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A Practical LCD Writing Tablet

Posted by kdawson on from the write-on dept.

An anonymous reader passes along a word about an innovative LCD writing tablet. The Boogie Board costs $30, can be written on with a stylus or a fingernail, and uses no power in the act of writing. Only erasing consumes power — from a watch battery, which lasts for 50,000 erases. The total cost per "page" comes out to only 1/15th that of steno paper. The writing surface is pressure-sensitive and "highly responsive to variable amounts of pressure," so you can make thick and thin lines.

11 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. demo please? by v1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd like to see a youtube of a boogie board in use.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:demo please? by Tjp($)pjT · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sounds like a wax coated cardboard sheet with a plastic overlay. A kids toy. I want to see a demo too. I can just imagine a waxed cardboard toy pad with a motor driven lifter for the erase ... LOL

      --
      - Tjp

      I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!

    2. Re:demo please? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I can just imagine a waxed cardboard toy pad with a motor driven lifter for the erase .

      Why not just shake it?

      It's close to being price-competitive with the old classic too. Once the immediate geek fuss fades, I'd say that's where its niche will be found.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  2. Automatic erasing etch-a-sketch by EdZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's no way to save whatever you've drawn onto the tablet, so it's the LCD equivalent of carrying around a small blackboard and an infinite supply of chalk. Or a whiteboard with an infinite supply of ink (of only one colour). At only $30, it's reasonably priced enough that it can cater to the niche of "I want to jot down a small note that I can hardcopy later for posterity, but I don't ever want to need to worry about my pen running out of ink, as long as I remember to change the battery occasionally".

    1. Re:Automatic erasing etch-a-sketch by EdZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...And while that would be enough for me to buy one (it would save reams of paper of irritating matrix algebra), their shipping cost to the UK is almost twice the cost of the device itself!

  3. Why oh why can I not save the screen? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The thing would be awesome if I could save the screen. As it is I don't really see why I would choose it over paper since I can't save paper either, but at least paper I could store for later and write on more paper.

    But it IS pretty cool.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Why oh why can I not save the screen? by oGMo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I would easily pay $100 if I could save things to a memory card and recall pages from thumbnails. Double that or more if it did some basic diagram aid (draw a rough rectangle, have it neatened). I've been searching for the ideal "electronic graph paper" and I have yet to find anything. It doesn't need to play movies or browse the web or send email... ok, it could have basic wifi and be able to email diagrams... but still. A few functions for drawing and writing and diagramming, some storage and searching, and that's all it needs.

      That said this looks like this product probably can't even address pixels. It's probably lucky to just get enough current to the whole panel so that it clears. I doubt that requires even half the electronics of a 4-function calculator, but then I'm not an EE.

      --

      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  4. you used the word practical why? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cuz c'mon, what can you use this for? This is an easier to use version of the Etch-a-Sketch, nothing more. Good for kids to play with, but that's about it. I guess it beats paper and crayons, though, in that you now have an excuse not to have to put up their latest 'masterpiece' on the fridge for years. It's easier to just not have kids, though. Much more PRACTICAL that way.

    1. Re:you used the word practical why? by uptownguy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I read the summary thinking, Cool, this is a new form factor, I wonder what putting a million smart monkeys together and thinking about it might come up with... That's why I read Slashdot. I mean, anybody can just DISMISS something. It isn't that there is anything wrong with people summarily rejecting it and saying things like This is _______, nothing more ... it's just that I suspect there is a place for something like this. I'd be curious what that would look like. JUST an etch a sketch? ONLY kids?

      Even if the form factor isn't perfect out of the gate, there will be some people who recognize this is close to what they need for an outstanding problem. Perhaps a problem they may not even know that they face until the solution comes along. (I often think the Nokia 800 fanbase is like that. I read Slashdot daily and so of course I KNOW that there are people out there who swear by that device. It's the wrong form factor for me but then the introduction of it -- and the wider recognition in the market of the demand for portable browsing devices -- ultimately led to a $300 netbook that I adore...)

      When something sort of new comes along, I like to pay attention and think about what the children might be like.

      No offense to the original poster.

      --


      I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
  5. I got one that uses no batteries by xzvf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Etch A Sketch

  6. Re:Looks Great! by Gerzel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No way to upload to a computer, no computer assistance, and $30?

    I can give you a device that does the same for a tenth of the amount and the added convienence that it can easilly be digitized using common computer technology.

    I call it a pencil and paper pad.