

E-ink writing pad, Noteslate. - markkat
http://www.noteslate.com/
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...<p>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.
======
lukifer
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.

~~~
yequalsx
I couldn't believe the iPad didn't come with digital ink native to the OS. If
it did I think it would have been a killer educational device. I would have
been one of the first to buy it had it come with digital ink.

This product has me excited too. I hope it doesn't get canceled like the
Courier.

~~~
Kaizyn
Digital ink doesn't work well with Apple's capacitive touch screen. You can
buy a "stylus" for the iPad though it is really too fat/big to be worth
calling it that. It's about the size of your finger, and you have better
control just using your finger to touch the screen.

------
famousactress
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.

~~~
rst
They claim that "no antialiasing" is "one of our best features". I guess they
like the jaggies.

I could see this as being useful as an input medium to something like
Balsamiq, but that might conflict with the "we're keeping it simple. just like
paper. nothing you can't do with paper." feel they're going for. Which is an
odd pitch --- people selling electronic whiteboards usually say something
like, "you can pretend it's like your other whiteboards, but here's all this
_other_ stuff you can also do with it!"

~~~
naner
Jaggies aren't a good thing. No anti-aliasing is a good thing if you have a
high enough dpi. I don't think 100 is going to cut it, though.

~~~
mambodog
Yeah, I think for me this is a case of _I'll wait for the retina display
version._

------
kmfrk
I like how they emphasize "lack of internet" as a feature. :)

It really can be the bane of productivity.

~~~
dstein
Hi I'm selling a productivity boosting technology called "internet blackout",
it will improve your company's output by about 3-4 fold while this technology
is turned on.

~~~
lylejohnson
As seen in Egypt!

~~~
salemh
...

------
micheljansen
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 :)

~~~
vertr
If this is real, Evernote should buy them and sell it as the Evernote pad.
Would be amazing.

------
SwellJoe
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.

~~~
allwein
>I just want a very long-life note-taking tablet with a decent keyboard.

I think you would like the Alphasmart NEO. <http://www.neo-
direct.com/NEO/default.aspx>

It's got a full-sized keyboard with a built-in 6 line LCD screen. It runs on 3
AA batteries or a rechargeable pack and it honestly runs forever. I got one
originally 5 years ago when I did Nanowrimo for the first time. I use it all
the time when I'm in the mood to just _write_ , because there's no
distraction. The only real downside is the need to hook it up to USB to
transfer files off of it.

~~~
SwellJoe
That looks close to ideal. Maybe a little big, but 700 hours from 3 AA
batteries is perfect. Better than the GameBoy I use as a musical scratchpad in
the same kinds of situations.

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GBond
Server down. Google cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9HT6OkA...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9HT6OkAPSvIJ:www.noteslate.com/+noteslate.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com)

------
divtxt
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!

~~~
adbachman
The BoogieBoard is based on one of these:
<http://www.kentdisplays.com/products/lcdwritingtablets.html>

It's output only; think dragging your nail across a laptop screen. You might
be able to send signal to it, but there's no way to get information off.

I agree that this thing looks like vaporware. Too good to be true.

------
Tcepsa
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)

------
dsplittgerber
Is this a joke or is this really just a legal pad for $99? (Serious question.)

~~~
guywithabike
I don't know why you're being downvoted. It's a legitimate question. I had a
hard time figuring out whether it was a joke or not. I remain convinced that
it's either a joke or just some dumb, wishful prank.

"no superfluous features" ... but it includes an MP3 player.

"any ordinary pen or pencil usage" "real paper design"

"solar energy backside cover"

"no antialiasing (on of our best features)"

"180 hours battery life" ... So 180 hours of OCR on a 6mm thick device? Sure.
That's totally plausible.

HN's bullshit detector has been firmly switched to the "off" position.

~~~
luminarious
I doubt the OCR would be 'live'. More likely, it would be used when
transferring files back to your computer. As the device doesn't have wifi or
any files to rename, there is nothing that would take character input on the
device..

------
jarin
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 :)

------
tjpick
Perfect. This is exactly what I've been waiting for - a low power consumption
e-ink input device.

~~~
georgemcbay
Pretty much perfect, yeah.

The only drawback to it that I can see is that it doesn't really exist.

------
juiceandjuice
This would be twice as cool if it had two nobs and shake to erase.

~~~
mikecarlton
Remember, you have to hold it upside down:
<http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Etch-a-sketch>

------
DanielStraight
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.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I wonder if, since I believe the little e-ink bubbles are magnetized, you
could use a magnetic tip stylus to "override" the current state. Ostensibly
you could use the same tech that turns he bubbles to read their state. That
would give you zero lag, pixel perfect line recognition.

Anyone know if this has been tried?

~~~
Gormo
Sounds like a very advanced Magna Doodle.

------
eli
Since their server seems to be buckling: <http://noteslate.com.nyud.net/>

------
amalcon
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.

[1] <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eye-Fi>

------
mikedouglas
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.

~~~
donohoe
"it needs to look and feel like a paper drawing"

Why?

~~~
cj
What he probably meant: It needs to look and feel like a paper drawing, or
better. There's not currently anything in the "better" category.

------
jcr
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.

~~~
jorgem
The "copy" under the photos is terrible. Doesn't seem real.

~~~
eli
The server is in Czech Republic. I'm guessing English isn't their first
language.

~~~
nollidge
Why is that an excuse for bad copy? If you're marketing it to the Angloverse,
hire a fluent-English copywriter.

Besides, it's a wall of text. That's bad no matter the quality of the writing.

~~~
lallysingh
It's hard to tell if your copywriter isn't perfect if they're doing it in a
language that you don't know as well.

------
misterbwong
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.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
closest you can get to a courier is a kindle and tab in the same carry case.

~~~
gvsyn
scarily, exactly what i was thinking of after seeing the tab. run a web server
on the tab running in hotspot mode and you have document transfer.

------
hsmyers
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'...

------
joeld42
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!"

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Soapy_Illusions
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

------
brokentone
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.

------
marknutter
Is this truly better than a real notebook and pencil? I'm having a hard time
convincing myself it is...

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Can you back up a notebook page easily, send it instantly to someone the
otherside of the planet, tag it for search and lookup on a computer, perform
OCR on it in-situ, etc. ... horse for courses I say.

~~~
Someone
I agree this would be a cool thing to have, but: back up, send it out: many
people have a phone that can help there (snap a photo and email it; imperfect,
but often will do the job)

Also, I guess you need the OCR because flipping through pages is too slow to
be useful.

Another disadvantage of this is that it you can look at only one sheet at a
time. With a paper notebook, you can tear of some pages if desired.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Good points, like I said - horses for courses (the right thing where it fits
in other words).

My IT teacher at school instilled the notion that we shouldn't always take a
computer based approach but look at the best tech for the job, even if that is
pen+paper. Sometimes a spreadsheet is the best db to use, sometimes ascii is a
better image format (rarely IMO), etc..

------
newtini
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.

------
droz
Would be cool if you could have something like "crayon physics" on this.

------
ashwinl
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.

------
lunchbox
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.

------
vamsee
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.

~~~
sudont
Have you considered a wacom? You could pick up a used one for around $150 or
less, and it will allow a lot more flexiblilty in what program you wire-frame
in.

~~~
vamsee
Good idea, thanks. I realized that almost immediately after posting this :)

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leif
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.

~~~
shou4577
I've wanted one for a while. As a student, I take notes all day long.
Digitizing them by hand is a pain, but if they were immediately put into
digital format, that would be great. I could carry around years of notes on a
flash drive, conveniently organized by subject. With a little work, you can
even add keywords/subject searchability to notes.

Currently, I could take notes on a laptop, but in mathematics this is
extremely difficult (you have to be very very fast with LaTeX), and realtime
diagram entering/editing is basically impossible with a laptop.

------
Groxx
_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.

------
guynamedloren
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.

------
retroguy
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.

~~~
roshanr
I was wondering about LiveScribe as a note taking tool myself. What about it
don't you like?

~~~
retroguy
The pen is simply too big, my preference is for a smaller pen.

------
Sidnicious
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.

~~~
MattGrommes
When my friend and I saw the Boogie Board the first thing we thought of was
saving off what you write. So I'm pretty excited for this NoteSlate if it
comes out of vaporware mode with just that feature.

------
colbyolson
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.

~~~
nooneelse
Have you considered a Livescribe pen? They record audio in sync with the notes
you take.

------
tychonoff
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.

------
shawnbaden
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.

------
tungwaiyip
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.

------
himaniamoli
Looks amazing. I've seen similar devices before but nothing as beautiful as
Notelate. Definitely getting one!

------
kno
Wow this is pretty, this is the tablet I actually want to use, the price is
just the icing on the cake!

------
kgarten
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 ...

------
dschobel
_Paper for everyone!_

Silly slogan when you're trying to replace something low cost and pervasive.

------
pepijndevos
Service Temporarily Unavailable

~~~
sparshgupta
Last thing someone wants after a post which it #1 at HN. :(

------
olalonde
Server seems down. Anyone kind enough to post a link to cached pictures?

------
Vivtek
I've been waiting for this for thirty years.

------
geoffw8
Errr, thats incredible.

------
aneth
Apple seems to be on the case as well:

[http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/02/apple-
ta...](http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/02/apple-takes-huge-
steps-towards-a-graphics-pen-for-ipad.html)

------
gcb
10" is already too big...

A4 is fine for paper because you can fold it if you need.

