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Pen Phone

minimal phone
  (+10, -1)(+10, -1)
(+10, -1)
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Pen Phone? - Yep - an ordinary pen that doubles up as a mobile phone.

It only has two buttons and a tiny screen.

All numbers must entered in binary form.

Talk into the nib; stick the other end in your ear.

It can probably send send written notes as live text messages, but you would have to listen to the replies as the screen is too small to display.

xenzag, Mar 06 2012

Patents: Dial-a-pen http://www.newscien...tents-dialapen.html
[xaviergisz, Mar 06 2012]

Raster pen
Use this to display messages. [xaviergisz, Mar 07 2012]

[link]






       [+] for the self-referential handwriting-text thing.
FlyingToaster, Mar 06 2012
  

       I was working on this, slowly. [+]   

       In the process, I discovered that there are some "smart pens" out there, that have computer-input capabilities.   

       I was going to put strain gauges around the point so numbers and letters could be entered by writing, whether on paper or in the air. I thought up a dedicated cellphone data-link to the home computer, so the handwriting-recognition processing is done there (not in the pen), and calls are relayed to the outside world by the computer on another line. The written notes and the drawings/sketches are stored on the computer, and the pen carries nothing but a cellphone that can only call home.   

       I was going to make the home computer read texts aloud, then decided to make a screen big enough for a single line of text and scroll sideways (using the pen's point as a rocker switch).   

       What is your screen for, if it can't show texts?
baconbrain, Mar 07 2012
  

       I always lose my pens, but not my phones. This could be very good, or very bad.
blissmiss, Mar 07 2012
  

       Rather than compute the number in binary, it would be easier to tap the button N times to represent the number N (then the other button to enter it)
phundug, Mar 07 2012
  

       //[+] for the self-referential handwriting-text thing.//   

       If the pen could remember its movements, texting would be fun! You'd jot down a note, your friend's pen would vibrate, and then he'd hold his pen lightly near the paper and it would write out the same message.
phundug, Mar 07 2012
  

       Perhaps using some sort of internet-enabled Ouija board.
mouseposture, Mar 07 2012
  

       skillfully placed electrodes in the pen turns your hand into a vector plotter.
FlyingToaster, Mar 07 2012
  

       For the display, the pen could be waggled, and use persistence of vision method.   

       I think it would be great to write "Call Dave" on paper, and then that's what it does, or "Text Dave: FU"   

       [+] absolutely.
Ling, Mar 07 2012
  

       // For the display, the pen could be waggled, and use persistence of vision method. //   

       [Ling], I like that.
baconbrain, Mar 07 2012
  

       "Dear, that man on the sidewalk is talking to his pen again!"
Alterother, Mar 07 2012
  

       [+] and a little antenna coming out the top?
xandram, Mar 07 2012
  

       Shirley, voice recognition would suffice to convert spoken telephone numbers into digits?
goldbb, Mar 07 2012
  

       Using old-tech, you could use the material that you had as a kid that you draw on and then unstick to erase. There could be a short length of that rolled up in the pen, which prints out the text message then gets wiped as it retracts.   

       Alternatively, make the nib rotate 90 degrees and have the shaft made of a few rubber sections that can rotate to move the pen. Then it can crawl around the desk writing and drawing.
marklar, Mar 08 2012
  

       I was going to suggest that the pen could contain a small scroll screen, but I like [ling]'s idea way more, so now I'm not going to.   

       I like [marklar]'s idea: use one of those reusable doodle things for input: they used to cost 10c each for a 9x11... I imagine they might cost as much as a dollar now, and much less in bulk. That way all the electronics is in the pen.
FlyingToaster, Mar 08 2012
  
      
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