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Quickies — MIT's Intelligent Sticky Notes

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Fri May 02, 2008 06:30 PM
from the smarter-than-your-average-sticky dept.
Communications Technology
Iddo Genuth writes to mention that MIT researchers have made their first pass at bringing the common yellow post-it note into the digital age. Using a combination of artificial intelligence, RFID, and ink recognition, the team hopes to make the digital version as ubiquitous as possible. "The Quickie application not only allows users to browse their notes, but also lets users search for specific information or keywords. Using a freely available commonsense knowledge engine and computational AI techniques, the software processes the written text and determines the relevant context of the notes, categorizing them appropriately. "The system uses its understanding of the user's intentions, content, and the context of the notes to provide the user with reminders, alerts, messages, and just-in-time information" - said the inventors. Additionally, each Quickie carries a unique RFID tag, so that it can be easily located around the house or office. Therefore, users can be sure never to lose a bookmarked book or any other object marked with a Quickie."
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Submission: Quickies - MIT's Intelligent Sticky Notes by Iddo Genuth (903542)
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  • as ubiquitous as possible
    Ubiquitous means omnipresent.
    English, mon frer, do you speak it?
    If you make an intelligent sticky note that's so unique, it's one-of-a-kind, and you put it on Nigel Tufnel's [youtube.com] amp, and he cranks it up to 11, will /. editors suddenly become competent?

  • We have quickies in my office (Score:5, Funny)

    by nuzak (959558) on Friday May 02 2008, @06:33PM (#23280918) Journal
    Apparently they're holding them over at the Human Resources department. I asked the receptionist for a Quickie and she had me sent there.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I had the same experience and in the end it cost me $50,000 in legal fees. This technology is way too expensive to ever take off.

  • Sometimes simplicity... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hangtime (19526) on Friday May 02 2008, @06:42PM (#23280980) Homepage
    is best. I have to write my sticky on a touch-sensitive pad which will then need to be transferred to the PC, undergo handwriting recognition and AI to try to ascertain what the heck I meant which will then try to organize that information.

    Or, I can continue using my sticky notes and organizing them on my cube wall (a much larger surface and higher resolution then my 19 inch monitor), freely moving them from one place to another, changing meaning through organization without having to worry about manipulating them on a computer.

    Forgive me but I believe this is a tool in search of a problem that does not exist.

    • Re:Sometimes simplicity... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by moderatorrater (1095745) on Friday May 02 2008, @06:53PM (#23281048)
      They really are missing the point. The point of a stickie note is to put information where there was none previously. I don't need the bottom edge of my monitor for anything, but it's really handy for reminding me about the tasks I need to do before I leave. Putting it on the monitor (physically or through this software) takes up space that I do need for something else, meaning I'd only look at them when I thought I'd need the reminder...which means that I wouldn't need it.
    • Plus, you wouldn't want to waste an RFID-based memory circuit to disable the faulty little motion sensor in the toilet stall that causes the toilet to flush every time you are on the throne. :)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Hojima (1228978)
      I'm pretty sure its development was for the sake of progress rather than the replacement of an already loved product. Remember this is MIT that developed it, not some commercial entity. I'm pretty sure that the main reason for its conception was another baby step towards creating a system that assists humans with their means of communication, which may seem trivial, but it is a crucial step towards modernizing the way humans interact with machines. FTA:"The scientists say Quickies can be used to seamlessly
    • To make them true to life, the digital ones have a setting which is customizable that dictates how long the notes can stay stuck the screen before their 'glue' wears off. A spin-off game is also planned to allow you to practice your basketball skills by throwing the old Quickies into the Recycle Bin.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Jartan (219704)
      Did you even RTFA?

      1) You write your note on the same kind of pad you'd buy in your local office supplies store (it just happens to sit on top of some sort of pressure scanner)
      2) The cheap ass pad of post-it notes has cheap ass RFID's on them so it's a pretty simple step to make the computer know exactly where they are on your wall whenever you want it to.

      Where in that whole process did you have to do something you wouldn't of normally done? Do you need to move around your post-it note pad constantly or som
      • I was going to question the logic of needing to find an original post-it note, when there is a digital copy.. but I actually imagined a legitimate use. The only thing the RFID would be useful for is for labeling documents that you might misplace.. but I would think there might be a more professional way to label than a post-it, not to mention that it might detach... RFID folders maybe...

        We could have used RFID document storage boxes at the last joint I worked at.. accounting had all the boxes numbered but

        • yeah, that's just someone who's never learned how to create an index for anything. If your solution for archiving files is to lace them with a thousand rfid tags, you're going way too far. it's not hard to log an index of where you've put things. rfid doesn't scale as well as people think. it's great for inventory when you're holding one item or one container at a time. you can't walk into a room of ten thousand items and do anything with rfid.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by pipingguy (566974) *
        "wouldn't of"

        Aaaaarrrghhh! One doesn't even have to be a junior high school graduate to be annoyed by this misuse of the language. Or is being ignorant about language "cool" now, similar to the way that ignorance of math is "cool" for those that can't program computers?

      • Re:Sometimes simplicity... (Score:5, Informative)

        by evanbd (210358) on Friday May 02 2008, @06:57PM (#23281072)

        Please stop repeating that myth. Snopes [snopes.com] says you're wrong.

        For those too lazy to read the link: Fisher spent their own money on the development, and the results were far better than pencils. Pencil leads break off and create an electrical and fire hazard, not to mention making dust. These are real problems in free fall that aren't present on the ground. Sorry, but your intuition of what works well on the ground will not translate in any meaningful way to free fall.

        • Unfortunately I don't have the time to check out every single "fact" people tell me, particularly the common ones (like this) that get reiterated all the time. I apologise for spreading FUD and I stand corrected (Although my main point remains the same), however I AM only human.

          • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Unfortunately I don't have the time to check out every single "fact" people tell me, particularly the common ones (like this) that get reiterated all the time. I apologise for spreading FUD and I stand corrected (Although my main point remains the same), however I AM only human.
            Perhaps you should write the facts a Quickie so that it can do the research for you :D

          • Unfortunately I don't have the time to check out every single "fact" people tell me
            Of course not, none of us do. The question is, why do we repeat them back anyway? :-/

            --Ted
            • I've actually thought about this before. When you're growing up, as a young, naive kid, you tend to just believe what adults tell you. Then you get a little wiser and realise that not ALL adults actually know what they're talking about (and some just love to tell you complete lies for the fun of it, or to make you look stupid), so you typically start to question what most people tell you, but certain people (such as your parents or teachers) tend to keep a level of respect where you continually believe what
            • Because it makes sense.

              Like all urban legends, there's just enough truth to make you say 'wow, that makes sense' and ignore the silly/foolish bits.

              In that particular myth, it does seem like the sort of thing NASA would do - an engineer creates a problem which is waaay overengineered and the Russians, not bothering with any of that silliness, just uses the simple solution

              The fact that it's not what actually happened is irrelevant (to most people) - it could have happened, so why not believe it?
              • Huh. I'm going to have to completely disagree with you. There's nothing about that story that "seems" true or reasonable. In fact I'd argue otherwise, that an organization with the ability to put ships in space would be unlikely to make such a frivolous investment.

                Perhaps the reason urban legends "seem" true is because they justify a person's preconceived prejudices, opinions or conclusions.
      • from Snopes - "NASA never asked Paul C. Fisher to produce a pen. When the astronauts began to fly, like the Russians, they used pencils, but the leads sometimes broke and became a hazard by floating in the [capsule's] atmosphere where there was no gravity. They could float into an eye or nose or cause a short in an electrical device. In addition, both the lead and the wood of the pencil could burn rapidly in the pure oxygen atmosphere. Paul Fisher realized the astronauts needed a safer and more dependab
      • Stop using that story! NASA never spent millions developing a space pen, and the Russians never used pencils. NASA might be stupid, but not that stupid, and the Russians are cheap enough to do something that stupid. Break the tip and your screwed. Not to mention wood and graphite catch fire. Both space agencies were happy to use grease pencils for quite a while. The Space Pen that is use now was developed independently by a independent inventor/businessman. Only after making that did NASA end up using some
      • "if it ain't broke..."

        To summarize the change they made in a form Slashdot would understand:

        s/st/qu

  • Passwords (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anti_Climax (447121) on Friday May 02 2008, @06:45PM (#23281008)
    So instead of keeping your passwords under the keyboard they'll be on the screen?
  • Mac OS Stickies [wikipedia.org]
  • >> The system uses its understanding of the user's intentions, content, and the context of the notes to provide the user with reminders, alerts, messages, and just-in-time information

    "It looks like you're trying to: Post a Quickie."

    "Would you like a Quickie?"
  • There's one that involves an optical pen that works with specially marked paper printed with a very fine pattern that it uses to get fine enough resolution for handwriting. The pen stores a number of notes and lets you upload them to your computer or transfer them to your PDA.

    That solution works better because the paper (the consumable part) is just ordinary paper printed with the micro-pattern. I suspect that you could in principle print it on a color printer.

    The trick is to make the notes compatible with

  • I was going to post "That's so stupid"... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bill_kress (99356) on Friday May 02 2008, @07:14PM (#23281162)
    but everyone seems to have beaten me to it.

    So how about instead of bitching I try to come up with some constructive criticism. How about the opposite, a little sticky-note printer that will spit out whatever is highlighted on your current screen and apply a little glue to the back side on the way out, ready for immediate deployment.

    The form-factor should be such that it can fit into a hard-drive slot on your PC--and it can slide open like a CDROM for refilling consumables.

    It should work both vertically and horizontally.

    There, run with it and make your $millions.

  • I may be old-fashioned, but I see no need to use more than the assortment of paper I have on my desk for notes.

    Paper costs ~$40 for 20 pounds; and I can pick it up, put it in my pocket, and take it to the grocery store. And if I drop it, its not damaged. An equivalent computerized system costs ~$300 (PDA) and does not respond well to being dropped. I would also have to remember to check my to do list. A note on a desk/keyboard/table/whatever is much more likely to be seen.

  • MIT (Score:5, Informative)

    by El Cabri (13930) * on Friday May 02 2008, @07:38PM (#23281304) Journal
    People at MIT are notoriously good at creating buzz around the concepts, demos, protypes and inventions that they come up with, especially at the Media Lab. Unfortunately, like everything that happens in academia, the signal to noise ratio is what it is and most of it has no future, sometimes for blatant reasons that one doesn't need to be a very sharp V.C. to figure out. Unfortunately that creates the impression that they are really a bunch of clowns that come up with useless stuff on a regular basis.
      • I didn't mean that the MIT didn't have brilliant academics and important contributions to their fields with scientific discoveries and seminal publications.

        I was just pointing out that the Media Lab, which has hardly anything to do with all this, has this tradition of hyping klunky prototypes of improbable gadgets and making broad statements about what the future will be. I remember how for they had announced for years in the late 90s, the advent of computerized doorknobs with an IP address.

        I notice also t

  • My birthday is coming up soon, so I asked her for a Quickie.

    You should have seen her response !

  • I remember this when it was called the Newton
  • ... since when do MIT students get quickies?

    Or any sex, for that matter?
  • Bringing Post-it notes to the digital age? I hear that someday it will also be possible to create your own optical storage disks at home and be able to watch television program and download using a thing called the "internet". I think the article really refers to MIT inventing a time machine and using it to travel to the mysterious mystical year of 1996! Or at least that's what you would get from reading the summary.

    As almost everyone knows, "digital Post-it notes" have been a common
  • I want the sticky note to die, instead of being planted further into the digital age. Five years ago they banned me from having real sticky notes at work because it ended up a mess -- speaks to my lack of organizational skills and obviously the sticky note didn't help. The sticky note is handy but cannot be organized properly in most contexts. Instead of individual squares of paper, just type a number of text lines in a text file, one for each item, label the file important.txt on your desktop and encrypt i
  • My excitement at the words "quickie" and "sticky" used together waned with the reading of the Summary and TFA. Damn you /., damn you to hell.

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