Imagine a sheet of virtual paper the size of the US stored on a network, with every square centimetre having its own coding (in this case dots). Companies and institutions can hire sections and use it for notebooks, advertisements, even written tests. To use it, you need a pen being developed by Ericsson in Sweden. You write on the (real) paper and “beam” the inormation to your mobile phone, which sends it on to that server. Everything you have written goes to the organisation that has rented the scrap of virtual paper you have “written” on. Crazy or ingenious? Only time will tell. The Anoto (from the Latin annoto - to scribble) may put in an appearance next year.

www.ericsson.se

Maureen McTaggart