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.

The Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch

(Credit: Wacom)

Wacom's pressure-sensitive tablets have already been pretty great at what they do, but they've added a simple and appreciated wrinkle for Windows 7 and Mac OSX multitouch addicts: their new pads now double as giant multitouch pads, too.

Available in a range of sizes and functions, Wacom's Bamboo lineup has pads that are touch-only, as well as touch/pen combo pads. In our opinion, the combo is really the only way to go--Wacom's wireless pressure-sensitive pen is worth the tiny bit of extra investment, and is nearly good enough to drive would-be artists right over the edge into art dabbling themselves.

The larger Bamboo Fun ($199)

(Credit: Wacom)

$69 will get you either a small black Touch pad or a small black Pen pad, but the Pen & Touch combo costs $99. A silver-colored Bamboo Craft edition comes with extra software bundles for crafting and scrapbooking. Meanwhile, at the top end of the line, the $199 Bamboo Fun is larger and has more room for its pen/touch interface. The silver Bamboo editions include Corel Essentials 4 as well as Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 WE3 and Photoshop Elements 7, while the lower-cost pads include various combinations of one or two of these programs.

Read our review of the Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch.

(Credit: Spyderco)

Even if they are banned in your country, you've probably seen a balisong (butterfly knife) brandished in some movie or other. Such scenes usually show a villain deftly waving such a knife centimeters away from someone's face in threatening manner. If you want to learn how to do that and not get arrested by your local police, the BaliYo from Spyderco could be for you.

This product is essentially a pen shaped like a balisong. Where you'd usually expect a blade is a Fisher Space pen, the writing instrument famously used in space since the 1960s and capable of operating in freezing conditions and even underwater.

With this, instead of doing pen-twirling tricks during classes, you will be (with some practice, of course) able to execute some crazy moves like those movie villains. Spyderco even provides an instructional DVD to get you started out with some tricks. Check out the videos on the official Web site for more details.

(Via Crave Asia)

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.

(Credit: Akihabara News)

No sooner did we post an item about an ill-advised promotional tchotchke that another one has popped up on the radar. But unlike the previous gadget, this one isn't of dubious value because of anachronistic timing; rather, it would be questionable no matter when it came out.

The reason: It's a paper clip dispenser. Not that we have anything against paper clips, mind you, but we can't exactly see the point of a dispenser that's also a pen holder with USB ports.

Hong Kong-based Earth Trek is trying to cast this in the best possible light, referring to it as a "3-in-1 stationery item" available in five colors. But if they're going to take this tack, the least they can do is provide a place to keep one's beer.

(Credit: Crave Asia)

The iPhone may be getting Chinese handwriting recognition, but that doesn't mean it's done yet. Diotek, a mobile software company based in Korea, has announced the development of its DioPen--a handwriting software for the iPhone. According to ZDNet Korea, the DioPen can recognize Korean, Chinese, and English letters and digits written in cursive, print, or both. It works on the iPhone's touch screen, as well as displays on other handsets. No word on when it'll be available.

(Credit: Brando)

From its weird name to bizarre product lineup, we've always been fascinated by Hong Kong-based Brando. It has, after all, been single-handedly responsible for giving us everything from lip phones and mosquito repellants to mouse massagers and aromatherapy speakers.

But every once in a long while, it comes up with something we'd actually consider buying. And this is one of the exceptions: an LED message pen. We have no idea why--it's not as if we need one to advertise our business or anything, though it would be pretty nifty to have one that lit up with "Crave."

Maybe it's just the notion that we could change our personal message at will, kind of like an LED mood ring, to let everyone around us know if they should keep their distance. The message is limited to 20 characters but, if it's a particularly bad day, that should be more than enough.