What’s Next: The Pulse smartpen

Leapfrog has had a big hit with its popular “Fly Fusion” pen. Well, it looks like the next step in smart pen technology is coming. It’s called the Pulse smartpen and it’s the creation of a former member of the Leapfrog team named Jim Marggraff. 

A New York Times article, “Gadget Fanatics, take note” says the name of the company producing the Pulse smartpen is LiveScribe. For those unfamiliar with how the “Fly Fusion” pen works, the article describes it this way:  “…[Y]ou write on special paper that’s been printed with millions of nearly invisible microdots. By watching those dots, a tiny camera in the pen tip learns its position and a microchip converts your pen strokes into digital ink. Such pens can transfer the results to a PC and do basic handwriting recognition."

The Pulse, however, does all that but also has the power “…to record audio while you write. Later, if you tap a written word, the pen plays back the audio it recorded at that moment. (Or, rather, what it heard five seconds before you started writing, to compensate for your reaction time.)”

It is described as being about the size of a Sharpie pen with a camera, microphone and (I’m not kidding) a speaker. It also has a screen that displays messages. Oh yes, and as the article points out, it’s also a pen. 

It should be great for kids, students or anyone else (maybe even a blogger) who want to take notes and record someone speaking at the same time.