New apps are reinstating the writing with pen and paper in the digital world through new Apple programs that work with smart pens to capture the written word, Reuters reported.
Equil Note - which comes with a smart pen called the Equil JOT - is an app that transfers notes in real-time from any kind of paper (using the smart pen) - cocktail napkin to notebook - straight to an iPad or iPhone.
The app can enhance the note with highlights, graphics and text.
"People use all sorts of ways of caputirng notes, from sheets of paper to very expensive journals," Greg Appelhof, president of the Americas for Equil, a South Korea-based company, told Reuters. "We wanted to create something that could capture it all, regardless of where it was written."
When something is written or sketched with the smart pen, the note simultaneously appears in the app and is "accurate to a pixel," according to Appelhof. It seems like magic, but infrared and ultrasonic waves have a lot to do with this phenomenon.
Communication between the app and the smart pen is facilitated via Bluetooth and a receiver that sits at the top of the paper. Using the waves, the receiver is able to determine the smart pen's position.
The pen is personalized and the "receiver has its own unique device ID" so users never have to worry about interference from others using a Jot in the same room, according to a press release.
Equil Note also lets users take photos and enhance them by adding written notes in the margins or circling areas with the smart pen.
The note can also be shared by email or to other apps such as Dropbox or Evernote.
Equil Sketch, is a complementary app released by the company for iOS devices whose functions are similar to those of the Equil Note, except it's for sketches.
Unlike Equil Note, Equil Sketch lets artists or designers create multi-layer sketches with the smart pen, which can be manipulated into different brush colors and styles, Reuters reported.
The art work can be shared to social networks and can be sent to photoshop to be modified. Equil is not the only company to dabble in this market.
Livescribe, a company based in California, released a smart pen last week called the Livescribe 3. The smart pen lets users capture notes as they are being written to an app, Livescribe+, it can also record audio for each note. Howeverm Livescribe 3 requires special paper sold by the company.
Equil Note and Equil Sketch are available worldwide online and in Apple stores.
