Intellipen, the new digital writing technology

Before we get into our computer to type in our notes, there's a laborious handwritten notes and sketches that must be done first. Let's face it, writing on pen and paper is a major drag if you'll need digital copies. But typing into a computer has its limitations too, like when you need to make drawings, diagrams, and non-linear notes on the fly. Chances are you'd need a tablet—which isn't portable.

Fortunately, this awkward rivalry between writing and typing has found an awesome middle ground.  A new writing technology has arrived! Meet the IntelliPen, a device that allows you to make digital copies of your notes and drawings as you write/draw them down on paper. But how is that possible?

You clip the receiver on the top edge of your paper, switch it on, and start writing. The pen does double-duty, writing like a regular ballpoint, while sending real-time coordinates to the receiver, which interprets them as a digital image and stores it in the built-in flash drive. If you run out of space, just clip the receiver onto a fresh piece of paper, and anything you write will be recorded in a new digital “page." The 1GB flash drive can store up to 1,000 letter-size pages’ worth of notes.

When you’re done, just plug the receiver into a USB port and upload the digital pages, which you can save as bitmap files. But it doesn’t stop there—using a program called MyScript Notes, you can automatically convert the handwriting to digital text. What amazes me also is that the Chinese  or Japanese characters that you handwrite can be recognized and "translate" into digital text characters (without your penmanship). IntelliPen can read and recognize other languages as well. I saw it and it's unbelievable!

The IntelliPen beats out laptops and even netbooks in the portability department. And it might just be the device for students, who constantly have to take down lots of notes and sketches, and for teachers who do presentations for his/her lessons in class.

The Intellipen press launch was held at Cafe 1771, El Pueblo in Ortigas, Pasig City on May 27, 2010.