My Pen

Several of you have asked about my pen. As I write on special paper, it records what's going on in the room. I can, at any point, tap on where I've written and the audio will play back. It's like a tape recorder with bookmarks. I can put my notes on the computer so they're searchable. You can also buy software that transcribes your notes so you can use them with word processing software, but I'm too cheap to do that. You can share the notes as .pdfs or as a pencast where the audio is also available. You can do this in a secure way by requiring that everyone who will access your pencast create an account with Livescribe, the company that makes the pen. There is also translation software and some cute apps. I can show you the piano app sometime if we're all bored.

I know that a newer version is out now, so I did a little research. My pen, which is functionally identical to the new one of the same storage size (4GB), is now a lot cheaper. It's called the Pulse pen and that link goes to the cheapest price I found. The new version is called the Echo. As I mentioned, it's functionally the same, but it's black and has more standard connectors (standard headphone jack and mini USB, to be precise). There is also a bigger storage size pen available that also has removable storage. It's also an Echo, just 8GB instead of 4. You get 100 hours of recording for every gigabyte of storage, so the smaller pens will most definitely get you through a semester.

You do have to buy special paper. Along with the Echo pens, it's available at Target and Best Buy. There's no benefit to buying the paper at Amazon because it's the same price and you have to pay shipping if you're not a Prime member. Don't forget, you're supposed to list online purchases in your taxes now, so you're not even really getting away with sales tax. I could not find the Pulse pen the last time I went to Target, so I'm sure they're phasing those out.

Let me know if you have questions!