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The paper computer

jsomers.net

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Re: The paper computer

#71

Post by dang »

tomalbrc wrote: post #46
pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

[flagged]

Please don't cross into personal attack on HN.

Edit: you've unfortunately been breaking the site guidelines badly and frequently. Examples (among many others):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47706755

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603599

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47476320

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47068759

If you keep this up, we're going to have to ban you. I don't want to ban you, so if you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

Re: The paper computer

#72

Post by lamasery »

xeyownt wrote: post #37

Since I have a laptop, I threw away all paper support, focusing on the keyboard as primary information interface. Using paper and space to organize ideas is nice, but that's a niche use-case. And in any case, you'll have to digitalize it anyway afterwards, so better start on the digital version immediately, and be good at it. Everytime I start a new project, I'm tempted to take a pencil and paper, but then I refrain…

I can jot out a system diagram on paper way better and faster than I can on a computer. Ditto UI design mockups. Having something that can translate those into a better computerized representation than a png is awesome. Paper -> graphviz/Mermaid/whatever, LOL.

This holds even with really-nice drawing interfaces like ProCreate on a 13" iPad. Paper's still better for some things. Outside of work, the way I make maps (of just about any zoom-level) for RPGs I run is to sketch them on paper, take a photo of that and import it to pro-create, trace the lines there (in a new layer), and add color/texture. I get way better results faster, and am way less frustrated, than if I start with a blank "sheet" on the iPad. The paper sitting fully flat on my table, being able to easily and precisely turn it this way and that, erasing or smudging out or just X-ing elements I mess up, plus just messing up way less to begin with, all that adds up to real paper being a way better UI for an initial draft-sketch, for me.

Re: The paper computer

#73

Post by kruffalon »

smj-edison wrote: post #62
kruffalon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have any ins with this project would you mind asking them to add a line or 2 describing what it is about, or even a linked text in the start.txt file? Just a simple: > Folk Computer is a research & art project centered around designing new physical computing interfaces. From ./notes/tableshots.txt with a link towards the top would imo be quite helpful. (Sorry, this is just one of my pet peeves: needing to know…

Thanks! I can pass it on. Would you say then that having an overview on the main page, with links for more details would be a better approach?

I would say that simply expanding the first word of "hello -" into:

> Hello, Folk Computer is a research & art project centered around designing new physical computing interfaces. [read more](./notes/tableshots.txt)

Is more than sufficient, most of the website is for people who already know about the project. I'm just asking for a small part at the beginning for us who are new :)

Re: The paper computer

#74

Post by ifh-hn »

Doing the sort of things the author wants to do simply wouldn't work for me. All I end up with is a pile of screwed up paper and nothing to show for it. Drafting and rewriting is so much better when you don't have to worry about making a mess.

Re: The paper computer

#76

Post by jauntywundrkind »

pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

I love gow creatively ai is integrated in here. Amazing.

The Folk Computer people have some incredible work they've been doing too, that's definitely worth looking at for anyone interested. Their intergation of a novel display technology is really sweet too, allowing for good visibility in a variety of conditions, which I love. https://folkcomputer.substack.com/ https://folk.computer/

Re: The paper computer

#77

Post by jauntywundrkind »

pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

I love how creatively ai is integrated in here. Amazing.

The Folk Computer people have some incredible work they've been doing too, that's definitely worth looking at for anyone interested. Their intergation of a novel display technology is really sweet too, allowing for good visibility in a variety of conditions, which I love. https://folkcomputer.substack.com/ https://folk.computer/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39241472 (165 points, 2 years ago, 53 comments)

Re: The paper computer

#78

Post by btbuildem »

cjs_ac wrote: post #32

> Now that we have actually good AI, I have this vision of a form of computing that doesn’t involve me using a computer so much. Imagine you had the day’s emails to go through. It would be nice if the ones that required a simple decision could be dispatched with a few pen-strokes: I could write down a date that would work for that meeting; check a box to accept that invitation; etc. This reminds me of those predictio…

> we moved out to suburbs because

Because it was a profit making venture for car companies. Suburbs are horrifically inefficient, they survive by the twisted "communism" of cannibalizing the dense urban tax bases to support the sprawling, expensive to service and maintain, isolating flatlands.

Re: The paper computer

#79

Post by ButlerianJihad »

btbuildem wrote: post #78
cjs_ac wrote: post #32

> Now that we have actually good AI, I have this vision of a form of computing that doesn’t involve me using a computer so much. Imagine you had the day’s emails to go through. It would be nice if the ones that required a simple decision could be dispatched with a few pen-strokes: I could write down a date that would work for that meeting; check a box to accept that invitation; etc. This reminds me of those predictio…

> we moved out to suburbs because Because it was a profit making venture for car companies. Suburbs are horrifically inefficient, they survive by the twisted "communism" of cannibalizing the dense urban tax bases to support the sprawling, expensive to service and maintain, isolating flatlands.

Not so fast: I would say that the move to suburbs was initially driven by a thirst for homeownership with luxurious lawns, coupled with electric streetcars and other rail-based transport.

It was only later that the almighty combustion engine and tire companies forcibly replaced streetcars with buses and trucks, that cars began their hegemonic domination of suburbia. The National Highway System decrees didn't hurt, either, but highways were built in the USA with an ulterior motive of national defense.

Re: The paper computer

#80

Post by naravara »

pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

I was pretty excited when I saw the premise behind what Apple was doing with VisionPro because I figured they were steering towards this, but it seems they’ve looked away and don’t really care about going deeper into this direction.

I asked at some point if I could theoretically develop an application that could literally be controlled by a Fischer Price toy, like a little plastic car console or something. Or even potentially have a real keyboard that isn’t connected to anything, but the VisionPro can just see my keypresses and apply them as if I was actually pressing something. The former case is possible, but surprisingly difficult, but the latter case isn’t really there yet (requires too much precision and latency is worse than just using a Bluetooth keyboard).

Either way, the idea of a computing environment that meshes with and directly interacts with the real, physical objects around you is an interesting premise I’d like to see taken further with “Spatial Computing”/AR. Scanning and recording things I’m writing on a whiteboard or in a notebook by recognizing that I’ve picked up a pen and am writing something down would just be getting started.

Of course, if we’re ambiently recording everything you’re doing there will need to be some kind of regular process/interface to “sift” everything at the end of the day. This is the core of the Getting Things Done methodology. Everything goes into a big “intake list” and then you do periodic check-ins throughout the day where you review the list and decide whether to move those to a series of sub-lists to “do this now,” “do this soon,” or “do this someday.”

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