that would be really cool. A friend sugested that to me yesterday. As long as it's not too expensive it would probably be the ultimate. Although when young kids talk they ramble around all over the place and don't tend to speak in linear a way like when writing.
As I stated before, I think the BEST draw for this type of product would be that it could have the form factor of a TEXTING device. Right now, all kids want to text. Being able to "text" diary entries might be a very intriguing difference to the hand writing proposals. With this type of device, you may be able to add in some artificial intelligence and have the diary be interactive to a point. Maybe be able to ask questions and get responses similar to a Magic 8 ball. The form factor could look something like the old SideKick Cell phone. If you incorporate the SD Card like I mentioned earlier, you could just save the cards as they get full, upload them to a "special" website (like Web Kins), or print them out to place in a journal (that could also be sold).
I'm thinking bare, not complex. For me paper is bulky, space consuming (hard to fit in a purse), I can type faster, pens are a pain and a laptop can be too much. In the right price range, I can see value in it.
There was another product idea on Quirky that was similar in size to a pad of paper (8x11") for students in class. I see that and this being able to meld into one. Using a SD card for memory (v. internal hard drive) keeps the costs low and people could keep exchanging SD cards - which they could print out using a desktop or notebook if they wanted a hard copy.
I can see a lot of advantages and options; Writers, journalists, students, diaries and it saves trees. The idea is bare bones and doing little more than replacing a pad of paper. Interfacing with a desktop would be necessary (or SD card reader/writer) with the addition of themes (musical score, lined notebook paper, pink butterflies and puppies, numbered for legal ... etc). NO wifi or internet. Very basic (open source like Open Office) word processing functions and a virtual keyboard - maybe an attachment for a portable keyboard.
I see no reason why that could not be produced in the sub-$100 range. If you add a media player and speakers (headphone jack) then mp3's or videos might be added to the SD card, but you are increasing complexity and costs.
There's no way I'd use a tiny PDA or cell phone to take notes or write a journal or do a rough draft with. They are too small to be functional. The idea would be to replace regular notebook with and has the added benefit of being lighter weight, more ecological and the pen would never run out of ink or give the writer calluses.
I can see this becoming the theme-book of the future if the costs were low enough.
The problem with this Ethan is that it would be a lot easier/better to do as an iPhone app as the first comment said. And if you was to do it this way then somebody would quickly copy it as an iPhone app and every kid would be downloading it to their iPhones, probably for free, instead of buying it from us.
Wow! There is much to consider. I suppose the more complex it becomes, the licensing or patent issues are a possible factor. Ben, in an above posting, mentioned the PDAs of the 90's. On my way home I was thinking that handwriting recognition software is probably better and cheaper than the cryptic strokes one needed to master to get the device to recognize letters. A "pen" would also allow for drawings and flourishes too.
This idea has heart, but at it's core are some of the most difficult tech questions to answer. How can a electronic device beat pen and paper? While there are a few things that come to mind, not many of them can be had for the kind of money the price point would need to be in.
Microsoft's courier is the closest thing to an "infinite journal" that has ever been and that is only a concept. Supposedly in development, this would give you everything you want but the price.
I recommend you go simpler than that. The handwritten paradigm with a digital capture and archive through a website could work in it's place.
There is old technology out there to capture drawings and hand written memos in a notepad that can be saved as a page. These used to be large white-board type surfaces. Maybe a little tech refresh can make it smaller, more accurate and above all, re-branded to little girls as a diary.
If you wanted to you could make one that was corded and a more expensive one that was cordless, give it a way to be customized with digital sticker packs (after purchase add-on buys for the micro sale).
I guess I am imagining a drawing slate with a lot less levels of pressure sensitivity, the size of a page. Connects to a computer via bluetooth and uploads with a simple configuration control panel. The drawings in the account can be viewed online with a password.
For something like this to work, it has to have a value proposition that makes it a better solution than the traditional diary.
A traditional diary is easy to use, convenient, secure, and most importantly, can be trusted to still exist twenty years later in a readable format, exactly as it was created.
A digital diary is subject to data loss, allows less freedom of creativity than paper, is not as convenient for spur of the moment inspirations, and most importantly, is harder to trust for long-term preservation of its contents.
The advantages of going digital include redundancy through backup - after all, a paper diary can be lost or destroyed, and is the only copy.
If you can find a way to provide the advantages of digital without losing the advantages of a physical diary, you would be doing well.
As a professional UI designer, I have to say that building good user experience and usability is not something that comes easy, as anyone who's used 95% of the consumer electronics on the market can attest.
Adding a look and feel of a texting device is what will make this appealing. Digital diaries are out there and have been done before, but all Preteeners I know LOVE to get their hands on anything related to texting (cell phone envy :) ). This would probably work best with removable memory cards like SD or Micro SD cards. These could also be sold as add on accessories or let the customer add their own. Limiting something like this to having a finite internal memory would be a BIG mistake. If you used the external memory idea, it would help with other's ideas of being able to print. You may also want to think about combining this idea with a simple MP3 player so they can listen to their music while they "text" their diary entries.
Yes, input for MP3 and some storage space for pictures. And be able to upload to an external drive or PC. I don't know much about computers, just had this vague idea. Thanks for the tips.
Comments
have two tranceivers that look like phones, but with the range of a toy walkie talkie, send and receive text also serve as a diary.
How about audio to text ?
that would be really cool. A friend sugested that to me yesterday. As long as it's not too expensive it would probably be the ultimate. Although when young kids talk they ramble around all over the place and don't tend to speak in linear a way like when writing.
As I stated before, I think the BEST draw for this type of product would be that it could have the form factor of a TEXTING device. Right now, all kids want to text. Being able to "text" diary entries might be a very intriguing difference to the hand writing proposals. With this type of device, you may be able to add in some artificial intelligence and have the diary be interactive to a point. Maybe be able to ask questions and get responses similar to a Magic 8 ball. The form factor could look something like the old SideKick Cell phone. If you incorporate the SD Card like I mentioned earlier, you could just save the cards as they get full, upload them to a "special" website (like Web Kins), or print them out to place in a journal (that could also be sold).
Lots of opportunity here I think!
Susyn,
What is the advantage of all that complexity over a simple diary?
The ecological impact of an electronic device is incredibly high compared to a recycled paper notebook.
Why not just use a pad of paper?
I'm thinking bare, not complex. For me paper is bulky, space consuming (hard to fit in a purse), I can type faster, pens are a pain and a laptop can be too much. In the right price range, I can see value in it.
There was another product idea on Quirky that was similar in size to a pad of paper (8x11") for students in class. I see that and this being able to meld into one. Using a SD card for memory (v. internal hard drive) keeps the costs low and people could keep exchanging SD cards - which they could print out using a desktop or notebook if they wanted a hard copy.
I can see a lot of advantages and options; Writers, journalists, students, diaries and it saves trees. The idea is bare bones and doing little more than replacing a pad of paper. Interfacing with a desktop would be necessary (or SD card reader/writer) with the addition of themes (musical score, lined notebook paper, pink butterflies and puppies, numbered for legal ... etc). NO wifi or internet. Very basic (open source like Open Office) word processing functions and a virtual keyboard - maybe an attachment for a portable keyboard.
I see no reason why that could not be produced in the sub-$100 range. If you add a media player and speakers (headphone jack) then mp3's or videos might be added to the SD card, but you are increasing complexity and costs.
There's no way I'd use a tiny PDA or cell phone to take notes or write a journal or do a rough draft with. They are too small to be functional. The idea would be to replace regular notebook with and has the added benefit of being lighter weight, more ecological and the pen would never run out of ink or give the writer calluses.
I can see this becoming the theme-book of the future if the costs were low enough.
The problem with this Ethan is that it would be a lot easier/better to do as an iPhone app as the first comment said. And if you was to do it this way then somebody would quickly copy it as an iPhone app and every kid would be downloading it to their iPhones, probably for free, instead of buying it from us.
Wow! There is much to consider. I suppose the more complex it becomes, the licensing or patent issues are a possible factor. Ben, in an above posting, mentioned the PDAs of the 90's. On my way home I was thinking that handwriting recognition software is probably better and cheaper than the cryptic strokes one needed to master to get the device to recognize letters. A "pen" would also allow for drawings and flourishes too.
This idea has heart, but at it's core are some of the most difficult tech questions to answer. How can a electronic device beat pen and paper? While there are a few things that come to mind, not many of them can be had for the kind of money the price point would need to be in.
Microsoft's courier is the closest thing to an "infinite journal" that has ever been and that is only a concept. Supposedly in development, this would give you everything you want but the price.
I recommend you go simpler than that. The handwritten paradigm with a digital capture and archive through a website could work in it's place.
There is old technology out there to capture drawings and hand written memos in a notepad that can be saved as a page. These used to be large white-board type surfaces. Maybe a little tech refresh can make it smaller, more accurate and above all, re-branded to little girls as a diary.
If you wanted to you could make one that was corded and a more expensive one that was cordless, give it a way to be customized with digital sticker packs (after purchase add-on buys for the micro sale).
I guess I am imagining a drawing slate with a lot less levels of pressure sensitivity, the size of a page. Connects to a computer via bluetooth and uploads with a simple configuration control panel. The drawings in the account can be viewed online with a password.
For something like this to work, it has to have a value proposition that makes it a better solution than the traditional diary.
A traditional diary is easy to use, convenient, secure, and most importantly, can be trusted to still exist twenty years later in a readable format, exactly as it was created.
A digital diary is subject to data loss, allows less freedom of creativity than paper, is not as convenient for spur of the moment inspirations, and most importantly, is harder to trust for long-term preservation of its contents.
The advantages of going digital include redundancy through backup - after all, a paper diary can be lost or destroyed, and is the only copy.
If you can find a way to provide the advantages of digital without losing the advantages of a physical diary, you would be doing well.
As a professional UI designer, I have to say that building good user experience and usability is not something that comes easy, as anyone who's used 95% of the consumer electronics on the market can attest.
Adding a look and feel of a texting device is what will make this appealing. Digital diaries are out there and have been done before, but all Preteeners I know LOVE to get their hands on anything related to texting (cell phone envy :) ). This would probably work best with removable memory cards like SD or Micro SD cards. These could also be sold as add on accessories or let the customer add their own. Limiting something like this to having a finite internal memory would be a BIG mistake. If you used the external memory idea, it would help with other's ideas of being able to print. You may also want to think about combining this idea with a simple MP3 player so they can listen to their music while they "text" their diary entries.
Yes, input for MP3 and some storage space for pictures. And be able to upload to an external drive or PC. I don't know much about computers, just had this vague idea. Thanks for the tips.
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