- Steve Dotto here, how the heck you doing this fine day?
Lately on the channel, we've been spending
a lot of time with this, Apple's iPad, learning about it.
I'm really enjoying the whole process of digital note-taking
using Apple's pencil and being able to take notes
in the different note apps on the iPad.
I am a big fan.
What I'm not a big fan of is the price tag
that goes along with one of these high-end tablets
and input devices, well north of $1,000,
and I'll imagine a lot of you
aren't a fan of that price tag either.
But you do like the idea of digital note-taking,
don't you, yes you do.
So what to do, what to do.
Oh wait, I have an idea.
How about if we take a look at this?
This is an erasable notebook called the Rocketbook,
and I think I can do about 90% of the digital note-taking
on this for between 25 and 30 bucks
as I can on this for a lot more.
Let's look at the Rocketbook today on Dotto Tech.
(lively music)
This is the treat, and this is the thing
that has excited the heck out of me.
It's called the Rocketbook.
Now, I first supported Rocketbook when it was
a Kickstarter project, it was a Kickstarter back
a year and a half ago, and it was an erasable notebook
that they sent you a pen and a notebook,
and the thing about that notebook was
in order to erase it, you had to stick it in the microwave.
That's how you erased the pen, which was just ridiculous
on so many levels.
The new version allows you to erase the page
just by, just with a damp cloth, you can erase the page,
and then you can put new information in.
And that, in of itself, is pretty interesting,
and pretty valuable.
But the real value of this app
is not necessarily the erasability of it,
but there is obviously a benefit there,
but it is the integration with a smartphone app
that allows you to take all of your notes
that you create within Rocketbook
and then save them to whatever source you want.
Let me fire up the Rocketbook app on my smart phone
as I explain this and show it to you.
So here's what happens.
There is a certain type of pen that you can buy,
at Staples or anywhere else, it's called a Frixion.
F-R-I-X-I-O-N, and it's a special type of ballpoint pen
that you have to use in order to work with this app.
So you, let's go to a blank page here
and let's create some notes.
And you got one thing,
two thing.
Now, you aren't gonna be able to see it
very well on this page, but down here at the bottom
are a series of icons, and actually,
I can show you what those icons look like
here at the front of the book,
because those icons are markers that we use
to send notes to different destinations
that are built into, that are built into Rocketbook.
Let me show you, because this is oh so cool.
Here, I have the app loaded.
Now, within Rocketbook, I've got, when I launch the app,
you see we have these destinations,
which are the exact same here as we have listed down below.
Within these destinations, I can go into any one,
and let's go back to the note here
and we will make it all happen together at once.
There it is there.
I can choose any of these different apps, destinations,
to send the data to whatever destination it is.
So watch what happens when I open it.
So I'll use that rocket one to start, and right now,
that will send it to my email address.
If I go in and change the destination, watch what happens.
I've got all of these different destinations
that are built in through API integration.
I can send this file to Dropbox, to Google Drive,
to Evernote, to OneDrive, to all of these different places,
and the cool thing is just,
you can just send it to an email address.
So I actually have it set up, let me go back.
I have it set up to send this email
to my email address, so watch what happens now.
I'm gonna create a new scan,
oops, I have to mark off the...
You cross off the icon in the bottom, and then you choose,
I gotta move the mic out of the way here, sorry.
Then you scan it in using the phone.
It takes the picture.
Once it's taken the picture, it says, "What's next?
"Do you want me to process this and send it?"
Now, it can do OCR, you can do OCR on it, et cetera.
And you click Send, and now it is sending it
to my email, and I will just open up my email
so you can see that it will come in here in my email
in just a moment.
I have it not just set up for email,
but I have it set up here for Slack as well.
So if we go in and we take a look at the destinations,
I've got it set up to go to our Slack address
to either April or to Liz.
So I can just be sitting in a conference,
write out a note, take a picture of that note
using this app, and either send it to Liz or April's email
or to Slack for them to work on.
And they'd get it, and it looks just like this,
here it is here, and they get this attachment sent to them.
How cool is that?
The Rocketbook costs around $39 Canadian
for this kind of five by seven size notebook
that I've got, and it's got enough pages
that you can do like a couple of days' worth of notes
and then you can consolidate all of the notes
and send them where you need to when you need to send them.
So it's awesome from that perspective.
But think about this for students.
Being able to take notes and then send them to Google Drive,
to a notebook in Google Drive.
And one other thing that they've got is,
Rocketbook has, if you go to the Rocketbook site
and you go into the shopping area,
they have got these, Rocketbook beacons.
What are Rocketbook beacons?
I'm so glad you asked.
They're little orange stickers that you stick
on a whiteboard that converts your whiteboard
into a Rocketbook, so people can then use
the Rocketbook app, which is free,
to take pictures of the whiteboard and send the notes
from the whiteboard to any destination that you want.
How cool is that?
I am really enamored with Rocketbook.
All of this stuff that I think and I find so impressive
about using the pencil, Apple's pencil and my iPad
at nearly $2,000 investment, I can do 90% of that
with a $39 rewipable erasable notebook
and a $2 pen from Staples.
It is so cool.
And I can send these digital notes anywhere I want
without ever using paper.
To me, the Rocketbook might be a revolutionary device.
I'm super excited about it,
I hope it finds a home in education.
I know it's found a home regularly in my bag as I travel.
Before we wrap things up, a few last points.
One an editorial comment.
The pages in the Rocketbook are very smooth,
and with the Frixion pen,
if you press with the same pressures
you're used to on a regular pen,
it doesn't feel very comfortable.
It feels kind of awkward and kinda cludgy.
But if you write with less pressure,
with a much softer touch and a lighter touch,
then the writing process is much more pleasurable,
it works better.
It took me a little bit of time to get used to
writing with lighter pressure, but now that I have
used the Rocketbook for a while, I actually prefer that
to writing with the kind of normal pressure
that you will with a ballpoint pen and paper.
So that's an interesting thing that I kind of learned
as I went along with the entire process.
Now, we have links to the Rocketbook
in our description below to both Amazon
and you can order Rocketbook directly from their website.
Both of those links are affiliate links.
And finally, Rocketbook works really well with Evernote.
And I know a lot of you who follow us on this channel
are big fans of Evernote, and a lot of you
haven't started using Evernote yet or
started to use Evernote but never really
caught on with Evernote.
But if you wanna take a fresh look at it,
or get started on the right foot with Evernote,
we have a free course called the Evernote Quickstart Guide
which takes you about an hour to go through
and it will get you understanding the value of Evernote
and the best way to use Evernote right out of the box.
You can start using Evernote, and within an hour
of taking our course, you'll really understand
how it fits in your life, and if you like it,
well, then you can marry it to Rocketbook
and you're off to the races.
We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.
Do you like the idea of digital note-taking,
or do you prefer the old world of paper and pen?
Is that the way you're gonna stay?
I'd love to hear where you sit on that.
If you've enjoyed today's video,
a thumbs up would be greatly appreciated,
and share this with your friends
who might be into note-taking.
Til next time, I'm Steve Dotto.
Have fun storming the castle.