pen

Livescribe said that it is adding a higher-capacity 4GB model to its lineup of Pulse lecture-recording digital pens.

The 4GB Pulse, which can hold 400 hours of audio, will have a suggested retail price of $199. The 2GB model has dropped to $169, a price Livescribe has recently been promoting on its Web site.

Livescribe added Mac support in November and recently released a software update that also makes its pens compatible with Windows 7. The company said it plans to add an application store for the Pulse later this year.

The company is also expanding the number of places … Read more

Wacom's pressure-sensitive tablets have already been pretty great at what they do, but they've added a simple and appreciated wrinkle for Windows 7 and Mac OSX multitouch addicts: their new pads now double as giant multitouch pads, too.

Available in a range of sizes and functions, Wacom's Bamboo lineup has pads that are touch-only, as well as touch/pen combo pads. In our opinion, the combo is really the only way to go--Wacom's wireless pressure-sensitive pen is worth the tiny bit of extra investment, and is nearly good enough to drive would-be artists right over the … Read more

CASPER, Wyo.--Each year, when I plan for my annual Road Trip project, I coordinate both a long list of destinations to visit and a big box full of tech gadgets to test out. Plus a car.

Some of those gadgets get used once or twice, and then get put away again. But others, for better or worse, become integral components of the trip.

Over the next week or so, I'll be posting my (amateur) reviews of all these gadgets, in each case talking about what I thought of them, and how they fit into the trip. In most … Read more

Scribattle Lite is a free preview of Scribattle, a very fast-paced arcade game with an original look and interface that evokes pencil-and-paper games. You control three stationary warriors--stick figures drawn on graph paper--with a fixed amount of ammo per level (similar to classic games like Missile Comand), as they fire up at wave after wave of scribbled, fast-moving enemies. To fire, you touch a warrior and then quickly flick up to determine the speed and direction of each shot.

The multitouch controls mean that you can fire from one, two, or three warriors at once, which makes for interesting tactical … Read more

Following through on several of its promises, digital-pen maker Livescribe this week is announcing a Mac version of its desktop software, handwriting recognition software, as well as the ability for digital-pen owners to print special "dot paper" using their own printer.

Mac support was tops on the list of feature requests, CEO Jim Marggraff said at a recent press event, while the ability to convert handwriting to text was the No. 2 most-requested feature. The digital pen had required 32-bit versions of Windows XP or Windows Vista, although it is adding 64-bit Windows support, along with the Mac … Read more

Even if they are banned in your country, you've probably seen a balisong (butterfly knife) brandished in some movie or other. Such scenes usually show a villain deftly waving such a knife centimeters away from someone's face in threatening manner. If you want to learn how to do that and not get arrested by your local police, the BaliYo from Spyderco could be for you.

This product is essentially a pen shaped like a balisong. Where you'd usually expect a blade is a Fisher Space pen, the writing instrument famously used in space since the 1960s and … Read more

It's not my beat, but digital pens are a bit of a pet interest of mine, so I like to try and keep you up-to-date on them when I get a chance.

In that vein, I thought I would let you know that Adapx, which specializes in writing software that ties digital pens to other applications, announced its latest product--one that combines the digital pen with Excel. The result is that forms can be filled out in ink and paper, but the data is captured electronically. It made the announcement at this week's Demo show in San Diego. … Read more

No sooner did we post an item about an ill-advised promotional tchotchke that another one has popped up on the radar. But unlike the previous gadget, this one isn't of dubious value because of anachronistic timing; rather, it would be questionable no matter when it came out.

The reason: It's a paper clip dispenser. Not that we have anything against paper clips, mind you, but we can't exactly see the point of a dispenser that's also a pen holder with USB ports.

Hong Kong-based Earth Trek is trying to cast this in the best possible light, … Read more

The iPhone may be getting Chinese handwriting recognition, but that doesn't mean it's done yet. Diotek, a mobile software company based in Korea, has announced the development of its DioPen--a handwriting software for the iPhone. According to ZDNet Korea, the DioPen can recognize Korean, Chinese, and English letters and digits written in cursive, print, or both. It works on the iPhone's touch screen, as well as displays on other handsets. No word on when it'll be available.