Gadgets: Do the Write Thing

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but these days it’s facing some stiff competition from the personal computer. That’s why Logitech created the IO Personal Digital Pen ($199), a new, cyborganic writing implement that bridges the otherwise mutually exclusive worlds of screen and paper. Here’s how it works: the IO writes like an ordinary ballpoint pen, but it contains a computer chip that records and remembers every scribble. When you’re through writing, the IO downloads your jottings to your PC, where you can either save them as pictures or use handwriting-recognition software to convert them to text in an ordinary Microsoft Word document.

Naturally, there’s a catch or two. Handwriting recognition has never been an exact science, and if you, like many of us, still have second-grade handwriting, expect frequent mistakes. Also note that the IO remembers what you write only when you use the special paper it comes with; with regular paper, it’s just a plain old pen–and a fat one at that; the IO is so thick, it’s like writing with a banana. But it works, and although it’s not perfect, the IO is a ray of hope for analog authors stuck in an increasingly digital world. –By Lev Grossman