Yeah, it’s back to school time and some of you are thick into classes right now. So I figured I’d introduce you to a new piece of tech that I have found to be both cool and useful. It’s called the Pulse “smartpen” by Livescribe. The Pulse smart pen is a pretty neat idea for those of you who take alot of notes. It’s not always practical to take notes on a laptop (which is my preference) and in many meetings today I use the free audio editing software Audacity to capture the audio of my meetings on my MAC. This is very helpful but not very practical. My MAC battery life runs (well you know) pretty damn weak and sometimes I’d rather write than type. The Pulse smartpen has solved that problem. The pen records audio as you write or draw and links the recorded audio to what you are writing at the precise time. Think of it like a TIVO for your note-taking, all the captured material is timeline based, so going back to any page in your notes and tapping the pen on a word will restart your audio at the precise moment your wrote that word. On average people write about 15 or so words a minute, so you could be missing alot by trying to catchup in meetings, courtrooms, classes etc…. Keeping up is one thing, understanding your notes is another. How many of you have a hard time reading your own notes? This device is perfect for you! Imagine flipping your notes back 2 months, tapping a sentence on the page and hearing the exact audio that was being said at that time. Brilliant idea, great for students, BUT also lawyers, doctors, patients who need to record doctor notes – the list could go on and on! For example it captures more than just audio, drawings can also be recorded and played back as a movie that shows the progress of your sketch or design. The Pulse Smartpen uses a camera thats under the pen and custom paper with microdots to capture every stroke and notation. The real magic, though, is that the pen simultaneously records every sound and connects the resulting audio to the captured image.

Oh and yes, you can sync the pen with your computer, the Livescribe software syncs your notes and the linked audio so you can actually search by keyword. When I reviewed my files on my PC (no MAC version yet) you can simply mouse-click on a word and the audio recorded at the time of that specific pen stroke will begin playing. Man, this gadget is perfect for students who’s handwriting can look like hieroglyphics especially when trying to keep up with SOME of those long-winded (yadda, yadda, yadda) professors.

I tested the $199 2Gig version that can capture up to 100 hours of audio. They do have a less-expensive 1Gig version for $149. Special paper notebooks cost $19 for a 4-pack of notebooks, they also are planning to let you print paper from their site for free to eliminate use barriers.

Mario’s bottom line?
Pros: works as advertised, the pen can be used as a regular ink pen (imagine that), relatively inexpensive, audio capture is incredible for its size
Negs: needs special paper, no optical character recognition for transcribing my notes to text (but I hear thats’s coming)

You can see video of the Pen in action here.