Pulse Smartpen

!±8± Pulse Smartpen

The innovative Smartpen is a ball point pen for taking notes and a tape recorder all in one. First it records audio, links it to what you write, stores it in its internal memory, up to 4 GB, and then plays it back later. The Pulse Smartpen is easy to use for any high school or college student taking notes during a lecture or for a business executive writing notes during a meeting.

The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen uses a high-speed infrared camera located by the tip of the pen, along with a Dot Positioning system that will track everything you write or draw on the specially designed Livescribe Dot Paper. The Dot Paper comes with printed controls that let you turn the volume up or down, skip to the next line of audio, or control playback. You can also use and download interactive paper-based applications such as a calculator or games, which can be controlled with first drawing and then tapping certain commands. The applications and other functions of the Smartpen are easy to control by using a high-contrast OLED display right on the pen. Find yourself in need of a calculator, simply draw a calculator on your dot paper and the innovative Dot Positioning System will recognize it and you can tap the buttons to do your math just like a real calculator.

Along with tracking what you write the Pulse Smartpen will also record everything you hear during a lecture or meeting. Then with the ease of hooking it up to your computer via the USB connecter, you can download and save the notes and audio directly to your computer. When you need to find a certain section of your notes the Smartpen software allows you to search for keywords and it will go directly to that spot in your notes. It also comes equipped with a "Send and Share" feature that allows you to share your notes and audio recording through the Livesribe Community or even on Facebook. You can also export your notes and audio locally as PDF or audio files.

Although the Livescribe Smartpen is pretty awesome technology, it does come with its downfalls. Since it can only be used with Livescribe Dot Paper it can get a little expensive to constantly be buying new paper. Livescribe does help with that by providing a link on the webpage that allows you to print new dot paper right at home. And if you use the Smartpen a lot you will also need to replace the ink cartridge at some point. It does come with two replacement cartridges but they can also be slightly pricey.