D:Scribe digital fountain pen

[garyc]

"D:Scribe is a digital fountain pen that allows users to send SMS and email messages from paper. Just write out the message and circle the person’s name to send. This does away with a keypad and allows you to focus on communicating in a more personal way from anywhere as long as you have a bluetooth enabled phone and a surface to write on."

 

For more details see the Yanko Design page here

 

I'm sure the combination of a fountain pen with digital technology is complete anathema to many, but it looks like an interesting design (from the Rotring Skynn school). However it looks to be just a design concept, not an actual product.

[Davinor]

Ooooh! I like it. Shame it's only concept stuff. It would be the best of both worlds. There are times when you simply cannot get away from the need of a text message, and it's more fun to simply write them out and let the machinery do the rest. All those notes that you would normally have to type out, the potential for additional software so that you could write on boards like this instead of typing. Handwriting would have to be better (or computers smarter). Loads of uses

 

David

[Splicer]

Someday technology will catch up to the 1994 Apple Newton and we can start sending handwritten notes digitally from the beach.

[Shimon]

Nice!

Not as ugly as I expected.

[WillAdams]

Well Splicer, one can do that sort of thing w/ a Tablet PC now --- I did write up notes and send e-mail while I was in Hawai'i using my Fujitsu Point 510, though I had to go to the conference room to connect to the network to send.

 

That said, I've decided my latest Fujitsu Stylistic will be my last and I'm going to be purchasing an Axiotron ModBook before too much longer.

 

William

 

 

[jonro]

It's a step in the right direction, but it needs to do more. I don't do enough SMS to make it worthwhile, but if it could capture an entire page of notes and store that in my cell phone, I would be ready to buy one today. The design is decent and the designer obviously uses fountain pens, but it doesn't look like it's going to replace anyone's daily writers.

[garyc]

Like I said, this is more of a design concept than an actual product. I would hazard a guess that handwriting reco technology has not really moved on since the Apple Newton. I suspect a pen like this would suffer from being only able to sense the movement of (the back of) the pen and would not 'see' exactly what was written, which would make the reco job even more difficult.

 

I can also remember sending SMS using a Palm Pilot hooked via InfraRed to a Nokia 7110 - about 7 or 8 years ago. The reco software on the Palm required you to enter character shapes into a boxed area, rather than free-form writing like the Newton.

 

Just been reading the Wiki page for the Apple Newton and what I didn't know was that the V2 of the Newton reco additionally used hand printed (not cursive) reco which was much better. This technology (aka Rosetta) also made it into Mac OS X for tablet based handwriting reco support. I see that the Axiotron ModBook just mentioned uses this very technology (now called 'Inkwell)'.

Edited February 13, 2008 by garyc

[WillAdams]

Actually garyc, handwriting recognition has gotten a bit better since the Newton for the most part.

 

Microsoft's Tablet PC uses an improved version of Paragraph's ``Calligrapher'' HWR, and there are alternative vendors w/ good engines such as Evernote's RitePen.

 

Unfortunately Apple doesn't seem to've changed their print recognizer from the Newton (which is now Inkwell in Mac OS X) beyond removing the ``Rosetta, Rosetta, Rosetta'' Easter Egg.

 

William

 

 

[SquelchB]

This looks really good. I just wonder - does it actually put ink to paper?

[Paddler]

I don't think it's gonna work, at least for me. I have to see what I am writing. The visual feedback is essential. I have a pad and pencil on my nightstand. Whenever I try to write a note in the dark and then try to read it next morning, it is very nearly illegible. Maybe just seeing the pen move on the paper is enough . . . but then, how would we know?

 

Paddler

 

 

[SquelchB]

I don't think it's gonna work, at least for me. I have to see what I am writing. The visual feedback is essential. I have a pad and pencil on my nightstand. Whenever I try to write a note in the dark and then try to read it next morning, it is very nearly illegible. Maybe just seeing the pen move on the paper is enough . . . but then, how would we know?

 

Paddler

If you look at the picture, there is a faint line of the written text on the paper.. Perhaps it works somehow (which is why I asked the question above).

[Splicer]

Actually garyc, handwriting recognition has gotten a bit better since the Newton for the most part.

 

Microsoft's Tablet PC uses an improved version of Paragraph's ``Calligrapher'' HWR, and there are alternative vendors w/ good engines such as Evernote's RitePen.

 

Unfortunately Apple doesn't seem to've changed their print recognizer from the Newton (which is now Inkwell in Mac OS X) beyond removing the ``Rosetta, Rosetta, Rosetta'' Easter Egg.

 

It may be of some interest that Calligrapher, though certainly improved over the years (The PC version I got in 2003 was better than the "Palm-Sized PC" version I had in 1998 which was in turn better than the original Newton's HWR and I assume that it's gotten better yet since then), is based on the original Newton's handwriting engine, before it switched to Rosetta.

 

Sadly none of these systems, even Inkwell, integrates into daily use as seamlessly as the Newton's HWR did.

 

I haven't seen a perfect HWR system, but most people don't know how good HWR really is. Even the original Newton HWR, which seems universally mocked, was darn good. Everyone remembers the Doonesbury cartoon about the Newton except the people who actually tried using the Newton.

[Splicer]

Well Splicer, one can do that sort of thing w/ a Tablet PC now --- I did write up notes and send e-mail while I was in Hawai'i using my Fujitsu Point 510, though I had to go to the conference room to connect to the network to send.

 

That said, I've decided my latest Fujitsu Stylistic will be my last and I'm going to be purchasing an Axiotron ModBook before too much longer.

 

Yeah, I'd already have a ModBook if I hadn't been hit by a car back in September. The money I saved for it seemed better spent elsewhere =^)

 

I was being halfway tongue-in-cheek with my comment about technology catching up with the Newton. Certainly some of the capabilities are there, but nobody, not even Apple, seems to care about working toward a perfectly seamless intuitive user interface. Of course, if Steve Jobs would get over the personal slight of being ousted from Apple over two decades ago, we might have some better stylus-based user interface advancements. The Newton was Sculley's baby so no Apple product will ever use a stylus again.

 

I won't in any seriousness deny that there have been huge leaps forward in handheld and pen-based computing since the Newton, but those leaps forward have come attached to a few steps back.

[excarnate]

Actually garyc, handwriting recognition has gotten a bit better since the Newton for the most part.

...

 

Sadly none of these systems, even Inkwell, integrates into daily use as seamlessly as the Newton's HWR did.

 

I haven't seen a perfect HWR system, but most people don't know how good HWR really is. Even the original Newton HWR, which seems universally mocked, was darn good. Everyone remembers the Doonesbury cartoon about the Newton except the people who actually tried using the Newton.

No, not everyone. I supported the Newton at Apple and I own one, and I found them to be a brilliant idea poorly executed. It doesn't work very well and believe me, I really used the Apple-supplied one a lot, and before I left I got the latest model (and a 4MB PC card ooo), and it just isn't good enough for any purpose except maybe for fixed documents (e.g. drug interactions). Palm understood what was important (small, reliable (enough), decent basic apps) and did a much better job executing (in all ways). Apple's hardware design also had its problems, but other than being way too big was much better than the software.

 

I recently decided to GTD and picked up a Palm Z22 and eventually ran into what I find out is a known problem and a 90 day warranty. So I decided to switch to paper and decided if I was going to do that I was going to indulge myself and get a fountain pen.

 

Little did I realize that "a" fountain pen is only possible if you get a bad one and give up on the idea. You people are enablers! but only in the best meaning of the word ;-) Now my holy grail is a Safari (Carbon) with a smooth nib and in a true EF width but it looks like I'll have to pony up more than double the price of the pen to get that.

 

Am I off-topic?

 

On topic, I despair when I see how good some people are at Photoshop, I wish I could do that nice a job. The designer needs to add some roundness to the nib portion. I don't see from a technology standpoint how this could work. A ballpoint, maybe. I don't know how that shape would fit in the hand, the bulge would tend to force the pen to a more extreme angle (bad for fountain pens generally, right?) and wouldn't seem 'right' to those who are used to fountain pens (right?). It looks like the bulge would force the pen to twist sideways in the hand. I like the idea of writing rather than texting, I doubt it would be able to interpret but a PDF of what was written would be useful. Hmm....

[garyc]

Microsoft's Tablet PC uses an improved version of Paragraph's ``Calligrapher'' HWR, and there are alternative vendors w/ good engines such as Evernote's RitePen.

I just looked up RitePen and I see they have a free trial for regular Windows, plus 10 bucks off until 17th Feb. I'll give it a go to see if it works with an old USB tablet I have at home.

[WillAdams]

The original Newton was as good as the technology then allowed. I used mine extensively (had a couple of shirts specially tailored to have a pocket large enough to hold it), taking notes in class, keeping my class schedule on it, even writing the outlines and rough drafts for a couple of papers. Until recently I was still using it as my contacts manager / address book, and still read e-books on it until I switched over to a Fujitsu Stylistic (which is too large to fit in any shirt pocket).

 

I've decided I'll have to get an Axiotron ModBook as my next machine though.

 

William

 

 

[two2tone]

I would prefer this technology convergence to be done on the "paper side", rather than the "pen side". Let's say a "paper" could be created that would allow fountain pen script writing to be transcribed into text either by some technology embedded in the paper or a scanner/OCR technology after the fact. That would allow one to use what ever pen and/or ink combination suits his/her fancy. I'd much prefer this direction rather than proprietary pens that most of us would not buy (or keep the battery charged).

 

Your thoughts?

 

Twotone

[WillAdams]

two2tone, one can scan stuff now, the problem is that all stroke direction / pressure / velocity information is lost, information which handwriting recognition software uses to make recognition more accurate (and in some instances possible).

 

That said there are a couple of devices following after the CrossPad, but they still all require a special pen --- I suppose it'd be possible to embed the electronics from a Wacom digitizer pen into a fountain pen though, then one would just need to put a sheet of paper over the graphics tablet. Kind of a small market though.

 

William

 

 

[Reuben]

Hi all, thanks for your interest in the D:Scribe. I basically fell in love with fountain pens while doing my research, so the pen became a fountain pen soon after.

 

I am serious about bringing the pen to production, and hopefully will find the backing to do so. Current digital pens use really cheap ballpoint refills, and have quite a few problems.

 

Just to answer some questions or comments I read:

 

The nib is rotatable, thus the bulkier side of the pen can be positioned to the user's preference.

 

The pen writes exactly like a normal cartridge-refill fountain pen, with ink on paper so you can see what you write. It basically stores everything you write, around 80 A4 pages worth of writing at a time.

 

The images have not been photoshopped, they were created through a 3D rendering program. I must apologise if the nib doesn't look up to scratch, I'm still learning about fountain pens.

 

Here's photo of a model I made

 

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?qui...drc&thumb=4

 

Regards,

Reuben Png

[Reuben]

Hi all, thanks for your interest in the D:Scribe. I basically fell in love with fountain pens while doing my research, so the pen became a fountain pen soon after.

 

I am serious about bringing the pen to production, and hopefully will find the backing to do so. Current digital pens use really cheap ballpoint refills, and have quite a few problems.

 

Just to answer some questions or comments I read:

 

The nib is rotatable, thus the bulkier side of the pen can be positioned to the user's preference.

 

The pen writes exactly like a normal cartridge-refill fountain pen, with ink on paper so you can see what you write. It basically stores everything you write, around 80 A4 pages worth of writing at a time.

 

The images have not been photoshopped, they were created through a 3D rendering program. I must apologise if the nib doesn't look up to scratch, I'm still learning about fountain pens.

 

Here's photo of a model I made

 

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?qui...drc&thumb=4

 

Regards,

Reuben Png