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Let Your Vote be Heard — Livescribe Application Challenge Voting Now Open!

March 14th, 2010

Hope you’re having a great weekend, Livescribe fans!

As you may know, we launched an Application Challenge just before the holidays and a group of awesome developers have been hard at work ever since. More than 45 education, productivity and entertainment apps were submitted to the Challenge and now we need your help picking a favorite!

Want a say in which developer wins $5,000 cash? Here’s what you need to do:

Check out the contest Web site, watch the short video entries and click on the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” rating icon to vote. You can vote for as many entries as you want, so don’t worry about picking just one favorite!

The entry that receives the most “thumbs up” ratings overall will become the People’s Choice Grand Prize Winner, and its developer will score the $5,000 cash prize. Top entries in each category – education, productivity and entertainment – will each receive $500 cash.

Last but not least, a panel of editors from well-known technology outlets around the world are reviewing the submissions behind-the-scenes. The Expert Panel Grand Prize Winner will also receive $5,000. Who knows, maybe one lucky developer will nab both $5,000 prizes?

Let your vote be heard (as many times as you like) and stay tuned for the results, which will be announced in early April.

How They Use the Pulse smartpen: An Audio Learner from Canada

March 4th, 2010

60% of Pulse smartpen users say that Pulse has changed their life—and we love hearing about how the smartpen has helped make life better, easier, and more productive for our customers. We received a note from Cantina Leggo from Canada with a touching story about how her daughter’s life changed with the Pulse smartpen.

Cantina’s fourteen-year-old daughter had been told her entire “academic” life that she wasn’t the average student—she excelled in music, the arts, drama, and English but was below average in math, science, history, and geography. After taking a test, she learned that she was considered an “audio learner.”

Cantina participated in a course and spotted a Pulse smartpen user in the room. After her first sighting of the smartpen, Cantina began hearing about the cool tool from friends in her circle and through acquaintances. She knew she had to try one out, especially if it could help her daughter in school. She said, “I knew it would change my daughter’s life in regards to her frustration and stress that she has experienced continuously in her classroom environment and perhaps be the answer to our prayers!”

At the time, Cantina was not able to purchase the smartpen in her Canadian province. “This did not prevent me from utilizing my resources and in no time we found a Pulse smartpen,” she said. “What a transformation! We noticed an instant improvement with her homework, tests and more importantly; her self-confidence!”

Thanks to Cantina for sharing her daughter’s amazing story! Interested in sharing how YOU use your Pulse smartpen? E-mail klee @ livescribe.com.

CBS 19 Charlottesville Talks About Pulse’s UVA Efficacy Studies

February 26th, 2010

We posted a blog entry this January on the University of Virginia’s efficacy studies using the Pulse smartpen. Tiffani Sargent, a reporter from CBS 19 in Charlottesville, discusses with Stephanie Moore how the smartpen works and how UVa is working with Livescribe to develop advanced features and uses for the smartpen for both professors and students.

Some examples include:
• Students can submit their homework digitally using their smartpen.
• Professors can grade papers and provide audio feedback to students using the smartpen.

Check out the video on the Charlottesville Newsplex site.

What kind of ways do you think students and professors can use the smartpen? Share your ideas on the Livescribe Facebook Fan page!

Jim Marggraff speaking at the Wealthy Writer’s Wisdom Conference in Orange County, Calif.

February 23rd, 2010

In Orange County today? Be sure to check out the Wealthy Writer’s Wisdom conference by Mark Victor Hansen (the famous “Chicken Soup for the Soul” author!)

Pulse inventor and Livescribe CEO Jim Marggraff will be presenting the benefits of the Pulse smartpen at the writer’s conference today as well. If you’re a writer or an aspiring writer, don’t miss this event!

For more details, please visit The Wealthy Writer’s Wisdom site.

Pulse Smartpen Named CODiE Award Finalist!

February 23rd, 2010

News flash, Livescribe fans!

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry, announced the finalists for its 2010 CODiE awards – a top industry honor for innovation in software, education technology and digital content. And we’re proud to say that the Pulse smartpen claimed a spot among five “Education Solution for Mobile or Hand-held Device” finalists! We’re going up against ClassLink Inquiry, Studywiz, Spark Mobile, SPARKvue and RefMobile.

Just so you know, the CODiEs are one of, if not THE, only peer-reviewed awards in the industry, which makes this even more exciting!

We’re anxiously waiting for the official winner announcement on May 25. Wish us luck!

On Your Way to a Job Interview? Don’t Forget Your Pulse Smartpen!

February 18th, 2010

Resume? Check.
Reference list? Check.
Work samples or portfolio? Check
… Livescribe Pulse smartpen and notepad? Check!

The next time you’re on your way to wow future employers at a job interview, try adding the Pulse smartpen and a flip notepad to your arsenal.

In any interview, you may find yourself in a situation where you’ll need to jot down some notes about the position, the company, or contact information—why not capture audio, too? Take “never miss a word” to the job-hunting world! This way, you can use these details and conversations as the perfect follow-up fodder.

So next time you’re packing your interview survival kit with your stellar resume, work samples, and reference list, consider bringing your Pulse smartpen! And if Pulse has helped you to land your dream job, we want to hear about it! Submit your experiences to klee @ livescribe.com.

We’re a Best New Product Award finalist in the 2010 Edison Awards!

February 11th, 2010

In honor of Thomas Alva Edison’s 163rd birthday, Pulse was declared as a Best New Product (Technology) finalist in the 2010 Edison Awards today at a press conference at the Friars Club in New York City.

The winners will be announced at the Edison Awards Gala beginning at the New York Academy of Science on April 29th. Check out the full list of the 2010 Edison award finalists.

Much thanks to the Edison Awards committee! We can’t wait til April!

Happy Wednesday Pulse fans! Looking for a quick, mid-week read?

February 3rd, 2010

According to this article, U.S. Representative James McGovern visited Dean College in Franklin, Mass. on Monday to see how the college was using $150,000 in federal funds he helped secure to pay for upgrades in curriculum, technology, faculty and instruction. During a tour of the campus’ Library Learning Commons, a student named Karl McGrotty demoed Pulse to McGovern, who was impressed and said he could see Pulse helping students learn “coursework and real-life skills.” The college’s president, Paula Rooney, also chimed in – saying that Pulse “contributes to skills that set students apart when they hit the job market.”

We couldn’t agree more with these comments! Many thanks to James for his work to get new technologies onto college campuses, and to Karl and Paula for spreading the word about Pulse!

Pulse stars in UVa efficacy studies

January 29th, 2010

Some cool news, Pulse fans. UVa Today (published by the University of Virginia) reported faculty and students in the university’s Engineering School are studying how the Pulse smartpen can be used for distance learning, electronic grading and interactive class materials.

We’ve been working closely with UVa over the last few months to help scope out the projects and train faculty. The data the university is collecting is incredibly important for Pulse’s future development and we’re thrilled by some of the initial feedback we’ve received. Check out these quotes from the article:

• “Right out of the box, the smartpen has some very exciting applications that could be of use to our students and faculty.” – Stephanie Moore, director of engineering instructional design for the Engineering School

• “For math-heavy classes, typing notes on a computer doesn’t work very well. Equations take a long time to type into a computer, and graphs or diagrams are even more cumbersome. So, with a computer tablet, those sorts of tasks are easier to do. With one of these pens used as an input device, it could take the place of a tablet and be substantially less expensive.” – Sheila Warren, doctoral student

Several of UVa’s studies will wrap-up at the end of this year, with others being conducted over a two or three year period. We have several other studies in the works – more on them in future posts, so stay tuned!

Where were you during Livescribe’s Developer Day?

January 28th, 2010

In honor of our Global Developer Competition, we hosted a Developer Day event on January 13th at Mountain View’s Computer History Museum. We saw an excellent turnout and such great interest in developing apps for the Pulse smartpen, that we’ve extended our competition deadline to March 13th. You know what that means—get your great ideas and applications for Pulse in gear and enter our competition!

For all of your math enthusiasts, here’s a breakdown of our successful Developer Day earlier this month:

Total attendees: 93

In-person attendees: 49 (Some notables: James Gosling, Brad Carvey [Yes, Dana Carvey’s brother], Barry McQuain, Peter Hirshberg

Virtual attendees: 26

Media Attendees: 4 (Application Developer Trends/Redmond Developer News, VentureBeat, eWeek, Silicon Valley Business Journal)
Livescribe staff attendees: 14

Number of wine bottles the marketing department later consumed to celebrate Livescribe’s success: 3

Want more Developer Day goodies? Watch our Developer Slide Show here.


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