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Smart-Pens not Laptops Now Student's BestPals?

Posted by Matthew Brodsky

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Today it's commonplace to see students using laptops to take notes during lectures, but technology from a company called Livescribe could soon change all that. Now there's no need to take a notebook into class. Instead you can record data onto your Pulse Smartpen by writing or utilizing the built in digital recorder, then upload and edit lecture info via usb when you get home.

Livescribe SmartpenWhy didn'tthey have these when I was in school. If I fell asleep in class,my pen couldn't take notes for me. And what about those days Ididn't go to class at all? Nowadays, I could have stayed in bedand just simply sent my pen to class for me. Not any pen, ofcourse. The new Pulse Smartpen from Livescribe. It is a computerwithin a pen, and a digital recorder within a computer. So it'sbasically a freak pen, but a freak pen with apurpose.
Its job isto record what you are writing down on page (via a slow-motioncamera) and also record what you are listening to (via a mikesystem). That way, come crunch time, you can easily go back andcheck your notes for accuracy. So, college co-eds, if yourprofessor talks to fast, no worries. You can simply go back andfill in the holes in your notes by listening to the broadcast ofthe lecture.

When replaying, you can slow down, rewind, fast forward and evenspeed up the recording via the Smartpen Paper Replay function.Your freak, I mean smart, pen comes with special note paper, onthe bottom of which are special Paper Replay "dot" controls.Touch your pen one of these dots to slow the recording down, forinstance, or to increase the volume.

To hold all this data, the Smartpen has 1 to 2GB of storage. The1GB model holds as many as 100 hours of recorded audio to bekept, or more than 16,000 pages of notes. Not only does the 2GBversion double that space; it also leaves room for downloadingany additional programs that will be designed down the road forplatform.

And these apps will be coming. Livescribe has also launched aDeveloper Program so that programmers can develop and share newpaper-based applications for this magical pen. Even usersthemselves could get into the mix, creating customized programsfrom the open codes and partaking of user community forums.Already in the works are Spanish translation systems, digitalorganizing systems, and an interactive Bible. Simplyfantastic!

Other apps will serve to transcribe your written words intodigital text, or to turn your handwriting into printed words thatare legible. Some other future uses could be apps that help thevisually impaired use the pen, or for using the pen withBraille.

But the wondrous Smartpens have plenty to offer already. Not onlydo they have the audio and visual storage capacity, they alsocome with dual microphones, an embedded speaker, a "3D recordingheadset," and software that allow you to do keyword searchesthrough your notes and to store your notes and audio recordingson your laptop. They then appear just as they did on your paperbut in digital form that you can post, along with the audiorecording, online so all your friends can access them. Indeed,why take a notebook into the classroom at all when you can saveyour virtual class notes onto your Pulse Smartpen and upload themvia usb when you get home? Did I call this pen a freak penbefore? No, it's a magic pen.

And all this goes for just $149 for the 1GB pen, and $199 for the2GB version.

Oops, what was that noise, you ask? I must have fallen asleep andstarted snoring ... my Smartpen must have kept writing this piecefor me.

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