ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

On Monday, Livescribe will release a new and improved digital smartpen called Livescribe Sky WiFi which will forever change the way we take and access our notes. While I have been a big fan of the Livescribe Smartpen the one downfall was the synching which you needed to do with a USB cable. But that all changes with the introduction of the Livescribe Sky WiFi which lets you sync your notes directly to Evernote via WiFi. This truly is a huge paradigm shift- giving me access to my notes on just about any device that has a browser or the Evernote app installed. Similarly, I can now log into Evernote from any computer and instantly have access to my notes which is very powerful. This feature is a truly a game changer for taking notes, and will give students access to their notes from anywhere they are connected to the web.

Getting started and setting up the Livescribe Sky WiFi to sync with Evernote was a cinch. I simply turned on the Livescribe Sky WiFi and tapped Scan for Networks icon which was printed on the inside cover of the Livescribe Starter Notebook. The Livescribe Sky WiFi immediately located my protected WiFi network and I was able to type in the password key to access it on my pen. Once connected to my Wifi network the Livescribe SkyWiFi  prominently displays the Wifi icon on the OLED display to let you know you are connected. Logging onto the Livescribe web site from my computer, I was able to setup my pen to access my Evernote account. The website and directions were well designed and it guided me through the process. Since I did have an Evernote account I was able to log in with my credentials to link my Livescribe Sky WiFi pen. For students who may not have an account there is an opportunity during the setup process to sign up for a free account. Once I completed the setup, I was ready to try the Livescribe Sky WiFi out. I opened the Livescribe Starter Notebook and wrote down a couple of ideas and then tapped the tip of the pen on the Sync Now icon. Once I did that I was able to watch the display as it moved through the syncing process  Once the synching was complete the OLED display read Done Syncing. Now for the moment of truth, I opened up Evernote from my laptop and lo and behold there was my note sitting in my Evernote account in a notebook configured A5 Wifi Starter Notebook. Audio recordings made during the note taking process show up in the note as green ink. When you are ready to listen to you note simply click on the note from within Evernote and the Livescribe player will open in your browser to access and listen to the recording.

Livescribe has really streamlined the process making it now possible to have access to your notes from any device connected to the web. Syncing via WifFi with integration with Evernote really is a game changer for students who need access to their notes. I for one am excited with the new impossibles that the Livescribe Sky Wifi pen has to offer in terms of sharing and accessing notes via Evernote.

I had posted earlier about the release of Eye-Fi, which is a 2 Gigabyte SD card with built-in WiFi. I recently purchased the Eye-Fi Card from Amazon and had the opportunity to use it the last couple of days with my Canon Powershot SD500 digital camera. To start off the packaging of the Eye-Fi is very appealing and clever. The Eye-Fi comes in a sliding box that includes a very simple installation guide, the Eye-Fi SD Card, and a USB SD Card Reader. To install the Eye-Fi Manager on my Mac Book, I simply plugged the Eye-Fi SD Card into the USB SD Card Reader and installed the software. Once installed, I opened the Eye-Fi Manager and configured my Eye-Fi Card to recognize my home WiFi network and was able to choose Phanfare as the service which I wanted to upload my pictures to. Eye-Fi gives you a host of services that you can choose from to upload your pictures. ie. Picassa, Flickr, etc. Once this step was complete, I
unmounted the Eye-Fi SD Card and plugged it into my Canon Powershot SD500 digital camera. I needed to adjust the Power Settings so that the camera would not turn off after a specified time which might disrupt Eye-Fi from uploading my pictures. Now I started to snap some pictures and watched as the pictures were uploaded to my computer and to Phanfare. What joy watching my pictures arrive on my computer and on Phanfare without the need to use a USB cable! Eye-Fi worked as advertised and is a very cool technogadget for the holidays.

About a year ago I read about a company that was working on a SD Memory Card which would also include WiFi support. Having a SD Card with WiFi support would allow you to upload your digital pictures from your camera as long as you were in earshot of your WiFi network. It would be as simple as configuring the SD Card and then have your digital camera upload the pictures to your favorite website through your wireless network. Well today I was reading Steve Hargodon's blog as he recounted his experience with Eye-Fi the new 2GB SD Card with built-in WiFi. Steve had a great experience with Eye-Fi out of the box and it looks like this could be a great gift for the holidays. I for one know that one of the stumbling blocks of using a digital camera is uploading my pictures to my Phanfare account. With the Eye-Fi the problem could be easily solved. I hope to get an Eye-Fi SD Card to review shortly.