We first saw the Livescribe Pulse "smartpen" in action at the DEMO conference last month, but today CEO Jim Marggraff stopped by to give us a closer look. When you use the Pulse to write on paper printed with a special microdot pattern, it recognizes its exact relative location on the page and captures a digital file of your pen strokes (complete with full character and word recognition) along with audio. The pen can also then interact with written words on the page in many interesting ways, including live audio translations into multiple languages of any word you tap.
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Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?