We've seen countless attempts to re-invent the Post-It note, but no one's ever really managed to improve on the basic design -- which might be why MIT's "Quickies" concept doesn't even try. The electronic note system is instead based around a digital pen and special pad, which saves your notes as you jot them down on RFID-embedded Post-Its. Software on your PC then does some quick OCR and, according to the inventors, "uses its understanding of the user's intentions, content, and the context of the notes to provide the user with reminders, alerts, messages, and just-in-time information." Since the database can also store location information, sticking the note on a book or other object allows you to locate it later using the RFID tag, and you can even have notes SMS'd to their recipients. Pretty wild -- but we're more impressed someone finally found a good use for all those digital pens out there. Check a video of the system in action after the break.

Until the entirety of the corporate world finally comes around to modern utilities like Outlook reminders and Google Calendar, those little yellow Post-Its will continue to dominate desktops across the land. Apparently Sony Europe has chosen to facilitate this environmentally irresponsible practice, by adding a special panel for the increasingly-obsolete sticky notes below the screens on their new E series LCD monitors. The panel also boasts a "handy groove which is ideal for holding pens" so you'll never miss a message in case, you know, you forget you're sitting right in front of a computer. Both the 17-inch and 19-inch models max out at 1280 x 1024 resolution and sport an average response time of 8 milliseconds, so we'll be interested to see how many extra Euros a run-of-the-mill monitor costs when it has a piece of plastic slapped on the front that may or may not disable screen angle and height adjustability.

[Via Gadgetizer]