With this in mind we’ve launched a special offer for schools, TAFE’s, and universities around Australia and New Zealand. With the help of Livescribe we’ve packaged up the 2GB Echo smartpen with a 3-subject notebook into a School Awards bundle for schools to consider as graduation or awards for academic excellence.

What’s in the School Awards Package?

We’ve focused on a package that is simple, low cost, and will get a student up and running as they head into the workforce or further studies:

• 2GB Echo smartpen – RRP $149
• 3-subject notebook (single notebook) – RRP $9.95

We’re offering this bundle for $129.95 (inc GST) a 20% saving on the RRP.

As an additional bonus, schools or school associations who purchase 5 or more pen packages will receive a fully licensed copy of MyScript for Livescribe – an additional $29.95 of value – increasing your saving to 40% per package.

This offer is available till November 30 2011 (please be sure to read the eligibility details on our site).

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact us via the blog, Facebook, Twitter, or email.

Thanks to the schools and users in Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne for your feedback re this product idea

Livescribe Connect is a software solution that works with Livescribe’s free desktop software. With Livescribe Connect, Livescribe Smartpen owners can quickly send Pencasts from paper to applications such as Google Docs, Evernote, Facebook, email, or to their mobile devices including iPhones and iPads.

I’ve been playing with a pre-release version of Livescribe Connect for the past few days and it really is a breakthrough software solution. I was amazed at the simplicity of being able to share notes and audio with my local machine, an email recipient, my iPhone, Evernote, or up into the cloud with Google Docs.

“Millions of pages of handwritten notes are taken daily in meetings, classes, and brainstorming sessions. These notes have incredible value, but are trapped in the pages of your notebook.” Said Jim Marggraff, CEO and Founder of Livescribe.

This Livescribe Connect Overview page on our Smartpen site has additional information including links to (what I suspect will be) Frequently Asked Questions.

Introducing the 2GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack

The second piece of news is the expansion of the Echo Smartpen range with the introduction of a 2GB version.

We’re taking orders for this pen now with deliveries expected to commence by early next week. There are a number of subtle differences with the 2GB Echo versus other Echo Smartpens – I’ll blog about this later today.

Be sure to post any comments or questions here or on our Facebook Fan Page.

Livescribe Connect is a really exciting development as it presents users with incredible flexibility to send and share content they’ve created to others. As Jim Marggraff commented in the official press release:

“Livescribe is liberating notes and evolving human communication, collaboration, productivity, and learning”

Jim Marggraff, CEO and Founder of Livescribe

The seven connectors can be used in different ways and given we’ve had a few days to experiment with them; I’d like to share some ideas around how to use them.

Over the past few days I’ve had a chance to experiment and learn about each connector and also think about how our customers might be able to use them.

Email Connector

Being able to email content you’ve created opens up a raft of opportunities for all Smartpen users. Some examples I can think of from both education and business include:

• A teacher can set students homework and request it be submitted by email. The student can complete learning exercises and then email a Pencast PDF to the teacher;
• A student can create content from lectures/tutorials and then share this content with fellow classmates;
• A financial planner can take notes and audio that’s created from a client discovery meeting and email this to his or her office. This content can then be saved as a Pencast PDF against the client record in his CRM
• A Partner from an accounting firm can take notes from client meetings around complex issues and share these notes and audio with both the client and internal resources
• A Business Coach can take notes from a one on one session with a client and quickly share this with the client so as to reinforce action items.

Google Docs Connector

I don’t use Google Docs a lot but I do need to share documents and notes with a number of partners and internal resources. The connection to my Google Docs account was simple and I can see how in the future I’ll be able to take notes from partner meetings and share these into the cloud with a simple swipe of my pen and writing the word “Google”.

Facebook Connector

Given the growth of Facebook this connector has huge potential for Livescribe users. Across both the business community and for students and educators, connectivity to Facebook is exciting.

• A CEO can create interactive Pencast PDF’s and take Podcasting to the next level.
• A University Tutor can quickly share new content into their Facebook Fan page – helping create dialogue with students around important study topics.
• Students can create assignment content and then share this with their friends, creating an opportunity for feedback and joint learning.
• A Law Firm can share interviews and law updates with clients and fans via Pencast PDF’s.

Evernote Connector

This connector allows users to send Pencasts to Evernote to play back, store and search the information along with other important digital files. I don’t use Evernote – so if you do use feel free to send me some feedback so I can include it in this post.

Mobile/iPad Connector

I see a lot of business executives using iPads and iPhones – the ability to send Pencasts directly to these devices is quick and simple. What’s exciting about this connector is the user can bring up 1 or many pages on their device and replay the content by taping the screen. This is ideal for iPad users.

• A project manager can bring up Pencasts and quickly review meeting or client content – or even review content that other users may have generated.

MyLivescribe Connector

I use my MyLivescribe account when I want to post a Pencast into this WordPress blog. The process of getting Pencasts into MyLivescribe is now simpler and it means I’ll always have a library of content ready to drop into blog posts.

Computer Connector

The ability to automatically route content into a shared folder has been something ANZ customers have been asking about for a long time.

For enterprise customers, this Connector will allow users to quickly nominate content to be sent to a shared drive. This gets even more appealing if customers are using workflow and knowledge management tools like SpringCM – which can interpret shared drives and move content further into the enterprise.

The other clear benefit here is that users can put content into shared drives that might be part of a company wide back up process – again a simple and important benefit.

Summary

These are some initial thoughts about how we’ll use the new Livescribe Connect application. We’ll be blogging more in the coming weeks as we talk to customers and think of new ways to create and share content.

This is a US example of a teacher creating a Pencast around content that is going to be included in a future exam.

This is a point I make to a lot of teachers – use Pencasts to share knowledge once. If a key part of the curriculum can be turned into Livescribe content then create a 5-10 minute tutorial and then share this as a Pencast. Keep in mind Pencasts can be shared easily into Facebook, Moodle, WordPress etc – or simply to another computer that has Livescribe Desktop installed.

Having known about this for a while we were pretty excited to see the application released and I have to say it does live up to expectations.

From my perspective, being able to have Pencasts on my iPhone is quite handy as I can quickly access and/or share content on an instant, as needed basis. This is particularly handy in a business context where I can access content from previous meetings without needing to worry about which book I wrote in (I use multiple books simultaneously). The other feature I like is that I can access pencasts when talking one on one with people – no need to interrupt the flow of our conversation – just boot up Pencasts and go to the session I want to share.

One feature I wasn’t so sure about but have come to realise the hidden value of is that Pencasts allows me to browse public pencasts. As I noted earlier today, our new Smartpen Facebook store includes content and special offers aimed at our student, parent, and teacher communities. Now I’ve got the additional option of searching public Pencasts that are focused on education (or other industries for that matter) and can quickly review this content and then share it if I feel it will help the Australian Livescribe community.

The new Smartpen Caps are designed to easily snap onto the end of your Smartpen and will protect the tip whilst also preventing the pen from rolling away.

At this stage we’ve not been given any information as to local pricing or availability – rest assured, as soon as we know we’ll blog about it.

The special offer is for a Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen plus a free Premium Leather Case in Blue.

If you’re interested in this offer – check out our store for details.

What you get:

A shiny new 2GB Pulse Smartpen in Titanium

The Titanium Pulse Smartpen from Livescribe

A Premium Leather Case in Blue

This is a limited time offer from Livescribe and Smartpen. If you’d like any further details, don’t hesitate to contact us

Gary’s also one of the leading advocates of creative thinking in Australia. As part of the workshop Gary gave everyone a unlined journal – he refers to them as a creative thinking journal.

This got me thinking about how I use my Livescribe Pulse Smartpen and it dawned on me that the Pulse Smartpen and our own unlined journals are a perfect example of how technology can support creative thinking in a natural, unobtrusive way.

The Livescribe Smartpen captures what a person writes and allows them to add audio if need be. So whether a user is drawing mind maps, brain storming, or simply making written and verbal notes, the Pulse Smartpen and pads capture this content. Importantly MyScript then allows a user to transcribe and share this content.

To support creative thinking, we’ve created a new bundled solution called the Livescribe Creative Thinking bundle. The pack will include a 4GB Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, a set of Creative Thinking Journals, and MyScript for Livescribe. Until the end of March, we’re also offering free shipping on this bundle.

If you’ve already got your Smartpen, you can purchase a set of Livescribe Creative Thinking Journals for $49.95.

Finally, if you want more information on how to embrace creative thinking, or to fire up your mojo – then visit Gary’s website or sign up for his Expresso newsletter.

Our customers share some great stories with us about how they use their Livescribe Pulse Smartpens. This is another great example of how the pen can be used.

Suzi Wong is an Adelaide based user who writes about her cooking and eating adventures. Suzi is also a full time student doing an honours research project on classroom management practices of beginning teachers.

Recently Suzi wrote about how her mothers’ decision to pass on her cookbooks to her got her thinking about how she could do the same for her daughters.

The solution for Suzi is her Livescribe Smartpen.

The cover page for Suzi's recipe book in the Livescribe notebook

The Livescribe Smartpen and notebook allows Suzi to create books of family recipes that she can then store and print as she wishes.

The personal touch of hand-written recipes is timeless. Here’s another example of what Suzi is creating.

An example of a recipe that Suzi has created

This is a great example of how to use the Livescribe Smartpen.

Thanks for sharing this Suzi and best of luck with the recipes

So if you’ve been wondering about Pencasts – could you use them in a learning environment? Watch this Livescribe Pencast as it’s a great example of how to use this feature.

Sigh…all we need now is integration to Microsoft OneNote and Apple Evernote…