Livescribe is on the road to FETC 2011!

Please stop by our booth (#112) to learn more about using an Echo smartpen in the classroom and extending instructional time in the most cost and time effective way. You can also take advantage of an exclusive show special and daily raffles for free Echo smartpens.

Even if you’re not attending FETC, you can still participate in our FETC inspired Tweetaway. Join us on Twitter @livescribek12 on Tuesday, Feb. 1 and Wednesday, Feb. 2 for a chance to win an 8GB Echo smartpen (valued at $199).

Tweetaway Rules

• To enter, follow us on Twitter @livescribek12.
• At 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 1 and Wednesday, Feb. 2, we’ll post a question about Livescribe. You can find the answer to the question on our new K12 blog.
• You must be an educator and have a valid .edu e-mail address to qualify.
• The first tweet with the correct answer will win an 8GB Echo smartpen, valued at $199.
• Winners will be mailed the prize within 7-10 business days.
• Winners must be willing to write a guest blog post for LivescribeK12.com after using the Echo smartpen about how they are using it in their classroom.

Hello Canada!

As of today Livescribe products are officially available nationwide in Canada at Future Shop, Canada’s largest consumer electronics retailer and e-tailer. It’s always exciting to expand into new markets and make our smartpens and accessories readily available to interested consumers.

Future Shop will carry the 4GB Echo smartpen, the 8GB Echo smartpen, the 8GB Echo smartpen Pro-pack and the 2GB Pulse smartpen, as well as dot paper and accessories. And of course you can always shop online at www.futureshop.ca.

If you follow us on Twitter (Twitter handle: @livescribe) or Facebook, you’re probably aware that Livescribe was at the sixth annual Aspen Ideas Festival last week. While there, we partnered with festival sponsor TheAtlantic.com to share ‘Pencasts from Aspen,’ short interviews with notable festival speakers and attendees captured with Pulse.

Click here to check out all of the pencasts we collected from top thinkers attending the festival, including:

· Regina Benjamin (U.S. Surgeon General) talking about preventative healthcare

· Thomas Friedman (author of “The World is Flat”) sharing his view on sustainable versus situational values

· David Gergen (senior political analyst for CNN, past presidential advisor) discussing the current financial state of America and what that may mean for the future

· Arianna Huffington (co-founder of the Huffington Post) speaking about importance of staying connected with yourself during this hectic technological age

· Greg Mortenson (humanitarian and author of “Three Cups of Tea”) detailing the importance of educating women for societal change

· Sandra Day O’Connor (former Supreme Court Justice) describing her newest venture in educating America’s youth about U.S. Government

If you have a favorite pencast, please let us know via Twitter or Facebook.

Aside from pencasting, our festival highlight was when CEO Jim Marggraff took the stage to share his thoughts on scaling great ideas for education with more than 100 thought leaders.

Participating in the festival was an amazing opportunity for our team to introduce Livescribe to so many new people and we’re excited that many attendees thought the smartpen was its own big idea. It’s great to know some of these folks will be recording their next brainstorm with a smartpen purchased at the festival. Can’t wait to see what they think of next!

A few more of the pencasts we captured include, Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post discussing importance of reconnecting with oneself in a technological age, Greg Mortenson, humanitarian and author of Three cups of Tea, speaking on the importance of educating women for societal change.

We are excited to announce that Livescribe has won both a Golden Lamp and a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP). This is the first time that one company has won AEP’s two top awards in technology. One of the largest and longest-running award programs for educational products, the AEP Awards have honored exceptional resources for teaching and learning for more than four decades.

According to AEP the Golden Lamp is the gold standard for educational products. Only four Golden Lamps are awarded each year – one for Curriculum, one for Periodicals, one for Professional Development, and one for Technology & New Media. The 2010 Golden Lamp was presented to Livescribe in the Technology & New Media category.

The Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAAs) recognize the year’s top educational products in the same four categories (Curriculum, Periodicals, Professional Development, and Technology & New Media), but are judged only against products in their entry category, subcategory and grade level. Livescribe was recognized as the 2010 DAA winner in the Technology & New Media, administrative tools category.

Livescribe was selected as a winner by a two-tiered judging process made up of highly qualified industry experts. Winners were announced at an awards banquet on Tuesday during AEP’s Annual Content in Context Conference (CIC) at the Capital Hilton in Washington D.C.

Check out the Golden Lamp Award Announcement on YouTube.

Were you at the Maker Faire Bay Area 2010 last weekend in San Mateo? We were and it was great! With over 70,000 attendees, we enjoyed seeing everyone who stopped by the Livescribe booth. In case you missed it, here’s a snapshot of Livescribe’s Maker Faire experience.

Livescribe customer and artist Ali Sabet held “hyper creativity” demos throughout the day in our booth. We have talked about Ali on the blog before and we were thrilled to have him in our booth demonstrating the Pulse smartpen. He created custom sketches on pre-printed dot paper for attendees and then used each drawing to create a pencast for attendees to view online. To see example pencasts from the Maker Faire, take a look here.

Ali Sabet demos the Pulse smartpen at Livescribe’s booth.

For any aspiring developers out there, a Livescribe senior staff engineer also showed attendees how to create a simple application for the Pulse smartpen using Livescribe developer tools. The session called, “”Creating Interactive Paper with the Livescribe Smartpen Platform” provided a great way for folks to learn the ins and outs of developing for the Livescribe platform.

We always love to hear from you! Check us out on Facebook or Twitter and tell us what you thought of the Maker Faire.

If you live near one of the following Best Buy stores, stop in this weekend to see one of our Scribes demo the Pulse smartpen!  Our Scribes will be giving live demos in the following Best Buy stores this weekend.   Come out from 11:00am – 4:00pm to see how the Pulse smartpen can make your life easier!  Locations and schedules are subject to change, so please call the store ahead of time.

Do you live near one of the following Best Buy stores?  If so, stop in this weekend to see one of our Scribes demo the Pulse smartpen!  Our Scribes will be giving live demos in the following Best Buy stores this weekend.   Come out from 11:00am – 4:00pm to see how the Pulse smartpen can make your life easier!  If you can’t make it this weekend, you can catch a demo at the same time every weekend through the first weekend of May.   Locations and schedules are subject to change, so please call the store ahead of time.

Do you live near one of the following Best Buy stores?  If so, stop in this weekend to see one of our Scribes demo the Pulse smartpen!  Our Scribes will be giving live demos in the following Best Buy stores this weekend.   Come out from 11:00am – 4:00pm to see how the Pulse smartpen can make your life easier!  If you can’t make it this weekend, you can catch a demo at the same time every weekend through the first weekend of May.   Locations and schedules are subject to change, so please call the store ahead of time.