The Wireless Conundrum

I have been trying out two wireless gadgets in the last few weeks, the new Livescribe Sky digital pen and the Fujifilm F800 EXR camera. Both are fabulous in their different ways, but they illustrate that wireless is developing on two divergent paths.
The Livescribe Sky is exactly like the previous Livescribe pen, but with WiFi. For anyone who hasn't read about Livescribe, its unique selling point is that it records both audio and ink and links the two, so when you go through the notes you made of an interview you can press a word on the page and the pen plays exactly what the interviewee was saying. It is a gift for journalists, students and anyone who needs to record statements exactly, such as lawyers.
The slight faff about the previous Livescribe pen was that to store the audio+ink on computer you had to plug the pen in to a PC using a USB cable. The new Sky pen automates the process, so every time you finish a page it looks for a wireless signal, logs on to Evernote, and syncs. All your notes backed up as if by magic. No computer required.

The Fujifilm F800 camera also has WiFi but works only in conjunction with a smartphone or tablet running a special app. This actually works quite well, although it involves so many button presses it is actually quicker to take out the memory card and pop it into a card adapter.
It is interesting to contrast the two approaches.
The Livescribe approach is cloud based and means you don't have to be carrying another device. All your notes are pretty much instantly available on all your devices including your desktop computer via Evernote. On the downside, if there is no wireless about you will have to resort to setting up a personal wifi hotspot on your mobile phone (if allowed) or connecting to your laptop by a cable.
The Fujifilm approach is designed to make it easy to show your mates the photos you have just taken on your tablet (one of the things God intended when he created the tablet). But it makes stuffing them on Facebook or your blog just that bit more complex.
Sooner or later, wireless is going to grow up to the stage where you won't have to bother about these petty restrictions. You will just tell the gadget to send the file or picture or audio clip or whatever to the place you want it to go. But that is a long way away.