E-ink writing pad, Noteslate.
Although it's obvious, I didn't immediately consider that these sketches could be saved. Once I did, my interest in something like this grew several-fold. I love to doodle and jot notes, I miss it. Now, I can do it again...
BTW, I don't know anything about the company. Maybe it's vaporware? I just happened across this on Kottke.org. I'd love to know more.
I would love to have something like this for sketching out UI/design ideas. Digital tools are typically too bulky, and awkward for collaboration; pencil and paper lack the ability to save and re-edit easily. And at $99, it's cheap enough that I'm willing to gamble on it. Consider me sold once it's available for sale.
Awesome concept. I was thinking about this yesterday actually (while looking for the pads of paper I like, which are virtually impossible to find!).. I really think for these products to be successful, there needs to be an obsessive level of thought and craft put into how it feels. For one thing, in some of the screenshots you can see a shakiness in the lines... I've found any of the electronic writing surfaces I've used too sensitive, and without enough tactile feedback. There's a certain friction to pressing a pen into paper that makes for confident lines. I'd like to see this sort of product done really, really well... I'd certainly love to abandon my obsession for pen & paper.
I like how they emphasize "lack of internet" as a feature. :)
It really can be the bane of productivity.
I am pretty sure this is a hoax (too many jokes in the copy below the image), but I think an "e-ink thin client" seriously is not a bad idea. Think livescribe, but bidirectional (not just the writing on the pad is saved, but it can also be viewed). Link it to a web service a la Evernote and go :)
The last thing I need is another place to write by hand. Handwriting is an incredibly inefficient way to transmit information from brain to computer, especially for me (I'm dysgraphic).
I just want a very long-life note-taking tablet with a decent keyboard. There's a reason the old Tandy 100 is still in use by a handful of journalists. Nothing has really taken the place of it, as far as I know.
The Kindle keyboard isn't comfortable enough to write a book or an article on; phone keyboards are too small and editing too much of a chore (I'd use vim on my Nexus One if it weren't such a damned hassle to hit Esc and some of the other special keys). I currently use a netbook for this purpose, but the battery life is too short at only a couple of hours. I can't go to the park and knock out a chapter in two hours, and rebooting to change batteries every two hours would be a productivity killer, even if I wanted to spend a bunch of money on spares and go to the trouble to keep them charged.
I guess I'm just not the niche for this device, as I can't imagine ever using it for anything.
Server down. Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9HT6OkA...
Am I the only one who thinks this is an obvious fake?!!!
180 hrs battery, usb, SD, wifi, mp3 player - all for $99! Hardware guys please let us know if this is even feasible and what the BOM would be!
I'm guessing us doodlers & sketchers will have to wait a few more years.
EDIT: just saw the Boogie Board post and clearly I'm wrong about the feasibility of a basic slate. Someone please make one: just needs sketch and USB for charging and export. All day battery and raw bitmap is enough to start!
This looks very promising, and I hope that they're able to pull it off (especially at that price point--it has enough potential that I might be willing to buy it sight-unseen for $99... heck, I'm considering putting in a pre-order already!)
Reasons that I want one: * E-INK * Optionally in color! (I like the blackboard aesthetic, to say nothing of green-on-black) * Lightweight * Long battery life * Ability to read text files (on the dev roadmap, at least) * Open-source firmware (in case the ability to read text files doesn't manifest itself quickly enough for my tastes, and for general hackability) * Central place that I can keep all my notes and easily take them with me pretty much anywhere
Additional things that I probably need in order to have it be more than a fun toy: * Responsiveness (as others have mentioned, too much lag between pen motion and stroke appearance is probably a deal-breaker, though if it only happens occasionally it's okay; my current tablet has the same problem and it's still usable for me) * Better navigation (it seems pretty shoddy; I don't want to have to flip through a hundred pages to find a particular note... and once I do, how do I get back to the front page?) * Hierarchical ability to group pages together (so I can keep my shopping lists in one place, my notes for classes in a different place--sets of pages grouped together by specific lecture, which are then grouped together by class--and my todo list in another place...)
Additional things that I want but don't need: * Ability to use external keyboard to write to text files (this would be awesome, but I can also appreciate that it might go against their ethos) * PDF and text file annotation * Infinite paper with scroll and zoom (I'm less certain of this, though; seems like it would be great for mindmapping and stuff like that, but it also seems like it could be easy to lose things off in the middle of nowhere) * Ability to rearrange text (rectangle/lasso select and then drag/cut/paste) * Tactile sense of drawing on paper (This would be awesome, but my tablet works pretty well for me without it)
Is this a joke or is this really just a legal pad for $99? (Serious question.)
At first I thought "Oh, that's a pretty cool way to sketch wireframes." Then I thought "Holy crap, if I take this to client meetings I can easily raise my rates by $20/hour."
Kind of like how it was bringing an aluminum Powerbook to a client meeting before Macs got popular again :)
Perfect. This is exactly what I've been waiting for - a low power consumption e-ink input device.
This would be twice as cool if it had two nobs and shake to erase.
I could see myself buying this on one condition: absolutely zero lag. If I move the stylus and then watch it fill in after me, I'm not buying. Otherwise (especially with the possibility of solar power), I might buy.
Since their server seems to be buckling: http://noteslate.com.nyud.net/
Very nice. Take one of these, stick an Eye-Fi[1] in it, set up a few background jobs that interact with my calendar, and not only can I take an unlimited amount of notes (with a pen!), but they can be automatically categorized by date and context with no special action on my part. Throw up an Apache instance, and I can access them from anywhere.
I don't exactly wish I were taking classes just so I could do that, but if I were, oh man would this be useful. At that price, it's probably worth picking up as-is when it comes out.
Isn't the poor refresh rate one of the disadvantages of e-ink displays? And isn't the long battery life a function of use (ie. e-ink displays only use significant power when refreshing)? Writing on displays also has texture and resolution issues that can't be ignored: it needs to look and feel like a paper drawing.
Lots of hard questions, but if they pulled it off, I'll be first in line.
Great submission markkat and don't worry about it too much. Whether or not this specific company is real, I'm not sure, but I am certain the tech to do a product like this exists.
If this existed, I'd buy it on the spot even though I'm far from an early adopter when it comes to electronics.
Too bad it doesn't-the lack of a next page button and actual product pictures (among other things) signals this.
Oh well, back to dreaming about the MS Courier Concept.
If it would display a background of my choice, grid or typical notebook lines then it would very quickly replace several of my 'must have' travel items--- where travel is a variation of 'don't leave home without it'...
This looks great, I hope it's real someday.
one thing was funny: "No superfluous features" then a paragraph later "it's an MP3 player!"
This seems absolutely perfect for note taking during lectures Right now I either:
Use a pad of paper and lose all my notes over time or Use my laptop and cringe every time the professor uses a symbol I can't easily type
This seems perfect
This seems really interesting, and the price is right. Some uses close to my heart could be website wireframing, photography lighting diagrams, drawing out complex math in lectures that isn't easy to type. However, I personally don't have enough art skill to make these work on paper, so this probably isn't for me.
Is this truly better than a real notebook and pencil? I'm having a hard time convincing myself it is...
This looks like it is either a hoax or wishful thinking from someone looking for feedback on a product concept.
1) At $99, the profit margins will be near zero or negative. Remember that Kindle and Nook are both subsidized by the sale of content and this is for 7 inches devices, so it would be hard to make money from an 13 inches e-ink screen with resistive touch at $99.
2) e-ink has a very slow refresh rate, so it won't be able to keep up with someone writing on it.
3) "wi-fi module on request with order", do they have multiple models? One with and one without wi-fi both at the same price, definitely a hoax.
Would be cool if you could have something like "crayon physics" on this.
Expandable memory via SD + PDF viewer + hierarchical folder structure + E-ink in a form/fit as shown would be perfect for my academic needs of reading through journal papers.
E-Ink has a very slow screen refresh rate, so I'm skeptical this can deliver a snappy writing experience. I have found writing on a laggy screen to be quite unpleasant.
I think this has a LOT of potential. As a web developer, it would help me make quick wireframes and share it immediately with my client. This is priceless.
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Apart from "cool", is there a tangible advantage to this over a pad of paper? I don't see one. It looks to me like a future expensive thing I forgot on the bus. I'd also for sure lose the pen and end up using it to support real paper to write on.
Now, if you could do things like zoom, copy/paste, and connect (wifi) with a computer/projector, I could see buying one.
Only black & white? How much more would it cost to get one in, say, 4 levels instead of 2? A couple greys go an extremely long way to making handwriting readable.
4 color model + solar back = note-taker's dream, though. Very interested to see this thing come out. And please please please leave it programmable in some way / shape / form.
Can we call this "the last notebook you'll ever need"?
Just brilliant. This is one of those things you kick yourself for not thinking of. Ridiculously simple, yet infinitely useful. I wish the price was just a bit lower, because for the same price (maybe slightly more) you can have a low-end Android tablet with similar functionality and more bang for your buck.
I've been looking for something to replace pen and paper for quite sometime and have never quite taken to any of the available solutions (Livescribe, Tablet PC) but this looks spot on.
I'd have liked to have seen a video though, too early to tell whether it will actually make it to market, as advertised, as polished looking and as low priced.
Fingers crossed.
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The Boogie Board (http://www.myboogieboard.com/) is worth a look for anyone interested in this sort of thing.
It's technologically MUCH simpler than this concept — you can't save what you draw — but the response time is instant and it's a real thing, today.
I like the concept, but one feature that would make this rock is audio recording.
When I'm in class, writing away on notes, I have a hard time listen and writing at the same time. Let me scribble away while the pad records in tandem. That would be neat.
The NoteSlate is trying to define the product itself, archetype, electronic paper. We are trying to define this archetype for general public, bit against their today`s usual network expectations.
Huh?
Memo to vendor: edit your copy before releasing it.
A beautiful and dedicated note-taking device.
Microsoft should buy NoteSlate and rename the device the Microsoft OneNote. Have it sync with Microsoft Office OneNote and Office Web Apps.
Kindle DX - 24cm diagonal $379
Noteslate - 33cm diagonal $99
I will buy one just for reading PDF. But like a few other commenters, I seriously doubt this is a real product though.
Looks amazing. I've seen similar devices before but nothing as beautiful as Notelate. Definitely getting one!
Wow this is pretty, this is the tablet I actually want to use, the price is just the icing on the cake!
posted this one two weeks ago, nobody cared ... :) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2130647
looks like a neat idea. still I wait to get one to play with. pdf support seems to be interesting ...
Paper for everyone!
Silly slogan when you're trying to replace something low cost and pervasive.
Service Temporarily Unavailable
Server seems down. Anyone kind enough to post a link to cached pictures?
I've been waiting for this for thirty years.
Errr, thats incredible.
Apple seems to be on the case as well:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/02/apple-ta...
Although it's obvious, I didn't immediately consider that these sketches could be saved. Once I did, my interest in something like this grew several-fold. I love to doodle and jot notes, I miss it. Now, I can do it again...
BTW, I don't know anything about the company. Maybe it's vaporware? I just happened across this on Kottke.org. I'd love to know more.
10" is already too big...
A4 is fine for paper because you can fold it if you need.
you can't judge by some pictures how great it works. Does anyone have a hands-on video?