How many different input devices can you name? Keyboard? Mouse? Microphone? Touch screen? Ah, those are the easy ones. C'mon, get creative. What else can you imagine? OK. Time's up. Here's a sampling of some of the newest devices to hit the desktop.
With the passage of the Electronic Signatures Act, digital signatures now are legally binding. The only concern now is forgery, right? Not with the latest digital signature capture pens. Using biometric principles, these special pens precisely capture your signature and then mathematically break it down into its unique elements. Because your signature has subtle variations, you must first train the device to recognize yours by entering a number of different signatures. The market for digital signature pens for e-commerce is poised to take off, especially when wireless data connections become more common.
No doubt you named the keyboard as an input device. Well, your next keyboard may very well contain a credit card swiper and fingerprint reader as well as the standard keys. Used in conjunction with specialized online services, these devices will let you check your bank account, pay bills, buy stuff from e-tailers, and even get credit card cash advances. No more PINs or passwords!
Finally, there's the 3-D body scanner. This isn't a device for medical condition diagnosis. No, these chambers are used to capture precise full-body measurements for custom-tailored clothing. No more dressing room blues or swimsuit season dread! These scanners are 12 feet wide and 20 feet long, with six cameras to capture 300,000 data points on the surface of your skin. It takes less than a minute for the computer to analyze the data and prepare your precise measurements.
There are other input devices emerging from the research labs. Search the Internet to investigate the latest.
1. What new input devices can you find?
2. What will they allow you to do?
3. Which ones do you think have market potential?
4. Which ones seem downright silly
Any Input device can be chosen. The paper length should be 2 pages and include at least 1 reference.