We just kicked-off our Livescribe Affiliate Program, and are excited to offer publishers a 4% commission on all sales at www.livescribe.com. You’ll have access to banners and text links that you can add to your site. Anyone who clicks on your link and then purchases a Pulse smartpen or any Livescribe product means a 4% commission for you.

There is no charge to join the Livescribe Affiliate program and we handle the order, shipment, and billing.   To learn more or apply for the program, click here.

We’re happy to announce a few new ways for those of you living abroad to get your very own Pulse smartpen.

• In the Canadian market, the Pulse smartpen is currently available online through www.smartpencentral.com.

• In Australia, the Pulse smartpen is now available exclusively through the Office Works retail chain, with 120 stores across the country. Consumers in Australia can also purchase smartpen, dot paper and accessories online through www.officeworks.com.au/livescribe.

• To accommodate other international requests, Amazon US is currently shipping overseas to the following countries: Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirate. Please visit www.amazon.com to complete your order.

More international markets will be announced in 2009!

Thanks,
The Livescribe Team

We wanted to hear what real folks had to say about their Pulse smartpens, so we decided to ask. About 20 customers in Boston and San Francisco volunteered to talk to us and tell us how they use their smartpens. Check out what they said in this video!

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click here for high res version (MP4 50MB)

Over the summer, the Pulse smartpen headed south to Hollywood for demonstrations to folks in the entertainment industry.

In June, attendees of the MTV Movie Awards checked out the Pulse in the gift lounge atop a hotel.

A week later, more celebs checked out the Pulse smartpen backstage at the 2008 TV Land Awards. Samuel Jackson, Kathy Griffin, Judah Friedlander, William Shatner and others took in smartpen demos at the event.

Jason Priestley and ER’s Christine Elise check out the Pulse smartpen at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

Debbie Gibson holds a Pulse smartpen at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

Leslie David Baker sees how the Pulse smartpen would work wonders around The Office at the 2008 TV Land Awards.

Former Project Runway contestant Nick Verrios with the Pulse smartpen at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

Samuel Jackson checks to see if there are any snakes on the smartpen at the 2008 TV Land Awards.

Entertainment Tonight’s Jann Carl models the Pulse smartpen at the 2008 TV Land Awards.

The Pulse smartpen is featured in Target’s Weekly Ad today, so pick up a newspaper near you and take a look! You can also view it online here.

In addition, check out the Wall Street Journal’s video review of the Pulse smartpen. Produced by tech reporter, Andy Jordan, the video is called “Hands on Gizmos: Digitally Inked.” Click to watch the video.

Today we announced our national retail rollout for the Pulse smartpen, with availability at Target, Target.com, Amazon.com, and major college and university bookstores supported by The Douglas Stewart Company. Our partnerships will greatly expand the availability of Pulse smartpens to customers across the country.

At Target stores, you’ll be able to see the Pulse smartpen first hand and learn more about its capabilities through an interactive video demonstration. The Pulse smartpen, dot paper, and accessories will be available in the Electronics department at Target stores nationwide and through Target.com beginning July 13.

Starting July 1, the Pulse smartpen, dot paper, and accessories will also be available for purchase through the nation’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com.

When college students head back to campus this fall, they will find the Pulse smartpen and accessories in select university bookstores and computer stores through The Douglas Stewart Company.

The Pulse smartpen, dot paper and accessories are also available for purchase at www.livescribe.com/store.

With Father’s Day around the corner, and graduations all around, we at Livescribe can’t think of a smarter summer gift to mark the occasion for all the gadget lovers and grads in your life.

The Pulse smartpen is now shipping, and the product reviews are rolling in. Take a look at what the press is saying:

PC Magazine writes “…the Pulse Smartpen could become an essential investment for any student, businessperson, or journalist.”

USA Today agrees, saying “Pulse transforms an ordinary ballpoint into a digital quill, promising to change the way you cram for an exam, review an architect’s blueprints or capture any notes.”

The Associated Press proclaims “Finally, a useful digital pen.”

Current shipment time for the Pulse smartpen is 3-4 weeks, so order yours today!

*Note to Mac Users: Pulse is currently Windows XP or Vista compatible only. We are actively developing a native Mac solution. Please note that our product is not currently compatible with Parallels or VMWare.

Last week, we were honored to receive a coveted Duke’s Choice Award in the mobile device category for the Pulse smartpen at the 2008 JavaOne Conference. Selected by Sun Fellow James Gosling and a panel of Sun technology experts, the Duke’s Choice Awards recognize the year’s most influential Java^TM technology-based companies around the world.

In addition, we hosted a developer competition at JavaOne, giving developers a sneak peek at our Java API and pre-release versions of early development tools, which we plan on making publicly available in the second half of 2008. The competition allowed developers to create innovative and compelling Java software-based applications for the Pulse smartpen in several categories, including innovation, utility, fun, and education.

CEO Jim Marggraff participated in James Gosling’s keynote speech last Friday to demonstrate the Pulse smartpen and announce the winners of our developer competition. The winners for each category were as follows:

• Innovation - Letter Guess by Wei Xu
• Utility - JSR Jumble by Kathy Fong
• Fun - Tic Tac Toe by Wei Xu
• Education - Wumpus by Corey Minter

We were very excited about our participation in the JavaOne conference and allowing Java developers to create new, forward thinking applications for the Pulse smartpen.

For all interested developers, our Developer Program will include suite of tools and services for users, casual developers and professional developers to create, publish, share and sell their applications. In addition to developer tools, we will also provide technical documentation, starter guides, sample code, community forums and technical support. You can learn more about our Developer Program here.

Livescribe will play an integral role at the annual JavaOne Conference in San Francisco from May 6-9, as one of only three companies selected by Sun Microsystems as a JavaOne Show Device. In addition, Livescribe will host a developer competition at JavaOne, giving developers a sneak peek at Livescribe’s Java API and pre-release versions of early development tools, which will be made publicly available in the second half of 2008.

WHAT: Livescribe’s developer competition allows developers to get a sneak peek at Livescribe’s Java API and learn to create innovative and compelling Java-based applications for Livescribe’s new mobile computing platform. Developers will compete in categories including innovation, utility, fun, and education. Winners will be awarded one 2GB Pulse smartpen and will be featured on www.livescribe.com.

WHERE: Moscone Center, San Francisco - Booth #1223

WHEN: Interested participants of the Livescribe developer competition must wait until 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6, to register and receive access to Livescribe’s JavaOne developer tools specially created for the conference. Entries are due by 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, and will be judged by both Livescribe and Sun representatives. Applications will be accepted online at www.livescribe.com/developer.

The winners of the Livescribe developer competition will be announced during James Goslings’ final keynote address on Friday, May 9.

WHY: JavaOne brings together industry leaders and developers in a single, comprehensive event that offers compelling visions of the technology future in terms of trends, challenges, and opportunities. Livescribe’s participation in the conference marks the first time the company has opened its doors to Java developers from around the world to create new, forward thinking applications that advance Livescribe’s mobile computing platform.

Thanks for your patience as we finished taking orders from our preorder customers. Starting today, the Pulse smartpen is now available to the public via our online store at www.livescribe.com.

Current shipment estimates are roughly 4-6 weeks from your date of purchase, and are subject to change based on demand. So order now - and never miss a word again!

You’ll also notice this week that we’ve changed our website here and there. One of the things we are trying to do is improve our responsiveness to the Livescribe community. To that end, we are modifying our company blog to a post-only format, and encouraging questions, suggestions, and feedback from our customers moving forward in our Customer Support forums.

Please check out our forum page at www.livescribe.com/support and continue to send us your comments and suggestions.