We all know about e-readers, but what about e-writers? Improv Electronics will be releasing a new version of its “Boogie Board” LCD stylus-based writing device in November. A very specialized form of tablet, the Boogie Board allows users to jot notes on the screen that show up in white on a black background. Writing on the device does not require power, but erasing the screen does.
The prior, $40 version of the board had very limited usefulness given that there was no way to save what was written down, but the new version allows writers to export their work to PDF files. Its creator sees it as a “post-it note” for quick writing and erasing of things like grocery lists or refrigerator notes. The new version will cost “a bit over $100” and could be just the thing for taking notes at school or in other situations where a full-fledged computer would be overkill.
The Inkling device by Wacom does something similar for a similar price but it allows you to choose your own writing surface. However, it isn’t clear from the vague materials online whether text can be extracted from the sketches or not.
http://wacom.com/en/Products/Inkling.aspx
It looks about the same size as a tablet. Why not buy a tablet and get all the extra features (including being able to email and print your notes)? There’s handwriting-recognition software for iOS and Android. Heck, Palm were doing it at least 15 years ago.