Michael Lunsford

Director of Marketing
Pen&Internet
www.peninternet.com

Presentation Description

There are clear signs everywhere that electronic ink will become a pervasive medium in all pen-based devices. Although some industry pundits and at least one key PDA manufacturer believe that we'll go in another direction - towards more keyboard input on PDAs - this talk will explore evidence to the contrary.

Pen-based technologies have come a long way: Starting with the original handwriting recognition introduced with the Apple Newton and the single-letter recognition in Palm's Graffiti, it later developed into the second generation of handwriting recognition as represented by Apple's Inkwell and Microsoft's Transcriber. What's next? A third generation of such innovations, and a new category - Advanced Notes Recognition - the next step in electronic ink and handwriting recognition technologies.

A prediction: Electronic ink will become pervasive
* Palm has taken a bold step in this direction, dedicating their fourth button to an electronic ink application
* Smart phones will eventually require electronic to send a quick message
* It's the only way to send a quick sketch or diagram without the trouble of email attachments and learning complex graphic programs
* It's the best way to communicate in some graphically-oriented languages (like Japanese, Chinese)Critics:

Some believe we are heading into the opposite direction, with increased keyboard input on PDAs
* The PDA industry has long fought the built-in skepticism about handwriting input
* Jeff Hawkins at Handspring is making a definite move away from Graffiti
* Hideaway, slide-away, and fold-away keyboards are arriving in the marketplace

Why electronic ink has come a long way
* Jagged lines no longer suffice; thanks to new technologies, now we have smooth curves and lines
* Some applications have shape correction (e.g., circles, squares and arrows are automatically perfected)
* Some applications demonstrate that it's not enough to simply take notes; users want to be able to send the results to any email address

The importance of handwriting recognition
* It all started with handwriting recognition on the Apple Newton - with both fans and bad press
* The second generation is seen in Apple's Inkwell and Microsoft's Transcriber, with some very good single-letter and single-word recognition
* The third generation is coming; and it will include:1. Improved recognition based on multi-vocabulary support
2. Phrase recognition (beyond single-letter and single-word)
3. Baseline detection and the ability to recognize words written on a slant
4. The ability for a user to pre-adjust recognition confidence levels

What's the next step for electronic ink and handwriting recognition?
Advanced Notes Recognition, including:
* The ability to recognize and distinguish the difference between handwriting and hand-drawn shapes; and to perfect the shapes detected
* The ability to defer recognition of note-taking sessions until later, eliminating distraction for the note-taker
* Conversion of notes and drawings to MS Word and PowerPoint documents

Speaker Profile

Exclusive web templates. web templates are a bit costly and will ensure that the web templates is not resold to any other customer

Mr. Lunsford has been an invited speaker and spokesperson worldwide, including engagements at Comdex, CES, MacWorld, and the Bluetooth, Palm, Lotus, and Borland Developers Conferences. He has over 15 years in the computer industry. At the vanguard of handheld computing since 1997. Currently with the company that brought handwriting recognition to the original Apple Newton.