March 17, 2020. It’s the date when the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order started in Santa Clara, California -- just over a year ago now. At that time, I was working from home thinking about life, and staying away from the outside world; we were forcing ourselves to stay at home, 24/7 with our family and our inner selves. It was also the time we were planning to design the next generation MobiScribe.
What is the meaning of life? What is the value of this MobiScribe?
While staying at home all day, I had a lot of opportunities to ask myself these questions again and again. Besides working at the same table with my children during their remote education classes, I taught my children many new skillsets including how to make cement pots by using casts taken from discarded household recyclables. I held the small hands of my 8 years old son and assisted him with mixing sand and water into cement and then pouring the mixture into recycled plastic jars. 3 days later, we would remove a cement pot from a recycled plastic container and then plant succulents into the pots we just made. And during those precious family moments, I began to understand better the meaning of life, which would also correlate to the meaning of the new MobiScribe I was planning at the time. For Life is all about where it starts, and it is also about where all life ends. It is the Origin of life...to life's stages...to eventual recycling of life..to a re-birth and an Origin once again. After that epiphany, I had the product name and color for the 2nd generation MobiScribe.
From the stone age onwards, humans have been writing to communicate and to pass knowledge to the next generation. When handwriting, we connect our thoughts and thinking to the depths of our inner being. But, unfortunately, today, it has become more of a trend for people to not handwrite. It has been replaced by touching screens on smartphones, typing on a keyboard, or speaking to AI voice recognition to text software on a PC. Technology has brought us all these great conveniences in less than a lifetime. Consequently, when was the last time most people in the modern world held a pen to write on paper? When was the last time you did? The bottom line is...the way we write has changed drastically over a few short decades. The way we read has also changed a lot. We used to spend time reading paper books, now most read books from an electronic computer screen, and while doing so...every few minutes one's concentration and thoughts are interrupted by push notifications or switching to different tabs in a browser plus a myriad of other computerized
The origin of The Origin was born during a most difficult time...when people were ill and some passing from the COVID-19 pandemic. This disease forced us to stop all extracurricular activities and simply stay at home most of the time and after overcoming all the challenges these lifestyle restrictions can cause for any business, the origin of The Origin and the vision of MobiScribe became clearer and delightfully simple in a noisy, difficult world. For, the MobiScribe product line is a champion to keep the joy and benefits of handwriting alive for all whilst reducing the usage of paper to protect our environment. This is a win/win for our humanity and for the planet!
You might also ask...why is the functionality of the new Origin so simple? Well, wouldn't you rather the ability to read a book without a distracting, bright LED screen with push and message notifications? The MobiScribe Origin is a deliberately simplified ink & paper emulating e-notepad device that enhances the joy and benefits of reading an e-book without distractions with the look of real ink on paper. Moreover, it also enhances the joy of handwriting (and drawing) on an electronic device that emulates the look and feel of writing (or drawing) with an ink pen on paper. However, the MobiScribe Origin offers not only a traditional paper & pen look and feel, but it also comes with useful features to convert handwriting into text and MobiShare that allows instant collaboration with your colleagues or team members. The Origin offers the best from the past and the future all incorporated into one simple, advanced device.