Improving on the Cocktail Napkin

[Tycho Morgan]

<a href="http://research.microsoft.com/msrnews/smartquill.asp">http://research.microsoft.com/msrnews/smartquill.asp</a><br /><br />For those of you who may not know, I keep a few scribble books and I do a fair amount of writing with a fountain pen. Yes that's right; I have a Jornada on my belt and write in paper notebooks with <a href="http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/collections/collection.asp?CK=70&MFG=22">fountain pen</a> (I have a Carbonesque Namiki Vanishing Point with a medium nib, seen below, if you were wondering.) My handwriting may not be the best in the world, and it can be a pain to type things up, but all in all I enjoy doing certain things in a notebook, especially outlining and note taking. I still use my Jornada quite a bit, but I tend to use it for things that absolutely must be typed, typing up notes, and PIM functions. <br /><br /><img src="http://nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Namiki%20website%20pics/namikicarbonesque.jpg" /><br /><br />I think in the long run, the ultimate solution for me would be some sort of a tablet computer that combines the best of both worlds: the speed, elegance, grace, and feel of a collage ruled notebook (including the texture, and sensitivity), and the organizational efficenty of a PDA. Needless to say, I think this kind of technology (at a reasonable price) is a long way off. That's the thing about ultimate technologies, they either don't exist, or they aren't in your price range; I'd love to use a Mac, but I simply can't afford one, I'd also like thought based input for my Jornada, but that doesn't exist (yet). <br /><br /><img src="http://research.microsoft.com/msrnews/smartquill.jpg" />. <br /><br />So anyway, I'm supposed to be writing about this new smart quill pen thingy (above) that Microsoft Research has developed that senses movement and is able to transcribe the motion of the pen into electronic text. Very nifty if you ask me, this is something that could earn a very honored spot in my gear arsenal.<br /><br />"The pen is slightly larger than an ordinary fountain pen, with a screen on the barrel. If there's no cocktail napkin handy, never fear: it can detect and remember handwriting on the air. The user trains the pen to recognize a particular handwriting style - no matter how messy it is, as long as it is consistent, the pen can recognize it. The pen is then plugged into an "inkwell" that transmits the text to a PC or handheld or to a mobile telephone to be sent as email."<br /><br />"Williams is convinced the Smart quill could be brought to market by next year at a reasonable price of about $200, about the same as a high-end fountain pen. “It’s the pen for the new millennium,” she says. “All the computing power you need, right in your pocket."<br /><br />I hope that they really do make this a fountain pen: that would be just too cool. I also would really like that price tag and time line, but something in my gut says that it will be more than a few years and a little more than 200 dollars. We can always hope though.

[Tycho Morgan]

When I do an off topic post, I'm really not kidding...

Cheers,
Sam

[Jeff Kirvin]

OH MY GOD!!!

I have got to have one of these! I even love the "inkwell"!

[Tycho Morgan]

OH MY GOD!!!

I have got to have one of these! I even love the "inkwell"!


Yeah it is really really cool looking, but I'd probably have to go and hurt someone if it was a ball point...

[Aceze]

I think in the long run, the ultimate solution for me would be some sort of a tablet computer that combines the best of both worlds: the speed, elegance, grace, and feel of a collage ruled notebook (including the texture, and sensitivity), and the organizational efficenty of a PDA. Needless to say, I think this kind of technology (at a reasonable price) is a long way off...

Ever looked at the IBM Transnote? Computer + digital notebook - sure looks like what you seem to want has been done already (done and gone, apparently, as IBM seems to have discontinued it!).

Aceze

[dochall]

By electronic text are we talking real text or a graphic of the text.

How accurate is the recognition that you are achieving?

It sounds like it could be a nightmare to use, rather like the variety of the penscanners out there which are a ergonomic nightmare. Your forced to constantly review the text to make sure it is recognised correctly. Why not simply have enough intelligence in the pen so it can describe the writing which is then transmitted to a recognising platofrm (either PDA or PC).

I would also like to have the ability to have it doing it automaitcally in real time. Pause for a second and the text is automatically recognised a la transcriber. I could then review the text on screen rather than having to try to flip over the pen to look at the screen.

Oh and finally why do I want an inkwell. It just complicates the process. What I actually want is a bluetooth connection.

[Dan Urness]

Sony/Ericsson will be releasing a "Chatpen" in Sweden around the end of April. This is a bluetooth pen which transfers the data immediately to a phone or PDA. We have received a sample version but have no bluetooth phone to try it with yet, looks like a million bucks though, very impressive design.

[Tycho Morgan]

Sony/Ericsson will be releasing a "Chatpen" in Sweden around the end of April. This is a bluetooth pen which transfers the data immediately to a phone or PDA. We have received a sample version but have no bluetooth phone to try it with yet, looks like a million bucks though, very impressive design.


I'd like to see pictures and specs if you can provide them :)

Cheers,
Sam

[fishd1]

this new smart quill pen thingy (above) that Microsoft Research has developed

Woah there nelly... :wink:

I saw this prototype device in a BritishTelecom laboratory in Ipswitch, UK about three - four years ago!

Along a really cool device called SmartSpace... but I'm not sure if the NDA I'm under has expired. :oops:

[Tycho Morgan]

this new smart quill pen thingy (above) that Microsoft Research has developed

Woah there nelly... :wink:

I saw this prototype device in a BritishTelecom laboratory in Ipswitch, UK about three - four years ago!

Along a really cool device called SmartSpace... but I'm not sure if the NDA I'm under has expired. :oops:


I just report what I see. Thanks for the update!

Cheers,
Sam

[en passant]

:( I've been hoping that MS would actually produce this pen. Unfortunately, that MS research page hasn't changed in ages, and there's very little news out on the web about it -- a few ZDNet articles from 1998 I think? I really like the idea of this pen -- I'm much happier to use a special pen than to use a special tablet. Partly it's a question of portability, partly it's a question of the feel of writing on a tablet. It's much nicer to write on paper.

But that namiki pen -- ain't it great? I've had one for years (the retired model) and it's my favorite pen for everyday use. :)

[lsbeller]

The Seiko SmartPad (the second version of the older CrossPad) somewhat dovetails into this thread.

I responded to Jason Dunn's post a few weeks ago here:

Seiko SmartPad Post (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=403&highlight=seiko)

A key point that fits into this conversation is:

"The best thing about the [SmartPad] Pocket PC version is that it uses Transcriber to recognize your handwriting. It is limited to only key words (for searching purposes) or word strings that are directly transfered to the Outlook task lists but it is as accurate as Transcriber normally is. This is out of the box recognition with no training required unlike the old Cross solution which required significant training. "

I would think that it should simple to extend that recognition beyond a few words and even make it real time.

On the other hand, Casseopia already resells their version of the e-Pen:


E-Pen (http://www.e-pen.com/)

This is a wireless pen which uses a receiver that you clip to the top of your paper tablet to triangulate your pen strokes on the paper for real time recognition. It seems promising, but only works for the Cassiopeia right now because of its USB interface. I called their toll free number and was connected to Isreal where I talked to a technician who explained the limitations and why I could not use it with my iPaq. You can, however, download thier Pocket PC software from their website.

Steve

[Tycho Morgan]

The problem with the smart pad was that it made images, and it didn't transpose things into text as I suspect this will, and the E-pen was in reality a 3 line text scanner that had a lousy HR program.

This looks like it will be a pen that both writes (medium 14k nib please) and reads what it's writing and transfers it to electronic text...

Cheers,
Sam

[lsbeller]

The problem with the smart pad was that it made images, and it didn't transpose things into text

I use the SmartPad (for PocketPC) and it does transcribe your handwriting into text via Transcriber. However, it is limited to only key words or a string of words that will be recognized and sent to the Outlook Taskpad. I think it should be a simple thing to modify the software to accept more text to recognize as I used the first generation of this software with the old CrossPad where the software was installed on the desktop and it could accept all of your text (the "best practice" - read more reliable recognition - was to only recognize key words).

the E-pen was in reality a 3 line text scanner that had a lousy HR program

I think you are mistaking the WizCom Quick Link hand scanner with the E-Pen (http://www.e-pen.com/) that I am referring to here. You can find the same model at the Cassiopeia website and this new article posted at Brighthand.com (http://www.brighthand.com/newsite/ppc/ppcnews.html) about Seiko's new "Inklink" which sounds a lot like the E-Pen.

Anyway, the E-Pen is an ink pen with a transceiver in it that writes normal ink on a regular sheet of paper. A device connected to a computer (desktop, laptop, PDA, etc.) and clipped to the top of the paper wirelessly triangulates your pen strokes and sends them back to the host computer for recognition.

It sounds like this new pen that you posted on my actually store your pen strokes into internal memory and sync them back to your desktop when you "dip it into the inkwell." Hopefully, it will have Bluetooth or irDA to communicate with your PDA.

Steve

[Dan Urness]

Sony/Ericsson will be releasing a "Chatpen" in Sweden around the end of April. This is a bluetooth pen which transfers the data immediately to a phone or PDA. We have received a sample version but have no bluetooth phone to try it with yet, looks like a million bucks though, very impressive design.


I'd like to see pictures and specs if you can provide them :)

Cheers,
Sam


We produce a PDA/Cell phone planner that will be "Digital Pen Enabled" in early May, 2002. We will have pictures, etc. available at our website www.airtimer.com at that time, right now it is still in process. The planner paper will include a section for the special paper required by a bluetooth pen, and regular paper for digital pen's like the one in this post.

[sweetpete]

I'd like to see pictures and specs if you can provide them :)

Cheers,
Sam


http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?template=P3_1&B=ie&PID=9753&LM=PSM_V has the newsrelease and http://www.sonyericsson.com/images/CWS31AFW_6927_27_0_890.zip has the pix.

[lsbeller]

The pictures are saved as .eps files. Can you recommend a program to view them?

Steve

[dochall]

Infosync has a few articles on Anoto technology (including an agreement with MS)and the chatpen in particular. Have a look here (http://www.infosync.no/system/search/results.php?search=anoto). As usual with Infosync there are some large photos of both the SE Chatpen and the Pilot Anoto Pen.

Wired also had an reasonably indepth article here (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.04/anoto.html)

[en passant]

:D just saw this on infosync:

OTM Technologies' new Vpen incorporates handwriting recognition software from ART, which combined with Bluetooth allows users to write, recognize and transmit text on-the-fly.

http://infosync.no/news/2002/n/2071.html