Word: penning
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...works. Printed on the digital paper are microscopic dots within a near-invisible grid of 2 mm by 2 mm squares. Each square is unique, and in the realm of mathematical possibility there are enough such squares to cover the surface of the United States - four times. The digital pen, or Chatpen, as Anoto has christened it, contains a tiny infrared camera that recognizes the patterns and essentially photographs, 100 times a second, the pen's interaction with the paper. In this way, it "reads" what's been written. The pen then processes and transmits this information, via a mobile...
...this one weighs no more than your average Mont Blanc and is about as long. But it's twice as thick: the infrared camera, which peeks out from under the nib of a basic ballpoint, seems to take up a lot of room. Most folks would find this pen too fat for comfortable writing. Wiebe assures me this is only a prototype, and the final product will be practically indistinguishable from an ordinary pen...
...theory I should be able to write on the paper, scribble an e-mail address (say, mine) on the designated panel and then check the send box. Then, in a blink of an eye, my written note would be sent by the pen to my mobile phone, my phone would send it to the Anoto server, the server would recognize which set of dots the note came from - but not the contents of the note itself - and pass it on to the server of the manufacturer of the paper I've written on. The manufacturer's server would execute...
...beginning, writing is difficult. Maybe it's just me; my handwriting was the bane of my schoolteachers and has gotten progressively more illegible ever since. The thickness of the chrome-colored Chatpen doesn't help. Worse, my normal writing grip - I use my middle finger to hold up the pen - obstructs the camera. As I try out a new grip, my first scribbles are ugly scratches. Wiebe encourages me to write large, looping letters. This helps considerably. Soon, I can write comfortably at normal speed...
...Hong Kong at my beloved keyboard, which keeps me legible and - as a direct consequence - legitimately employed. I'm pretty certain most people will continue to type, rather than write, all their important documents. But I must confess to being seduced by Anoto's basic premise: old-fashioned pen and paper can be reinvented to fit the digital age. When the Chatpen comes onto the market, I won't be the first in line to buy one. But I doubt I will be able to resist for too long...