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If you’re reading this right now, chances are, you’re on a computer. And, even if you’re reading a printed out version of the Tribune, it came from a computer. We use computers for so many things in our lives. We go online and check out cool websites, we write letters and papers on them, we even use them to get cash out of a bank machine.

They’ve become such an important thing in our lives, and they’re only getting better. Check out these two very cool computers that will be on the market soon.

The first is called a Screenphone. It’s about the size of a large office phone, but instead of the buttons that have the phone lines, there is a color video screen, from which you can access the Internet. The screen is touch sensitive, which means that by touching the screen, you can choose what you want to do. There’s no mouse needed. There is also a keyboard that retracts into the body of the phone when the Internet is not being used. And, when the screenphone isn’t online, the screen functions as caller ID. The phone will sell for about $300 dollars in the US this summer. Just think, soon your phone could be your computer too!

The second neat product that will be hitting the stores soon is a computer that you wear on your hand. That’s right, you wear it in the form of a glove, and that’s all you need. Vaughan Pratt invented a sign language called thumbcode. By wearing this glove people can use thumbcode to type anything they want. Essentially, by touching your thumb against the tip, middle or base of each finger, and by grouping your fingers together in different ways, you have 96 different combinations which represent upper and lowercase letters, numbers and other characters. What this means for the future is that you could be walking down the street writing emails and documents. Keep your eyes open for these exciting new products, maybe someday they’ll replace the computers that we know today!