Paper, pen and pencil
I grew up in the 90s. I am lucky enough to have the chance to look up information in libraries thumbing through index cards…
Paper, pen and pencil are the essential tool (still today) when I think through the architecture of an app, database schema, interactions, etc. It’s simply impossible for me to focus and think without notebook or, at least, an A4 paper.
In this cloud computing era with tools like dropbox, evernote, box.net… it is still hard for people like me to translate tactile manual script into digital format. Well, there are scanners, digital cameras, iPhones and iPads which can bridge some gaps. When it comes to engineering sketches, I guess scanner or DC is still the best tool to preserve the detail. But scanning pages in flatbed scanner or taking out a quality DSLR to picture every single hand sketches in my notepad is like asking me to fold the stack of clothes pied on the sofa – not mission impossible but you wanna avoid it as much as possible.
I heard about a new product in Briefly Awesome podcast called Noteslate.
It’s a e-ink-like display with 1-bit color. It uses Wifi for internet connectivity. The cool thing about it is… it’s just a blank canvas. Sketch your stuff on it and it will be recorded. They are saying there’s OCR recognition.
The product is still in development. Not sure how well it functions. I’d like to give a try when it’s out. I want something that can bridge my hand sketches and my Mac.
The site says the retail price will be $99. If you are interested in it as well, you can sign up for their newsletter.
