28. Computerized information and display apparatus, comprising: a wireless network interface; processing apparatus in data communication with the network interface; a display device; a data interface in data communication with the processing apparatus and configured to transfer data between the computerized information and display apparatus and a portable electronic device placed in data communication with the data interface; and a storage apparatus comprising at least one computer program, said at least one program being configured to, when executed: obtain digitized speech generated based on speech received from a user, the digitized speech relating to a desired action which the user wishes to perform; and cause, based at least in part on the digitized speech, access of a network entity to cause performance of the desired action; wherein the computerized information and display apparatus is further configured to: receive information obtained via the access of the network entity via the wireless network interface; and provide at least a portion of the received information to the portable electronic device via the data interface; wherein the performance of the desired action includes identification a plurality of approximate but non-exact matches for a user query that is at least part of the speech received from the user, and the performance further includes computation of at least one metric for at least some of the plurality of approximate but non-exact matches, the at least one metric being used in determining at least the nearest approximation of a match to the query.
28. Computerized information and display apparatus, comprising: a wireless network interface; processing apparatus in data communication with the network interface; a display device; a data interface in data communication with the processing apparatus and configured to transfer data between the computerized information and display apparatus and a portable electronic device placed in data communication with the data interface; and a storage apparatus comprising at least one computer program, said at least one program being configured to, when executed: obtain digitized speech generated based on speech received from a user, the digitized speech relating to a desired action which the user wishes to perform; and cause, based at least in part on the digitized speech, access of a network entity to cause performance of the desired action; wherein the computerized information and display apparatus is further configured to: receive information obtained via the access of the network entity via the wireless network interface; and provide at least a portion of the received information to the portable electronic device via the data interface; wherein the performance of the desired action includes identification a plurality of approximate but non-exact matches for a user query that is at least part of the speech received from the user, and the performance further includes computation of at least one metric for at least some of the plurality of approximate but non-exact matches, the at least one metric being used in determining at least the nearest approximation of a match to the query. 33. The computerized information and display apparatus of claim 28 , further comprising speech synthesis apparatus in data communication with the processing apparatus; and wherein the computerized information and display system is further configured to generate a plurality of interactive hyperlinks displayed on the touch screen input and display device, the plurality of hyperlinks configured to each, when selected by the user, access a universal resource locator (URL) associated with an internet web server, and obtain information from the web server via the wireless network interface for display on the display device.