Doodling, with a digital twist

We may be fully ensconced in the Digital Age, but when it comes to note-taking in meetings, nothing beats an old-fashioned pen and paper.

The good news is there are gadgets that take those doodles (er, copious notes) and capture them digitally for later editing on a PC. One such product is the DigiMemo A402, which looks and feels a lot like a standard clipboard, only with a distinctly early 21st century touch.

Using electromagnetic technology, the product, which came to our attention via Tech Digest, lets you place ordinary A4-size paper on the pad and use the digital inking pen to write directly on those sheets. The device instantly records notes, sketches and flowcharts in the pad's flash memory for later transfer to a computer via USB. It comes with DigiMemo Manager software for viewing, editing and organizing digital pages in Windows.

The maker says that with continuous use of the digital pad, four AAA alkaline batteries can last about 80 hours. That's time for a whole lot of to-do lists--and stick figures.

Selwyn Electronics currently carries the DigiMemo A402 for about $200.

(Photo: Tech Digest)