What Do You Think About Digital Notebooks?

00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:03.400 | All right.

00:00:07.320 | What do we have here?

00:00:09.040 | A question from Adnan.

00:00:13.360 | He says, does writing on digital paper, in your opinion,

00:00:18.960 | really have any advantage over conventional paper writing?

00:00:25.360 | And he points in particular to a product

00:00:27.520 | that I've heard a lot about called Remarkable.

00:00:31.240 | I guess they're now up to the Remarkable 2.

00:00:35.640 | I'll tell you, I have not yet tried Remarkable.

00:00:39.440 | It is very alluring.

00:00:42.040 | And I don't know if that's just branding

00:00:43.660 | or if it's actually useful.

00:00:45.400 | Because it's a cool thing.

00:00:48.120 | It's like a tablet.

00:00:50.080 | And it uses an e-ink technology like a Kindle.

00:00:53.360 | So it's not a screen.

00:00:54.280 | It's not a backlit screen.

00:00:55.360 | It's actually-- if you don't know how e-ink works,

00:00:57.500 | there's actually these teeny little disks

00:00:58.800 | that are black on one side and gray on another.

00:01:00.880 | And with an electrical impulse, you

00:01:01.840 | can switch it from one to another.

00:01:03.300 | So it's literally making a non-illuminated, just

00:01:07.120 | an actual physical picture that you're looking at.

00:01:11.040 | There's no light involved.

00:01:13.240 | This Remarkable tablet, you can write on it.

00:01:15.120 | So it sort of follows your special pencil.

00:01:16.560 | So you're writing on it.

00:01:17.560 | And then it can save the pages.

00:01:19.200 | And you can go back to them.

00:01:20.400 | So it's like a notebook, except for it's all stored digitally.

00:01:23.160 | It's not actually a physical notebook.

00:01:24.740 | Anyways, it's a cool-looking product.

00:01:27.840 | I like Jesse's note.

00:01:30.680 | I think this tells you why it's so appealing.

00:01:32.520 | His note about the promotional video

00:01:34.600 | is really good-looking people in rich places writing stuff.

00:01:39.760 | It's good branding.

00:01:40.880 | I mean, it was a great video.

00:01:42.080 | And it's-- yeah, it's what it shows.

00:01:44.800 | It's true, though.

00:01:45.560 | I've seen this video.

00:01:46.560 | And I'm like, A, I got to go to Monaco.

00:01:49.280 | Like, B, I probably need to dress better.

00:01:51.280 | And C, I need to be looking out over the bay.

00:01:53.800 | Yeah, in your mansion.

00:01:54.760 | And yeah, writing.

00:01:55.960 | Like, I don't know what.

00:01:58.400 | Poetry or something.

00:01:59.960 | So I don't-- Adnan, if you use one, report back.

00:02:03.720 | This branding hits me like an arrow.

00:02:05.880 | And I'm like, I really need one of these things.

00:02:07.800 | I suspect that--

00:02:10.560 | let me show you.

00:02:11.880 | This probably solves the same problem, because it's analog.

00:02:16.440 | It's very easy to get to the pages you already wrote,

00:02:18.760 | because you can just flip to them.

00:02:20.180 | It doesn't require batteries.

00:02:21.360 | But I see that ad, and I want it to.

00:02:23.760 | So I don't know.

00:02:24.920 | Try it.

00:02:25.720 | If any of my listeners out there have tried this

00:02:28.560 | and have a compelling use case for one of these e-ink

00:02:31.480 | notebooks like Remarkable, send me a note

00:02:33.800 | or send Jesse a note at jesse@calnewport.com,

00:02:36.040 | because we're curious.

00:02:38.080 | Maybe it'll make us rich.

00:02:39.960 | Is that how it works?

00:02:41.440 | We'll be in a mansion.

00:02:42.720 | You'll start writing.

00:02:43.560 | Your next book will be a poetry book.

00:02:45.440 | Yeah, reflections from you staring

00:02:47.680 | at the waves from my mansion.

00:02:49.640 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:02:53.000 | (upbeat music)

What Do You Think About Digital Notebooks?

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