Just in time for Back to School shopping, I found a gadget that is a pen, but this isn’t just any pen. It is a “Smartpen!” There are many of these types of pens available but the Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe has a lot of useful and important features. It works great for copious notetakers and is very helpful for students and people who have many meetings. It captures everything you write using an infrared camera and transfers the notes taken and imports it into your computer. It also records audio and links it what you write. This also gets transferred to your computer. The only downside is that you need to use the special dot paper that is made specifically for SmartPens. It has controls that you can just use the tip of the pen to push that will record audio and all There is a display which is useful for playing back audio, telling the time and for the Pulse App Store. You can instantly play back your recorded audio by tapping on your notes to listen to the information you captured. If you're a doodler, then the SmartPen will also capture that! I love this product because it will preserve and save any notes you write or any recordings. It is great if a teacher is talking or giving a lesson and you can have that information for later if you don't get a chance to write everything down or take notes. Another great thing about the Smartpen is the App Store! There are many apps available that can be downloaded to the pen. There is a dictionary app, a Spanish app and many others. For example, with the dictionary app - you write the word and it will give the definition on the screen of the pen. I think the Pulse Smartpen is a wise choice for notetakers and will make writing much more fun and an easier experience.

The Pulse Smartpen is available starting at $125 for the 2GB version from Amazon.com and at many other retailers including Target, Apple, Staples, and Best Buy. Livescribe also offers a 1GB and 4GB version. There is a new version of the Smartpen, called the Echo available now as well at www.Livescribe.com.