sible designs, including a keyboard that clips onto your belt and you can wear on your body.
BYTE:
That sounds somewhat radical.
Selker:
It is all about the social situation, making the usage scenario fit. For example, 50 years ago people had all their focu
s at the desktop, and they wrote using pens they dipped into an inkwell. But then the ball point pen arrived and let them write away from the desk easily. Now, notebook technology is small enough, but the question is how to make the scenario fit so that it doesn't disturb the social situation.
BYTE:
What do you mean by that?
Selker:
With some of these pen-based devices you pull one out and it is 30 seconds or a minute before anything happens. People end up getting distracted by the technology. That type of thing will have to fall away. Maybe we'll end up with technologies on our bodies, in our hands, or in our backpacks, but we have to look at how not to make it a big pile of things you need to think about all the time.
BYTE:
With all these devices -- handhelds, phones, notebooks -- will we ever get down to just having one device?
Selker:
I am working on a mockup that is based on the idea of a wallet. It would have a clo
ck, and could open in a tri-fold to be used as a phone. There could be a display inside that shows medical records and so on. I like the idea of a wallet as a metaphor. It is something that has all the really valuable stuff you have to have with you. You could even have a built-in scanner so that it could handle business cards and lots more. We are approaching the point where we can start eliminating the problem of having too many devices. But how can we make them, that is really the question.
BYTE:
Do you think for most people's requirements today, we already have more technology than we need to get the job done?
Selker:
When I got my hands on a 286 portable it changed my life. I was riding a train and wrote twice as many papers as I had before I started using the portable. Now, everyone I know is replicating Lotus Notes databases and catching up with what's new on the Web as they ride the train. So, more technology seems to let you do more types of things, and t
hat is what I think more powerful notebooks will enable people to do. I think the mobile computing scenario is really changing things, and truly letting people work anywhere.
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