Livescribe Sky
The humble smartpen gets Wi-Fi and Evernote integration in its latest outing.
We have long been fans of Livescribe’s Smartpens at PC & Tech
Authority, and the latest version may be the best one yet, thanks to
integrated Wi-Fi and a new partnership with Software developer Evernote.
For those who are unfamiliar with Livescribe, it makes pens that contain an ARM processor, special camera and audio recording functionality. By using special notebooks you write normally, and the pen syncs audio to your notes. You can then access a digital version of the notebook, within which you can select a note and hear what was being recorded at that point in time.
For those who do a lot of notetaking, like journalists and students, the smartpens are a wonderful solution. In the past the resultant output was accessed through a piece of software called Livescribe Desktop. However the Sky now outputs to the highly popular cross platform Evernote software, meaning that you can access your content on Android, iOS, OS X, Blackberry and the various Windows platforms.
Setup is a breeze. The Sky syncs to either a Wi-Fi hotspot or directly to your mobile device. This process is handled by using the pen with a special control panel printed on the front of the included starter notebook (there are also stickers that enable this functionality on older notebooks). This allows you to enter passwords, although the Pen won’t pair with Wi-Fi networks that require login through a webpage or the like. If you don’t sync to the network, data remains stored on the pen until the next time you join one, at which point it is uploaded to Evernote.
When you then open the Journal saved to Evernote it pushes you to a web-based Livescribe player, which allows you to navigate through audio recordings by selecting text. The initial experience feels somewhat clunky, but we found after time the sheer power of having synced audio and handwritten notes accessible on all our devices outweighed the annoyances.Livescribe already makes excellent, highly useful, products. With the Sky it has made a big step forward, and the partnership with Evernote is a natural – if for the moment slightly awkward – fit. For those who rely heavily on note taking and recording in their work or study, the Livescribe Sky is a fantastic compromise between the paper-based and digital worlds.
For those who are unfamiliar with Livescribe, it makes pens that contain an ARM processor, special camera and audio recording functionality. By using special notebooks you write normally, and the pen syncs audio to your notes. You can then access a digital version of the notebook, within which you can select a note and hear what was being recorded at that point in time.
For those who do a lot of notetaking, like journalists and students, the smartpens are a wonderful solution. In the past the resultant output was accessed through a piece of software called Livescribe Desktop. However the Sky now outputs to the highly popular cross platform Evernote software, meaning that you can access your content on Android, iOS, OS X, Blackberry and the various Windows platforms.
Setup is a breeze. The Sky syncs to either a Wi-Fi hotspot or directly to your mobile device. This process is handled by using the pen with a special control panel printed on the front of the included starter notebook (there are also stickers that enable this functionality on older notebooks). This allows you to enter passwords, although the Pen won’t pair with Wi-Fi networks that require login through a webpage or the like. If you don’t sync to the network, data remains stored on the pen until the next time you join one, at which point it is uploaded to Evernote.
When you then open the Journal saved to Evernote it pushes you to a web-based Livescribe player, which allows you to navigate through audio recordings by selecting text. The initial experience feels somewhat clunky, but we found after time the sheer power of having synced audio and handwritten notes accessible on all our devices outweighed the annoyances.Livescribe already makes excellent, highly useful, products. With the Sky it has made a big step forward, and the partnership with Evernote is a natural – if for the moment slightly awkward – fit. For those who rely heavily on note taking and recording in their work or study, the Livescribe Sky is a fantastic compromise between the paper-based and digital worlds.
