not sure he gets it

Posted by paul on November 15, 2008

Is it really going to be more convenient than just typing out “how tall is mount everest” in the Safari search field? I’m highly skeptical.

[From Daring Fireball Linked List: Google's Upcoming Voice-Driven iPhone Search App]

Well, let me help.

  • Gestural interface (multi-touch on a touch screen, akin to how we learn to interact with the physical world): check
  • Keyboard input for human/machine interaction when apps require it: check
  • Spoken word interface, the one we use to communicate person to person at any distance, and the method that many consider to be what differentiates us from other primates: check

I don’t recall asking for things as a child with a keyboard, and I suspect saying “how tall is mount everest” is faster than typing, especially on a device when the keyboard interface has to be activated first.

Hmm. Better minds than mine seem to agree.