News - Livescribe demos the Pulse SmartPen, blows our minds

[scaryjim]

Brilliant piece of kit, but how long (or should that be short?) is the battery life. It's a lovely idea but won't be much use if it only lasts a couple of hours...

[Stefan_C]

Seems like a LeapPad for grownups. Anyone else got kids with LeapPads and see the similarity?

It's from the same guy who created the LeapPad

I was at the interview and due to time constraints we didn't get to record everything we wanted to and had to cut the interview short so a couple of key points were missed from the end. You can probably tell from the awkward cut before the outro. All the points below are from memory so I'm not sure if what i'm saying will be 100% accurate:

I think the pen uses an infrared camera and there is carbon in the ink cartridges that make it easier for the camera to identify the ink. I'm not sure how much replacement cartridges are but they probably aren't that expensive.

The paper can be printed on a 600dpi printer. Pre printed notebooks will retail for the same price as a normal notebook.

In fact the pen can read any surface that has been prepared with those dots. For example he has special business cards that, when writted on with a livescribe pen, email him with whatever was written on the card. Pretty awesome. They are also looking into other uses for this eg. phone screens.

The pen can connect to a pc or mac via usb and everything you've written down / recorded that has been stored in the pen can be transferred / backed up. It does this on a page by page basis.

The pen does look bulky but it is in fact quite confortable to hold. It's perfectly balanced so that the front is slightly heavier than the back and so it feels right in your hand.

The speaker / microphone were designed by BOSE. External microphones and speakers may also be attached.

He also showed us a poker game where you draw your own controls to hold cards, bet and deal, and the cards appear on the pen's oled screen.

And that's about all I can remember at the moment.

[dbh]

I had a look about for some reviews online and they said the pen can last about 8 or so hours between charges not sure how accurate that number is though but does seem quite good!

[shaithis]

I was at the interview and due to time constraints we didn't get to record everything we wanted to and had to cut the interview short so a couple of key points were missed from the end. You can probably tell from the awkward cut before the outro. All the points below are from memory so I'm not sure if what i'm saying will be 100% accurate:

Sounds like you need a LiveScribe SmartPen!!

[Stefan_C]

Sounds like you need a LiveScribe SmartPen!!

amen

[Andrew McP]

I started watching this without much interest. I got more intrigued as it went along, but it was the language demo which really made me sit up. That was amazing.

The only thing stopping me leaping all over this (I didn't realise until now that they're widely available) is the special 'dotty' paper required. That's a shame. Still, thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[CK_1985]

I'd have absolutely no use for it, but I still want one!

[chuckskull]

Gotta say I was cynical, but that's ace.

[scaryjim]

I had a look about for some reviews online and they said the pen can last about 8 or so hours between charges ...

So, good for taking notes at one meeting, but you might be stretching it if you're in meetings all day. Reasonable I suppose, but I'd hoped for better. It'd be a bit of a pain if you went to a conference and forgot to charge it overnight...

[chis]

Is this revolutionary? On a basic level, it's merely a handful of technologies bolted onto a writing implement. But I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before, at least nothing that succeeds so well in enhancing such a fundamental skill: writing.

[Scarlet Infidel]

So, good for taking notes at one meeting, but you might be stretching it if you're in meetings all day. Reasonable I suppose, but I'd hoped for better. It'd be a bit of a pain if you went to a conference and forgot to charge it overnight...

Presumably you can top it up from a laptop between meetings/lectures? This pen looks amazing and I will keep my eyes on it for the future.

[SYDDOS]

How long before this pen or something like it includes cell phone or VoIP capability?

[daveyhue]

I personally love this, I work in a office and we often have to type up notes, some take there laptop and try and do it there and then but fail.

Some take a dicataphone then go back to the office afterwards and type it up while they listen to there notes, and some like me just take a notepad and pen.

I would presume it also can store the words in a text format like word or pdf?

I would go one step more and say this is revolutionary..

[Stefan_C]

I would presume it also can store the words in a text format like word or pdf?

I don't think so. It saves pages of writing as images which you can then run an OCR on but it only recognises words you write in certain apps like the translator as it is far easier to recognise words when you limit the input options to only one word at a time rather than trying to recognise all the punctuation etc in a whole page of writing. At least I think that's what he said.

[pp05]

Apps aspect was intriguing assuming it catches on.

If it could turn characters into digital format then I think you have a complete solution. But given the complexity of that and to do it well - limiting this to just handwriting allows it a more narrow focus and increases its chance as a functional device.

On Amazon some have said battery life is about 4-5 hours.

[j1979]

Im learning russian, and this will solve so many problems...mainly my rubbish memory, i was so impressed i started my first web site since uni it took some learning and 3 days but, i got some advice from here and have managed to get a page semi-working

www.livescribepen.co.uk