Handwrite e-mails with the D:Scribe pen

By Ella Morton on 02 April 2008

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video We talk to the student designer of the D:Scribe, a digital fountain pen that will convert your scribblings into text messages and e-mail.

Each year the Dyson Student Award -- a category of the Australian International Design Awards -- showcases a bunch of innovative concept products that could end up in your home one day. A competition held to promote design talent among uni students, the Award attracts entries from inventive tinkerers around Australia, who submit their creations to be judged by designers with a metric boatload of industry experience.

Finalists in the 2008 Award include such curious products as a bone conduction headset, collapsible surfboard and -- most intriguing for us -- the D:Scribe pen, which takes text you write by hand and sends it as an SMS, MMS or e-mail.

The D:Scribe is the brainchild of UNSW student Reuben Png, who created the pen with the aim of bringing the human touch back to digital communication. The elegant device is shaped like a fountain pen and has an optical sensor beneath its nib. After writing your witty message, you write the name of the person to send it to, then circle it to fire the text into the ether. Messages are sent via Bluetooth to a phone or computer.

There are a few digital pens already available out there, but the D:Scribe differs in two key ways. It does not require special paper in order to recognise text -- your average sheet of Reflex is enough to get things happening. The optical sensor is also positioned more centrally than that of the current crop.

The winners of the Australian International Design Awards will be announced on May 30.

Topics: d:scribe, dyson, reuben png, student, design, award, pen, fountain, australia, mail

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Comments (3)

  • philcokid commented on 12/04/2008 14:26 Report abuse

    I've been a fountain pen user all my life. The art of writing with such an instrument has waned but this new device might just spark interest in penmanship, something we will all need shoud we run out of electricity and the elements that generate it.

  • trentyn commented on 03/04/2008 15:55 Report abuse

    i hope its name is a reference to the D: emoticon and not an in joke about it's writing accuracy

  • canberra_photographer commented on 02/04/2008 20:19 Report abuse

    Over rated. Logitech and a few other companies have discontinued their digital pens, no market for them. This is indeed innovative, adding communications rather than just text conversion to its functions. But what does the receiver see? Hand writing is a personal way of doing things, but won't the receiver just see the same black and white characters as with any SMS? As with any technology that has to recognise hand writing, accuracy would be my fear. Send a not to your best mate written with this, it confuses the name your circle and sends it to your boss. Innovative yes, appealing, no.

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