Speech and Handwriting Recognition .. How I hate thee!

I have come to the conclusion that advances in computer algorithms are working against me. Till date I used to dislike speech and handwriting recognition softwares because the underlying algorithms were in primitive stages and produced erroneous output. But with recent advances they have become much more reliable and are being adopted in mainstream consumer electronics.

Right there .. that is my problem - their adoption in consumer electronics.

My handwriting is not so good (alright... it is worst). "In the world of computers and keyboards who needs good handwriting!" has been my favorite argument since my school days to escape the stencil work and defend my bad handwriting. But the other day I came across Logitech Digital pen and I could see it sucking the air out of my arguments. With considerably flawless handwriting recognition algorithm embedded in it, this pen could very well replace keyboards for the purpose of taking notes in the class or jotting down meeting minutes. What am I supposed to do when everybody shows up with these intelligent pens? I can barely read my own handwriting. My smart phone acts like a retard when I scribble something on its screen. Our beloved keyboards must be saved.

Speech recognition is further screwing me over by taking the keyboard as far away from me as possible. Almost every GPS product now a days comes with interactive voice commands. Most call centers have implemented voice navigation for simple tasks. And about my speaking abilities: Let us just say that if it wasn't for people's ability to lip-read, I would have been ideal candidate for the scientists working on Autism cure.

Damn you algorithms!..

and I was thinking the skynet was a fictional computer network?