In David Pogue's State of the Art column last week he introduced an interesting gadget -- a digital pen. What is cool about the device is that it can record audio while taking notes like a ball-point pen. It requires special paper (the real downside), but if you tap the pen against a prior set of notes, it will recall the audio recorded when the notes were taken. Of course the audio and printed notes can be uploaded into the computer and all the other normal things we would expect. Of course, this is just the first generation of this technology, but one could easily imagine the uses it might be put towards once it matures a little and gets coupled with some other tech devices or capabilities. The video segment on the column web page is worth watching (at about 4 minutes in length). It earned a "very cool" from me -- yet another gadget to think about -- "boys and their toys" as the saying goes. I could see some real uses for students in the classroom though. Perhaps integrated with a clicker?
Just a cool emerging technology to think about on a Monday afternoon.
