Slashdot Mirror
Anoto-based Pens From Logitech
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.
Just lend this pen to people anytime they need to sign something.
Viola, you've captured their signature and can forge it whenever needed...
1. Lend pen to important people
2. Blackmail and defraud
3. Profit!
In the Portland, Ore area and like card games? Check out: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portlandgames/
"The IO pen only works when used on location at one of Jupiter's moons"
What about the amount of power this would require? If my guess is correct, it would seem that they are using a USB connection to avoid excessive power consumption during download transmission of data.
come on fhqwhgads
Is 3 times as expensive as something as cheap as paper really that much of a problem for a new technology like this? Compared to most, this isn't so bad.
track7.org has all kinds of interesting stuff!
"How cool would this be with support for a wireless protocol?"
A TPEN), pretty darn cool.
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
Logitech has made some really cool stuff lately -- their speakers are an absolute steal and are better at half the price than anything put out by Creative or Klipsch.
.PEN format, however -- and even exported to JPGs, the files are probably too big to be used on PDAs, in emails, and other things.
.NET framework to run -- so much for Linux!
.NET upon you!
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
You know, I can't even read my own handwriting on regular paper, what good is it going to do if i can download my my own chickenscratch?
Thats why I went to typeing in the first place.
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
- 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.
At the risk of sounding unsupportive of new technology, the description of this thing makes it sound a bit kludgy. It appears to basically be an optical-mouse element tracking a regular ballpoint pen.
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...
How does it handle erasing? Can you digitally white-out your mistakes before it is uploaded? It's a neat idea, but I don't see many people using it. The only thing worse than a paper trail is a digital trail.
Oh dear...
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 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).
No kidding. If you need special paper, then how is this really much different than writing on a graphics tablet?
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...
In the Portland, Ore area and like card games? Check out: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portlandgames/
then I went to the website and learned that unless you use windows its a paperweight. not even a heavy paperweight.
.Net in order to use the thing my desire to have one went out the window.
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 have tested the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Pen paired with their T68i GSM phone. I was evaluating it for a possible global industrial applicaiton.
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.
The subject says it all. Optical mice can track movement on almost ANY surface. Why should this pen be any diffrent? Needing special paper completely ruins this product.
Why is it so hot? Where am I going? What am I doing in this handbasket?
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.
Truth: If it's not one thing, it's another
I would much rather have the old trackpad pen recording system... I can use any paper I desire, and just use the magnetic pen over the thin backplane that my paper is on... easier, better and costs less than the overprices $200 + another $200 a month in special paper.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The first true breakthrough in pen technology in 200 years
Er, the ball-point pen invented in 1938 wasn't a "true" breakthrough?
Yeah, I've always thought that ball-point pens were overrated. Fountain pens forever, baby!
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Apparently the pen recognizes absolute position on the paper by recognizing x-y coordinate information encoded in the dot pattern.
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?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
We had a somewhat similar piece of hardware for whiteboards, though it didn't require special boards. A suction-cup-equipped sensor stuck on the board and special sleeves fit around the pens. Because we had several sleeves (for several colors) we could get pretty accurate results saved to a nearby, wired desktop. I liked the idea that all the new equipment was non-consumable and we could use our original boards and markers.
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.
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.
Super ninja monkeys will one day rule the world!
From the FAQ: .NET framework? .NET framework is necessary for some of the functions of the Logitech io Software.
Why do I have to install the
The
Oh isn't that special...
My
Limekiller
If you need special paper, then how is this really much different than writing on a graphics tablet?
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.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
"But worst of all, the software that decodes it REQUIRES the .NET framework to run -- so much for Linux!"
.NET framework?
This
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
This is essentially a glorified 2D barcode reader. The camera captures enough information in the little dots to know where it is with good precision in the 60 thousand killometer 2 dimensional barcode.
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
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.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I can certainly imagine ways of doing that that DON'T require digital paper.
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.
This is not a troll; I'm serious in doubt as to why this product is useful.
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 hoarding pencils? Since the Prevention Of Subversion Act (2009) was passed, all pens have been required to have proper government wireless logging. Owning a pencil is illegal. Report hoarders to the police! Your house may be inspected for contraband at any time - if we catch you with illegal untapped writing materials, the penalty is incarceration as an enemy combatant in Traitor City X-ray. Remember citizen, information is the poison by which treason subverts patriotism. Eternal war for eternal peace! Heil Bush!