Write choice, baby!

Hands up all those who still make notes with pen or pencil and paper! Old fashioned note takers  resisted digital screens and a stylus. Younger people hate touching pen to paper. Graphics tablet specialist Wacom, has created a device that neatly bridges the gap between a traditional sketch pen-n-pad and a digital stylus.

It is the Bamboo Spark, which they call a 'smart folio' in effect a folder that contains a flat board with a receiver underneath working on the principle of Electro Magnetic Resonance (EMR). They provide an A5 sized writing pad, but you can use any similarly sized sheet of paper. The pen is special, though it looks like any chunky ballpoint. It incorporates a EMR transmitter that digitizes every pen stroke you make. When you have charged the Bamboo Spark, it's good to go for about 8 hours. Once you have put down your writing or sketching, you press a button to save the page. You can save up to 100 pages on the device itself.

To edit or transmit your work, you need to use the Bamboo Spark app which syncs your work pad with your phone or PC—and stores your work in your own folder in the Wacom Cloud. You can export your work as a jpeg or PDF ( if it is drawing or text), to other tools like One note, Evernote or Dropbox. You can also convert hand writing to soft text or a word file,must I must caution that the conversion is not perfect—few character recognition softwares are.

Many artists who are uncomfortable with graphic tablets will  welcome this  alternative — letting them work with normal paper but letting them digitally manipulate their work. For lazy note takers too, it will have its uses. It costs Rs 10,975 and comes with a couple of ink refills. A reasonable asking price to unleash your creativity. Write on!