Anoto-based Pens From Logitech 429
flanksteak writes "Logitech has announced the IO Pen, a ball-point pen with a memory. You write stuff with the pen, then drop it in its USB cradle and your bad handwriting appears on your PC. The pen is to be released in November. How cool would this be with support for a wireless protocol?" We've run some previous stories about this - no telling how well it actually works until it's tested, though. And at $9.99/notebook, the paper is about three times as expensive as regular paper.
not really a "pen" per se (Score:2, Informative)
Re:not really a "pen" per se (Score:2, Informative)
Re:not really a "pen" per se (Score:2)
I see this as a really cool idea but I'll wait for the cheap knock off, no way is it worth $200 to me. It might be worth $200 if it didn't need special paper.
The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:5, Funny)
Viola, you've captured their signature and can forge it whenever needed...
1. Lend pen to important people
2. Blackmail and defraud
3. Profit!
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:5, Informative)
Anoto uses paper with grey dots on it, aligned in a grid, that (for some reason or another) is part of a larger 60,000,000-sq-km unique grid (so no two pieces of paper are the same). The 'pen' has a camera in it, that captures the grey dots as you write, and stores the coordinates. This must use very little memory, but does force you to use more expensive (and likely harder-to-find) paper.
Still, I've preordered mine at amazon.com for $199. It's supposed to be available Nov 8.
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:2)
But really... I don't think having the famous person's *signature* is gonna get you that much. After all, they've been giving the friggin' things away forever... I'll bet Plato did autographed copies of the Apology for his friends...
And what does a viola have to do with anything? :p
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, no. At least, you can't beat signature recognition devices that way. They look at presure changes, speed, and strokes, none of which are captured by this device.
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The ultimate forger's tool. (Score:2, Funny)
Voila! Viola!
read the small print (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ok but... (Score:3, Funny)
Wireless? (Score:3, Interesting)
3 times as expensive as regular paper? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:3 times as expensive as regular paper? (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't like palm pilots for their limited input functionality and tablets are too big and bulky. This by passes those problems.
handwritten e-mail? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:handwritten e-mail? (Score:5, Funny)
Now he can automate his stupidity.
S
Re:handwritten e-mail? (Score:2, Interesting)
I was a recent college grad with Internet Experience (TM). Part of my job was to, yes, print out webpages of successful web ads and bind them in a folder for their strategy meetings.
Needless to say, they never really landed any big contracts, and were forced to stay with their Junkmail business.
Re:handwritten e-mail? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:handwritten e-mail? (Score:2, Funny)
(that or you have a lawsuit against your boss . . . )
Re:handwritten e-mail? (Score:2, Interesting)
50 years from now who the hell wants to look at an email. How are you going to find an old forgotton email tucked away in the attic? Is an email going to show the wrinkles of deleting it to the deleted items folder. Email has no personality!
Let's all waste paper! (Score:3, Insightful)
Just think, we don't have to print out every incoming fax, we can save notes and e-mails typed into the computer... then this thing comes out, and we get to *write* everything down again.
Yeah, sure, it'd be useful for people who usually take paper notes anyway (like me), but for the whole "making communication easier" thing, it seems like a waste of perfectly good paper to scribble out a quick e-mail to someone with this pen.
It must be pretty cool, then... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, seeing as how Sony Ericsson have already announced a pen using this technology that supports Bluetooth (http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=ERIC_CH
Paper. (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Paper. (Score:2)
Re:Paper. (Score:5, Informative)
I can certainly imagine ways of doing that that DON'T require digital paper. Either this was the easiest way to implement it (unlikely) or they saw that the real margins for this market are in selling digital paper on an ongoing basis (much more likely).
Re:Paper. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just out of curiosity, how else would you do it? You need to compensate for the fact that people pick up the pen and move to a different spot on the paper while they're writing/drawing. How would you deal with that without special paper.
Re:Paper. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the more practical device would be a run-of-mill-looking clipboard that you could clip any kind of paper to, write on it, and store that image..
I think that offers more flexibility (like automatically filling out "forms" in triplicate, storing receipt/stub information for business travellers, and so on) and would be easier to incorporate wireless into. Shoot, you could even put an inconspicuous PCMCIA slot into it for a wifi adapter, disk drive, or whatever...
Re:Paper. (Score:2)
Re:Paper. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's like a Steno pad. You take the wireless pen and the wireless pad of paper wherever you go (meetings, brainstorming at the park, etc.). The handwritten graphics (letters, drawings) are stored within the pen's own memory to later be downloaded to a host computer via USB. Imagine the possibility of automatic meeting minutes (the most boring task imaginable now streamlined)!
An awesome application for this would be for college students in addition to professionals. Imagine being able to train an OCR program to convert class notes into plain text files which can be categorized on a disk. Imagine being able to grep for topics to avoid having to flip through hundreds of pages of notes.
The downside is the Windows XP interface in the screenshots. If Logitech is smart, they will also support UNIX/Linux/MacOS. If they are really smart, they'll use Java or really good C, so they don't have to start from scratch on each platform. If it will be truly Windows-only (and remain so at Logitech's discretion), then Logitech needs to go to hell, because there is simply no excuse for non-portable applications now-a-days especially considering the revenue potential of this pen.
I think the more practical device would be a run-of-mill-looking clipboard that you could clip any kind of paper to, write on it, and store that image.
The clipboard is a good idea, since the grid is embedded in the backing. However, clipboards can be somewhat clunky to write on due to their size. Smaller pads of paper can be more naturally held in one hand while writing and flipping pages can be done very quickly. If there is a way to make a clipboard behave like a Steno pad, that would be worthwhile.
Re:Paper. (Score:2)
Re:Paper. (Score:5, Informative)
The deal with the paper is that the pattern of dots is unique and no- repeating up to a area about the size of the North America. The business plan behind Annoto is to license sections of that mapspace to companys.
Catalog company X could license 100 sq ft for use in their catalogs - using 2mm at a time for a check box next to each item in their catalog. When you check the box, the pen records those cordinates, when you download the map locations trigger an order form to be filled out on the company's catalog web site. Or 3M could sell POST-IT Faxes - a post-it with a check box to fax, so that when you link your pen with the internet , the message you just scribbled is faxed away.
My only concern with the company is the Cue-Cat esque business model of makeing people have to pass their informtion through the annoto servers to perform anything useful.
Dots... but why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course you might run into focus problems, like if you pulled the pen up it wouldn't know where on the paper it was. There are a number of ways to get around this, such as an ultrasound range finder connected to a focusing lens (pretty expensive tech to put into a pen, but if were already putting cameras in 'em), or an accelerometer or gyroscope position finder.
Re:Paper. (Score:2)
Unless you wrote in cursive, and in a circle
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Logitech (Score:5, Interesting)
Too bad this pen reports in a proprietary
But worst of all, the software that decodes it REQUIRES the
We should write Logitech and request free file formats (like an export to PNG) and free software with open drivers, not some program that forces
Rimshot... (Score:4, Informative)
This
Re:Logitech (Score:2, Interesting)
Well geez. It seems to me that USB is a standard, and unless Logitech encrypted the data they are sending across the line, it should be an easy thing to use USB Snoopy (http://home.jps.net/~koma/) to read the packets and determine how the bytes work.
It shouldn't matter if they used
I can't believe you actually got modded up for that.
Re:Logitech (Score:4, Funny)
its hardware. why must it be proprietary? the money for this device is in the friggin paper! not the device drivers.
Re:Logitech (Score:5, Interesting)
No, not inherently. But it makes the product useless to me. (well, the part where it requires special paper also makes it useless to me..). And I'll continue to feel free to point out that its useless to me, just as you'll countine to feel free to point out that i'm bitching and moaning.
Hi, how's it going?
(ps, I didn't actually bitch and moan about this.)
Nice, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Thats why I went to typeing in the first place.
An old wired article? (Score:2)
Applications including automatic faxing, emailing or saving of documents simply by checking off a box in the corner of the paper. I would like to think it was wireless as well.
I only wish I could remember which issue it was in
Re:An old IDG article? (Score:2)
How it works (Score:5, Informative)
- Digital paper with Anoto functionality is created by printing a proprietary pattern of very small dots on ordinary paper that is perceived by the eye as a slightly off-white color. The dots have a nominal spacing of 0.3 mm (0.01 inch).
So my first question is: how much writing can it store if it's constantly taking pictures?As you write, the built-in digital camera in the pen continuously takes pictures of the patterned paper. Then, when you place the pen in its cradle, all of your writing is transferred automatically to your PC.
40 pages at a time. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:How it works (Score:4, Informative)
Also, optical mice (mouses), used to require special mousing surfaces. Now they work (nearly) anywhere (not on glass.. shiny black, etc.. I keep mine on my pad of graph paper, 'cause the wood on my desk is glossy and doesn't track with complete accuracy). I suspect that if this technology catches on, they'll be able to do away with the special paper.
S
Re:How it works (Score:2)
Re:How it works (Score:5, Interesting)
The special paper provides unique coordinates. You know which page is which, when you've changed pages, when you've gone back and annotated old pages, what type of page you're on. You could define special forms and print millions of them, and be able to tell what data was captured and what (unique) form it was written on - even what the order of capture was. It's quite a powerful concept.
I mean, I can see forms that are all identical and print on the same coordinates. Maybe this would be good for anonymity and cheaper to reproduce.
There are already plenty of handwriting capture pads and stuff, but the special paper really is the technology, not the pen.
Re:How it works (Score:2)
What I really meant was: if this paper is really as inconvenient as "special" mouse pads, someone, somewhere will come up with some way of doing without.
Maybe microscopic sensing.. who knows?
S
Re:How it works (Score:2)
Figure 10 snapshots per character written for decent resolution. Even if we figure the pen had 8 megs of some solid state storage built in, that could store an awful lot of writing in either case (80000 characters, assuming 100 bytes total per character written). That's more notes than you are going to take in quite a few of those organic chemistry lectures.
Re:How it works (Score:2)
and
B) I believe that the entire "map" is described as 60,000,000 sq.km. of dots varied by page, so it obviously ISN'T stored locally on the pen, and the pen must store the local dot coordinates to the camera position.
Re:How it works (Score:5, Insightful)
Wonder if you could scan the paper in and print your own...
It's possible that the off-white colour is actually florescent or something and the pen might use a UV light source to track the movements.
Seems like the old inkjet / razorblades selling technique. Give them the technology (cheap?) then sell supplies. I won't buy-in to that type of technology.
Kludgy? (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course the ability to digitally record your penstrokes is super cool (and I wonder how much memory is in there? How long could I write before I had to dump it?), but requiring the digital paper to go along with it... well, that smacks of Gillette's approach to razorblades.
Initially, I thought it was going to be some kind of system for actually tracking the literal ball that does the writing. THAT would be neat; normal paper, normal ballpoint pen, and recorded to boot. Then again, I know some optical mice work even without the special patterned mousepad, so I wonder if there's a chance this would work on regular paper...
Re:Kludgy? (Score:2, Informative)
up to 40 pages at a time
(from this [logitech.com] page
Re:Kludgy? (Score:2)
Give it a while - someone will come up with a non-proprietary-paper-requiring version with wireless - then all geeks can rejoice.
Re:Kludgy? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Kludgy? (Score:2)
erasing (Score:5, Insightful)
Another fall of a reliable biometric security (Score:4, Insightful)
First, a poster of someone else's face (facial recognition evasion).
Second, the goey fingerprint duplicator,
now this walk-by signature hacker on a PDA?
What would be next?
Hijacking IRIS pattern (simply stareing at the bathroom mirror)?
Stolen DNA pattern?
There is no solid defense against unrevokable but stolen biometric parameters.
I WAS excited (Score:5, Funny)
I didn't even bother to find out how much it was. I really liked the idea at first but upon learning that I need MS IE and
I've evaluated the Ericsson Bluetooth Anoto Pen (Score:3, Informative)
I must say that while the concept is great, the technology isn't "there" yet. During my test, I had various tracking problems when filling out a digital paper form.
Also, if a form was successfully filled out, the handwriting resolution was very dim. The image quality was acceptable if the form was filled out in big, bold, and neat manuscript letters.
This might be acceptable for some applications, but daily, our millions of customers have millions of writing styles.
There simply wasn't a way to increase the resolution for productive use with our proprietary industrial OCR engine.
I'm going to keep up with the technology and wait for improvements in this area. The concept is fantastic and I expect the technology will be more refined within a year or so.
Buy Logitech Stock (Score:2)
Assuming, of course, that they've patented & copyrighted things well enough to require you to buy Logitech (R) (TM) supplies.
I've always loved Logitech products. If this takes off, then good for them!
Special Paper = Useless (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Special Paper = Useless (Score:2)
See, they have a gigantic "map" of every piece of paper and what's on it. Every piece of paper (or maybe just every type of product, rather than individual paper, I'm not sure) is unique. So that's how it knows what you're writing on, how big it is, where the "active" areas are, etc.
This way you don't have to learn any special symbols, and the pen knows exactly what you're writing on without you telling it.
Of course, if you're suitably paranoid, you might come up with some "unintended consequences".. does this mean each page is unique and can be ID'd? etc...
Re:Special Paper = Useless (Score:4, Informative)
The paper *IS* the technology development in this case. If you don't understand that, please look at their site again!
If you would just think about how this could possibly work for a second, you'd realize that.
Imagine a pen that works your way -- like an optical mouse that tracks movement. Write a long letter out by hand, and upload it to your computer. How would you expect it to look? If you said "just like my letter," you're wrong! With your 'optical mouse' technology, you'd get (if you're lucky) one long sentence.
The special paper is what allows this thing to know WHERE the pen tip is at at all times. You could draw a circle in the upper right corner, draw a square in the lower left corner, then go back and draw an X in the circle. Then flip a page in the notebook and write a letter. Then go back to page one and draw some more objects.
Now stick the pen in the USB device, download it, and you'll see two separate pages, just exactly as you drew them.
And this is only scratching the surface... no pun intended.
It's been done ... (Score:2)
Check here [lnl.net]
It didn't do very well, applications never were developed for it. And the handwriting recognition wasn't very good either, but I never took the time to train it. A.T. Cross unfortuantly stopped making it.
It used any notebook, but it had a special back you had to put the notepad in that recieved a signal the pen emitted. It only used serial, but this was back when USB was just showing up on the scene
big deal... (Score:4, Informative)
200 years? (Score:3, Interesting)
The first true breakthrough in pen technology in 200 years
Er, the ball-point pen invented in 1938 [about.com] wasn't a "true" breakthrough?
Yeah, I've always thought that ball-point pens were overrated. Fountain pens forever, baby!
wireless (Score:2)
Would it be called the BlueInk protocol.
WEll - if they did have one with Wireless capability I am sure the CIA would love a few thousand to give to visiting diplomats and anyone else in general.
Is each page in the pad unique? Each notebook? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, is every page in the special notebook unique? And is each NOTEBOOK unique?
Suppose you are keeping lists on pages 10, 18, and 26 of a notebook. You add an entry on page 10, flip to page 18, add an entry, flip to page 26, add an entry and download. Now what? Do you see the complete list on page 10 as it appears on the paper? Or do you see a series of separate one-line images?
Suppose you write a note on page 3 of notebook A and then write another note on page 3 of notebook B, when you download them do you see both notes superimposed on page 3 of "the" notebook?
Re:Is each page in the pad unique? Each notebook? (Score:5, Informative)
is every page in the special notebook unique? And is each NOTEBOOK unique?
Yes. Here's a Wired story [wired.com] about the guys who invented the paper.
Similar technology... (Score:3, Interesting)
If Logitech really wanted to impress me, the paper could be any paper, placed in a small portfolio sleeve with sensors in the corner. If they're using a template printed on the paper, just make it bold and dark, so it's easy to see through the a sheet of notebook paper. I could teach myself to write on the last piece of paper in a notebook and pull the sheet out when done. It would be much more useful to me than trying to justify a $10 notebook every couple of weeks.
No Bluetooth? What a disappointment (Score:2, Interesting)
One example used email forms on a pad. You wrote in the different boxes like TO: and SUBJECT: then the message below. When you marked the box checked SEND the message was squirted to the phone via bluetooth, then over the air. You could send text or digital ink which would be included in the email as an attachment.
This looked to tbe the best way to send email if all you had was a phone. No funky predictive spelling do-dads on a standard phone keypad.
The logitech looks like they managed to both dumb-down and encumber the thing. USB cradle? IE?
If the original Anoto pen was available for $199 I'd buy it. No cradle, no 20MB software loads, just use it with your bluetooth phone.
Even Logitech needs recurring income (Score:2, Insightful)
The Microsoft Influence Felt (Score:2)
I use Netscape exclusively as my web browser; do I still need to install Internet Explorer?
Yes, but only if your system has an older version of Internet Explorer installed. Since Internet Explorer is a core component of Windows, many features of the Logitech io Software are dependent on the program. However, installing Internet Explorer does not mean you must use it as your browser; you can still use Netscape as your default Internet browser.
Remember when Microsoft, during their DOJ trial, claimed that Explorer was intractable from Windows? That it was such a core component that could not be removed without crippling the whole OS? Not only were they wrong but they were caught fabricating evidence in the form of a VHS tape with telltale impossible graphics and they were busted, wholesale.
Well this is just an example of how that fabrication -- and by extension Microsoft's influence -- affects a fair market negatively. Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, Konqueror
"Core component" my ass.
Re:The Microsoft Influence Felt (Score:2)
This is absolutely wrong. I agree that the fabrication in court was stupid, and MS's idiotic legal team could have won on factual grounds IMHO. Of course it wouldn't cripple Windows, per se. But a lot of software (not just logitech's) use the MSHTML component from IE. What logitec is saying is that a newer version of IE contains a DLL or two that they need. This is not taking over Opera, etc. because it has nothing to do with browsing the Internet nor does it have anything to do with your default browser.
2 ?s (Score:2)
dot NET=dot SUCKS
Can I photocopy the paper to make my own?
Obligitory conspiracy theory.... (Score:2, Interesting)
.NET REQUIRED For Full Pen Functionality (Score:4, Funny)
Why do I have to install the
The
Oh isn't that special...
Gotta love marketing hype (Score:2, Redundant)
Much better products out there (Score:2)
A pen made just for me! (Score:2)
How is this different? (Score:2)
How is this thing any different, besides the usb?
I really love my crossPad, its nice to have a paper copy, and a digital copy of everything I jot down.
-Mkl
Why on Earth do I need this? (Score:2)
the "demo" pictures (Score:2)
HOLY CRAP I WANTED ONE OF THESE!!!! (Score:2)
No I mean really check it out, check out the turntables section. [terminatorx.cx] See the one made by toqer? Yeah thats me... Well anywho, on with my comment.
I know 3 DJ's (more hobbiest) and I spent a little time watching how they scratch records, mix and all that good stuff. I noticed that when they scratched, they had a special slip pad underneath the vinyl so it would slide smoothly. This got me to thinking that it was the record that provided the most tactile feedback to the DJ, and not just the turntables.
So I did that first prototype, it works good, but black doesn't reflect well enough so I would like to do something different. Here comes my big question to the people in the know.
Since this device is more than just a mouse (it takes pictures and sends them back to the pc) could you track the position on the record with a visual cue? Like a pattern, a barcode or something? I'm thinking if it could be done, just distribute a PDF so people could print up thier own records.
Seiko's SmartPads and InkLink (Score:2, Informative)
I think I will still prefer the InkLink [seikosmart.com], especially since it clips to any pad of paper, not require special digital paper. It is also only $100 vs. $200 for the io pen (SmartPad: $100, SmartPad2: $150) and works with PC(windows they should say), Palm, and PocketPC
few questions (Score:2)
Second question: Is there anyone old enough to remember why typing was invented? I thought it was invented so that we don't have to read ugly handwriting.
My professor's handwriting was really bad. Once I recd a post-it from him and went to ask him what it says. He was out of the office, so I asked his secretary. Well she couldn't read it. By chance his son came over there (then a UC Berkeley student), neither could he read it. Finally one of his colleagues (they had worked 15 years together) could read it. It was all non-technical. Now imagine if he had this pen and he sent all his emails in his hand-writing.
Boycott Logitech (Score:2)
Good luck. I seriously doubt logitech would provide information on developing such a driver for this device.
Boycott Logitech [fperkins.com]
Inklink does the same, no special paper required (Score:2, Informative)
here is the company info about it [seikosmart.com]
I got it to take class notes and it works great. The only bad thing is having to re-position the clip after you write on each page...
Glorified 2D barcode reader - could be simplified (Score:3, Interesting)
They couldn't use an optical mouse mechanism because it can't tell where on the page it is. They have a 60 thousand kilometer space so if you go back to the same page you wrote on a week ago and make changes then it'll show up on the correct page.
They could simplify it, though, by allowing generic pads to be made where each page in a pad is unique, but if you want to change to a different pad you have to scan the top bound ridge first so it knows you're on a different pad. The pads are currently expensive because each sheet has to be printed individually. Make it simpler with the suggestion above and you can at least make the pads duplicates of 90 different printed sheets.
I suspect it'll flop. People will only buy the special pads for the pen, but they won't always have a special pad available when they want to write something down.
I think a simpler technology could suffice here with the parts of an optical mouse. It only needs to know which words are continous, and you can reformat their actual layout later, if needed, on the computer. Add a cheap accelerometer and it'll have a good idea of where things are in relation to each other. Add some powerfull post-processing software and it'll be able to eat drawings as well, matching up areas where the camera saw previously drawn lines.
In the end, this is a hardware solution to a problem begging for a software solution.
-Adam
Too bad I only have 1 semester left! (Score:2)
kept for posterity- better yet- all of your grad school and PhD stuff in a format you can easily save and print out later. Sounds like a note takers dream for those qualifying exams!
This should be standard issue gift for any friends/relatives going on to higher education.
-
Actually, I could justify this for work- frequently I take notebooks worth of notes, just to save 'em off for that one day where I will transcribe everything to a notes file... YEAH RIGHT.
This would take the work out of it.
I'm buying 3.
rant on pen stuff (Score:2)
Limited Mode of Operation (Score:2)
Why not multimode? Have modules to support a rollerball, fountain pen, or even a mechanical pencil?
Easier ways... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm surprised that nobody has done anything novel such as a small coil in the tip and a ink ball that has a partial metal structure. In such a system you should be able to sense the ball movement and direction. The ball would be super cheap and could be your renuable revenue stream by selling the replacement ink cartridges. Furthermore, such a sensor would be so small that it could easily be placed into just about any profile - not the bloated fat (and probably uncomfortable) pen they came up with.
I mean, isn't a pen nothing more than a very very very tiny mouse ball? Sensing it's rotation and position should not be hard asuming you can fiddle with the balls composition.
I don't see any novel technology here, only bad design.
Re:Easier ways... (Score:3, Informative)
I can also think of a number of technologies for this particular situation as well. Silicon accelerameters could easily be used to detect movement side to side. Coupled with a simple tip switch (e.g., am I pushing on paper or not) this could kick in to determine amount of movement.
Again, there *are* solutions for this type of problem that does not include *paper with dots on it*. Quite frankly, that is simply not acceptable because in order for the pen to be useable you have to have the paper.
Consider the death of optical mice that require the special pads with dots in them.
Note that companies have produced similar technology for tablets.... such as Wacom. Their pen is totally passive (e.g., no power other than that radiated from the tablet) - yet it senses up/down/tilt/rotation as well as pressure and stroke. Now before you go off the deep end, yes, I understand how the WACOM technology works (I used to write drivers for them) and yes, it is not the same... but a similar mechanism can be created for a pen device that I believe would work well enough to be useful and not require a special pad or special paper.
In fact, just considering wacom technology - what would be the difference if you merely used the pen to write on a "clipboard". There are already those types of devices out there - they require no *special paper*. I'd prefer that to special paper because it would let me use just about ANY paper - as long as I was writing things down on the *clipboard*. Again, these devices already exist.
I don't think it's a far jump to getting rid of the paper and the clip board. Hmmmmm, to bad GPS resolution isn't enough to track the hand movement.
Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Notepads are useful largely because they're essentially disposable; you can scribble as much as you want without worrying about running out of paper or about it costing too much. $10 for a replacement notebook is a bit steep. I usually pay $1 or so for my notebooks.
So I can get an image of my notebook pages... doesn't a $50 scanner do the same thing? Ok, so a scanner takes a little while and only handles a page at a time. Is that limitation worth $150 to that many people, especially with an extra $7 per notebook?
Cool technology, but I doubt this will be a successful product.
-John
Is your neighbor a pencil hoarder? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:.NET Great (Score:2)