hckrnws
He definitely left a great legacy.
I still think the Fly pentop and Fly Fusion computers were amazing toys. The later Livescribe models (after the tech leader behind those products started his own company) were must-haves for me.
Both the toys and the Livescribes lost purpose when the snart phones became ubiquitous as not a lot of handwriting was being practiced by kids and professionals.
I still fire up the Fly Fusion occasionally. Too bad they only work if you were able to connect them to the (now long gone) website so, yes, you can still find “new” ones on ebay but unless they were set up before they are only good for writing, no need to charge.
I used livescribe in college for its ability to record what the professor was saying exactly where a note was taken. It provided great context. I just searched my gmail and I bought a 2GB Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe in 2009 for $200.
I also have an email for what looks like apps on the pen??
* Video Poker
* Spanish Travel Phrases
* Classical Music Snippets
Comment was deleted :(
and there goes coffee all over the keyboard...
in case anyone is unfamiliar:
Snart:
When one sneezes and breaks wind at the same time. It is usually a result of the sudden abdominal muscle contractions associated with supporting the diaphragm for the sneeze, thus triggering the fart.
I'm ambivalent about Leap Pads - the "run apps" LCD screen kind, not the book kind. They seem a razor-and-blades kinda thing, with pretty expensive apps for the simple things they do.
But the Leapfrog toys get top marks for engineering. First of all they're pretty sturdy, and second they just do things right. For example on the "Rockit Twist" (another "run apps" thing) none of the gimcracks are fake. Every button and every spinner does something, and does it well. And, for example the "Scribble and Write" (I think that's what it's called) is simply the most amazing use of an 8x8 monochrome LED module I've ever seen. Another good one is "Tad's Get Ready for School Book" - just soo much functionality, and pretty near indestructible too. If one guy came up with all that stuff, he gets full marks from me for engineering.
Even in the age of cheap android tablets my young kids still like the leapfrog pads. You really can't ignore the sense of control and tactile feedback that kids like from navigating those books with a physical pen tool.
Most of the books weren't very good though. They tended to be glorified audiobooks and didn't make effective use of the technology.
By far the best one I ever saw was the sample book that came with my family's Quantum Leap. It was quite thick and had a wide variety of different topics, all of which were extremely well produced, and every page was filled with things to explore. As a child, I particularly liked the pages on US presidents (including well-known quotes or recordings of many of them), Europe (with the national anthems of every European country and memory games to learn each country), and the super cool Parts of the Body (with translucent pages showing each layer, and funny sound effects when you explore each body part).
Some of the Magic School Bus books were decent too. The Solar System in particular had excellent games—you wouldn't think audio-only games pointing at a static page would be very fun, but some of them were very creative.
Crafted by Rajat
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