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Smartpen Helps With Crime-Fighting
A couple weeks ago we asked the question “How would you use the Livescribe smartpen?” on our company blog. We got great responses and ideas - from forensic science to music composition - that really show the wide range of different smartpen applications and uses. Congrats to Marne for winning a Livescribe smartpen for her creative response below!
As a full-time superhero, I would use my Livescribe Smartpen to help with the less gritty aspects of crime-fighting — taking statements from super-villains, transcribing information for the inevitable conversations with lawyers, and other similar applications. I can even use it covertly when I need to go undercover in my war against ultimate evil and secretly record my work.
Okay, so I’m actually “just” a detective. I work in a Major Crimes Unit, which means that I investigate incidents of homicide, assault, domestic violence, and robbery — like Law and Order on TV only with 26 times the paperwork. We already use digital audio technology to take statements from our victims, witnesses, and even suspects.
I can hardly wait for the Livescribe pen to come out! The ability to quickly and easily find and play back sections of our notes, transfer recordings and notes to other detectives and the prosecutors office, and even make our rough drafts of crime scene diagrams is particularly exciting. I see this as being an invaluable tool in my daily work and I am so glad that this technology is available (or, at least, will be available soon).
Keep sending us your thoughts on how you would use the smartpen here - we’ll be awarding 2 more smartpens to our favorite responses between now and January 29th.
Tags: applications, smartpen
January 4th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Congrats, Marne! Best wishes for the New Year and your dedication to ridding the world of supervillians!!
January 5th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Thanks! I’m really excited to test this out. A lot of my fellow detectives have been following the progress as well. I think it’s going to be a great application, in my profession as well as many others.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I look forward to purchasing a Livescribe Pen…….I am a Nurse, and often times I have patients who don’t speak English - to be able to use it to translate would be FANTASTIC and of great help to our patients.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I would use the Smart Pen in Iraq for quick note taking, to write what I see while on patrol,,,To write my thoughts for just in case of any unexpected incidents, my superiors, my family, would know my last toughts, and what I last saw,,,leaving a record of everything mentioned above….
January 5th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I would like to buy two smart pens. One to give to my granddaughter, who is in grade 11. I think this pen would help her a great deal , especially in her math and french classes. She is also in honors English and has to write a lot of essay’s. The second pen I want to give my stepdaughter, she has a son who is autistic. She has to see lot of Doctor’s and Specialists. Sometimes even after taking notes, she gets mixed up in what they tell her. I am positive this pen will solve the problems for her.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I will be using the livescribe pen for my Aging and Technology class that I teach at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts
January 6th, 2008 at 5:22 am
I lost much of my eye sight this past year and have been struggling to adapt to this ever changing, new adventure. I work in the corporate world and typically am not in my office. Note taking in all those meetings has become quite problematic due to the fact that I can’t see what I write.
I am really looking forward to the Livescribe Smartpen. I will be able to operate away from my computer, take notes, then later get those notes into a usable audio and computer format. It will really let me feel productive again!
Thanks Lifescribe for the creative use of technology. It will be a big help!
January 6th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I would use the Smart Pen for my archaeological work to help document sites we excavate. The smart pen would be a key tool for helping unlock the secrets of our past.
Archaeologists take extensive notes when they are excavating a site, the draw test unit profiles, and plan views of their excavations. All of these have to be put in the computer either by retyping, or digitizing the drawings. A smartpen would eliminate much of the need to retype the notes and the recorder on the smartpen can be used to take verbal notes to help answer any questions about the written notes during later analysis in the laboratory.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I am going to school to be a teacher. With my smart pen I will be taking 5 college classes. I will be a great thing to take from class to class instead of my laptop. With the smart pen I will never have to worry about missing a word. I can’t wait for the pen to come out my classes start Jan. 9, 2008. I was planning on buying a fly pen but think the smart pen will fit my needs better.
January 7th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Well, as a single guy I am often invited to these speed-dating functions.
They are kind-of interesting in that I get to spend about 3 minutes meeting someone new and over the course of about 2 hours I can meet about 30 ladies. But here’s the trick, try remembering any of the details.
With the Livescribe pen, I could take note while recording the conversation i had with my 3 minute date. Further, during the shuffle to the next date I could even record a few of my mental notes as well, like what I thought of her hair style or what drink she was drinking - always impresive to pull that out on the real first date - no?
Thats not all I would do with my Livescribe pen, but it is certainly one of the more interesting uses that I have in mind for it. I can’t wait.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I conduct interviews with customers to develop ROI’s, needs, etc. for our products. I would use the pen during interviews preparing for sales, then use the play back as part of the proposal/presentations. Allow the decision makers to hear their employees.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’m a Major in the military working for a special elite team called the ‘zombie squad’. Don’t worry its not top secret. We named ourself zombies because we most of the time stay up from 48-72 hours without sleep. Me and my squad spends lots of time in the field. My job is to scout out the enemy and report their whereabouts, 24/7. The problem is that we have to write in all kinds of weather and pretty much on every type of terrain, we record our scout reports with pen and paper or a big laptop we have to lug around. With the livescribe pen, I can either record my information, or write it down and uploaded it in the computer later. Right now we have to rewrite everything in a report when we get back, this takes 2 to 3 hours. With livescribe it will only take 10 minutes. The zombies need livescribe!
January 7th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I am an assistive technology specialist and am always looking for devices that will help people of differing abilities. I see using the Smart Pen with persons with learning disabilities who have trouble with note taking. It will assist them either if they have someone else who notetakers for them so that they can go back and reread and listen to lectures. If they take notes themselves, I think the Smart Pen would be a tool that would help alleviate the anxiety of trying to take down every word, and thus missing what is being presented in the class.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Thanks for your comments, keep posting and stay tuned, we are getting closer
January 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Congratulations Marne!! How exciting is that? It’s good to know that the rewarded smartpen will go to excellent use in a very honorable and respectable field! Once again, congratulations!!!! It’s been great to see the wide and varied uses that people have been coming up with for the Livescribe Smartpen.
I posted this on the other page (http://www.livescribe.com/blog/2007/12/19/how-would-you-use-the-livescribe-smartpen/#comment-258), but I want to make sure it is considered for the future pen giveaways, as well, so I’m double posting here.
How would I use the Livescribe Smartpen? The simple answer is millions of ways, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one. I’ve been following the development for quite a while now. I’m an architect by day, and I love photography, creative media, video gaming, and dreaming up new and creative visions. But, when you first posted this blog, 2 scenarios immediately popped into my head, and only grew from there. The end result was a short video offering a glimpse of these 2 scenarios. I hope you enjoy seeing 2 possible ways I could use the Livescribe Smartpen. I know I had fun creating them and I look forward to the possibility of coming up with more and more ways to use it, once it is released.
So, without further ado, I would like to present:
“How Can Livescribe Work for You?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4c6zG8lL50
January 7th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I would use the smartpen as a waiter to help me remember the orders that i must fuflill without writing every little bit down and useing their voices to aid me in a days work.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I am a high school teacher that likes the idea of the Livescribe Pen. I have been very concerned for students that miss class for longer periods of time. With the Livescribe Pen, I could have one of the students take notes and record what is going on in the class. This would give the student a much better understanding of what really went on in their absence. They could use a school computer to catch up at their own rate. For me personally it would help me realize what all those brief notes I find in my books and pockets really were for.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I love to do geneology for my family. But it takes hrs. of time and energy. Many of the wonderful stories I hear are from the very elderly of my family. It would be nice to be able to use the pen to write their stories and never have to interupt their train of thought and know that what ever my pen isn’t fast enough to catch will be recorded for me to write down later on. Too many times I have lost a story because I have had to say, “Hold on Grandma (Or Uncle So and So) I didn’t get that last line!!” Only to have them say,”Now, where was I?” And there goes the whole story! It’s so important to get the memories from those who have lived before us! And get them RIGHT!
January 8th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Can you just “hear” the poetry that sometimes pops into your head? Perhaps
because I hear something and suddenly have these rhythms and tunes sort
of, you know, materialize every now, I finally began to get into semi-professional
sound recording in my “spare time.” Inspired by shows such as American Idol,
which reminds us everybody, if not a nightengale, can at least be entertaining
aurally, and a trip to Shanghai China a few years back where I did karaoke with
some business school classmates for the first time, I have produced a couple of hobbyist albums which I am proud to say, aren’t bad.
However, creative folks know this, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with your
own output. I will be on a train or walking down the street or at the office
and magically get these sound ideas which I have no good way to transcribe
so I keep humming them or whatever until they are either lost or lose that
certain essence of their original inspiration. Very often they occur together
with lyrics or sketchy pictures, i.e. some visual cue that I could look them up
with later had I the technology to organize my creative life as such.
Enter the livescribe, which could literally rescue from oblivion the next great
pop song. I’m thinking to myself, wow, if the minds of other songwriters
work anything like mine, how extraordinary to have a tool like this to keep
the music alive once it beams down from wherever it comes.
Livescribe will complement my portable mixing workstation, a hefty 10lb.
top-of-the-line panasonic toughbook I lug with me on the train to do mixing in
spare moments on my way to work, where I am a system adminstrator at a
major university. The pentop computer can go with me to places that the
heavier machine/s I work with simply can’t and of course can keep me organized
and take me back to places, moments such as problem descriptions reported by
end users or notes to self about technical things I learn throughout the day.
Most importantly, this technology can keep the spirit of the music alive!
Can you tell I’m excited to start including Livescribe in my at-work and
at-home processes?!
January 28th, 2008 at 3:44 am
I must say that I am very disappointed with the latest news coming from your company. In July of 2007, I first learned of your product. I telephoned your company and spoke to one of your representatives. The young lady gave me additional information about the pen. When I asked when was the pen to be released, she replied, “late fall of 2007.” Fall 2007, came and left and a new release date was posted–late January. Now it is the end of the month and I read on your site that your product will not ship until March. My enthusiasm for the pen has all but vanished. I am most disappointed in the way that you have handled this launch.
Austin Sanders
January 28th, 2008 at 6:42 am
I like the idea of recording voice, but won’t this be a bit awkward in states that require prior approval from everyone in the room before their voice can be legally recorded?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
are you guys gonna announce the new winners or not?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Doran - we will be announcing winners soon. Thanks!
January 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
you guys said you will announce the winners yesturday? what happened?
February 4th, 2008 at 6:11 am
this blog is more dead than alive…
I hope that this will change as soon as they will start shipping the Pulse pens in March… I also think that it may be a good idea to launch a ‘forum’ in addition to the blog, where people can exchange their ideas and report problems… again, I hope this will be done sometime in March or April…
February 12th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I came across this site and my immediate thought was: What a great tool to use to help kids learn how to take notes. Many of my LD students have a hard time taking notes. They miss many of main points because they are trying to get down every word. I am hopeful that being able to tap and hear missing information will help train them to get down the main points -because they can go back and listen to the details later. What a great way to help student pick out the main points without being fearful of missing something important. ADD children would benefit because they could draw pictures and diagrams that the the audi could be attached to as well. I think the best part of the pen is that an LD student could sit in class and take notes and his/her classmates would not know he needs assistance. Let’s face it when a couple of middle school kids get to use the laptops while the others have to take notes-they stand out. Trust me-middle school kids do not like to stand out!
I am currently trying to find a grant so that I can test out one with my middle schoolers. This is a great idea-reminds me of the Leapad my son used when he was 3 and 4. He taught himself to reading using that device.
Even if I can’t afford one right way-I’d like to give you all a High five for creating a tool that can really make a difference in the special education community
March 31st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
when will this product be available for purchase, and can stocks be purchase in the company by independent investors ?
August 14th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I am now going to Ninth Grade (Freshmen). I tend to get off task, and don’t really pay attention to what my teacher is saying… Now, I will NOT MISS A WORD! I can now take it home, and have every word my teachers were saying! No more confusing math notes! This pen will help me more than I can put on this comment box!
THANK YOU LIVESCRIBE!