Write Steady
For people with diseases like cerebral palsy or Parkinson's, manipulating handheld computers can be tricky. Even if they manage to hold the matchstick-thin styluses and use them to form letters and numbers, the handwriting-recognition software can still translate their shaky strokes into typos. A new text-entry method called EdgeWrite could ease those frustrations. Developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the system lets the user create each letter or number by following the edges and diagonals of a square hole in a plastic template clamped over the handheld's text input area. The edges provide stability, and unlike other input systems, such as PalmSource's Graffiti, EdgeWrite does not depend on the precise path of the stylus. Instead, its software recognizes a character by the sequence of corners hit; it can even be adapted for use with joysticks, touch pads, or trackballs. EdgeWrite co-inventor Jacob Wobbrock, a PhD candidate in Carnegie's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, is currently providing the software and homemade plastic templates for free via his website; he hopes to find a commercial partner to bring the technology to a wider market.

Executive Squirrel
Overwhelmed with phone calls and can't afford a secretary? Try a squirrel. MIT Media Laboratory grad student Stefan Marti has built a Bluetooth-enabled animatronic rodent that can manage your calls for you. Like a good assistant, the device gauges how important a caller is and how busy you are before it decides whether to bother you or take a message. Marti says that telecom companies are interested in the critter.

1. In between calls, the squirrel curls into a ball, making oc-casional slight movements as if it were asleep. A wireless sensor network connected to the device monitors the sounds in the room to see if you're busy or slacking off.
2. When a call comes in on your cell phone, the squirrel picks it up wirelessly and weighs its importance by asking the caller a few questions and looking up his or her phone number on a list of callers you've deemed "friendly."
3. If the critter decides you're too busy for a call, it sends it on to voice mail. But if the call makes the cut, the device starts shimmying to get your attention; the more important the call, the more furious the squirrel's movements.
4. If you trust the creature's judgment, just press its paw to take the call: the squirrel has a speakerphone built into it. To send the caller on to voice mail despite the squirrel's advice, press its foot instead.