Obviously, these are not aimed for optimized display of large bodies of text. Along the same reasoning, the book/monitor format is not optimized for non-literate applications.

The demos are quite interesting. It's as if Wii controllers have become self-aware. Obviously, potential is lost when opting for physical items as opposed to holograms, but until simulating weight and feel is viable, these miniature devices do have a place in a myriad of activities.

Tools like this aren't a stopgap. They're real, they create new possibilities, and they're our future.

I honestly can't see a way to think about computers as a natural evolution of the book format of presenting information. They use text that's true but that's pretty much where the comparison halts. Computers are capable of taking in substantially more information then they put out, with books all you can do is turn the pages and start or stop reading. Seems really different to me. Do you disagree?

I agree. The evolution of X into computer seems so 70. (it's like a book, a library but digital !). computer games is like an evolution of interactive theatre. computer search is like an evolution of a really boring besserwisser ( aka messerschmitt).

I think Alan Key somewhere talks about the chord keyboard. I could be all wrong but what stuck in my head was that machine and man both evolute together thus providing with new and better ways to interact.