Using the Livescribe Smartpen with Students

In the past couple of weeks I have worked with a number of students with learning disabilities who all have difficulty taking notes and I have introduced them to the Livescribe Smartpens. It was truly amazing to watch them use this device and the potential it has to open up all kinds of opportunities for them. For students with dyspgraphia, learning disabilities, auditory processing difficulties the Livescribe Smartpen is a godsend. Once I demonstrate the technique of just writing keywords on the dotted paper the student get the "aha" moment when I showed them the Paper Replay" feature. For students who have difficulty listening and recording notes in real time this is truly a powerful tool and one I would put on my Back to School list of gadgets.

With the Livescribe Smartpen students can now concentrate on what the teacher is saying and don't have to feel the urge to write down and capture every single word. This is truly a relieve for students who for years are sitting in class feeling very anxious about taking notes. The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen can also be married with the Cornell or Landmark note taking strategies which can then be saved and archived on the computer. Creating templates on the dotted paper is easy to do and will provide the students with another level of support and structure that they may need. For students who will be using the Livescribe smartpens in large lecture or conference halls, I would recommend that they use the 3D Recording Premium headset for recording. While the Pulse SmartPen came with the 3D recording headset you will need to purchase this as an accessory for the Echo Smartpen. Having used the Echo Smartpen in a large lecture room with the 3D Recording Headset I have to tell you that it makes a big difference and the sound quality is fantastic.

So with school just around the corner, you should consider sending your child back to the classroom with a Livescribe Smartpen- it will make a world of difference. From a practical standpoint, you should always ask permission before recording the lecture and let your teacher know how you intend to use the recording. With that in mind have a great school year and record notes with confidence with the Livescribe Smartpen!

My Livescribe- Sharing Your Paper Replay Notes

When you install the Livescribe Desktop software, setup an account, and link your Pulse Smartpen you automatically get 250MB of space on your My Livescribe account to upload your paper replay files. Once you have uploaded your files you have ability to share them as you wish. You can keep them private, share them with a friend via an email, or publish them for all to see. I wanted to give you an idea of what it is like once you publish your paper replay on your My Livescribe space. The publishing of the files are all done within the Livescribe Desktop software and is very easy to use. Once you have uploaded a paper replay file you decide how you want to share it and in the window you will see a thumbnail representation of your uploaded notes. You can also download the PDF rendering of the page. What is unique about the thumbnail image is that once you click on the play button you can hear the recorded notes. If you like you can also click on the arrow on the right upper corner to enlarge the paper replay file (see screenshot on the left) and turn on the animate ink feature which highlights the text that is synchronized with the recording. This is a pretty cool feature. I tested the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen out with a high school student today to see how it would work for him. One of the really nice features for the students who may use this technology is that they don't need to worry about capturing every word the teachers says-but can just record key points which later they can review. To listen to the paper replay file click here.

Pulse Smartpen Update

Many of my readers have asked me to post some of the audio recordings from my Pulse Smartpen and I just wanted to let you know that it is in the works. I hope to be to do this by the end of the week. I had the opportunity to use the Pulse Smartpen last week in a large lecture hall and the audio recording using the 3D recording headset was exceptional.The quality is surreal! I hope to be able to share the page and audio very soon.

LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen in Action

It was with great anticipation that my Pulse Smartpen arrived and I had a chance to use it and see just how effective a tool it could be. After using it for two straight days it is surpassing my expectations as far as the quality of the sound that is captured. Using the 3D microphones that plug into the Pulse Smartpen you can get very high quality recordings of the the teacher speaking. The 3D microphones which also serve as ear buds were draped over my shoulders to record the sound. The quality of the recordings is rich with most of the background noise canceled out. It was really amazing to be able to click on the page and hear the audio cue up to the spot on the page almost instantaneously. You should have seen the students when I was using it to record my classroom observation. The desktop software that comes with the Pulse Smartpen allows you to download your digital ink to your computer which can also be played. Your journal pages are all indexed and you can search your pages quickly for any words that you wrote. When the software finds the text it highlights it for you. As the computer plays back your audio it highlights the words that you wrote on the page that were synced to the time that it was said. All in all the Pulse Smartpen worked right out of the box without a hitch and the sound quality of the recording was unbelievable. You have to see and hear it to believe it!

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen Update

A number of my readers have sent me comments about the Livesribe Pulse Smartpen, and I wanted to share this update from Jim Marggraff, CEO who posted this message on the Livescribe Blog today.

3/28 Update from CEO Jim Marggraff

March 28th, 2008

Greetings,

I would like to thank the thousands of readers, writers, bloggers, callers, developers, scribers and buyers for your support and interest in our Pulse smartpen and platform.

We have been overwhelmed with requests for information and preorders for Pulse that have far exceeded our early projections.

As this demand has accelerated in the past month, we have continued working towards our first shipment date of March 31st, and have struggled to determine how to address preorders that far exceed our early production ramp. We noted Amazon’s approach to handling shipment for their high-demand Kindle e-book, and ongoing Wii shortages, and have compared this to our own challenge, as a new company, to address our backlog.

In retrospect, our hiatus in our communication is long overdue. I apologize for this. As I considered posting a blog entry numerous times, new concerns regarding growing demand arose, as well as meeting our growing backlog. Perhaps we were overly cautious in not wanting to send an ambiguous message.

The time for ambiguity is past.

I am delighted to announce that we will begin shipping in limited volume on March 31st, as targeted.

To address our backlog, we will open the Livescribe Store only to our preorder list of customers, enabling you to immediately place a credit card order on Monday. At that time, we will provide you with an estimated shipment date based upon when you first preordered your smartpen. If you are already on our preorder list, look for an email on Monday, March 31st with instructions on how to complete your order.

Thanks again for you patience! We look forward to welcoming you to the Livescribe community.

Best regards,

Jim

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen Update

Everyone is waiting with great anticipation for the release of the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. But with new technology sometimes the date of release needs to be adjusted so that the company can deliver a quality product and user experience. This is the case with the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen. Jim Marggraff, Founder and CEO of Livescribe announced last week that the Pulse Smartpen will be released on March 31st giving the company some more time to make sure that all the pieces are working the way they should. I for one applaud Mr. Marggraff for taking the time to ensure us that our experience with the Smartpen is a positive one. It is often hard when developing a new platform to be able to account for all of the nuances that occur which may set the time table back a little. In any case the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is right around the corner and as much as I would love to test it now, I for one an willing to wait until all of the pieces work the way they are supposed to, right out of the box.

LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen-Language Translation

I have made several posts about the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen and can't wait to get my hands on it. The LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen is a new computing platform with tremendous promise. In the video link you can see the Pulse Smartpen in action as it translates from English to Spanish, English to Mandarin, and English to Arabic. It is really exciting to see the Pulse Smartpen in action. Just think of the power and the application that this computing platform has to offer.

Demo 2008 -Livescribe Pulse Smartpen in Action

Demo 2008 is a unique conference that hosts the latest and greatest technology companies. This year 77 companies from all different markets were invited to demonstrate their latest technology offerrings. At Demo 2008 Ceo Jim Marggraff demonstrated the Livescribe Pulse Pen. I for one am really excited with its potential and thought that you would like to see the live demo.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen to Ship in March

A couple of months ago I reported on the development of the Livescribe pen and its unique features. I just learned that the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen will begin shipping in March and there will be two different versions, a 1 Gigabyte version ($149 dollars) that can store up to 100 hours of audio and a 2 Gigabyte version ($199 dollar) that can store 200 hours of audio. This has the potential to be a great tool for students who have difficulty with note taking. The Pulse pen will include a Getting Started Guide, a Notebook, Docking unit, and Ear buds with built-in microphones. As part of the system students will be able to share their smart notebooks over the web as well as be able to search their notebooks for specific information. I for one am very excited with the platform they are building and the potential for this tool. Watch CEO Jim Marggraff talk about the Livescribe Pulse pen during an interview with a CNET reporter.