Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen (APA-00002)

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by: Jan (United States)
on: Saturday, 18-September-2010

Recieved package in excellent condition.
Product Livescrive 2GB+ cradle, Getting Started Guide, and Tips & Tricks.
Upload via Pencast.
Download games, utilities,and so much more.
Free 500MB space to share and store content.
Features: headset jack
built in microphone
infrared camera
speaker
display
USB connector
*laser printer can make own dot paper
*color laser printer PostScript comatible 600 dpi or higher
Tip: Print in Actual Size

I strongly reccomend purchasing from this seller. Fast and effecient. If, you buy somewhere else you are throwing your money away.

by: John P. Wright (Seattle)
on: Wednesday, 14-July-2010

I first saw the product used about 9 months ago. Fabulous potential and concept, and I was able to make several audio/video recordings of my text. Then it stopped working after only a few uses and was no longer able to download the audio with the writing. After a few calls and emails (about 5 back and forth) and my asking for a replacement or return they finally escalated my issue to a higher level of tech support. It took about an hour the next day but they eventually got it working again.

In the midst of my initial frustration with it not working my initial feedback above was 1 star, but I raised it to 3 stars as eventually tech support helped. Since then a couple times it has locked up and stopped playing the audio - Ive had to restart my computer so I think theres still some software issues with it. (I have a supercharged fairly new computer so its not that, and Ive had no computer problems except for this) Maybe future upgrades of the software will account for the current intermittent bugginess.

There are several really cool features and when it works this is great. IF it keeps working and finally has the bugs gone then it will be well worth having both for classes I take and for my own teaching. My strong suggestion to anybody who buys it and has problems and starts going in circles with tech support is to ask for your case to be escalated to a higher level of tech support ASAP.

If you think this is necessary for your needs right now then go ahead, but be prepared to ask for help ASAP. If you think its cool but are not truly needing the product heavily for now, and/or if you are a bit impatient with technology, you may want to wait for a future upgrade. If youre patient and recognize cutting edge tech doesnt always quite work then this can work great and be worth the risk of having some headaches.

by: John Doh (Switzerland)
on: Monday, 17-May-2010

Watch Video Here: http://www.your site/review/R2GLG07YXYIXVX The smartpen also has its app-store. Here is the Swissknife app (winner of productivity category), its pretty amazing. I love the multi-stopwatch!

This SwissKnife app really addd features to the pen, and more plug-ins are to come! as you can see on the authors website survey: Type nodewave swissknife in google to find it (your site does not allow to post links...)

by: Barbara M. Avery (Florida, USA)
on: Saturday, 30-January-2010

I like this product, which I have used for almost a year. I bought one for my son for Christmas for his job. It is everything it is supposed ot be and more. I have used it in large auditoriums and in small conference rooms. The audio is awesome, and working with the desktop application is great. If you need to keep notes on your job or your hobbies. I hightly recommend this.

by: Kadi (Concord, CA)
on: Friday, 4-December-2009

For [...] bucks I would expect that I could delete specific pages (blank ones) cramping up my desktop, but you cant & when contacting customer service, there slow to respond just to tell you what you already know. Its not easy to organize your work since it is done in notebooks not allowing you to file pages & with the cost of these notebooks, I just use the same notebook for the semester (but cant sort out my classes w/o having to do a topic search)I love the idea, but I wish the company would get better w/customer service & create a better way to file your pages. Also its hard for others to access my class notes unless they download the desktop. Why isnt there a website they can go to?

by: Scott A. Nickerson (Manito, IL United States)
on: Thursday, 3-December-2009

I have nothing but great things to say about the pen. It does so much more than I expected, and suits my situation perfectly. I am in business, and I use it for everything. I use the flip pads for taking notes throughout the day. I never again have to worry about losing the notebook. It makes quick notes easier because you can use the audio recorder for details that would take too long to write out. Just start recording and jot some key words while you are talking.

I use the spiral bound notebooks for meetings. I love being able to take notes, then load them on the computer (which takes about 10 seconds). Then just a couple key strokes in the software saves them as a pdf.

I had a minor issue with the software, and was AMAZED to be able to talk to a very knowledgeable customer service rep after waiting on hold for less than a minute. This company is serious about customer service!

by: Lexi NJ (NJ)
on: Monday, 30-November-2009

I bought this to record 3 days of important lectures (I wanted to be able to listen to them again). Even in a big room, the sound quality was great...beyond my expectations. It was easy to download the lectures to my computer. I was even able to keep the pen in my purse and it still picked up the lectures very well. I have not utilized the note-taking features very much yet, but it seems like it could be useful and it appeared to work well too. The battery life and memory was more than enough to record for 8 hrs a day with no re-charging needed.

by: M. Zayn (Jeddah, KSA)
on: Friday, 20-November-2009

Its an amzing pen. It helped me out with my studies . I liked so much .. WOW

by: Jim Martin (Dallas, TX)
on: Monday, 16-November-2009

Im using this in my college classes and couldnt be happier. Sure, there are a few areas it could improve, but I was very impressed with how well it recorded my lectures. Give it a shot, Im sure it will help you in class.

by: Nobuhiro Takeuchi (Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Japan)
on: Saturday, 14-November-2009

(sorry, only Japanese)
Livescribe-sha no kono smartpen wa, masani super-pen desu. Nihon dewa, pomera ga issei-wo fuubi site imasu ga, kono pen ga toujou sureba, analog to digital no yuugo sita kono pen wa, dairyukou suruni chigai arimasen.
Watashi wa, omoni kenkyu-kai, kouenkai, seminar nadono noto wo torutokini riyo siteimasu.
Koremade wa noto wo mitemo, omoidase-nakattari, vice-recorder no kikitai-bubun wo sagasunoni kurou-sitari to itta keiken ga ookattanodesuga, kono smartpen to dotpaper wo riyou sitekarawa, son-na fuben kara kaihousaremasita.
Livescribe desktop mo hijouni benri desu.
4GB mo hatsubai sareta node, koware-tara sotira wo kounyu suru tumori desu.
Nihon deno hatsubai ga mataremasu.

by: Paul Park (United States)
on: Sunday, 8-November-2009

HERE IS 5% COUPON CODE 100 % SUCCESS RATE, I just used it last night, I hope other ppl can benefit from it:

LS05DSC651 - thatz a zero not an alphabet O absolutely love this pen, saves me a bunch of time when Im studying for any of my tests, and my profs love it too!

by: Claire M. Cody (Manhattan, KS)
on: Friday, 23-October-2009

Im a college student and this is the best thing anyone ever could have given me! Its so easy to fall asleep in class sometimes... but with my pen I have the lectures recorded and linked to my scribbled notes so I can tell what the professor was actually saying. Also, its really handy to share notes with classmates through email/Facebook. You should definitely get one :)

by: Jagadeesh K. Venugopal (United States)
on: Tuesday, 20-October-2009

The Pulse Smartpen is a little contraption that writes on special paper and does two things ordinary pens cant... it captures handwriting digitally, and optionally, captures an audio recording that is synchronized with the writing.

The desktop software is stable, but very poor in features. For example, it does not (as of October 09) allow for deleting pages. Neither does it allow copy and paste of sections of a page. It does not allow the user to copy some of their books or pages on to a thumb drive (e.g. to keep their personal and professional notes separate).

Poor desktop software notwithstanding. the Pulse smartpen is a brilliant idea that will appeal to a whole class of users in business and education, provided that some issues are addressed.


The first issue I can perceive is the legality of recording a conversation and peoples comfort with their voices being recorded. This being a state subject, different states have different laws regarding this. The state where I work (Rhode Island) appears to allow it, provided that people have no reasonable expectation of privacy when the recording is being made (e.g. in a business meeting). The state where I live (Massachusetts) forbids this, unless all parties agree to the recording being made. Additionally, people are sensitive about their words being recorded, and may not give their approval for such recording.

If both these objections are overcome, (say by far thinking managers, who make it OK to use the smartpen in meetings for their department), the pen is an excellent business tool that kicks corporate notetaking and minuteing a few notches higher.

A second issue is that the smartpen can only work with specially printed paper. The software uses a minute grid of dots to help it discern the position of the pen on the page. Livescribe sells notebooks with this special dot pattern (dot-paper) for a reasonable price (good paper quality, not that much more expensive than generic notebooks). Livescribe also provides a way for users to print letter-sized smartpaper by themselves. This requires a 600-DPI color printer capable of interpreting PostScript. One can print to PCL-only printers, such as the HP range commonly found in offices, with some kludging (yet another annoyance... it should work out of the box). In general, there should be no need to do this, because Livescribes notebooks are inexpensive and convenient (and for those who have your site Prime, shipping is fast and at no extra cost).

By far the biggest impediment I foresee to the success of the smartpen is the complicated technology licensing that goes with the dot-paper. This is licensed from a company called Anoto, based in Sweden, that also has a US office in the Boston area. Anoto has licensed this technology to other companies as well. Most of these licensees are system integrators that provide turnkey forms solution to businesses, along with the pen. Anoto makes money off the royalties from the technology, as well as a cut per sheet of dot-paper.

Some of Anotos other partners (e.g. Talario) sell a solution that could be the killer application for Livescribes Pulse. This solution provides the ability to print any office document with a dot-paper pattern behind it, effectively enabling the document to be used with the smartpen. An example would be to print a Microsoft Word document or an Excel document, take it to a meeting, annotate it in the meeting, and upload the document with its annotations back to the PC for recordkeeping and emailing. Unfortunately, I do not see this particular application showing up on the Pulse anytime soon... for one Anoto would not want to kill off its other partners businesses. For another, Anoto charges the Talario end-user a royalty of 10 cents per page for the dot pattern. I believe that this is excessively expensive, and would significantly hinder the market acceptance of the tool. A student could conceivably print her professors lecture notes on dot paper, and then directly annotate them if she could do so free of royalties. At 10 cents per page, it would not be cost effective. Its similar to Microsoft selling you Windows, and then charging you a fee per mouse-click.

Nevertheless, students or professionals who like to take notes on paper would be well served by the relatively inexpensive device. I recommend it heartily for these classes of users. Check on the Internet for coupon codes that offer significant discounts.

by: Molly Keran (stanford, ca usa)
on: Saturday, 10-October-2009

I got my Pulse Smartpen at the beginning of this year -- my sophomore year in college -- and all I can say is, Why didnt I have it sooner? I was never a great note-taker in high school, so when I went to college and was suddenly having to follow complex and fast-paced lectures, I really struggled to figure out the best way to take notes. But I would inevitably end up writing down too little, losing sight of the connections the professor was making. Thankfully, the Pulse Smartpen has made it possible not only to experience lectures again by recording them, but to synchronize my notes to the audio thats recording. So when, during my Masterpieces of Contemporary Literature class, the professor says Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman, all I have to do is write that word down and, later, when I forget what exactly a bildungsroman is, I just have to tap it with my pen. (This is especially useful considering how often my professor likes to throw in words I dont know the meaning of, often in languages that arent English.) Im not actually in any math or science classes, but I can just imagine how useful the pen would be for those lectures. You could write down a formula and when youre studying and trying to remember how it was derived, or what it means, or how its used, all you have to do is tap it with your pen. Amazing! The price is totally reasonable, too (I think they just cut it, actually!), especially when you consider how much this pen could enrich your student career. I really recommend that you buy this pen! And for all the freshmen out there: trust me when I say it will make this year of your life a thousand times easier.

by: Erik Mattson (Columbus, OH)
on: Friday, 9-October-2009

The Pulse Smartpen has really me out in all my classes so far this year at college. I got one over the summer, and now i use it every single day.

It not only records all the text that you write down, but it also records the audio you hear right when you make each pen stroke.

When going through my notes later, I can listen to what my lecturer said just by tapping the pen straight to the ink on the paper.

by: Brittney Grider (Murfreesboro, TN USA)
on: Wednesday, 30-September-2009

I have been using smart pen for over a year now. It has helped me all through college. I am able to not only format notes but also record all lectures. After purchasing, you will never take notes the same again. It is by far the best money invested for school!

by: S. Stevens (United States)
on: Tuesday, 29-September-2009

This is fantastic. Im a college student at a competitive school, and all of my friends are jealous of my Smartpen! I was hesitant to purchase it at first becasue I had read mixed reviews, but I decided to give it a shot and I couldnt have made a better decision. The software is great, it really recognizes words you write and search for! The pen itself is also great. The audio quality, while its not like putting a microphone up to your professor ,records things adequately and playback is audible as long as youre in a quiet setting or using headphones to listen. The battery life and storage space are great too. I HIGHLY recommend this!

by: C. Young (Albuquerque, NM USA)
on: Tuesday, 29-September-2009

This pen is absolutely amazing. (Theres a sentence I never thought I would write.) This is the most useful piece of technology Ive bought since my iPhone. The ability to record the conversation while Im taking notes has proved invaluable. From being able to reference exactly what I promised a client to decrypting exactly what some of my notes meant from a meeting with my boss, this pen makes me look smarter. And that makes it work its weight in gold.

by: Kevin Shih (United States)
on: Saturday, 26-September-2009

Ingenuity brought to the common pen. This is proof that the technology can modify the wheel (so to speak). As an average day college student, i find the pen not only handy, simplistic, --- and overly useful but also fun. Its almost as if ive become to talk of the hallways because of my technologically superior pen... No longer am i scrambling to jot down illegible notes, instead i am as cool as a cucumber as i sit back in my seat and write my keywords and let my recorder take me the rest of the way. I go home upload my notes to my laptop and review all them with gratification. ---also the piano feature is too much fun.

by: Gustavo Ortega A (San Jose, Costa Rica)
on: Saturday, 26-September-2009

Although I have been using this tool only for a few days I definetely enjoy using it. My reason: I have been learning languages for a while and this tool fix perfectly when I do my handwritting and I want to speak and record it for a later review or introspection about my performance. This is absolutely a great helper and any language learner must have it.