STACK #136 Feb 2016

TECH

A Spark of Creativity

The Bamboo Spark will put the pen back in your hand, writes Paul Jones.

paper on the right and a pocket for a smart device on the left. A pen, anchored in the centre, is instrumental in the design of the folio, as this is where the magic happens. While it writes like a standard ballpoint, the electromagnetic board located beneath the pad accurately senses the smart tip of the pen and tracks the strokes. The pad can be up to 50 pages thick and still recognise the written text. Users simply pair their smart devices via Bluetooth to a free Bamboo Spark app, and once the page is full, a button situated next to the pad is pressed and the relevant information is

paper (generic paper is fine to use), so this is a fair indication of how often I’ve used the device. The Spark has become indispensable in meetings and interviews, and perfect to whip out on a train to instantly record creative design and editorial ideas. It’s light to carry or slip into a satchel, and with its neat, compact, professional appearance, it would fit as seamlessly into a boardroom as it would in a design studio or lecture hall. The Bamboo Spark combines the best of old and new. If, like me (and the rest of the office), you prefer writing on paper with a trusty pen in hand, but like the concept of orderly digitising notes with the option to share with others, the Spark is about to become your new best friend.

TECH

W e get a plethora of tech through the doors of the STACK office on a monthly basis for review. Generally, we test it for a month, box it up and send it back. However, after spending five weeks with Wacom’s Bamboo Spark, I have a message for the company: If you want it back, you’ll have to come down to Melbourne and pry it from my dead fingers! I’ve never been a huge fan of writing on a touchscreen with a stylus. It lacks the soul and the passion involved in scrawling down ideas, storyboards or meeting notes on a page. Am I a traditionalist? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but I do – and always will – prefer to scribble words and designs with a pen or pencil on paper.

transferred to the device. It's that easy. From here, the sketches or words can be exported as an image or PDF in an email, text, or printed directly. If it isn’t possible to pair with a device straight away, the Spark can hold up to – and retain – 100 pages of notes.

When I first played with the Spark, as a journalist, the glaring omission in the feature set was not being able to export the written words as text. Well, low and behold, Wacom announced at the recent CES in Las Vegas that this feature has now indeed been added, and unless you write like a doctor, words written in pen can now be sent to colleagues as text. I’m now on my fourth pad of

Which brings us to the Bamboo Spark, a piece of tech that Wacom, the company behind it, are calling a ‘smart folio’. Wacom are generally synonymous with top shelf graphic design tablets for digital artists, but here they have turned their expertise to a more conventional idea. Around the size of an iPad case, when opened, the gatefold contains an A5 pad of standard

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