Re: [NTLK] Soybo

From: Eric L. Strobel (fyzycyst_at_comcast.net)
Date: Mon Apr 07 2003 - 08:15:32 PDT


on 04/07/03 2:59 AM, Jens Baumeister at jensbaumeister_at_web.de wrote:

>> I still can't see who wants to give PPT presentations on a Newton. If
>> your
>> really had a job which required this, wouldn't they give you a laptop
>> for
>> your presentations?
>
> Nobody's planning to do that. It's about using your cell phone or
> Newton or Palm or Pocket PC or whatever mobile device to tell your
> system to mail a file you've forgotten another system at your
> destination, not to your mobile device. This is for cases when you
> might have forgotten to put a crucial file onto the laptop you have
> with you.

Right. Earlier I used the analogy of a lever, but really this is (in some
sense) a "software transistor". That is, you use a 'low power' (i.e., low
bandwidth) signal to 'switch' a 'high power' (i.e., high bandwidth) signal.

It should enable, for example, your home computer to be set up to hack into
your locality's traffic light computer setup, while you use your cell phone
to send the info back home to turn all the lights green in front of you. :-)

OK, less tongue-in-cheek... You could envision a briefly stated database
query/analysis that the really beefy computer at the other end of the Soybo
connection can handle quickly. A brief answer is then fed back to you. But
wait, you don't have to use your imagination. You already do things like
this. Every time you Google.

With OS X, you don't particularly have to "write software". How do you use
macros in Office or AppleScript or QuicKeys?? You notice that you do a
particular task repeatedly and you automate it. So... if there's a
particular task you repeatedly would LIKE to do while away from your primary
computer, the next time you're at that computer, you cobble up a
Perl/Apple/shell script that can be activated via Soybo. {That is, if I
understand Soybo's capabilities correctly.} There's likely a million things
that can be done without resorting to coding Soybo support into
applications. But the universe will open up greatly once folks DO program
in such support.

And a final thought ( ;-) )... If Soybo-ing between processes on a
particular computer were to work (and perhaps it does), then maybe we're
seeing the debut of "OpenDoc Reloaded". {Apologies to Matrix fans...}

- Eric.

-- 
Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)
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