As the self-appointed Minister of Really Cool Gadgets here at SAMBA, I get to try out lots of exciting new toys...sorry...I mean productivity tools. Seth just returned from TED, where he received a LiveScribe Pulse smartpen.
I have to say this is one of the best gadgets I've ever played with. The Pulse is slightly thicker than a regular pen and is used with special notebooks. The notebooks are very reasonably priced and are available from Amazon or directly from LiveScribe. I just ordered a couple of Moleskine like notebooks specifically designed for the Pulse.
Here are some of the benefits of the LiveScribe:
The Pulse charges and syncs via a USB dock and works with a PC or Mac (although the Mac app has limited features :-( as it's still in beta). If you're using the audio recording feature built into the pen you can tap on any area in your notes to hear what was recorded while you were taking those notes.
To get an idea of just how amazing this device is check this out (play in full screen without the shadow in the background).
P.S. This isn't a paid endorsement, although if LiveScribe wanted to send each of the SAMBA participants a Pulse I'm sure we'd talk about it.
It was among such inspirations that impressionism was born.
Posted by: jordan shoes | 11/14/2010 at 11:15 PM
I saw a demo of this kind of device at a GIS seminar and wondered about its application outside the domain of spatial nerdom. The GIS/CADD app allows markups on plain paper (maps printed using purchased--more-or-less invisible--"patterns," as I recall) that could then be easily rendered into an electronic form. There was even a way to link squiggles to particular data types and attribute picklists by moving logically through a legend (i.e., pick an item in the map legend and it knows that subsequent actions belong to that class). No PDA, smartphone, laptop or whatever--just the pen and a printed document.
Sounds sweet. The recording feature makes a lot of sense. It's wonderful when technology makes sense.
Posted by: Joel Wasinger | 02/19/2009 at 10:57 AM
haha. this is amazing.
are we going to be moving away from the pc as the main digital device in the near future?
makes me think.
Posted by: Rajat Jain | 02/16/2009 at 08:27 AM
I’ve been using the pen for a while now, and love it as well! I’m a bioengineering major here at UC Berkeley and I use it for just about all my classes. Engineering majors, as you may know, have the pleasure of taking classes that have TONS of graphs, equations and strange symbols, so taking notes with my laptop has been out of question since day one. My handwritten notes were useful, but when I was studying for a midterm or a final, I’d come across a few parts of my notes where I thought, “What is this? Did I even write this? What does it mean?”
Hence, I started using the Pulse smartpen. Whenever I come across these “stumpers,” I just tap my notes to have my professor explain it to me all over again, as if I was in a classroom with him. :)
Regards,
Kal
PS. In case you were thinking of buying one of these pens, you may want to use the discount code: PULSE5A10 at http://www.livescribe.com. That’s what I used when I bought it, got me about $10 off. -Kal
Posted by: Kal Shah | 02/15/2009 at 03:08 PM
I've just looked at the Livescribe website and am rather interested in this product. (although it is far from readily available in The Netherlands according to my quick google-search)
Regarding the dotted paper "issue", maybe it could be an idea to only print the dotted part, and make some sort of flip-over for your normal notebooks.
Or maybe that's the cheap dutch bastard in me begging for attention.
Posted by: Stefan Neyman | 02/15/2009 at 09:59 AM