The Fly
The Fly is so fat because it contains an AAA battery, a computer chip, a speaker and, mounted half an inch from the ballpoint tip, a tiny camera. For all of its educational, interactive tricks, the Fly pen requires special paper whose surface is imprinted with nearly invisible micro-dots. As you write, the pen always knows where it is on the page, thanks to those dot patterns and the camera that watches them go by
. . .STAGGERING possibilities await a pen that can read software right off the page as it moves, and the Fly package comes with a sparkling sampler. For example, as you tap countries on a world map, the pen pronounces their capitals or plays their national anthems. On a glossy, fold-out mini-poster of a disc jockey’s setup, you can tap buttons to get music samples, or tap turntables to produce record-scratching sounds; then you can record your own compositions or compete, memory-game style, against other players. There’s even a sheet of stickers that, when tapped, produce appropriate sound effects. (For my two elementary-schoolers, the belching mouth alone was good for 20 minutes of hilarity.)
wow, color me impressed. not that i think this thing will take off for $100, but here i have been talking about paperless classrooms for many years now and i’ve personally made it a goal to have a paperless classroom. now, i read this . . . a new pen that is a computer. sure, it needs special paper, but future versions of this thing could become very viable in the classroom. imagine a pen that recognizes your handwriting and is able to transcribe what is being written. later, students could use what they handwrite on the computer for the editing and revision stage of writing. or, the computer pen could work with students to help them perfect their handwriting (or even cursive writing) skills.
the potential is vast. i am just surprised that this arrived without even appearing on my radar. hmph! heh heh.
technorati tags: the fly, computer pen