invisible terminal

typing on a computer with no display on a keyboard in the park

When thinking of ubiquitous computing I don’t imagine a world with distracting augmented displays embedded in eyeware. I imagine no display.

Perhaps it’s like in the TV show Person of Interest where one of the characters, Root, communicates with a sentient machine by hearing near-ultrasonic noises. Esoteric and unnecessary high-pitched noises aside, if that is a desired reality how far are we really from seeing that happen?

I'm not asking how long until a sentient AI assistant can help us do crimes or play detective. Rather, I imagine seamlessly accessing information outdoors, without worrying about sun glare on a screen. Computing could become invisible, a presence with no interface needed. An intuitive experience that feels like an extension of ourselves—with the added benefit that we won’t have to worry if we start becoming blind.

To explore this reality I will look into how blind people use the computer; specifically the tools and setup of blind programmers. The input device will be the keyboard. The ultimate output device in my mind is confidence that the input was successfully received (no news is good news), a short feedback loop to correct any mistypings or misunderstandings (both on human or computer side) with auditory feedback facilitating input correction interaction.

There are many conventions of the command-line interface which make using a computer a delight but there are also some that people have either grown to accept as local-optimum or they have never contemplated the possibility of anything different. One of those things is filesystem navigation.

Blob storage has the advantage of feeling slightly more modern. You don't need to create folders. You don't have empty folders. Things either exist or they don't.