Education Tools for the 21st Century; LiveScribe Revolutionizes Note-Taking Process

As a former college student think back to one of those days, either at the dorm or the library, when you were reviewing your notes from the prior-day’s lecture only to find your hen-scratching devoid of some key phrase or word. As Murphy’s Law always dictated, that missing word or words would lead to some major head-scratching as you tried to figure out just what it was the professor had said. At the same time a sense of frustration or anger would emerge as you soon realized that despite trying to record every key idea the instructor had revealed during class, somewhere along the line your concentration had waned and you had missed some major concept.

And, as a news reporter, think back to the day you forgot your tape recorder and you had to do that critical interview strictly with pen and paper. Back at the newsroom, when you were looking at your notes, your sense of excitement dwindled despite the fact that your source revealed some amazing insight. In your note-taking you realized that you were missing a couple of words from key phrases. Those missing words being truly essential materials, you found that were unable to recreate the exact quote that would have brought greater strength to the article you were about to write.

Fortunately, those stories are about to become as relevant as those of our parents who insisted they had to walk three miles to and from school, in the rain and snow, and it was uphill both ways.

Digital Revolution Continues
Students, writers, and anyone else spending time taking notes may now put an end to the days of missed phrases. No longer will anyone have to fear feverishly trying to record every word of a speaker or remember to bring along a tape recorder.

They will only need their pen and a pad of paper.

Because with Livescribe’s new Pulse smartpen, note-takers can now transform the world of pen and ink forever. Featuring a computer wrapped around a pen, the Pulse will record audio simultaneously as the user jots down notes on special dot matrix paper. Therefore the smartpen functions as a digital recorder, multi-modal computer, and a traditional writing utensil, all at the same time.

For anyone having difficulty keeping up with their note-taking responsibilities, the synchronized audio ensures that every single word is recorded. Adding to the pen’s amazing capability, the user can simply tap on their written notes later to immediately get a replay of what was recorded at the exact moment they were recording a specific phrase. However, the Pulse smartpen works only with the special “dot paper.”

The enormous power for education lies in the potential for information to be shared online. A user can transfer his or her work to Livescribe’s PC software by simply placing the pen in its USB cradle. Students missing a lecture could easily tap into a fellow classmate’s recording while a person taking notes from a written text could record their own thoughts as they took down relevant information. Later, once information is uploaded onto a PC, the student can also search those notes by typing in a word and Livescribe’s software will find a written match.

Assessing the Pen’s Capability
To get a real sense of the details we turn to the tech experts for a bit of insight. Lance Ulanoff of PCMag.com gives the SmartPen’s practicality high marks:

“It takes little effort to use the pen. Simply charge it via the USB cradle, turn it on (there’s a tiny button next to the equally tiny screen), open any page of a microdot notebook, and start writing or drawing. Even without the software installed, I was instantly able to write notes, capture the audio of an entire meeting, and play back any portion I chose. I stopped playback by tapping the playback controls printed on every page of the notebook. Playback of AAC-based files is startlingly loud for such a small device.”

Ulanoff goes on to note a couple of minor negatives:

The pen “picked up the scraping sound of the pen dragging on the paper as I scrawled; but it wasn’t distracting and didn’t hinder my ability to discern who was talking or what they were saying.” As for its fundamental shape and size, he also is bit negative stating “the hard, near-cigar-sized body isn’t particularly comfortable to hold” and that the pen is in definite need of a clip “so it stops rolling off my desk.”

And for a summary, Ulanoff offers:

“The smartpen is easily the best implementation of microdot and audio/image capture technology to date. It’s easy to use and small enough not to look or feel ridiculous in your hands. If Livescribe updates the desktop software with some intelligent indexing features I think the Pulse smartpen could become an essential investment for any student, businessperson, or journalist.”

Available at a Number of Retail Outlets
The national retail rollout for the Pulse™ smartpen, dot paper, and accessories has begun. The new digital pen is available at Target, Target.com, Amazon.com, LiveScribe.com, and those college and university bookstores supported by The Douglas Stewart Company.

It is available in a 1GB model with storage of over 100 hours of recorded audio for $149 and a 2GB model with double the storage capacity and greater future flexibility for downloading applications down the road for $199. Livescribe dot paper is available in 2-pack journals ($24.95), 4-pack college-ruled notebooks with a 100 sheets per notebook ($19.95). Additional accessories include a premium leather case ($24.95) and 5-pack ink cartridges ($5.95).

For more information on this wondrous 21st century education tool, visit livescribe.com or nevermissaword.com.