You might enjoy reading the these predictions about the future of electronic learning: in the ACM Magazine, eLearn.
After this was published, I received email from a reader who stated that my prediction had already come true. He explained how he used his PDA to learn Chinese, with a phrase book, audio flash cards, and "a Read-Write chinese character tutorial that includes animated characters, stroke order practice, and multiple testing modes to test all aspects of developing chinese character knowledge, retention, and understanding."
Is this what I was talking about? Partially. I'm looking for more, but I'm impresed enough that I peeked into buying the sysem for myself: Italian, not Chinese, but who knows, ... Neal Stephenson: someday we will get to your "young lady's illustrated primer."