In 1996, I wrote an article entitled User Interface — A Means To An End pointing out that the size and shape of computers were determined by the keyboard and display. This is even more true in today’s world of tablets, phablets and large-sized phones — with the only difference that the keyboard has been replaced by a touch screen. The next generation in the evolution of personal devices is that they will become truly personal by being wearables — this once again forces a separation of the user interface peripherals from the underlying compute engine. Imagine a variety of wearables that collectively connect to ones cell phone, which itself connects to the cloud for all its computational and information needs. Such an environment is rich in possibilities for creating a wide variety of user experiences to a single underlying body of information; Eyes-Free interfaces as pioneered by systems like Emacspeak will come to play an increasingly vital role alongside visual interaction when this comes to pass.
–T.V. Raman, San Jose, CA, September 12, 2014