Papershow

I've been trialling a new presentation aid called Papershow. It's a hardware and software combination including a bluetooth pen, a USB stick that pairs with the pen and stores the software, along with a pad of paper marked up with various icons. Basically, what you do is write on the pad with the bluetooth pen, using the icons to select drawing options, the results being displayed on the screen and consequently on whatever projector you have. When you have finished with a page of notes, you simply save or print the results and turn to a new page.

The idea is that Papershow substitutes for a whiteboard or flip chart, making it easy to share results after the event. This functionality will be familiar to those who have electronic whiteboards, but this new technology is much cheaper and can be used wherever you can take a laptop.

I found Papershow easy to set up and use, and the pen and paper were as responsive as any graphics tablet. If you want freeform, handwritten notes and graphics that you can share electronically it's a good choice. Want something neater, then why not just type into a text editor such as Word? Want something you can stick on the wall, stick to flip charts.