PC Notes Taker

There must have been occasions when you wanted the PC equivalent of the back of an envelope so that you could draw a small map or diagram for someone so that they could quickly and easily find what you were describing. Somehow Corel Draw was just too complicated to use, so was Paint Shop Pro, and you ended up with a long-winded written description - a case of a picture definitely being worth a thousand words.

Well, put such situations behind you, because I have just got my hands on a really useful device from Pegasus Technologies (www.pegatech.com) called the PC Note Taker. The device is simply a wireless pen and a wired paper holder (oh alright, there's a bit more technology to it than that!).

What you can do is set it up to use A4-sized paper or 9cm by 9cm "memo" size. Using the pen, you can then draw or write notes - simple. The colour of the ink on the computer can be changed as can the nib size. This allows quite intricate colour drawings. The device plugs in to the USB port (or serial port) and sits there waiting for you to start to write, when it automatically bursts into life. The notes can be saved and sent to other computers - over a network or by e-mail. You can also write yourself a note and drag it onto the desktop. It then sits there like an electronic Post-It note. Better still, you can write yourself a message and have it appear at a predetermined time - a message alarm clock. You won't forget to put dinner in the oven!

Having saved your note/picture/diagram, you can then add to it. Double click on your note from the Notes Manager view and you go into Edit Note mode. This allows you to add text, draw shapes and lines, and even highlight parts of the note.

Also available is Pen2text. This uses the Microsoft handwriting recognition engine that comes with Office XP or Office 2003. It can convert your handwritten notes to text in a Word document.

Probably the nearest equivalent is Wacom's Graphire range - although they are aimed more at artists than note takers.

All in all, a handy little product.

Product: PC Notes Taker
Supplier: Pegasus Technologies
URL: www.pegatech.com

If you need a product reviewed, contact Trevor Eddolls at iTech-Ed.
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