Some people just like typewriters.

I can find my typewriter, load an envelope, and type a name and address much faster than I can open the word processor and then print that name and address to a sticky label (or an envelope if I'm brave enough to risk a jammed printer).

I've been working on my hand-writing so it's not as important now as it used to be.

I really made a conscious effort to improve my penmanship last year. I started tracing at first [1] to build up the muscle memory, but it didn't take long before the movements became natural.

[1] http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/cursive/index.htm

Are you really saying you can't write? Or just that you're trying to write more beautifully?

Some people can write, but illegibly. So they want to improve their writing so that other people can read their writing, or so they're not embarresed by it. Pen and paper is a powerful tool and there's not much in software that matches it.

I could write, but yes -- I wanted to write beautifully like my grandparents. Even their mundane documentation (grocery lists, etc) were stunning.

USB Typewriter predates Hemingwrite.com by a few years. Source: I know Jack Zylkin personally, sitting next to him at the same hackerspace while he built several of these for clients.

Different people have likes and dislikes about how they turn ideas into paragraphs. For some, it's a visceral thing; keyboard feel sucks. For some, it's a ritual thing. Sitting down, setting everything up just right, and working. Workflow is, and should be, a personal thing.

The Hemingwrite looks just like the Alphasmart that delish posted above, just for 14x the price. What a bizarre product.

If they were going to look that plastic, they should have steered away from trying to be retro.