Let the smart pens take the notes

Problem:

In an environment where you have to continuously listen to lectures attentively for long hours at a stretch (like school or conferences), there are a couple of problems that we encounter today.

1. Note taking during a lecture is quite a cumbersome process. First keep track of what the speaker is saying at a rapid pace, second make a note of it in writing, third store and share it. If there are diagrams to be made note of, the problem is trickier since it is always easier to draw something quickly on paper rather than in digital form.
2. During long hours outside keeping gadgets like phone and laptops charged is tough.

Solution:

1. For the first problem, there are several gadgets that can do half the job like convert handwritten notes in paper to digital formats (Pocket Note Taker and Digimemo). But one gadget that steals the show and solves the entire problem  is a smart pen called Livescribe. It has a camera to take pictures of notes, a microphone to record voice and intelligence to convert everything to digital format and upload it for storing , sharing and even searching through the handwritten content. It costs about $200 bucks which is definitely a good investment if you are about to join undergraduate studies.
2. The second problem is solved by backpacks which consume external sources of energy (solar, kinetic) and use them to charge gadgets kept inside them. Solar back packs have solar panels that absorb solar energy during the day and convert that to electric energy to charge battery powered gadgets. Kinetic backpacks trap the energy generated during motion of the user and use that for electric charging.

Future: An enhancement to the smart pen would be it’s ability to upload the content over wi-fi instead of having to connect through USB.

With portable e-book readers like Kindle changing the way we read books and smart pens changing the way we take notes, are school bags beginning to to look like this?