Disqus
I happened to be watching UK Terrestrial channel ‘Channel 5‘ the other day, and came across this neat wireless gadget, which provides a neat way to get your scribbles digitised! It’s name is the Dane-Elec Zpen, and consists of a receiver (the elipse-shaped item in the pic), and the transmitter – which is, surprisingly enough, a pen.
I was sceptical about how well it would perform, but from the test they did on TV (screenshots here), you can see it worked pretty well. Expansys (UK), my fave gadgets/devices website, emailed me to let me know they have it in stock too, so for £80 it can be yours – description from the Expansys site below:
Write with Zpen and Note Search seeks through your notes. Innovative and useful – the Zpen is a flash memory based digital pen that allows you to :-
- Write notes, drawings and tables with Zpen on any type of paper
- Download your notes, direct onto your computer (PC/Mac/Linux) in order to read them on screen
- Find keywords easily in your handwritten notes thanks to Note Search – a cutting edge software, a real search engine
Convert: in one click your handwritten notes into digital text
Zpen is also a 1GB USB key, useful for carrying files, videos, photos and music.
If you want to check videos, go to Dane-Elec’s website, here.
If you want to buy it (in the UK), go to Expansys’s website, here.
And if you want to go to the homepage of Channel 5′s Gadget Show, go here.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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nigel Jones
