Livescribe offers pen-based computer.

A new computing device in the form of a pen may change the way many gather and record data.

Livescribe's pen-based computer, introduced at the D5: All Things Digital technology conference in Carlsbad, California, could aid students, journalists, lawyers, doctors, consultants, and others who depend on live interaction to gather data and has implications for managing new e-records formats and multiple versions of data.

The device, the size and weight of a plump Montblanc pen, is equipped with two microphones to record sound, a speaker for playback, a small "pixel bar" display window, and a computer chip. Also included is a docking station for uploading information from the pen to a PC and for downloading programs from the PC to the pen.

Unlike earlier versions of pen-based computer products that forced users to write with a stylus on a computer screen or digital mat, Livescribe's pen uses paper imprinted with tiny dots that are nearly imperceptible. The pen's embedded camera uses the dots as navigation points while the user writes on the special paper. Handwritten notes are captured and can be uploaded to a PC via the pen's docking station, where they can be organized, searched, played back, and sent to others. Optional software can translate handwritten notes into text.

The pen's recording devices can capture spoken words simultaneously and can even link the manual notes with the audio recording. For example, the computer can keep lecture notes and the corresponding audio recording in synch. Touching the pen to a section of the written notes activates the audio recording from that precise moment. Users can also skip back and forth as needed within the written words without losing the audio. In short, the pen's users need never worry about missing important information while struggling to take notes.

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Livescribe also envisions the pen's interaction with web-based functions. One demo, reported by The New York Times, involved a note written with a Livescribe pen on the back of a business card printed on self-addressing paper. Once uploaded, the note would automatically generate an e-mail to the name on the business card. Jim Marggraff, Livescribe's founder and former developer of Leapfrogs LeapPad educational toy, has other ideas for how Livescribe might interact with the Internet. According to the Times, Marggraff believes that, in the future, a Livescribe user could write the words "shop," "Amazon.com," and a book title on paper, dock the pen, and automatically send the order.

Livescribe is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a retail price of $200. Users will have to purchase the special paper separately, but it is expected to cost no more than standard paper. No specifications for the pen's storage capacity or compatibility with other applications have been released.