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Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is Finally Mac Compatible
Posted by Adrian Covert at 2:00 PM on November 17, 2008
After promising long ago that Mac software for the Pulse Smartpen was in the works, Livescribe finally delivered on that promise, today announcing that the OS X beta client will be available for download next week. The Mac version of Livescribe Desktop not only does the same things it's PC counterpart can do (digitized notes, Paper Replay audio syncing, handwriting recognition), but it has a couple of new tricks up it's sleeve as well.
Oh, there's a full QWERTY keyboard on this pen, but you can't actually type with it. Instead, the keys just sit there, judging you silently as you attempt to remember just how to shape a cursive capital Q or Z. Screw this, it'll be easier just to change your name from Quique Zuzanny. That's what I did, and it's worked out alright for those three times a year I send somebody a card late. The keyboard pen runs $US62. [
Researches at Osaka University have been doing some really tiny writing lately, using their newly-invented atomic pen, which can draw atom by atom. The resulting letters, the words "Si" for silicon or "Yes" in Spanish, measure only 2 x 2 nanometers, roughly 40,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. According to Masayuki Abe, one of the project scientists, they have reached a limit impossible to surpass:
These vases are made by heating a BIC pen until it's soft and squishy and then blowing the water chamber like one would blow a piece in glass. Then it's ready to accept a single flower, which will drink from the cool waters below. But just like your massive skull bong is only for enjoying fine tobaccos, this, friends, is for flowers and flowers alone. Right? It's $US29 shipped. [
Brando is known for quirky and 
Besides being a magnet for penis puns, this pen is absolutely bursting with functionality that will leave just about any tool junkie satisfied. At the most basic level you get a handsome stainless steel ballpoint pen, but it can also transform into "a hole puncher, a stainless steel file, a short cutting blade, a flat screwdriver, a wire sleeve remover/small nail remover, an ear pick, a long cutting blade, a tweezer, a Philips screwdriver, and a stainless steel fork and a saw." It could very well be the best US$15 you ever spend outside of a bordello my friend. [
Precisely how the Flowlight would work is a little unclear, but the design page notes that a base station would focus a laser beam 100 times a second into a point in the space, creating small plasma points that glow in mid air. Users could then use the pen to draw and write, making doodles look like some sort of fantastic light show. It's kind of like a cross between and blackboard and a laser pointer—which would be extremely cool if the product actually existed.
Luxury pens make for a peculiarly classic gadget. Instead of being driven by the latest microprocessor manufacturing techniques, pens innovate purely on design alone--mechanics at their most simple. And this Conway Stewart Evolution pen features a mechanical trick that took three years to develop. The user can adjust the pen's centre of gravity from the front to the back depending on fatigue and handwriting style (surely just an adjustable weight, to engineer it perfectly is the challenge). And with its engraved solid silver body, the Evolution is quite "sharp," as my pen-collecting mother would say. Only 200 will be produced for US$2,700 apiece. [
Camcorder pens often sacrifice the whole "writing" thing in the name of capturing video, but this one from BrickHouse Security does write, and has considerably bigger storage capacity than previous video pens, too. It's a big pricey, but if you're into the whole Maxwell Smart lifestyle it could make a nice, voyeuristic addition to your repertoire. Two hours of battery time per charge, 30 hours of audio and/or video (4GB), and a potential restraining order are available to you for US$250. [
