Crave

Shareable Ink is hoping to popularize a camera-in-a-pen that wirelessly transfers text written on paper to a remote database to better track such data as glucose levels.

(Credit: Shareable Ink)

It all started when anesthesiologist Vernon Huang wanted to figure out a better way to streamline his billing. How could he bridge the gap between what's written on paper and what must be entered into an electronic database?

Huang, who's clocked in time as a senior manager for health care markets at Apple, designed the application for a digital pen whose tiny camera embedded right next to the ink cartridge captures every stroke of the written word on film and whose images are uploaded wirelessly and automatically to a remote database.

He knew such an invention has a range of applications well beyond billing, and founded Shareable Ink (headquartered in Newton, Mass., with a branch in San Mateo, Calif.). Medgadget caught up with Huang at TedMed and posted a shaky but informative demonstration:

There is, of course, competition. ... Read more

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.

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.

(Credit: Wow-Pen)

With all the digital pens that are coming to market these days, one might ask whether the world needs yet another smart writing instrument. But unlike some of its competitors, Wow-Pen has a bit of experience on the subject.

Almost exactly a year ago, the Korean company came out with its "Traveler" version, which was really a mouse with an ergonomic design that could be handled like a pen. Now it's releasing its "Digi" model, which also reads and stores what you write through a wireless USB receiver. It can toggle back and forth from pen to mouse function "with the click of a button," according to I4U News.

Something like this isn't for everyone but, as far as multi-functional pens are concerned, it certainly has more practical uses than most.

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."

For decades, tech companies have been trying to create a digital pen that appeals to the masses. But after years of effort, the world isn't exactly overrun with high-tech quills.

A new crop of companies, however, say it's too soon to write off the idea.

This week, Irvine, Calif.-based Iogear announced plans for a digital pen that can work with standard paper. Last month, educational computer maker LeapFrog introduced the FlyFusion, its second go at the digital pen. And later this year, Silicon Valley start-up LiveScribe plans to introduce a $200 device that can not only take digital notes, but also synchronize them with an audio recording.

The latest bunch are a far cry from the earliest attempts to add a brain to the standard Bic. But the question remains: Will these new devices be more than a curiosity? Or will they, like their predecessors, find themselves quickly relegated to the back of desk drawers or spend their days as expensive paperweights?

The quest for a digital pen people actually want has lived alongside another perennial tech pursuit--getting people to navigate traditional computers using the pen as an input device. While Microsoft has managed to create a few converts with its Tablet PC and many graphic designers use pen tablets for their work, the overwhelming majority of people still do their hunting and pecking via the venerable keyboard.

As for the standalone digital pen, it has been around, in its modern incarnation, since Sweden's Anoto developed a special kind of paper that allows a pen with a built-in camera to easily track itself.

Logitech has been using that approach since 2002, when it introduced the Io digital pen. It has since added handwriting recognition and Bluetooth wireless abilities.

Still, it has yet to really take off. "It's a small part of our business," said Logitech spokeswoman Nancy Morrison.

The allure of such devices is undeniable. The idea of a pen, only better, inherently sounds good. However, there have always been significant trade-offs.

That's still true with the latest crop. Both the FlyFusion and LiveScribe devices require special paper.

Brian Wells, the senior product marketing manager for Iogear, said digital pens have always required special paper, special pens or both. The benefit of the company's $99 Digital Scribe, he said, is that it can work with any pen and write anywhere. "Any paper, a sheet of paper, a sticky note, masking tape," Wells said. "Heck, you could probably attach it to the top of a wall."

Iogear's pen, however, must be connected to a computer while the notes are being taken. That's a big drawback, because most people who have their computer with them might just use that to take notes. (Iogear hopes to eventually add an untethered version.)

Wells said there is still a big market, such as college students in classes where they need to take down more than text, things like diagrams that can best be done with a pen and paper.

LiveScribe agrees, but takes the notion a step further. One of its big selling points is that it can record audio and then synchronize it with the handwritten notes. Microsoft offers a similar feature for computer-based notetakers that use its OneNote application, though the LiveScribe pen offers the benefit of being able to work without being tethered to a PC.

The device is expected to cost less than $200 and make its debut before year's end, the company said when it first discussed the product at the D: All Things Digital conference in May. LiveScribe declined to provide an update or comment for this article.

LeapFrog, meanwhile, introduced its $79 FlyFusion at the end of July. The device is a sequel to Leapfrog's first Fly. The last generation was a standalone device that used specially coded paper to enable youngsters to draw a calculator and then add up some numbers or draw a piano and then play music.

The new pen is cheaper, $79 versus $99, and about 25 percent smaller than its predecessor. "It really looked and felt like a toy," senior brand manager Chad Weiner said of the first Fly. Still, Weiner said, the original "sold surprisingly well," though he would not give specific sales figures.

This time around, Iogear is aiming at slightly older youths, adding the ability to take digital notes and then connect them back to a Windows PC, where they can be either saved or e-mailed as images, or converted to text (with the results varying widely based on the penmanship of the author).

For Iogear's Wells, the digital pen has been a labor of love. He's tried out devices since 1992, when he got his first one after graduating high school. That first model, which he took with him to Cypress College in Southern California, cost $300, required special paper and was tethered to a big plastic piece that sat under the paper.

Over time, though, the technology has improved. Wells said Iogear connected a couple years back with a chipmaker that had the technology that would work with any ink or paper.

"We thought it was about time," he said. "We thought we can really make a run now."

One thing all the new products have going for them is that they come at a time where Windows' support for digital ink has never been better. With Windows XP, only the stylus-based Tablet PC edition really supported pen input. With Windows Vista, though, the operating system supports more kinds of ink, including that from tablets like those from Wacom, as well as things like Iogear's Digital Scribe.

"Everything just kind of fell together," Wells said.