>>>>It really is naughty of you to convert "less and less relevant" to "death knell" especially after I've said that mobile doesn't need to displace PC to succeed. Oh, well. As long as everybody stays productive, we can review in a year and see what's happening.
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>>>Fair enough, but I got confused in that your original statement was in reply to something where I wasn't talking about mobile apps at all. But I understand you are passionate about this technology and it would seem with good reason so if nothing else you've stimulated me to look into it further.
>>>
>>>Meanwhile I am working on my own invention - a telephone big enough to hold easily in the hand and hard to lose or break even if thrown (I'm thinking of two piece with and independant hand set employing the durability of black Bakelite ) with a simplified interface ( I'm leanng toward single purpose, numbered buttons ) that overcomes the problem of always losing the damn thing or the battery going dead ( having a lot of success with a wire tethering it to a wall ) Software requirements are minimal and a big safety issue addressed as it is unlikely to be used frequently while driving ( I call this the "cord length safety feature" )
>>>
>>>I'll keep you posted.
>>>
>>>( oh, and stay tuned for my "pad" that has a clamshell screen cover with a built in keyboard ! )
>>
>>I think it might be useful if when entering the number you had a little time to think before you made the call. Perhaps a rotating dial could be used. Be nice if the hand set was big enough to be wedged between ear and shoulder as well.
>
>I had indeed considered that but I was distracted by an infrastructure issue. Between unemployment and customer frustration with automated routing systems, I am proposing an intermediate layer of human "operators" who would connect the calls. They could even be "voice activated" to where one would merely speak the number and they would connect you. Mnemonics could also be applied to make it easier to remember exchange prefixes such as "Montrose - 4675 please"
>
>( we are trying to sign Lily Tomlin for the ad campaign )

You beat me to that one. I was off to the races thinking about an operator, a kindly old lady in town who physically connects the calls and can talk you out of your more unfortunate impulsive thoughts.

Actually there might be potential in a modern era equivalent of that wise old phone operator,-- software which accomplishes the same purpose. Sort of like the gizmos in cars which disengage the ignition until you pass an on-board breathalyzer test. That it seems like a good idea makes me guess it has been done 100 times already.

Hmmm .... I wonder if this has been done, a mixture of software and hardware. A synergistic (probably the most wildly oversold premise of our time) idea which actually works. You may have read interviews with Stephen King, or his book "On Writing," in which he describes making a random association when he was an unknown struggling to pay his bills. One of the ideas was the anxiety of teenagers, as epitomized by a girl having the kind of period at school that isn't on the bell schedule. The other idea was an article he read about telekinesis. He put the two ideas together and presto, "Carrie," the book that put him on the map. And that was the last time Stephen King ever had to worry about making ends meet.

"On Writing" is recommended, BTW. Stephen King's fiction is not generally my cup of tea, too gothic and unbelievable for my taste, but this one is different. It's non-fiction, for one thing. Part of it is a journalistic account of his near death experience after being struck by a car (or was it a truck?) near his vacation home in western Maine. Mixed into the autobiographical part are accounts of his addicted period which seem believable to me. The other part of the book is writing advice of the kind Strunk & White might have written. "The adverb is not your friend" -- like that. I think you would enjoy it if you haven't already read it.