Livescribe Sticky Notes in Action

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

I was talking to a Queensland user last week about how she is finding the new sticky notes that we added to the product range in July.

This user is studying at university and despite the faculty offering most lectures as podcasts she’s found her Smartpen an invaluable study tool. What was interesting was how she’s using sticky notes to help her capture and recall specific content and learning’s.

Here’s a picture she sent me showing a set of supplied lecture content with sticky notes added.

Livescribe Smartpen Sticky NotesShe uses sticky notes as follows:

  1. During lessons she can either take notes in her Livescribe Notebook or choose to listen more intently to the lecturer and quickly add an interactive note onto a specific page of the lecture content. This helps her recall specific points later on
  2. Working with her class mates she can add reminder points to notes and other group content – she often then shares this out to her study buddies using Livescribe Connect.
  3. She bookmarks sections of her text books using sticky notes. The 5×3 notes allow her to add content more than once as the course evolves

Thanks to this user for sharing this feedback. We’ve been short of stock of the sticky notes for a few weeks now but hopefully we’ll have more stock in early September.

If you’ve got feedback you’d like to share please feel free to contact me – we really appreciate hearing stories from users out in the real world – we’ll be sharing more user stories in the coming months including some fantastic applications of Smartpen’s, Livescribe Sound Dots, and how they are used to help foreign language students keep up in the Australian education system.

Posted in livescribe, Livescribe Paper Products, Livescribe Tips, New Tools | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Livescribe Auckland and Wellington Visits

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

During the week of 5 September, I’ll be in Auckland and Wellington and I’m available to visit local schools and university’s to talk about how Livescribe Smartpens are helping the learning experience for teachers and students across the education spectrum.

Over the past 3 years I’ve personally visited close to 100 schools, TAFE’s, and Universities around Australia, sharing experiences and helping teachers, students, and parents, understand the benefits that the Livescribe Smartpen brings to the classroom.

Livescribe K-12 - Teach It OnceLivescribe Smartpens are helping students learn anytime, anywhere through the simple act of writing, listening, and recalling key lesson content.

Special Needs and Non-English Background Students

If your school or campus has special needs students or students from a non-English speaking background then this session will be of particular interest as this is a key area of focus for Livescribe in both Australia, and globally.

Where and When?

Wellington – Tuesday the 6th and Wednesday the 7th September

Auckland – Monday the 5th, Thursday the 8th, Friday the 9th September

Drop a comment on this post, or reach out via email or Twitter if you’d like to organise a visit

Posted in K-12 Education, Livescribe Tips, Mobile Computing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Year of Evernote Premium – Simply buy a smartpen

Posted on August 1, 2011 by

I’m pleased to help launch into Australia and New Zealand a promotion on behalf of Livescribe and Evernote (one of the world’s favourite note taking and archiving services).

Livescribe and Evernote - a great promotion till 31 December 2012From now through January 31, 2012, we’re giving everyone who purchases and registers a Livescribe smartpen, a free year of Evernote’s Premium service (valued at $45).

With Livescribe smartpens, you can already store, organise and search their digital notebooks by keywords to find the exact information you’re looking for. With the recently introduced Connect service, it’s even easier to send interactive digital copies of notes and audio recordings to applications such as email, Google™ Docs, Facebook, Evernote – even mobile devices, including the Apple® iPad® and iPhone®.

What about students and professionals who want to store all their notes in Evernote? With more online storage (up to 1GB), Evernote Premium allows customers to easily access and play back all of their Livescribe pencasts anytime, anywhere. Evernote customers can also add context to their Livescribe pencasts by saving typed notes, files, images and web research.

Simply purchase and register your smartpen before 31 December 2011 to qualify

Posted in Echo Smartpens, livescribe, Livescribe Connect | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Livescribe Smartpens Helping Special Needs Students

Posted on July 26, 2011 by

This video is from a school in Collier County Florida. Bill Shulte, District Special Education Instructional Tech Specialist, brought Livescribe to his school to support special education students. As Bill and his co-workers discuss in the video, the program has grown in the past year to support a much larger number of students across all tiers of intervention.

Here in Australia, we’re seeing more and more examples like this school district. At Smartpen, we’ve now got a comprehensive set of training and education resources available for Australian and New Zealand schools – if you’d like more information, please let me know

Posted in K-12 Education, livescribe, Livescribe Tips | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Want to Win an Echo Smartpen Pack?

Posted on July 21, 2011 by

Here in Australia, the Gadget Guy is running a competition where two entrants will win an Echo Smartpen pack:

To win, you just have to tell us one basic thing. It’s something we’re all a little curious about, especially as computers, tablets, and mobile phones go with us practically everywhere. In twenty-five words or less, tell us:

Why do you love using your pen?

Maybe you’re faster with it, or maybe it just gives you something to chew on keeping you awake in class.

Terms and conditions are available on Gadget Guy’s site.

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Helping Teacher – Student Communications with Livescribe Connect

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

We were blogging recently about the newly launched Livescribe Connect and how the use of interactive PDF’s will assist many different Livescribe users create, record, and share content via Livescribe’s interactive PDF’s.

Just after Connect was launched I was talking with a High School in Victoria and we white boarded a number of ways that Connect could help teacher/student, and teacher/parent communication – and ultimately the learning experience (for everyone).

What stood out for me was the fact that Connect will enhance communication between students, teachers, and parents. We broke out a couple of ideas that I’d like to share here.

Communicating Homework Expectations

A teacher talking one on one with a student about what homework to complete the teacher can make notes in either the students’ notebook or their own notebook and then use Connect via Email to send an interactive PDF to both a parent and the student.

So rather than relying on a student to digest and remember what they’ve been asked to complete we can now bring the parent into the communication loop

The following diagram shows the process from the teacher and student discussing what is expected, through to the student submitting homework for review.

Livescribe Connect helping teachers and studentsHomework Submission for Assessment

Completing homework is a key achievement. Connect now allows a student to submit completed homework for assessment using the same Email Connector. This is particularly useful in situations where a teacher or student aide is working closely with a student on remedial or key parts of a subject. Rather than waiting for simple written assessment to be submitted a student can use Connect to have an interactive PDF emailed to the teacher.

This type of situation is particularly useful where a student may be away from school for medical reasons (i.e. they are sick or recovering from an accident or illness).

Just One Aspect of Livescribe Connect

The example here is just one way Connect can be used to support or improve communication between teacher, student, and parent.

Posted in K-12 Education, livescribe, Livescribe Connect, Livescribe Tips, Mobile Computing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

New Livescribe Paper Product – Grid Notebooks

Posted on June 4, 2011 by

There’s a new Livescribe Paper Product option that we “may” have available in the Australia/New Zealand market shortly.

The paper product has Grid lines rather than the standard ruled notebooks.

Livescribe Dot Paper - Grid notebooksThese notebooks are available in both A5 and A4 pads and are sold as a 4-pack.

Who Could Use These Notebooks?

I think these notebooks are going to appeal to users who are working in design industries (such as architecture, interior design, engineering), students studying subjects such as optometry, science, built environment, or even sales reps who need to capture sketches, schematics, or site inspections when working with prospects and customers.

What do you think?

Could you use Grid notebooks in addition to the standard ruled pads?

 

Posted in livescribe, Livescribe Paper Products, New Tools | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Announcing Livescribe Connect and the new 2GB Echo Smartpen

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

Two big pieces of news announced today by the Livescribe team – Livescribe Connect for Pulse and Echo Smartpen’s, and an expansion of the Smartpen product family with the introduction of the affordable 2GB Echo Smartpen.

Livescribe Connect allows you to share notes and audioLivescribe 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.

Livescribe Connect allows you to share information quicklyI’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.

Livescribe 2GB Echo SmartpenWe’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.

Posted in livescribe, Mobile Computing, New Tools, Pencasts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The New 2GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

I’m pleased to announce that Livescribe has expanded the Echo Smartpen product range with the introduction of the 2GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack.

Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen Starter PackBeing from the Echo Smartpen family it has all the characteristics of the 4GB and 8GB Echo’s.

For students and budget conscious professionals, the 2GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack is a highly affordable option. It stores up to 200 hours of audio and comes with everything a person needs to get started including several sheets of Livescribe Dot paper as well as Connect Basic.

We’ll update this page over the next few days as we confirm when we expect to ship orders as well as any special pricing deals we introduce

Posted in Echo Smartpens, livescribe, New Tools | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Livescribe Connect – the New Connectors

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

A few minutes ago we blogged about two important announcements from Livescribe – namely the launch of Livescribe Connect and the introduction of the 2GB Echo Smartpen starter pack

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.

An overview of the new Livescribe Connect applicationOver 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.

Posted in livescribe, Livescribe Tips, Mobile Computing, New Tools, Pencasts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments