MP2000> MP2100 > Casiopea > Jornada 548 > Jornada 568> ????
http://www.LeviZ.com/mobile/newton/

[Stephen Beesley]

I owned a Newton 130, 2000, and 2100.

I specifically compared the Palms with the Newtons ("Message Pads" as they were called). I couldn't get past the fact that I had to adapt my handwriting style to work with the Palms. On the otherhand, the Newton's adapted to fit me!

The handwriting recognition was very good (and got better with the faster processor speeds (~162MHz on the 2100), and got better the more you used it (it got used to your writing, cursive and/or print).

When Jobs killed the Newton, I sold mine and jumped ship to the "closest thing out there" which was a Casiopea E-100(?).

At the time they had no handwriting recognition, just character recognition (much slower). After a while Microsoft introduced Transcriber which looked and acted a lot like the Newton HWR, but failed miserably. Even Calligrapher doesn't match the functionality of the Newton HWR. I can't "scub out" my mistakes, I cannot correct mis-interpretations "on the fly", I don't have nearly as easy of a "correction panel." It's just not the same, and not even close in terms of functionality.

Faxing, emailing, and emailing were built-in to the OS, I could be writing a document, decide to fax it, hit the little routing icon (which looked like an envelope) and choose to email, fax, print, or do other things like ftp with 3rd-party add-on software.

Sure you can do all those things with Pocket PC, but you need to have purchased 3rd-party software for each, usually need to close your document, open that software, then print/fax/ftp. It's just not intuitive, takes more taps, and is a pain for someone who has "seen it done the right way."

I truely can't wait until Pocket PC becomes as user-friendly and as powerful as my 5 year old Newtons were.



Ahhh I feel for you - I still drag out my uMp2k (even my MP130 at times!) and marvel at how well the OS is integrated. The routing button is definately something I miss (and something that surely would fit perfectly quite nicely in the PPC OS). Another thing I really miss (and have ranted about long and often in other threads :D) is the notes application. I did most of my work right there in the notepad on my Newtons.

Goldtee

[joelevi]

Not to mention the Newton "Soup" file system (if you can call it that).

I NEVER lost a scrap of data on my Newton... not once.

Right now I'm on my 4th hard reset of my Jornada 568 and lost my last week's worth of class notes (even though I use Active Sync to "back-up" every time I sync).

Maybe Jobs will re-introduce an apple handheld that's even more powerful than the Newton...

Maybe Microsoft will "enhance" their "Microsoft Mobile Windows for People that want a Laptop in their Pocket" OS (isn't that what they're calling Pocket PC 2003?).

Maybe I should stop dreaming...

http://www.JoeLevi.com