I'm able bodied, but years back suffered tremendous pain, that led to me having to lie down on my back and use the computer with a keyboard. And TBH even that was a pain. I got quite far under OSX tiger, and browse the web. Use a terminal etc. But at the time it led me into thinking about alternative interfaces. And the one thing that did catch my eye was 'dasher' for text entry. Which could be controlled with a simple pointer. And it did make me wonder how far you could go with a pointer based interface. I wasn't that fast while trying it out. But could construct sentences with a bit of effort.
I've been thinking about it some more recently, as AI could assist with word completion, and augmenting it with some AI helpers could really improve things. And if the idea was extended.
Not wanting to sound like an able-ist snob, but interfacing with traditional computers with a keyboard is hard. And the interface is clumsy. Even touch devices and keyboards. My Mum could never use a computer, but she has worked out how to use a tablet and find videos on Youtube. I keep meaning to introduce her to voice input. As this would really benefit her.
Despite the huge tech leaps with smartphones and tablets and what not, I do feel there has been a huge regression in basic communication between people only exacerbated by the pandemic. There's knowledge available easily at people's fingertips and that's great, along with new channels of communication. But text based comms have retarded many people.
Using google to find specific websites, only amounts to me typing hacker news or facebook. That's about it. My main bulk of queries are question based, but I'm also from a previous era, where I throw keywords at Google rather than questions, which is a learned response from back then. I do 'ask' google assistant questions, and it doesn't do a bad job at it. I would love it to be a glorified PA and general knowledgeable 'person' I can go to for advice.
At the same time, I've containered much of my interaction with Google so it can't draw on my past history. So I have no idea what I'm missing. It did have a tendency to feedback loop a bit too much for me in the past, pigeon holing me to specific websites. There's a huge trust issue, you leak your ID in about four common regular queries so I'm not so sure I can even beat it.
People kind of go through a contrarian phase. I read something the other day, probably on Twitter, that to get the answer you want, you deliberately put out the wrong answer. And leach out the bile to get results.
I think there are still lots of people that are on-boarding. And over time they simmer down. Much is poor etiquette unwittingly forced, as we have finger fumbling interfaces.
I struggle reading threads on Twitter, just as I do on HN. If I could watch the thread grow organically perhaps possibly via a visual map, I'd stand a chance. Fork a thread on Twitter and content can end up totally buried. It's useless.
HN is far more simple in approach, but you only really stand a chance if you monitor your own thread. Kind of. So you just end up glancing this and that. Or trying to read something and then give up. Threads only get traction for about a day and people fall off reading them precisely because engagement requires a silly cognitive leap.
Natural conversations are a bit all over the place, but the brain is quite good at forming some kind of narrative. Despite participants sometimes have wildly differing interpretations. These aren't even apparent in the moment. Ruminating delays, and going back to conversations from yesterday doesn't much happen, unless you have quite an intimate relationship with someone, or you are very topic focused.
Throw many disjointed feeds into the mix, and how on earth do you navigate them, let alone participate in them.
About the only thing that kind of works for me when thinking back is something like newsnet, with basic topic threading. With well considered posts.
I was reading some tech article the other day. Something like 10 best Foos or something. And there was no date on it. A commenter said, great article but no date, and the author replied that the page was refreshed with evergreen content. You'd have had to be a mind reader to know that. But I guess at least I got my answer via a little Q and A on the page.
What was bump.me? Photo sharing is why Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp is insanely popular. Sharing photos is just difficult.
I've had to resort in the past of putting a small web server on the phone, just to get files off it via WIFI. But of course that's clunky.
If peer to peer networking were easier, trustable etc, it could be a real life saver. There's some feature in Google Files that's WIFI sharing, but I haven't tried it.
I abandoned bluetooth early on, because I kept having issues. Stubborn pairing is still a pain.
For music, I bought a DLNA renderer (more like a Chromecast), and just assumed that lots of software could remotely talk to it. But about the only software that almost works with it is something with a poor UI from yesteryear on Android. And music service support is hit and miss. So I'm edging towards Bluetooth now.
That said, yesterday I resorted to CDs. And today, I've jacked a spare phone into an auxiliary port. And I won't use my phone for Bluetooth music mainly because if I walk out the room or want to take a call it all goes tits up.
I've had Bluetooth on Debian Linux on my Thinkpad for years, and different releases have been hit and miss for things like file transfer. And address book syncing. And that's not confined to Linux either.
When it works... It does feel like magic.
Really I want to easily route sound from one app to a particular device or devices with easy remote management. Voice control is a bit hit and miss. But hands free remote is a good idea.
UI is very esoteric, like when you are offered a list of Bluetooth services. A phone I had would offer itself as a remote device or something, but I never figured out how and what it did. Or the worry that your phone might turn into a data access point accidentally.
I went through a raw food phase, and there was something distinctly satisfying about bean sprouts. And crunchy salads. Cooked food seemed so dull by comparison. The jar method is good, I had one with some plastic mesh that I'd leave on the drainer and swill through a few times a day. The post has inspired me to resurrect it.
I tried win 10 recently on older hardware with 2gb ram. Long story short: totally unusable. Turned on Win 8.1 on machine with 2gb ram. That was pretty usable and almost pleasant by comparison. I used to think that distro was a stinky turd. The UI in 8.1 was very inconsistent and gave me hives. 10 has changed markedly already between big updates.