Computers find their voice - future innovations - includes related article on computer use by the disabled

Nation's Business, May, 1992 by Ripley Hotch

Remember HAL? The talking computer in Stanley Kubrick's film "2001" godfathered the generation that created the personal-computer revolution. In the years since, everyone's dream has been to talk to the PC in plain language and have it understand and carry out every whim.

We're getting closer, although we are still probably a decade away. But speech is only one of the many ways to "talk" to computers. We have other avenues of communication that no one believed could be made practical until a few years ago.

As computers become more common, they are being adapted more subtly and effectively to real needs.

The computer chip has become the central device in a complex web of information exchange. Even the human hand is not always essential, says John Diebold, industry analyst for 35 years and head of the Diebold Group, a management consulting firm in Bedford Hills, N.Y. "We are already at a point where inanimate objects communicate with each other - vehicles, dispatching systems, factory robots, PCs communicating with mainframes," he says.

Companies are creating a plethora of techniques and devices that collect information and allow it to be sent on. Many of these information-exchange technologies, are PC-based and relatively inexpensive, making them attractive to small firms.

Hand-Held Computers

Desktop computers are bulky and immovable. It's hard to believe that the movable-computer market is only a few years old. It began with the Compaq "luggable" seven years ago and evolved through maniaturization into the laptop (8 to 15 pounds), them into the notebook (4 to 7 pounds), and now the hand-held computer (8 ounces to 3 pounds).

Each of these machines has special uses, and the notebook has quickly become the hottest computer market. Notebooks let people carry work with them and do it almost anywhere, putting the office where the businessperson is rather than the other way around. When connected to desktop computer by modem, the notebooks can tap into the network of communications services, downloading and uploading data as capably as any large machine.

Moreover, they can operate through cellular and other radio phones to tap into a network through a service like Ardis (a joint venture of IBM and Motorola), making it possible to communicate almost anywhere.

The next size down, the hand-held computer, promises a revolution as profound as the pocket calculator. Hewlett-Packard, Atari, and Poquet were the first to reach the market with these computers, and they have since been joined by Psion and Tandy. The earliest of these machines were simple schedulers and note-takers, but the latest versions are fully functional computers.

United Parcel Service, for example, uses a simple version of hand-held computers to keep track of deliveries and times. Delivery drivers can use any kind of object, including their fingers, to punch in data - the computers are much like the cash registers in fast-food outlets.

Pen Computers

Rather than talk to their computers, many users would like to write into them, and that is what the stylus-on-glass "pen-entry" systems allow.

Pen computers are for limited data entry and for pointing to choices from a menu (usually called "command and control"). Graphical user interfaces, in which programs and files are represented by small icons you "point" to, are well-suited for the stylus or computer pen. Users can make choices from a menu screen, fill in on-screen forms with data, and refer to manuals that are too bulky to carry otherwise.

D. Bruce Walter, president of GRiD Systems, in Fremont, Calif., a major manufacturer of pen computers, says these machines are aimed at the 20 percent of the U.S. work force that spends much of the workday walking or standing. "These walking and standing workers will never use traditional desktop or laptop computers. But their productivity can be greatly increased if they can use a computer while on their feet."

In March, GRiD introduced its PalmPAD, calling it "the world's first wearable pen computer." The machine has rugged construction and lots of memory, and its straps onto the user's wrist. It is intended for data collection in the field.

At a list price of $2,895, it's more expensive than an equivalent desktop system, but it and the other hand-held computers certainly put the locus of computing outside the office. The time saved in data collection - especially in a world where Total Quality Management (TQM) is becoming so important - can far outweigh the cost of the equipment.

Poquet Computer Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., has introduced its PoquetPad for "walking workers." It is $1,995, weighs only 1.2 pounds, and runs on AA batteries for up to 16 hours.

Scanners

Automating dreary and time-consuming tasks cuts down on error and costs. Instead of having a clerk or typist key in typed material, many offices are now turning to scanners, which transfer text into a word processor.

Scanner technology will copy not only text but also images, which can then be put into documents. The software can recognize whether a document is text.