Learning and Leading - September/October 2008

BUYER’Sguide

Pen Computers

With features such as language translation, calculators, games, and MP3 players, pen computers are sketching out a place of their own in the world of multi-function portable devices.

Leapfrog’s Fly Fusion Pentop Computer, for example, can be customized with more than 38 so ware titles, including algebra, writing, and language translators, just to name a few. Livescribe’s Pulse Pen features audio recording and a built-in speaker, while Nokia’s Digital Pen harnesses Bluetooth technology to transfer data to mobile phones.

Not all pen computers use the same technology. Most will only work when writing on Anoto digital paper, which is covered in an array of nearly invisible black dots. e patented Anoto pattern acts as a dot positioning system that can be read by a high-speed camera at the tip of the pen. e dots tell the pen exactly where the user is writing or tapping the pen on the page.

When you write on digital paper, everything is automatically captured and digitized. at information can then be uploaded to your PC and converted to text. PaperIQ’s Blackberry Digital Pen claims to recognize the handwriting of 10 languages.

Notebooks of digital paper, at around $6 to $12 each, are a bit more expensive than plain paper. ere are also ink cartridges to consider. Some pens

use standard replacements and others use proprietary cartridges.

While all the pens listed here require ink cartridges, there are pen computers that don’t require digital paper. e IOgear Mobile Digital Pen uses an ultrasonic transmitter and infrared sensor to capture hand movements while a receiver attached to any notepad stores your memos and images. Pegasus Technologies’ Mobile PC Notetaker works in a similar way, transmitting its tip location in real-time to a receiver located at the top of the page. e tip location is drawn on the base unit LCD, and saved into memory. A er loading the saved notes to the PC, a so ware application translates the tip’s XY location to digital format and displays your handwriting on the screen.

Storage capacity for pen computers varies widely, with units o ering upwards of 2GB onboard. Some come with much less installed, but are expandable. Leapfrog, for example, o ers an expansion cartridge for its Fly Fusion for about $30, which doubles the pen’s memory to 128MB. Many manufacturers equate their storage capacity to pages of text. PaperIQ, for instance, claims their 1MB of storage stores about 20 pages of notes on A4-size paper.

Most of the pens connect to USB ports for charging and downloading. e exceptions are Nokia’s digital pen, which can also use Bluetooth technology to transmit information to a cell phone, and PaperIQ’s o ering, which transmits to a Blackberry.