These machines have 22 keys and are capable of typing at the speed of speech, around 180 words per minute, or three words every second.

BBC: Why do we all use Qwerty keyboards?

Rather than dwell on the old performance metric of speed, Otellini, in his first Intel Developer Forum speech as CEO, focused on power consumption and heat dissipation of semiconductors.

FORBES: Chief Executive Paul Otellini

"The decisions we make this year about telecom policies will influence the flow of billions of dollars worth of capital, the security of thousands of jobs, the speed of the economic recovery and the legacy of America's technological leadership, " Seidenberg said in a speech last week.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But Obama is unmoved by any of this, and as his speech at the UN General Assembly made clear, he is moving full speed ahead in his plans to subordinate US foreign policy to the UN.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: An enfeebled Obama

Not surprisingly for a company that makes phones and tablets, the hearing aid wouldn't always have to do the heavy lifting, either: iOS devices could handle some of the on-the-fly conversion, and pre-recorded speech could receive advance treatment to speed up the process.

ENGADGET: Apple seeks patent for hearing aids that deliver speech at an even keel