Capturing ideas from the whiteboard

Whiteboards are a tool, a springboard for communicating ideas quickly and effectively. Taking a discussion around a table to the whiteboard often eliminates confusion, expresses ideas more clearly and overcomes the barriers of terminology by using images and relationships to convey one's meaning.
I once took a lower-paying job when that company had whiteboards in every office over a better job for a larger firm. The company with the whiteboards were actively using them, even in the presidents office, and that told me the company was interested in communicating more effectively and using ideas and innovation to foster success. That was the best job choice I've ever made.
Once an idea is communicated, though, recording the contents of the whiteboard for further dissemination and documentation if often fraught with trouble. Electronic whiteboards cost too much and rarely work as easily as they need to in order to be useful.
If recording the contents of a whiteboards is too difficult, the usefulness of the whiteboard is limited dramatically.
I've worked in many companies where some technology solution had been integrated into the whiteboard and I've never seen it work without significant effort. Even the Pentagon itself where money is no issue could not find a solution that works simply and easily enough to use every day.
But there is a solution.
Digital cameras have gotten so cheap and so good that you can take a high resolution image of a whiteboard in seconds and transfer it to your computer without special hardware, software or effort. Unfortunately, the resulting image is often yellowed from bad office lighting and the board is typically skewed due to holding the camera at a angle to capture the entire whiteboard.
Unless you are really good in PhotoShop, transforming this poorly-lit digital image of the whiteboard can be just as time-consuming as manually copying the whiteboard in the first place.
Well, there is an effective, efficient answer out there.
PolyVision makes a software product called "Whiteboard Photo Note Capturing Software" that is specifically designed to take these off-kilter, dark, yellow images, clean them up, straighten them out, and make them perfect for printing, inclusion in documents or simply storing on the network.
This product was called Pixid in the past, but PolyVision's relabeled product is identical. While $261 may seems expensive, you'll find that the ability to capture ideas and diagrams is well worth the investment. you can now leverage whiteboards to foster innovation and communication and then record those ideas instantly for broader use.
Whiteboards + Pixid = easy idea sharing
http://www.polyvision.com/products/wbp.asp