We truly live in a digital world, and many kids are learning to use a computer or smartphone before they learn to write. Still, for the generation that grew up without computers and still like pen and paper, there is another option with the Moleskine Smart Writing Set.
If you are not familiar with the Moleskine, the company's website says that it is "the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin". In fact, it was Chatwin who brought these little black notebooks back in style in the 1980s, and then, in 1997, a Milanese publisher bought the notebook back with the Moleskine brand.
There is no doubt that Moleskin notebooks have had some drawings, writings, and general brainstorming on paper that helped change the world. It is important to realize that even though we still live in a digital age full of many ways to communicate, pen and paper is still one of the best ways to get our ideas down, especially for those who were not raised on computers and smart devices.
After all, the whole point of brainstorming is to create something that you haven't thought of before, but using a drawing program on the computer can actually be quite limiting. After all, if you want to do a drawing, using a mouse or a touchpad can be more time-consuming than just a few strokes of a pen.
Moleskine has realized this limitation of electronics with the Moleksine Smart Writing Set, which comes in three parts, according to Engadget. The first is the Moleskin Pen+, and it is a smartpen with a built-in camera and tech from Neolab to capture anything that you write. The second is the Paper Tablet, which is a traditional Moleskine notebook with its trademark look of a black cover and elastic band. Third, there is an application that allows the user to store his or her scribblings on their iPad or iPhone, with an Android version on the way.
In case you haven't figured this out yet, this product is for those who have lots of ideas, and love to jot them down instead of doing it on a program. This way, you can scribble away and save your brainstormings as a PDF or other image file. The Moleskine pad has a tiny envelope in the top right corner of each page which allows the user to send notes and sketches via email. Files can also be saved to Google Drive and Evernote.
The Geek Church compares Moleskine's Smart Writing Set with a similar product with the Wacom Bamboo Spark, which essentially allows the same thing, but doesn't come with the Moleskine book. That Bamboo Spark costs $159.95, and the Moleskine Smart Writing Set costs $199 for the pen and notebook, with extra Paper Tablets costing $30 each.
