That changed years ago with the tech licenses. There isn’t even a Morris code question on the tests for them. Later licenses still require it though.
Morris isn’t on any test and on top of that no code either.
I watched a demo of a smart phone that blew me away. The salesman talked into his phone in a normal voice and it translated everything he said perfectly. It raised texting to a new level.
So I can see this becoming the norm in short order and eventually the same for “mexting” (mind texting). thought I’d invent a word while I’m at it.
I can just imagine trying to program or code a script using voice-to-text, or pattern recognition. That would be hillarious.
The amount of time it takes to say “equals” or “open parenthesis” “closed parenthesis” “open curly bracket” etc, etc, etc is WAY way longer than to press the button on the keyboard. And if we get to the point where it’s accurately predicting what I want to code, well then my friends, we have an AI.
I really liked that so I did a search to see if someone else came up with it first. Near as I can tell, you’re the first but the word mexting does seem to have a use that has been around for few years. Mexting is sending pictures of Mexican food.
Programming would stay the same. Who said this would translate to coding?
Ya, Google auto-complete is awesome:
Me typing: large
Google:
is it “large truck falls off bridge”?
or maybe “large asteroid spotted”
or is it “large intestine”?
Me: how about you just let me type a couple fucking words, jesus christ
Given how this message board has always been I would have been shocked if we didn’t have people who could use Morse code!
On my PC, or writing long passages, I’m most comfortable at a full size keyboard. Then again, I made my living typing for many years and I type really fast (peak measured speed was 100 wpm, but I have no idea what it is now).
On my Kindle, though, what with the size of the “keyboard” and all, text suggesting/auto complete is very handy.
I have a “pocket PC” I bought in the '90’s (and still use!) with decent handwriting recognition, at least it works for my handwriting.
Haven’t used speech-to-text myself, but I’ve known some folks who use it and it, too, has a niche and a use and some positive features.
So I can see the use of all these, but I don’t see one of those modes being eliminated.
It’s like saying movies and video will eventually eliminate the need to read and there will be no more written texts outside of museums. Somehow, I don’t think so. The written word is useful. The proportion of communication done in that mode might change, but I don’t see text going away entirely. Keyboards didn’t eliminate all writing by hand, either, just changed the proportion of hand-writing to typing/keyboarding.
What we’re getting are more options, that’s all.
When I type “I can’t move without” into a text, Android suggests “farting” as the most likely next word. This cracks me the hell up.
Like hell you will! You’ll take my turds when you pry them from my cold, dead butthole!
This will become someones sig line. It has to.
All those geeky days with the ham radio classes in high school…FOR NOTHING!
I don’t remember ANY morse, but IIRC, the logic was that it was more useful in low power scenarios, where one’s ability to transmit voice was limited. Guess that is a perfunctory feature in 2012.
Imagine in a few years when we can actually send voices over a smart phone!
That will raise texting to an entirely NEW level indeed.
It turns out that there are dozens of Morse Code aps for the iPhone. We may have come full circle.
One of the main reasons why texting is so popular, besides being terse, is its discreetness.
You don’t really have to remove yourself to somewhere private in order to communicate with someone over something personal or because talking isn’t possible (a meeting or noisy place).
So, short of reading our minds, what’s left besides the keyboard?
Also, I have Siri speech dictation on this iPad, but I’d feel a bit weird, even sheepish, saying this aloud in my own home where everyone can hear.
To clarify, keyboards will still be around in some form, possibly a more intuitive one some day. Typing however is different. IIRC typing came from typewriters, which came from typesetting in old school printing presses. One character per action. Typing means pressing one key per character, and this is simply inefficient.
When one types, they are usually trying to convey words (at least for the purposes of this discussion). Why type every single letter of a word, when AI can reliably predict the word you want, instead of just letting you type the whole word?
Voice to text has its place, and has improved vastly over the last decade, but it may never be a practical solution. That said, do try out the voice commands on Windows 7 if you get a chance, it’s far more accurate and fancy than it used to be.
To summarize my position yet again:
My phone learned what words I like to use and can predict to an almost frightening degree which word might come next. I can choose that word, or keep typing until it guesses right. This saves me from having to type a large percentage of the keystrokes I’d use if I didn’t have the app. For some things I text, there may be a 90% decrease in characters typed versus characters intuited. That, over time, save a lot of… er… time.
Google knows what I’m likely to search for too. The suggestions can literally shave dozens of characters off what you would have to type manually. That’s efficient.
As people have shown in this thread, they are conditioned to typing. There is nothing natural at all about knowing where which keys are on a keyboard, it’s all some level of memorization, a learned behavior. That’s great that some people can type as fast as they think, but that doesn’t make it efficient. Since we are no longer manually striking a key into an ink ribbon onto paper, things are digital now.
If I were a constitutional law professor, I’d have to type the word constitutional all the damn time. Which makes more sense, me typing the whole word out every time, or me getting prompted to choose the word based on past usage? It could prompt after “const” or if it was used enough even after the letter c was pressed. Typing the letter c and then a selecting key press would take 1/7th the amount of keystrokes it would take to type it out by the letter. Extrapolate that figure out over the course of a book or a lifetime, and the difference is very significant.
Well, heck, the worldprocessor I use anticipates my word use and yes, that does cut down on typing. It also auto-corrects the most common spelling errors, which further increases efficiency. Surfing the web, the “keyboard” on my Kindle doesn’t just have letters, it has a “key” labeled “.com” which regularly saves me four characters (and robust word completion).
A combination of voice and keyboard seems likely in the future - I don’t think we’ll go full voice because of both people who prefer not to voice, and circumstances (such as being in a room with others) where voicing would be distracting/disruptive.
I see some people are comparing auto complete software with the way Google “knows” what you want to find and tailors your search results accordingly. That sounds good in theory but in practice it leads to one being more and more caught in a bubble of what Google thinks you like while missing out things that you may have found more interesting or relevant if there would be an unbiased result for searches.
I think there would be a similar pitfall to the overuse of predictive text, the vocabulary and expressions would spiral into a reduced ability to communicate effectively, a vicious circle were the user is conditioned to use his or her most frequent words, leading to a poorer vocabulary and lack of expressiveness.
I suppose a parallel could be drawn to the “Like” button on Facebook, just hit the Like and don’t bother to say it your own way or explain why you like it.
I mean, like, in Idiocracy and shit…
You’ll change your mind the day you are stuck in a sunken submarine and can direct the rescuers to your location by knocking it on the hull in Morse code.
No. You are only supposed to choose the auto-complete suggestion if that’s exactly what you were going to type. While some people will get lazy and not see a few Google results, it will also steer more people to relevant, helpful material.
You’re suggesting that fully formed, correctly spelled words will lead to poor vocabulary and lack of expressiveness? OMG, WTF? SMH U R old or smthng. U need to txt moar to t33nz, thn U can C how bad 1t rlly iz rite nao.
That batch of retards will be running the world someday. Now every problem ever seems irrelevant.