Walkie-Talkie - The Ultimate Phone Experience?

The trouble with smart phones is that its hard to input text. I seem to be especially bad at this.
First on Android, and now iOS, they have built-in a microphone button on the on-screen keyboard to enable voice-to-text (dictation). I think this is the future I want to live in, but the thing is, I'm not very good at this dictating either.

I wonder if future generations will become very good at dictating or if its so socially unacceptable that our race is destined to be typing on these screens forever.

In any event, my issue with this voice-to-text button on the keyboard is that its buried on the keyboard. What I really want is something I can do without looking at the screen at all.  Like "touch-typing" on a keyboard.

For instance, in the car, I can't afford to look down at my phone. And don't even get me started on our Ford Escape with Microsoft Sync...

Anyway, it turns out that holding the iPhone button to get to Apple's Siri gets me 'close' to what I want, but I think there's lots of room for improvement. I don't want to hold the button for a second before I can start talking. And I don't want Siri to listen for a while until she thinks I'm done...only to tell me that my request didn't make sense to her.

On my friend's new Android, the phone is "always listening".  This is kinda cool (and kind of creepy), but you need to wake it up by saying something like "OK Google" which makes you feel a bit ridiculous in public (and maybe even in private).

On my ideal phone, I would instead have a physical button on the side that is devoted to voice input.  This button would work like a walkie-talkie (or, perhaps less antiquated, something like that Sprint/Nextel "push to talk" feature).  Only, instead of talking to a friend or a group of co-workers, I would push the button to talk to my digital assistant on the phone (Siri or Google Now). When I push the button, the phone listens.  When I release the button, the phone stops listening. Its that simple. Why has no one done this?!

Aside from the physical button, I think we need all-around better conversational AI (or even just better screen-reader technology).  Its really sad to me that GOOG-411 was actually better for in-car use that my JellyBean Android phone.

First one to make a phone like this will get my $.
*kshhhhh* Over *kshhhhh*

The Ultimate TV Experience

I just saw the following from Time Warner Cable: http://www.timewarnercable.com/nynj/learn/cable/TWCableTV/TWCableTV_iPad.html

Supposedly, they will offer an iPad app which lets you browse the menu of channels without interrupting the program being shown on your main screen (i.e. the tv).  This is close, but not exactly, the user experience I've always wanted for my TV.

What I've always wanted is the ability to browse (or search) on my phone, preview the content right there, and be able to project that channel to the TV with a swiping motion.
Sort of like picture-in-picture only the second picture is actually on my device.

Anyway, this app is the closest I've seen so far, so kudos to Time Warner...I'll have to check this one out (if they ever release an Android version).

User Apathy in the Air

I just flew from Newark to Boston and was amazed by the percentage of passengers who were content with watching 30 minutes of repetitive commercials 12 inches from their face.

The United (now Continental?) flight offered a free preview of the in-flight directv service. Having ESPN feeding me the latest NHL and NBA playoff news during the normally tedious boarding process and ascent was an unexpected delight, tiding my ADD mind over until I was allowed to power on my iPhone. However, shortly after the preview ended (and the plea for $ to continue viewing began), I shut down the display.

Twenty minutes later I noticed that everyone else still had their displays on, still watching the directv advertisements flash before their eyes. This got me wondering... are consumers really so lazy that they would rather watch an endless (and repeating) stream of bad commercials rather than figure out how to turn off the screen?  Or are they too dumb to realize that you can even turn it off?  Try to make a guess...then look at this photo of the controller:

Where's the power button?

I wonder if "no power button" was an explicit decision from the airline/directv execs...some kind of sneaky ploy to make more money from having more eyeballs on more commercials.  What do you think?

I guess that isn't too likely, since it fails to pass the most important test in human behavior reasoning:
Hanlon's razor - Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.