My thoughts exactly. A portable system powered by a pocket-sized computing device, or a more powerful desktop, or the portable device dialling into the desktop.

My thoughts exactly. A portable system powered by a pocket-sized computing device, or a more powerful desktop, or the portable device dialling into the desktop. Perhaps rather than a camera a simple (Blade Runner-ish) SLR-type of screen flipper to show you RL in an instant, no extra battery power required. I can also see a glove, similar to the early Nintendo efforts, with a keyboard that slides down over (or under) the hand, pivots 90 degrees and locks out between both hands. Speech recognition is of course great and all, but slightly humiliating to use (from experience), getting progressively moreso on a sliding scale of how many people can hear you talking to a computer. What we really need is either the sensor, as you mention, for 'air keyboard', or a brainwave reader that can intercept and interpret thought. Obviously one of those is more workable than the other, but no harm in planning ahead.