A pen that could digitalize your doodles

JAKARTA (JP): This electronic pen called Anoto (Uh-No-toe) will be introduced in April this year and will have a price tag of less than US$100.

But it remains unclear whether enthusiasts in Jakarta will have the chance to take a close look at this new device.

Manufactured by Anoto AB, which is based in Lund, Sweden, the device will come with a tiny built-in digital camera and a CMOS (complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor that recognizes and records your scrawls, so long as you write on the specially crisscrossed paper that comes with it.

All the information on the paper can be transmitted to your cell phones, PCs or PDAs using Bluetooth wireless networking standard, according to the company (www.anoto.com).

At first glance, the Anoto -- from the Latin word annotare, which means "to scribble" -- looks and functions like an ordinary pen, but its inner components make it something else entirely.

The camera can record the user's writing at a rate of 100 snapshots per second.

Several boxes at the bottom of the special paper give users the options of what to do when they have finished writing. If the user checks the store box, the writings will be saved in the pen's memory, which is large enough to hold several pages of writing. The user may want to send the message to a friend or coworker, in which case, he or she checks the appropriate box for e-mail, fax or cell phone.

The pen stores a digital trace of what is written or drawn until it is sent out.

It also includes a rechargeable battery, good for a full day's use, and an ink cartridge with a force sensor which measures the pressure applied to the tip of the pen.

The pen can of course be used to write on any paper, but the writings cannot be transformed into wireless communication system.

The device looks, handles and writes like an honest-to- goodness ink pen, a bulky one, true, and one with a little LED indicator light on the side, but an otherwise ordinary looking writing instrument.

As Bluetooth gains ground, it is possible that the Anoto system could also be used to enter Chinese or other keyboard- unfriendly letterings into computers.

The pen is of course much more complicated than the one you have in your pocket -- but then again, other ballpoints can't transmit notes to PDAs, cell phones and e-mail programs.

No word yet, however, on whether the people who receive your handwritten missives are actually going to be able to read them.

One thing is certain; if you have an Anoto in your pocket and someone asks to borrow your pen, make sure you have a cheap ballpoint to hand over. (bsr)