3 ms·

The coolest thing from JavaOne 2008

30 points by nreece 19y ago

xirium 19y ago
Can you do handwriting recognition with this pen?
- jrockway 19y ago
  Well, you can run arbitrary code on the device, so sure. I assume you can also upload images recorded on the device to a real computer, so double sure.
PieSquared 19y ago
Now all they need to do is add a wireless transmitter, and give these out in U.S. embassies... The price was what amazed me - I knew this was possible, but at that price? Pretty cool.
nickb 19y ago
I have something similar... it's called Paperium (http://paperium.com/ http://paperium.com/) and it's very similar to Livescribe. It uses the same type of paper (probably not the exact pattern) and I think all these pens with camera + special dotted paper are using the same licensed tech from Hitachi. Paperium also has special areas where you can point with a pen and send stuff over bluetooth over to your computer. Bluetooth connectivity was the reason why I didn't consider other USB pens (Livescribe seems to be USB). It gives you feedback as a series of short vibrations. Once it's on your computer, you can do all kinds of things including change the thickness, change the level of smoothing of the lines, export to Illustrator etc. This is all easy since the pen captures the vector data. I've also started using Evernote which is this cool app that allows you to archive and search stuff within notes, pictures etc. It works really, really well. Even though I have a writing style of an old doctor, it recognizes my writing just fine. The audio features of Livescribe don't appeal to me much but whatever works for you.. Paperium has solved my throwaway paper napkin doodlings problem quite nicely. I used to take a pic of my sketches/explanations with my phone and send it around that way but this is so much better. Can't recommend this type of tech enough!
frouaix 19y ago
Ok - yet another licensee of Anoto. Not sure why people haven't yet seen one or the other incarnation of this technology. LeapFrog had a product out one or two years ago. There was a startup at DEMO this year selling a product for students. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoto
aschobel 19y ago
The coolest thing from JavaOne had to be getting Effective Java 2nd edition. Being able to meet the Guice guys was also great.
markbao 19y ago
Paper Replay is absolutely amazing. http://livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html http://livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html The SmartPen itself is only $150... 4-pack of notebooks is $20. Experiencing GAS - gear acquisition syndrome.
browngeek 19y ago
The SmartPen is really cool. Unfortunately, it works on Windows only. No Mac support (yet), not even Parallels compatible. http://livescribe.com/smartpen/techspecs.html http://livescribe.com/smartpen/techspecs.html
Tichy 19y ago
Why couldn't the headline be "lifescribe pen" or something like that? Editors? More descriptive headlines would increase the value of news.yc greatly.

30 points by nreece 19y ago

xirium 19y ago

Can you do handwriting recognition with this pen?

jrockway 19y ago
Well, you can run arbitrary code on the device, so sure. I assume you can also upload images recorded on the device to a real computer, so double sure.

PieSquared 19y ago

Now all they need to do is add a wireless transmitter, and give these out in U.S. embassies... The price was what amazed me - I knew this was possible, but at that price? Pretty cool.

nickb 19y ago

I have something similar... it's called Paperium (http://paperium.com/ http://paperium.com/) and it's very similar to Livescribe. It uses the same type of paper (probably not the exact pattern) and I think all these pens with camera + special dotted paper are using the same licensed tech from Hitachi. Paperium also has special areas where you can point with a pen and send stuff over bluetooth over to your computer. Bluetooth connectivity was the reason why I didn't consider other USB pens (Livescribe seems to be USB). It gives you feedback as a series of short vibrations. Once it's on your computer, you can do all kinds of things including change the thickness, change the level of smoothing of the lines, export to Illustrator etc. This is all easy since the pen captures the vector data. I've also started using Evernote which is this cool app that allows you to archive and search stuff within notes, pictures etc. It works really, really well. Even though I have a writing style of an old doctor, it recognizes my writing just fine. The audio features of Livescribe don't appeal to me much but whatever works for you.. Paperium has solved my throwaway paper napkin doodlings problem quite nicely. I used to take a pic of my sketches/explanations with my phone and send it around that way but this is so much better. Can't recommend this type of tech enough!

frouaix 19y ago

Ok - yet another licensee of Anoto. Not sure why people haven't yet seen one or the other incarnation of this technology. LeapFrog had a product out one or two years ago. There was a startup at DEMO this year selling a product for students. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoto

aschobel 19y ago

The coolest thing from JavaOne had to be getting Effective Java 2nd edition. Being able to meet the Guice guys was also great.

markbao 19y ago

Paper Replay is absolutely amazing. http://livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html http://livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html The SmartPen itself is only $150... 4-pack of notebooks is $20. Experiencing GAS - gear acquisition syndrome.

browngeek 19y ago

The SmartPen is really cool. Unfortunately, it works on Windows only. No Mac support (yet), not even Parallels compatible. http://livescribe.com/smartpen/techspecs.html http://livescribe.com/smartpen/techspecs.html

Tichy 19y ago

Why couldn't the headline be "lifescribe pen" or something like that? Editors? More descriptive headlines would increase the value of news.yc greatly.