Wish I Had This When I WasIn School (NAPSA)—Asstudents prepare to head back to school, there’s the annual frenzy in the electronics section in every store across the U.S. as students equip themselves with the latest accessories and tools to get off to a good start. This year, students and parents will see something new in the aisles— a Pulse smartpen by Livescribe, Inec., which may just be the “smartest” new tool for students. The Pulse smartpen is a Mont- blanc-size pen that has all the powerof a computer andis just as easy to use as a regular pen and paper. With an application called Paper Replay, students or professionals take handwritten notes while recording all the audio sounds happening while the notes were being written. Later, they simply tap on their notes with the Pulse smartpen to hear the recorded conversation play back from that exact moment in time. Printed controls on the bottom of the dot-paper notebooks allow the students to jump through their notes, fast forward, rewind, or even speed up or slow down the conversation to make finding and recalling information simple. Dr. Andy Van Schaack, Vanderbilt University professor and Livescribe adviser, suggests that the smartpen has a significant impact in the classroom. “Because of the fast pace of most lectures, students usually have to decide whetherthey listen to the lecture or focus on taking accurate notes—they can’t do both well. With the smartpen, they can take fewer notes, knowing that they can go back to them later and replay the audio,” said Van Schaack. “As a teacher, I’ve dis- covered Pulse is less distracting than students who take notes using a laptop computer.” Even in large lecture halls, the A pen has been created for students that bridges the paper and digital worlds. Pulse smartpen captures quality sound through embedded microphones on the penor the included earbuds. Using Livescribe Desktop software, students can transfer their notes and audio to their com- puters to easily organize, store or even share the files with others. The desktop software even allows people to search for words within their notes to easily find what they are lookingfor. The Livescribe Pulse smartpen is available in two models. Priced at $149, the 1GB model captures more than 100 hours of recorded audio and includes a dot paper notebook, smartpen carrying case, 3D recording headset, refill ink and stylus cartridges, a USB mobile charging cradle, Livescribe Desktop software and a Livescribe account with 250MB of online storage. The 2GB model comes with everything in the 1GB model and captures more than 200 hours of recorded audio for $199. Pulse is available at all Target stores nationwide, Amazon.com and Livescribe.com. The Pulse smartpen can make a person want to go back to school again...almost.
