Hanwha's Duo for Laptop lets you doodle on your standard 15.4-inch laptop
By Darren Murph 
posted March 18th 2009 9:11PM
posted March 18th 2009 9:11PM
[Via Engadget Japanese]
posted March 18th 2009 9:11PM
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Clever. Nice to see people still creating stuff like this. Not sure it's needed, but kudos for the innovating.
still waiting for mind-controlled drawing.
That will be the day that artistic talent becomes obsolete. Any idiot can buy a headset and recreate the Mona Lisa- is that what you want?
Zack, is it because you want to think up porno drawings? Does Miri know about this...
poematik - Wouldn't it be good to allow people to express themselves without the need for years of training? There must be millions of people who can compose beautiful music or images in their head, but right now they're the only ones who can hear/see them. The fact that someone can't handle a pen well doesn't mean they can't visualise beautiful things; conversely, you could be great at drawing but have a complete lack of imagination.
Well said Dan. There's a definite disconnect between whatever artistic thing I'm imagaining in my head and the mess of scribbles that comes out of my hand. And @poematik14 - I don't think artistic creativity is going to vanish because people can more effectively copy others' work.
Now thats breakthrough technology
Not really groundbreaking, I've seen devices like this many years ago, there is a reason they don't take off and that is ease of use. I have a tablet pc that rotates to a normal laptop and in that mode the pen is just too awkward to use at that angle for long, outside of presentation annotation and some other vertical market uses I don't see it being too useful. For inking and drawing a real tablet pc or digitizer is really a must.
if you click the read link you can see that you can take that tracker device, which is pretty small, and the attach it to a normal paper. the paper would then become like a normal tablet that you plug into your laptop. that's pretty cool.
Awesome! Reminds me of that wii-mote mod.
why is it that company's develop tech that has next to no practicule use?
on your keyboard are the letters A & U next to each other?
maybe he just didnt know how to spell o.O
anyways, this product does have a use. it can turn any 15.4 incher into a tablet, and any piece of paper or surface into something that emulates a tablet pad attachment... saying that it has no use is like saying any tablet made to date is of no use... :/
anyways, i think this is just the first step, if the technology becomes cheaper to implement than current tablet technology, then tablet notebooks might adapt this method instead.
The company website says that it supports screen sizes UP TO 15.4. Not 15.4 only.
the commenter biomass works!
lets see how long till engadget update.
Engadget themselves say "this seems to only work with lappies possessing up to a 15.4-inch display". Does it not mean for all displays smaller than and including 15.4" ? looks like a nice buy for 100 bucks to me. Engadget pls get one of these and test them out.
The article has since been corrected to say "up to". They still left the last sentence implying that it won't work with netbooks and ultraportables, though.
I like this. But it depends on how close I have to get the stylus/pen to my screen...
And what is the resolution?
Still its nice to have an option. Alleluia Japan!
its not a resolution issue, it is interpolating your stylus position on the screen and acting as a mouse plugged into your computer.
you wouldnt ask what the resolution of a mouse is, would you?
It's a 1:1 tracking input method, so yes the resolution of accuracy is significant, can you draw nice lines with it like with a pencil or only fingerpaint with it, can you hit small icons precisely or not? A mouse is using relative positioning and thus not the same.
'Hanwha' is not a Japanese Company. It's a South Korean Company.
http://www.hanwha.com
The developer of this is 'PENANDFREE Co.' of South Korea,
http://www.penandfree.co.kr/
And the importer and publisher in Japan is 'Hanwha Japan' the brunch of Hanwha.
The news from Japanese news site, but the letters of screen shots are Korean.
Now the question is if this can be used on a standard monitor, and will there be a version that will just recognize touch without the pen.
Wow, lol, I was working on the same thing for a project at school, except I ended up not having enough money to get all the stuff I needed. should have patented it. lol.
i think a lot of us have worked on similar technologies for our computer engineering classes. i mean half the course is based on infrared detection and what not, even if it originally meant for robotics. but yeah, you never know what smart idea can turn into something amazing. at least you weren't the next patent troll (engadget commenters hate those)
Would work great with good whiteboard software, like our http://www.dabbleboard.com . Whiteboards really are the killer-app for touchscreens.
Not bad that dabbleboard, reminds me a bit of sketchup in its simplification of input by using some clever ideas.
Pity it's also cleverly using a subscription model if you want any kind of privacy though, I'd like to see such input tricks in a standalone open-source application.
Still there are businesses that would not mind, and people that don't mind the free version's limitations I'm sure.
Our school has whiteboards (just white...boards, but u cant write on them) that are connected to a projector and a computer. With the pen provided its like a mouse, with the comp screen projected onto the board. They're called Promethean Boards
My question is... do you need to have a screen size less than 15.4", or can this be used on a 17" display so long as the window is at approx 15"?
For $100.00, you cant go wrong.
if i read correctly up to 15.4 so their comment about netbooks doesnt make sense as they would be supported, aka anything 15.4" and smaller
Unfortunately, this means you still have to draw on a vertical plane, as the screen is open perpendicular to the keyboard on the x-axis. The nice thing about tablets is that you can draw on a horizontal plane, naturally, like a clipboard or on a pad of paper. That's the whole point of their creation, for a natural interface.
This adds functionality (and a cool trick at that), but it doesn't fix the HCI problems inherent in a vertical display. Thus, I doubt it would sell well--people who want to doodle on their computers will buy a tablet, be it a graphics tablet like a Wacom, or a tablet PC.
what? no, thats not right. check this link
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_details.php?id=17783
Kind of cool, but has anyone ever tried drawing on a tablet while it's in laptop form? It really is not the slightest bit comfortable or conducive to accurate drawing. It would probably be a better idea to use a cheap Wacom tablet.
Mac drivers, and I'm sold..
THIS IS HUGE!! WOW!
I live in romania! And own a 15.4'' hp 6720s! i really wonder when i can buy something like this!
Wy does everyone assume that this has to be ON the screen? "Oh, it's not good, because you have to write at a vertical angle! That's stupid!" Who's to say that you cant just lay it down flat with a piece of white plastic? Come on, people. Think a little.
And... OOP! LOOK AT THAT! There's even a picture of it in the read link that shows it being used exactly the way I suggested! Dear God, I wish people hit that little link more often.
and i wish you hit that reply button more often... :/
Clicking buttons can be tricky stuff though, before you know it you have a google toolbar or itunes on your system :o
i would worry too much about the whole pushing pen against my lcd part.
when was the last time you broke a screen by giving it a poke? most screens can take the pressure of your fingernail without any damage, so i dont know why a plastic stylus would damage it
i know i know, but i'm so protective over my notebook.
plus wouldn't a continuous drag do harm?
For that price I would buy. I think with some more development it looks perfect. The newer thinner monitors (like the M1330), have very weak screens so I would definitely have to use it on a desk (that fear of poking the screen :( ).
Beats paying for a wacom tablet with an LCD.
this would work really great for on wall mounted display, and then a white piece of plastic with the pen and sensor attached, for working on the computer. kinda like that future technologies thing Microsoft was showing, except a lot cheaper in theory. it has a lot of other innovative uses as well...
but what i really want to know is if laptop manufacturers would start implementing this technology into their machines, and how much it would really catch on. this could go big, or it could bust... depending on how well the company that invented this is with their business.
its called a SmartBoard, check it out here.
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Boards/
This works for any laptop, is in English, and costs half as much
http://www.zyonshop.com/product/ipen.htm
check this out
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/
This guy made something like this a while back. "Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wiimote". Except he used a wii remote as an IR receiver.
This looks like they just took Johnny Chung Lee's Wiimote mods:
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/
Oops, I had written this out a while ago, so I didn't notice it had already been said before I posted.