Livescribe's Pulse smartpen app store now ready for hot 96 x 18 pixel action (video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted November 19th 2009 6:09AM
posted November 19th 2009 6:09AM
posted November 19th 2009 6:09AM
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Will this pen really make you smart?
I wonder how hardcore their app approval process will be :p
If you are using this pen, chances are you will never lose it!
(Is that image original or did you guys chop it?)
Somehow, I think I shan't ever hear about this pen ever again.
@herbaceous border patrol
agreed
probably a gimmick
That hangman idea is awesome.
If that's Hebrew being written there, they seem to be scripting it backwards...
@Josh
Thank you. That was my first thought also.
Because Hebrew written left to right is
.left to right written is English as read to difficult as about
I will answer the question on the picture.
It is when Livescribe open up an appstore.
no office or one note integration -- full fail.
Poke fun all you want. I have one of these. Its pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the pen store, though.
I'm in a graduate computer program, and I did download the sdk, so I think the developer/owner ratio is about right (although I'm not planning on developing anything).
@Kevin Galligan
I've downloaded the SDK too, but I am not planning to develop anything, I was just wondering what the technology looks like.
It makes you register before downloading, so I wonder how many of those registered developers are actually developing anything.
people use pens?
I agree with those who also own this pen and love it. I have never heard a single person mock it. Instead, people ask me about it and are amazed at what it can do. I work on the web and, trust me, writing is never going away. In fact, it is WAY easier to review my notes on paper than on a computer.
Wow, a $200 pen, that's one tough thing to market.
allow me to use it on regular paper and we'll talk
@matthew W.
Im waiting on < a href=" http://www.pegatech.com/">Pegasus pens which don't need the funny paper but do still have dongles to do the capture.
Im not sure if this is the same thing though in the USA IrisPen
allow me to use this on regular paper and we'll talk.
@matthew W.
I don't own this pen...yet...
Ever since the company made it possible to print off your own paper with a regular printer that is compatible with their syncing technology, the practicality of the device has increased a lot. Being someone that attends hundred of meetings a year and takes hundreds of pages of notes, the concept is solid for a business professional. Probably more so than for a student because I've heard that students using the pen must sit within around 12 feet of the instructor for the audio to be audible in any way. University students sitting in the back row might not get as much out of it. (Just sit in the front row, right? Then you've never had Mr. Spits-While-Speaking or Dr. I-Only-Call-On-The-Front-Row as your professor. Plus if you make the assumption that at some point everyone in a class would use them, then someone has to be in the back row.)
If it works as reported, this is a great option for digital note taking that is vastly cheaper than buying laptops or tablets for employees.
Is this the same pen and paper set that's you draw a piano and then play it? Used one before if so and no doubt impressive but meh..
Do you have some reason to crap all over the product in your feature?
Im all for riping products and companies to pieces when they have a lame product or service but it seems to me that the pen is pretty cool and quite useful for some. Does it have some egregiously horrible design or lack of function that causes you to slander it's image and 'imply' that it's a failed product as far as user base is concered (which could negativly impact future sales some potential customers might be swayed against getting one due to the impression that you create that it is not poppular, there fore creating a worry that the product/company might fold and have no further support for it: which, in some courts could see you with a ruling against you for groundless defamation of product).
I don't work for them and i dont even have a smartpen. I just don't like the media crapping all over a perfectly good product.
From their forums home: Threads: 2,402, Posts: 11,125, Members: 8,861, Active Members: 441
The forum members count is shared between developers and support forums, so it figures they have about 3300 non-developer users. Even more amazing ratio, must be a super robust environment :D
So every single customer logs on and gets involved in the forums?
So Engadget only has couple of hundred readers?
If you are looking for video demonstrations, reviews and information on Livescribe smartpen applications, check out http://smartpenapps.com. The beta app store opened mid-November 2009.
One downfall that I see already... I bought this pen second hand, tried to register it, and it said pen already registered to another user. It doesn't just automatically let you re-register the pen. In a help section on their Livescribe desk app, it says that the former owner must e-mail them to deactivate their e-mail address from the pen. Unfortunately, I don't know the person I bought it from personally and didn't keep their contact info. I have contacted customer service and hope they can straighten things out for me. If not, the pen is useless and I just lost $100.
It's fascinating, the way we'll bash what we haven't used. I took a flyer on one of these things two months ago, and it has been a game-changer. I'm still slack-jawed that there's no integration to OneNote or EverNote, but hope they'll get around to that rather than the silly stuff hyped above.