The pen as mighty as the keyboard
Business2 | at | by Mike
The Holy Grail of portable computing -- having every document you could ever need in one safe digital place -- may seem less elusive these days. In any road warrior's briefcase, you'll likely uncover a hard drive holding e-mail, presentations, a few gigs of music, even a couple of movies. But you'll probably also find a hefty amount of paper: scribbled notes on legal pads, printouts covered with highlighter marks. Is it possible to transfer this clutter to the computer? Can your handwriting be kept in hassle-free digital form?
My answer, after playing with a tablet PC, is yes. Tablet PC is the generic name for about a dozen slate-and-pen-based computers, priced in the $2,000 range, that are coming out this November, timed to and blessed by Microsoft's new note-taking utility, Journal. Most include some form of keyboard, which is like a security blanket for the user.