48 AUTUMN//WINTER 2017 Notes made in a Rocketbook can be scanned and uploaded to a pre-set destination such as Dropbox or Evernote. Montblanc’sAugmented Paper uses a graphics tablet placed underneath note paper to record every movement of the pen and upload it to a smartphone or tablet. Oxford notebooks can be scanned by the Scribzee smartphone app,which locks on to arrows at the corners of the page to correct distortions.The image is automatically scrubbed up for maximum contrast and sharpness for editing,sharing and storage. The IrisNotes stylus is tracked by a sensor that clips to the edge of the notepad,sending notes to a computer or device by Bluetooth. Notebooks are now appearing that help the scanning app do the best job possible by adding marks to each page that make correcting distortions easy. Hamelin has just launched a new range of Oxford notebooks specially designed for scanning by smartphone with a dedicated scanning app called Scribzee. In the new notebooks, every page includes arrows at each corner that are picked up by Scribzee and used to correct the image to the exact shape of the original. Scans can be sent directly to the free cloud storage or to Evernote. Scribzee-compatible versions of Hamelin’s iconic Black n’ Red wire-bound notebooks will be available soon. Innovative US start-up Rocketbook also uses a smartphone app to scan, which focuses on a thick black border around the page to help identify the edge whatever the background. Each page is identified by a number contained in a QR code, so scans are stored in the right order. Seven symbols at the bottom of each page can be mapped to actions such as storing the page in Google Docs or Slack, so simply marking the symbol you want before scanning will send the digitised note exactly where you want it to go. The alternative to scanning is the digital pen, which records every stroke as it is made. Some digital pens use a camera next to the nib to record barely visible patterns of dots on the paper that establish the exact position of the stroke and the time it was made, so the writing or drawing process is captured in every detail. The pen then sends the information to a computer wirelessly. The main digital pen systems are Anoto in Sweden, the technology behind the Livescribe range, and NeoLAB in Korea. Digital pens have made some progress in professional applications, mainly form-filling, and in education. Livescribe pens are popular with students, lawyers and journalists because they record sound as well, perfect for making notes at lectures and interviews. Moleskine makes a range of notebooks for use with the Livescribe 3 pen and recently launched the Tablet, a strange iPad-styled notebook for use with the NeoLAB pen. However, the need to use special paper limits their appeal for many people and they have yet to go mainstream.