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New Thinkpad To Combine Pen/Paper
Fervent writes: "You want handwriting recognition, but you want to have a real machine, not a PDA? You want as compact a machine as possible, maybe as small as a screen and some notebook paper? Check out the article on IBM's new Thinkpad which will be debuting Friday at the CES. The article is at ZDNet -- keyboard and mouse are optional."
Lets just hope we dont have to learn another whole new letter and charictor layout like the palm has. That is the most annoying part of pen computing in my opinion.
Really? The Newton 130 and 2x00 are pen computing devices. And they don't require a whole new character/letter layout. (the pre 2.x versions of Newton Intelligence, well, sucked.)
Perhaps with newer and faster palms, these faster palms will be able to have useable handwriting interface without having to re-train the user.
The pocket PC line has the processor cycles, but many do not find the software compelling.
If it was said on slashdot, it MUST be true!
Did I get it all? Ok, I'll just be getting to work, now...:) Seriously, is there anything in there that seems to be mutually exclusive? The keyboard is often a big one, because it's so hard to make a good portable one that doesn't take up much space and is yet still useful for people that type quickly. Other than that, I'd think that something like foldable smart paper would do it. Combined with some sort of docking station that had the keyboard? That was flexible enough to fold and put into a pocket, but when extended was stiff enough (like a clipboard) that you could hold it and write on it? Would the wireless connection need to be in the device itself, or could it be in the docking station, ala a Palm sync?
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IBM will also offer TransNote models for both right-handed and left-handed writers.
DYSLEXICS, UNTIE!
This is really the best for someone who needs a laptop's functionality and power but also needs to be able to take notes without the limitations of a cropped-down QWERTY keyboard (ie. college students, especially in math and comsci classes) I'd like to see good flowchart and composite software. What would be really sweet would be a program that tried to translate into ASCII as you went along, but kept undecipherable letters in their original bitmapped form along with apparent mispellings or misstrokes (kind of how Adobe Acrobat does OCR - it translates what it can, and simply includes what it can't.) and also allow for drawings, diagrams, etc.
This would be perfect for me (PDAs, particularly palmtops, have size and flexibility limitations for doing serious work) to use, if only it were cheaper. I'd buy it for $2000, but as always, laptops must be overpriced. I'd also like a (much) bigger screen, but that's asking for a little much.
A recent Ask Slashdot about Electronic Class Notebook discussed a paperless pen computer. The Crosspad was also mentioned there several times.
Of course this is not what the rest of the consuming world wants. IBM, back in the 80's did a poll and found that people said they wanted less, so they released the PC Jr. Which, of course, nobody wanted.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
This is dumb. I am left handed, and the rest of my family is right handed. How are we supposed to get along with this?
I already sacrifice enough with the mouse, the keyboard, the stick shift, the remote control, the roads, eating at restaraunts, doors, pr0n sites. This is right handed person's world, and I am sick of it.
LEFT HANDERS UNITE!
Buy from the Left-torium!
They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to...protect me from the enemy, myself
There's nothing fundamental about the landscape orientation of a screen. With the proper drivers, the screen could be used either in portrait or in landscape mode. In any event, writing on the pad would just put the input into a document. If the document didn't fit ont he screen, it would be scrollable.
wouldn't writing on the pad mash the keys against the table?
My impression is that there is no keyboard on the unit, just a place to plug in an external keyboard.
I think that there's a real niche market for this kind of thing. I attend meetings and would love to have my huge financial spreadsheets available without printing out 60 pages of output.
But 5 pounds and 2.5 hours battery life dosn't seem all that useful. I have some meetings that go on longer than that.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
1. All people really want is a slim tablet-shaped box with rounded corners, that has a touch sensitive TFT-style LCD screen on top, and a stylus that doesn't have a wire attached to it.
2. The screen needs to be about twelve inches diagonal or better, and the box needs to be as slim as possible.
3. Software just has to be capable of collecting written and drawn pages, and storing and retriving lots of them.
4. Operation in note-taking mode must be silent.
5. The box should have a keyboard, ethernet, and video output port.
6. When attached to a keyboard, the critter should act like a full-blown pentium-class pc.
Everything else is optional. This gets you the ability to take notes without paper, and without scaring the rest of the people in the meeting. It gets you the ability to read and use the computer while curled up on the couch, or sitting in the airport waiting for the flight. When you need a keyboard, you can either get a fold-up one or simply borrow one, and prop up the screen so it looks like a workstation. At home or office you simply have stock keyboard and bigger monitor.
*whup* "Get along, little electrons. Heeyah!"
They are going to have separate left handed and right handed models. So if I buy a lefty one for myself, my wife won't be able to borrow it. That's really freaking handy.
Not that I care - I learned how to type when I was fairly young (even though boys didn't normally take typing in my school) because my handwriting is atrocious. The last thing I need is for a computer to start nagging me about that.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
No kidding. It looks like this is just another waste of time along to trail to laptop sized uber-PDAs with touch sensitive screens and robust OSs. If we're going to be pointer happy, let's just point at the screen. It is not intuitive to roll a mouse around on the table or to draw on a separate pad of paper.
I do not have a signature
This is probably appropriate for a very large market - for example I often take notes whilst interviewing people - it's rude to type during a meeting (perhaps that's a culture thing, but then you should be sensitive to it), so I write quick notes and type up minutes afterwards. This would be very very useful in my case, and many others I can think of.
On the other hand, it's not necessary, just useful - the current way works too. And if this thing gets overtaken by something else within 9 months, it's going to miss my company's refresh cycle on PCs, and it will pass us by. Also, it suffers from the fact that it's newness classifies it as a gadget in the minds of those who have budgets, and so maybe it won't sell quite so well as a consequence.
I don't think I'll get one, either personally or through my work, but I like the fact that IBM push the ideas envelope and make things like this - not bad for a monolithic blue-chip.
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This seems like a great idea, usable as a computer in those situations where a full computer just doesn't "feel" right. When I'm taking notes, jotting down a poem, etc, I usually hate to type, rather, I like to scrawl my scribblings on a pad of paper. Don't ask me why, it just feels better to get those emotions down on ground up trees. However, since one can't send a sheet of paper to someone across the country nearly as fast as you can send an email, so I end up having to type it out anyways. This seems like it'll get rid of most of the redundancy of having to put down an idea twice just to get people to be able to read it.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Thank you for reminding me. I just started to wonder about getting a notebook.
Caution: Now approaching the (technological) singularity.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Well although this may not be the end all of ideas, it is good to see that someone is thinking about new means of inputs.
Personally I'd like a handwriting recognition pad for my computer at home and at work. So that I could use the stylis(sp) as a pointer as well as a partial replacement for the keyboard.
You know I am not talking about replacing the keyboard and mouse, but I am talking about making more available and less expensive alternate means of computer input.
It will be funny if in 10 years we have a full generation of repetitive stress syndrome people cause they are all forced to use computers with primitive keyboards & mouse from first grade through college. Then we will be forced to come up with new ideas.
I don't want a lot, I just want it all!
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Only 'flamers' flame!
It sounds like you want something like a touchscreen Clio, where the screen can flip around to hide the keyboard.
Seiko has a device out that sounds pretty neat. It's a binder with a digitizer pad built into it so when you write on the paper notepad it sends the text to your Palm via infrared while you write it. I didn't look into it enough to see if it actually did anything like OCR. I think it just keeps a bitmap image of your notes but still... beats writing in the chicken-scratch Graffiti when all you want to do is draw out a map or diagram and take notes in a meeting.
Looks somewhat similar to the Cross Crosspad, with the laptop/pad interface integrated into one unit. As a person who can't have a 30 second conversation without drawing a sketch, I thought the Crosspad was pretty neat, but it died in the market. Wonder if IBM can do better? I believe they did some of the Crosspad's software to begin with.
sPh
The only thing i use pen and paper for still is for calculations; having a recognition program for that to mathml/latex/mathematica would be really useful..
Imagine writing down your integral and have it calculated by mathematica...
oh well.
You got your laptop in my notepad!
You got your notepad in my laptop!
Seriously, how useful is this? Pen entry is good on a small device where adding a keyboard would be impossible. But the device is the size of a laptop already (bigger, because they added a notepad). What does the pen entry add, really? It sure ain't speed or accuracy.
The only possible consumer is people who can't type. And even they can only get data into the device. What am I going to do to perform a search or print a report? Write all the specs with pen on paper to get it into the laptop? Why not just hire an assistant that knows how to work a laptop and write notes to him/her--it's the same effect, plus you can have sex on business trips.
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Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot
(Hey Ryan! Here's your proof!)
This really isn't intended for the technophile, it is a transition vehicle that enables three different technologies: keyboard, pad and touchscreen, ultimately weaning luddites from their fear of PCs/PDAs. Perhaps this is the logical transition point between laptop and PDA (subnotebooks are a failure IMHO).
The pad is the key component because you can always drop back and scribble if your windows crashes, giving a sense of security. Plus, it's in a nifty package, so you don't have to fumble a laptop AND a pad of paper.
Plust the flexibility of using just the touch screen is what I've been longing for. I used PenWindows and a backlit Wacom pad back in 93 and fell in love with it, then it died a horrible costly death. Hopefully it will be reborn soon by devices like this.
For me, there isn't a program fast enough yet that I can use to go from mind to screen. Even visio isn't fast enough... Sometimes I even drop into notepad or paint, but they still can't compete with pen/paper for rapid thought.
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There is a fundamental mismatch between the portrait-orientation of the pad of paper and the landscape-orientation of the screen.
The article left me with several questions:
- Do you have to write with special characters, or will it recognize my native printing?
- Does the pad fold all the way around for when you're not using the computer?
- If so, wouldn't writing on the pad mash the keys against the table?
Why can't they just collide a whole bunch of little hadrons?
I've been waiting for something like this. Nice work, IBM!
To me, using ANY alphabet to WRITE seems stupid for text input. I can type at more than twice my writing speed, and I enjoy it more. The only things I want paper for are drawing diagrams for something. This is easliy done with a $80 Wacom drawing tablet that attached to the USB port.
The main advantage of a system like this is because of the stigma people place on keyboard inside meeting, etc. Writing on a pad is not as much of a distraction for those attending. I say screw the distraction and use my Visor with a Stowaway keyboard for syncing when I get back to my Thinkpad.
I am curious how it will do in the marketplace, it seems slightly better than a toy to me.
When writing notes in math/physics classes at the University, writing by hand is _much_ faster than using a keyboard, because writing formulas is next to impossible to do quickly on a laptop.
I would welcome this, as it would make it possible to create a more professional report afterwards, without typing things twice.
Oh wait, that's because when I type I'm writing perl....