Pervasive computing puts food on the table

Why would a restaurant owner replace 50c paper order pads with a wireless network, palm-top PDAs, touch screen terminals, and back office servers? After all, order pads don't need system administration, present a user interface everyone understands, and are cheap. Imagine your server navigating menus while customers try to decide on their meals, change their minds, and shout their-orders over the general din. Sounds like a recipe for disaster rather than good service, right? To find out, I talk to Alex Malison, chief executive officer of-Action Systems Incorporated who has deployed such a system to operating restaurants and to owners and food servers, who actually use it on the restaurant floor. A word of caution: I found the restaurant owners so enthusiastic that it was hard to get a balanced view from them. Maintain a healthy skepticism as you read; even though your editor cannot avoid conveying the enthusiasm of those interviewed. Caveat emptor should always be a guiding principal in evaluating commercial products.