The Pen Finally Goes Digital

The lowly pen, a staple for any student, has finally been upgraded for the 21st century. The Livescribe Pulse pen is a lightweight, user-friendly, feature-packed gadget that will change the way anyone takes notes.

Walk into a classroom or lecture hall and the general premise hasn’t changed in decades, if not a century: someone is presenting material at the front, either writing on a chalkboard, using transparencies or clicking through PowerPoint; on the receiving end, students are writing it all down or typing it into a laptop/tablet.

While some professors are now going digital, with lectures posted on iTunes, Facebook study groups and online interactive discussions, the need to write down information and take notes will remain for the foreseeable future. That doesn’t mean it has to be a monotonous, static endeavour.

As someone who only recently finished a long stint in academia and a gadget fiend, I have watched, tested and rejected many different methodologies that attempted to make note-taking a more efficient process. Each had its inherent flaws and shortcomings: whether it was size/portability, price, or ease-of-use, they all missed the mark by varying amounts.

It was only recently that technology had evolved to the point where it was small & powerful enough to be encapsulated in a gadget that could dramatically change the way information is received and processed.

The Livescribe “Pulse” digital pen combines digitized note-taking with audio recording. The combination of these two functions is already a step forward but it is the Pulse’s ability to associate the recordings to the notes being written that completely changes the game. Tapping the written notes with the Pulse pen replays the audio from the exact moment the notes were being written. For the auditory learners, they can now just jot down key points, later tapping their notes with the Pulse pen for playback of the recording made at that moment and onward. For the rote note-takers, the recordings provide a way to catch up on missed information or more accurately transcribe it with variable-speed playback.

The intelligent pen also has a few other tricks up its sleeve: draw a piano, tap the keys and it’ll play musical notes; write out the numbers and symbols for a calculator and it’ll do simple arithmetic, displaying the results on its built-in screen. A soon-to-be opened applications store promises even more functionality and features.

The pen allows students, reporters and other users that routinely transcribe notes to continue doing what they already know while using a device that resembles, feels and acts like a regular writing instrument. The Pulse pen works well and is intuitive because it’s something that everyone already knows and is familiar with yet enhances the simple act of writing through the seamless meshing of audio recording. Unlike previous digital pens, also gone are the days of having to buy special paper (though their notepads are of very high quality and very competitively priced) as you can now print it on any capable printer (minimum resolution requirements).

[On a side note, different schools & professors have varying policies towards being recorded; check with them first. You should also inform anyone you're working with if you intend to record your conversations.]

The Pulse pen was recently upgraded from 2GB of internal storage to 4GB, providing more room for recordings and applications. As a former student, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s cheaper, lighter & easier to use than a tablet and allows you to more efficiently do something you’re already intimately familiar with.

While there is no official Canadian distributor yet, Smart Pen Central, based in Quebec and is currently importing them. Grab one today!

Filed Under: Hardware & Gadgets > Lifestyle > Peripherals > Portable Electronics
Tags: audio recording, digital notes, digital pen, OCR, transcribing, writing