Is a calculator the only cool tool that you can use in school? Believe it or not, the answer is no! There are a ton of other cool gadgets out there that are both fun to use and they can help you make the grade.
I couldn’t help but drool over a new gadget just hitting the market in time for everybody’s Christmas list. I’m talking about Livescribe’s [amazon_link id=”B002DJV83Y” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]new Pulse smart pen[/amazon_link]. Livescribe took last year’s technology from the Leapfrog Fly Pen and turned it into much more than a toy! The Livescribe Pulse smart pen is a palm-sized pen computer which scans your handwritten notes as you write them and records the audio at the same time.
The real magic happens when you take the pen at the end of the day and hook it up to a USB docking station. A few seconds later all your notes are moved to the Livescribe desktop software. Click on a particular section of your notes and you can hear the audio recording that was going on at that exact moment in time–no more confusing lecture notes!
The Livescribe Pulse comes in two flavors. The [amazon_link id=”B002DJV83Y” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]2GB memory version[/amazon_link] retails for approximately $149.00 and stores up to 200 hours of notes and audio before it needs to be downloaded to a computer. The [amazon_link id=”B001AAOZHI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]smaller 1GB memory version[/amazon_link] retails for $95.00 but can only save about 50 hours of audio.
In addition to the Pulse pen you must use special microdot paper. The pen comes with a single notebook and additional notebooks can be [amazon_link id=”B002M3HO0M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]purchased in packs of four[/amazon_link] at $19.95 each. There have been rumors that Pulse will allow people to print their own paper using a laser printer but as of September, this software is not yet available. However, given the average middle school and high school student is not likely to be filling more than four notebooks a year, the $19.95 paper cost does not seem to be a deal breaker.
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