There are some things I do as a part of my job as an Indianapolis Computer Consultant that I would do anyway. Having the business computer support job just makes it easier to justify in the same way that it's easier to play in a toy store if you have a little kid with you.

I have stood in line twice now to purchase an iPhone. The first time, last June, it was just to see if the device was even remotely close to all of its hype. It was very close. I stood in line the second time because Apple had fixed the biggest flaw with the first version (and I had dropped the original one in the water a couple of weeks earlier). I've written before about what a beautiful device the iPhone is, but here's the part that will survive the iPhone. The primary interface to the iPhone is your finger! That's right: no keyboard, no mouse, no stylus. More precisely, the primary interface is your fingers. The screen is multi-touch capable. It understands if you use two fingers.

Apple's laptop touchpads are multi-touch. Fujitsu uses them too, but calls them gesture enabled. Microsoft is putting multi-touch capability in the next version of Windows, as well as on their very expensive Surface table. This multi-touch screen is one of several new interfaces being applied in computing. You may have seen the Lenovo commercial where the man's family doesn't recognize his face but his computer does. Facial recognition could improve to the point that your expressions work as input. Even more incredible is the Emotiv Systems device that uses electrodes on your head to directly interpret your brain waves. This device will sell for $300 or less in the near future.

Of course there's also the one that I keep saying is right around the corner: good old fashioned talking. Computers are very good at converting our spoken words into text, but they are still pretty lousy at understanding what our words mean. Recall the difficulty you had learning about conjugating verbs and diagramming sentences. Now listen to the talk going on around you. No one is really following those rules! We don't have any problem interpreting what people mean, but your computer could be driven nuts by things as simple as the affirmative “Uh huh” used instead of "yes."

This is an example of the kinds of extras that a business owner gets when using Pertingo computer consulting services.