Beyond Binary

The Livescribe app store, now in beta, allows users to download applications to their pen ranging from inexpensive games to a pricey--but handy--Bar Mitzvah tutor.

(Credit: Livescribe)

It took a little bit longer than the company had hoped, but the Livescribe digital pen now has its own app store.

The store, which requires pen owners to upgrade their desktop software to the new version 2.0, offers a mixed bag of new applications that range from free programs to one that costs $99.

The programs, which all work without a computer, include games like video poker and hangman, along with utilities like a Spanish-English dictionary. The one that caught my eye the most was the priciest app--the $99 Magic Yad application, which works to help those studying for their bar or bat mitzvah.

The Magic Yad (which gets its name from the Hebrew term for the pointer used to keep one's place in the Torah) consists of Torah and haftarah portions printed on the special dot paper. When an aspiring Hebrew learner clicks on a particular word, they can hear how it is supposed to be chanted. They can also record themselves reading the same part and compare the two.

Typically, learning one's bar or bat mitzvah portion requires hours with a tutor.

"This solves an expensive pain point for parents," Livescribe senior director Eric Petitt said in an interview last week.

While the Magic Yad might be a killer app for the 12-year-old Jewish set, most of the other applications are largely fun add-ons, but not the kind of thing that might make one rush out and by the pen. It's main attraction is still the "paper replay" feature that lets one record audio and synchronize the audio with their handwritten notes.

The games are interesting, if not all that advanced. Drawing five circles on the dot paper lets one play video poker and choose which cards to keep. The cards themselves appear on the pen's small LCD screen. To play hangman, one simply writes the letters they wish to guess. They then see on the screen whether they have gotten closer to solving the puzzle or if they just added an appendage to their hangman. And, as only fitting, there is also a dots game. (Livescribe uses special paper with tiny dots that allow the ink to be digitized properly),

Livescribe started shipping the Pulse pen last spring. It has since added Mac support and expanded the number of models it offers as well as the places it can be found, which now include Best Buy and some Apple stores.

As for the app store, it's in beta. For now, Livescribe envisions a revenue split where it takes a 35 percent cut and the developer gets 65 percnet, although it is still finalizing its terms.

Here's a video I did showing some of the new apps in action.

The new 4GB pen looks much like this older version, and comes in black or silver.

(Credit: Jared Kohler/CNET)

Livescribe said that it is adding a higher-capacity 4GB model to its lineup of Pulse lecture-recording digital pens.

The 4GB Pulse, which can hold 400 hours of audio, will have a suggested retail price of $199. The 2GB model has dropped to $169, a price Livescribe has recently been promoting on its Web site.

Livescribe added Mac support in November and recently released a software update that also makes its pens compatible with Windows 7. The company said it plans to add an application store for the Pulse later this year.

The company is also expanding the number of places where folks can buy the pens. In addition to current sellers such as Target and Amazon.com, Livescribe will start selling the pulse at Best Buy, select Apple stores and, starting in November, at Staples.

"We know Pulse will excite shoppers and are thrilled to have broadened not only our product line, but also our retail distribution to reach people wherever they shop for electronics," Chief Marketing Officer Byron Connell said in a statement.

Here's a video interview I did last year with CEO Jim Marggraff.

Following through on several of its promises, digital-pen maker Livescribe this week is announcing a Mac version of its desktop software, handwriting recognition software, as well as the ability for digital-pen owners to print special "dot paper" using their own printer.

Mac support was tops on the list of feature requests, CEO Jim Marggraff said at a recent press event, while the ability to convert handwriting to text was the No. 2 most-requested feature. The digital pen had required 32-bit versions of Windows XP or Windows Vista, although it is adding 64-bit Windows support, along with the Mac option.

Meanwhile the ability to print one's own paper could help assuage some of the cost concerns around a pen that costs $150 and also has required comparatively pricey custom notebooks.

That said, there are some limitations with each of these new features. The Mac software is still in beta, the handwriting recognition software comes from a third-party and costs $29, while the print-your-own-paper option requires a color PostScript laser printer. The handwriting recognition software and print-your-own paper options are Windows only for now, with plans to add them to the Mac version in the first quarter of next year, when the Mac product goes final.

Oakland, Calif.-based Livescribe hasn't released any sales figures, but the company has been featured prominently at Target stores nationwide and recently expanded sales to include Costco. Also, Marggraff noted that the company recently sent a survey to 10,000 of its users, which he said represent a fraction of its total users. (No word on whether that fraction is more like one-thirtieth or two-thirds.)

One of the big concerns for gadget makers these days is whether their products will be seen as frivolous luxuries in these tough economic times. Marggraff said that his hope is that it will still seem like a bargain to college students looking for a way to capture their lectures.

Livescribe's big advantage over digital pens of the past is its ability to synchronize its ink captures with audio recordings, enabling users to click the pen on a specific part of their notes and hear the audio from that point.

UC Berkeley student Kenji Kurita has had a Livescribe pen since July and found it extremely handy for taking notes in his science classes. It allowed him to focus on diagrams and to not have to catch every word the professor was saying, knowing he could go back to the audio.

Kurita became such a devotee that he's now one of three dozen "campus scribes" paid by Livescribe to evangelize the product at their school. Kurita has also become popular with his classmates since he posts digital copies of his class notes on the Internet.

Livescribe's Pulse can record notes from a meeting in ink and sound, as well as perform other tasks, such as translating a handwritten word from English to Spanish.

(Credit: Jared Kohler/CNET News)

It's not my beat, but digital pens are a bit of a pet interest of mine, so I like to try and keep you up-to-date on them when I get a chance.

In that vein, I thought I would let you know that Adapx, which specializes in writing software that ties digital pens to other applications, announced its latest product--one that combines the digital pen with Excel. The result is that forms can be filled out in ink and paper, but the data is captured electronically. It made the announcement at this week's Demo show in San Diego.

Seattle-based Adapx already has a product that ties in with Microsoft's OneNote. The company is one of a host of firms that are trying to make a go of digital-pen products.

One that I have spent some time with firsthand is LiveScribe's Pulse digital pen. The big thing this start-up adds to the mix is the combination of audio and ink. That makes it particularly handy for note taking.

The audio notes can be played back on a PC, but they can also be played straight from the pen. By clicking various points in one's notes, you go straight to that part of the audio. That makes it especially handy for students or journalists.

I've been playing around with it for a while now. I've been meaning to get around to a full-on review. In lieu of that (at least for now), I will just say that I find it very useful. It should get even more useful later this year, when Livescribe launches a Mac version of its desktop software and enables users to print on the special "dot" paper at home, rather than having to buy notebooks from Livescribe.

After some initial sluggishness getting to market, Livescribe has been getting particularly good play at Target. I've spotted nice displays in the stores, and it's also been featured in several weekly circulars. Livescribe won't give sales figures, but it says it continues to exceed Target's weekly forecasts. The Pulse has also been available for sale on Amazon.com since July and is in several college bookstores.

Livescribe's Pulse can record notes from a meeting in both ink and sound, as well as perform other tasks, such as translating a handwritten word from English to Spanish.

(Credit: Jared Kohler/ CNET News.com)

Updated 4:15 p.m. with details on availability from a Livescribe e-mail.

Livescribe plans to start shipping the first preorders for its digital pen on Monday, narrowly hitting the company's already delayed target of shipping this month.

In a blog posting on Friday, CEO Jim Marggraff said the company has been "overwhelmed" by the number of preorders. The company's flagship device, the Pulse, combines a digital pen with synchronized audio notes and sells in two models. The 1GB device sells for $149, while the 2GB variety is $199.

Started by former Palm and LeapFrog executives, Livescribe garnered significant attention last May when it announced plans for its pen at the D: All Things Digital conference. However, the company was forced to delay its initial plan, which was to have the pen on the market for last year's holiday shopping season.

"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," Marggraff said. "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."

However, since the company didn't ask for credit card information--and some of the preorders were made before the company announced pricing and specifications--it really won't know just how many customers it has until it starts taking actual orders Monday.

The company says that it will be shipping in "limited volume" and that those who have preordered will get an estimated ship date before having to hand over their credit card information.

"In retrospect, our hiatus in our communication is long overdue," Marggraff said. "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."

The company said those who have placed a preorder will be notified on Monday. I signed up for a preorder and haven't received an e-mail yet, but will update this once I do.

Update: I just got an e-mail from Livescribe saying I could order my pen. You can see the text of the e-mail here.

"We're ramping up our production to get you a Pulse smartpen as quickly as possible, and anticipate fulfilling the entire backlog of preorders by the end of May," Livescribe said in the e-mail. When I went to order, it told me that "Based on your position in our preorder list, your order should be available to ship within 4 to 6 weeks." (Did anyone get offered a sooner ship date?)

Also of note, Livescribe's e-mail said that, for now, the Pulse only works with XP SP2 or Vista SP1, nor can it run on a Mac that is using Parallels or VMware to run Windows.

It may not be quite as rapid as the company had hoped, but Livescribe is ready to show the world its Pulse.

The digital pen company showed off a prototype of its technology at last year's D: All Things Digital conference, but missed its goal of shipping by year's end.

And although Livescribe is unveiling more details on the product at the Demo trade show in Palm Springs on Monday, it won't actually be shipping the product until March.

But a demo last week from CEO Jim Marggraff shows that the pen has a lot of interesting uses for those who take a lot of handwritten notes, particularly folks like college students and, yes, reporters.

Unlike other digital pens that share the same core technology from Sweden's Anoto, the Pulse is a computer in its own right, capable of recording audio and synchronizing the recording with handwritten notes. Those notes can be then played back from the notebook, with the sound linked to the corresponding notes. Recordings can be played at normal speed, as well as slowed down or sped up. The pen requires what's known as "dot paper," standard paper printed with tiny dots that help the pen understand its position on the page.

The company has also come up with a neat way for people to record audio in noisy places. In such locales, our brain uses the differences between what comes in our left and right ears to help filter the sound we want to hear from all the other noises coming into our head.

The company has a set of earbuds that record sound. As a result, the recorded sound can be processed in much the same way.

Like LeapFrog's Fly Fusion, the Livescribe pen can also perform tasks such as language translation and act as a calculator. Marggraff was at LeapFrog before leaving to start his own digital pen company.

Video: Pulse
smart pen
Livescribe aims
to rewrite
computing history.

As for the pen, it's using an ARM-9 processor and comes with either 1GB or 2GB of memory, enough to store 100 or 200 hours of audio, Marggraff said. The high-end version sells for $199, while the one with less memory carries a $149 price tag.

The pen initially can be synchronized only with Windows PCs (XP and Vista), though the company plans Mac support for the second half of the year and promises some interesting developments once it does have Apple compatibility.

Livescribe has also offered up a few other interesting details. In addition to selling notebooks for less than $5 apiece, the company plans in April to start letting Pulse owners print their own dot paper from laser (and some inkjet) printers. Livescribe also has its own Web site where Pulse owners will be able to share their notes and recordings with friends, as well as an application to share them on Facebook.

The start-up also is trying to make its pen an open platform, allowing developers to write their own programs for the Pulse using a development kit based on Java and Eclipse.

Despite its many new abilities, it remains to be seen whether this pen is indeed mightier. Livescribe faces a significant, though not necessarily insurmountable, challenge of trying to create a mass market success where others have found niche success at best.

Livescribe said Thursday that it will launch its digital pen at January's Demo trade show, with plans to ship the product "soon after."

The company, which unveiled its digital pen plans in May, had hoped to ship the product for this holiday season, but was forced to delay its plans, as first noted by CNET News.com back in August.

A prototype seen earlier this year

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Livescribe is one of a handful of companies hoping there is still some ink in the well when it comes to the notion of pen computing.

Hoping to keep the buzz going until the product itself is ready, the company launched a new blog, posted additional technical details and kicked off a contest in which it is giving away two of its devices a day, with the promise that winners will get their pen before the product is generally available.

It also started taking "pre-orders" on the site, although the company still hasn't revealed exact pricing, so "pre-ordering" is merely offering up you name, e-mail and how many pens you are interested in purchasing. You'll get a note back thanking you for your interest.

"When it gets closer to the ship date, we will provide more details and contact you at at this e-mail address...to take credit card information for early delivery," according to the e-mail I received. Livescribe reiterated on its site that the pen will sell for "under $200."