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List of Objects Subsumed by the Cell Phone: Camera, camcorder, calculator, computer, Walkman, wallet, newspaper, and now...pen? A new technology called "air writing" aims to use a cell phone's built-in accelerometer to enable the entire phone to be used like a pen, producing messages scrawled in mid-air.

Speed writers may still want to stick with texting for now, because air-writers currently have to pause briefly between each letter and cannot use cursive. But researchers expect an improved app that will come with better algorithms and accelerometers.

Future versions of this PhonePoint Pen app may even allow users to take a photo with their phone and write a quick note on it.

The technology, as developed by Duke University engineering student Sandip Agrawal, should be available as a downloadable app sometime in the next few months. We'll keep you posted.

via textually and live science