Pen-sized scanners already exist. It shouldn't be too hard for these to swipe a regular phone number out of phone book, then using image recognition produce the necessary touch-tone signals to dial the number. Phones should have this built in.-- davea0511, Oct 17 2007 Don't the Japanese already have this technology, or is that only for bar codes?-- DrCurry, Oct 17 2007 We've had these for years in England. The GPO gives them away.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 17 2007 random, halfbakery