You can now draw virtual lines on your computer screen at the same time as you scribble them on paper.
A new smartpen app called Paper Tablet gives the Livescribe Echo smartpen some of the functionality of a dedicated graphics tablet, letting you write on the computer screen in real time and add manuscript text to files already on your computer.
“The essence of our business is the capture, access and sharing of written and spoken information,” Livescribe CEO Jim Marggraff told Gadget Lab. “We happen to have this tool in the form of a pen, but it’s really about capture, access and sharing.”
via Smartpen App Makes Paper as Mighty as the Mouse | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.
In addition to creating freehand notes, the app allows for marking up MSFT Office docs and saving them (in Windows, Mac functionality is limited). The Echo can also record up to 800 hours of classroom audio, making it a great way to record lectures while taking notes. The notes can be exported to PDF, the audio to MP3, making the device quite versatile. Wired recently wrote a lengthy review indicating the pen works especially well for journalists and students.
It would be interesting to see how useful it would be in the law school classroom.
The Livescribe 4 GB Echo Smartpen
