Livescribe is a paper-based computing platform that integrates the use of a computerized pen, specialized paper, and computer software to create an environment for capturing hand written notes that can be saved and shared on your computer. The specialized pen is called a Pulse Pen. It is about the size of a large fountain pen and contains a tiny infrared camera at the tip that captures what you write. In addition there is an microphone for recording as you write. The specialized software in the pen and the specialized notebook paper combine to sync your wrting and the audio. Once captured you can use the pen to review the audio at any point of your notes. The pen comes with a dock for syncing with the Livescribe Desktop software which allows you to save your notes to your computer for review and for sharing with others. The Livescribe system is compatible with Windows and Macintosh computers, but the Macintosh version of the software is in beta and is not as feature rich as the Windows version. One very nice feature is the ability to share your note taking session with others. Note taking sessions can be shared via email, saved as a PDF, posted to Facebook, or shared on the Livescribe Community site. Saving to Facebook sounds interesting. I can imagine students sharing note taking sessions, and lecture recordings, via Facebook. This is a pretty interesting technology, that looks to improve over time.
Scribd: Document publishing on the web
Scribd is a document publishing and sharing service that provides easy access to various types of documents through a web browser. Scribd calls this iPaper and iPaper can transform documents in various formats (including PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many others...) into a version that can be browsed, read and searched all from within a single browser page. Scribd's iPaper document viewer can be embedded into any website so you can publish your documents on your own web site. You can also download the original document in its original format. Other features include the option to bulk upload a large amount of documents at one time and a very nice feature that allows you to upload documents via email. All in all Scribd is very flexible and convenient format for sharing documents in their original form on the web.
Example of a Scribd page: View Dec 19, 2008 Lewis Newsletter on Scribd"
