Ladies and Gentlemen of Distinction will be enthralled to learn that a most singular and exquisite device has arrived in the antipodes from the intellects of France. Never before has such a thing been sighted in the colonies – it has astounded the Crowned Heads of Europe for centuries and driven strong men to drink and women to swoons of fainting at the very thought of it. And now for a paltry sum such a thing can be yours!
Ask yourself if the paperless office has come about except in the dreary imagination of our forebears. A furphy, a nonsense! Paper has been the heart of officiousness since the Egyptians. One has it on paper or not at all. Yet we live in an age of cybernetic marvel, where the twitting of twitspace is paramount. Would that we could have our paper and yet twit! And lo it is that very thing that I speak of!
What would you say then to a pen that writes on paper – and yet writes on the computer as well? You would say – oh this would be a fine thing! But do not believe such can be! But I am here to tell you that such a thing exists!
Today I was entertained by the marketing persons of the Oxford paper company – from their name you can immediately tell they hail from France. I was one of a merry band of selected bloggers fed a breakfast of petite croissants and strong coffee, invited to see for myself the advantage of The PaperShow kit over uncouth tablets:
Can you photocopy or print onto a tablet? I think not.
Nor can you pin it to a wall once inscribed.
Can you fold a tablet into an aeroplane? Do not pester me with such idiocy.
One takes the PaperShow pen and writes or sketches on the paper as has been done since time immemorial – one’s strokes are sent as if by magic (but actually by bluetooth) to a nearby computer and shown to all and sundry. The paper then remains in your possession as a trustworthy record of the proceedings.
True, there are whiteboards of some similar powers, but in a comparison I found it much easier to hold the paper on my lap than the board, especially with coffee being poured. No, this is paper; you have written upon it, rolled and smoked it, devastated large tracts of forest to get it. Accept no substitute.
This blog is proud to have been bribed into this heartfelt outpouring of acclaim. This blog was delighted to be photographed pulling stupid faces while operating the PaperShow kit for use in any future advertising material. This blog is proud to have a free PaperShow device and matching coffee mug sitting right here, on this blog’s desk and will accept gifts and bribes from any company that would also like a stream of meaningless piffle written on the Internet (would like a netbook next, ta.)
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OK? Here’s the shit. Looks like Hamelin (who trade as Oxford) also have a product called Easybook which is a notebook with the same camera pen. Write stuff in the book, transfer it to your computer. Has some kind of storage and OCR going on, which I’d like to see in this kit too. Probably for technophobes forced to digitise their scribbles: old architects and film makers. Not enough of them buying?
Looks like Oxford have adapted the pen to work as a kind of personal electronic whiteboard (failed to take off? or expanded?). Their payoff would be in the paper – it’s specially marked with some kind of pattern that feeds the pen, and so you have to buy it from them. Until someone in China figures it out.
Works just like a Wacom except it leaves an awful feeling about wasting paper – it’s no worse than just paper but the potential to avoid felling trees is always in the back of your mind. Actually paper feels better than a tablet, you can walk around scribbling on the paper pad as far as the bluetooth signal goes.
I could use this to lecture about drawing storyboards, once they get a mac version. Meanwhile I’ll use the mug. As for why bloggers got given this thing … well it’s the in thing innit? Bloggers for cash?