Duo brings pen-based computing to almost any display
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted August 25th 2009 4:11PM
posted August 25th 2009 4:11PM
An intermediate step between Livescribe and a touchscreen, the Duo by KCI Communications lets you use a stylus on your standard desktop or laptop display. It works (on devices up to 17-inches) by using a base station to track the XY coordinates of the pen as it makes its way around the screen. If that weren't enough, the pen also features functionality similar to Livescribe -- you can keep notes on traditional paper and transfer them to your PC later. Currently, this bad boy is only available for WIndows machines, but Mac drivers are in the works. Now, we haven't had the opportunity to play with one of these things, but maybe you'll want to take the plunge? If so, hit the read link -- shipping now for $119.95. But not before you check out the commercial after the break -- it's a classic.
[Via CNET]
[Via CNET]
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Is that video for real? lol.
Greatest laugh all day.
I know it's not nice to laugh at people who haven't quite grasped a new language...but with a device so revolutionary, they'll be raking in so much cash that they won't care.
"Duo expresses your sensibility and detail with sound and light."
"With Duo you can easily experience a fun an easy digital world"
"In the digital nomad era, you can use the internet and high-tech digital devices to communicate with anyone in the global village."
"A single pen is going to change the digital world; the electronic pen: Duo."
I especially like how the part with Bill Gates (the King of Computers) where he is quoted as saying 'we will write directly on the monitor without a keyboard', you can hear typing.
This ain't revolutionary at all. IOGear and others have had this thing for years, only they were meant to be used on paper. But there's nothing preventing you from clipping it onto your screen.
Heck that Johnny Lee guy even made his own DIY version using Wiimote magics.
That's the Matrix circa 1991.
I guess this is what promo videos look like in the digital ER-AH.
Reminds me of a commercial for a game show.
"Who will turn their imagination of the future into a reality?"
Find out next week on Whowantstobuyapen!
That pen placement can't be good, it actually looks like it is puncturing the screen.
Love animatrix music ^^
LOL WOW!!!!!!
product looks kinda cool, but I feel like I just watched a Tim and Eric episode.
Ha ha are we sure it's not a Tim and Eric commercial?
Duo from Cinco Products! LMAO
Careful, looks can be deceiving. I bought a Tablo Siso (pretty much identical to this) a few months ago on a whim after seeing a post about it here, and I didn't think it was that great. It didn't work well on my Sony Vaio Z (13" screen), and the software refused to calibrate properly, probably because of the Z's speed/stamina switch tech.
In fact, it's nearly brand new, and for sale if anyone's interested.
Yah. No way am I going to let someone stab my monitor with a pen. LCDs are already damaged by excess pressure, I see nothing good coming out of this. Except maybe sturdier LCDs.
I'm not seeing any reason you couldn't just clip that thing onto a sheet of perspex and use it as a tablet, tbh. Or hell, clip it on your desk, it should work fine.
You're not supposed to use a dagger you know?
Have you ever noticed how the tip of the stylii for handheld devices are made?
Alternatively you could borrow some of your mama rubber toys , I havenever heard of LCD monitors being damaged by those.
At first I thought the same as Maztec about damaging the screen; it still irks me when people point at lcd monitors and physically press on the display, momentarily causing a rainbow ripple around their fat finger.
You could add a sheet of plexiglass, but that's not exactly ideal. It also shouldn't damage a display with a glass screen.
My problem with these add-on solutions is that they don't seem to have any pressure sensitivity. So for any kind of 2D graphics, these aren't very useful.
That video would make for a great drinking game. Every time the guy says "Duo" you drink. You'd be wasted after that.
Niiiiice !
Anyway, the concept is pretty good, and hell, well served by a brilliant commercial.
I loved the "Bill Gates, KING of the computers"
You'd drink 19 times, including text references.
I should know. I just ended up drinking two beers.
Classic.
Thats one of the corniest "commercials" i've seen lately.
well with that bs price ill just go get a wacom. and i wonder if u can just put it on ur desk and not have to screw up your screen. just imagine ur writing something on the screen and someone bumps u bam right thru.
i am oh so very lost in that.
"The electronic pen, DUO! Communicate with anyone in the GLOBAL VILLAGE with the ELECTRONIC PEN DUO!!!!!!!!" LOL that is rich.
lol.
Junk. Wacom FTW
Expensive. Genius FTW.
(FWIW, these types of products have been around FOREVER.)
LOL at the pic
Finder in Windows Vista. What has the world come to?!
Not even a small comment about the posted picture????
Come on... HAHAHA!
A taskbar, a dock with a Windows logo and IE, and Finder on the desktop.
Looks like that craptastick HP bar they're adding on their machines nowadays. It's slow and painful to use. Try Rocketdock instead.
that commercial would've been better with Billy Mays
Yeah, to bad he's dead. I loved his commercials, and that show he had on the discovery channel.
Awesome product, not-so-awesome infomercial.
The bad part would be the constant reorienting after you get bumped.
It's the digital nomad 'errar'!
wait, we're living in the 'digital nomad era'? is that what they'll call it when they dig up our fossils thousands of years from now? hey, at least now we know...
Good idea, except for the fact that i don't really want to rub a what looked to be a fairly sharp pen all over my shiney new macbook pro's screen.
Heise tested this (or a very similar looking product) a year or two ago. It does appear to work in principle, but the low resolution makes it unusable beyond specialized applications. It's basically a novelty item.
I don't think it is pressure sensing!!!!! FAIL ZORZ!
I would say "massive FAIL" based on the first 20 minutes of this commercial ... but I'll prolly buy it.
ahahahaha that vid was so lame. I thought I was watching a really cheap infomercial you see at 2am on some low budget regional TV network. Video aside; the device itself seems like it might actually be kinda neat. Don't know if i'll ever get one though.
FAIL if its not pressure sensitive.
Great idea - but I'd prefer to use multi-touch / fingers - or some kind of glove.
I wonder if I place this on the glass table in front of of my HTPC will I be able to use the class table as the control for the UI
Light pen, is that you?
From the wikipedia:
"The light pen became moderately popular during the early 1980s. It was notable for its use in the Fairlight CMI, and the BBC Micro. Even some consumer products were given light pens, in particular Thomson's TO7 and TO7/70 computers."
and
"Because the user was required to hold his or her arm in front of the screen for long periods of time, the light pen fell out of use as a general purpose input device."
Take note that it is the reason behind a touchscreen computer/notebook is kinda useless for most people.
The way I see it the problem lies in the fact that the screen was usually vertical and also set a distance from the user. Do people usually write like this? No. Like a sheet of paper the screen should be at a shallower angle and positioned so that the upper arm does not have to extend much if at all.
No mention of pressure sensitivity, will not work on my Toshiba or a number of Sony's, love the fine print ...... ehhhh oh well.
So bombastic. It's as if Billy Mays himself rose from beyond the grave to pimp this product.
This just looks like the Siso Tablo System... The method of how it works is the exact same.... Not really news here....
Here's the review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1djiXyiCMPk
i think i may have forgotten how to write with a pen..... :(
the main function of my pens is re-enacting the lightsaber fight between darth maul and obiwan..... :(