Monday, July 15, 2013

Pen can point out spelling error with a subtle vibration

Lernstift, the first digital pen that vibrates when you make a mistake. This pen monitors your spelling as you write. Spellcheck can be pretty frustrating, but it's become an invaluable feature in word-processing programs. For jotting down notes with a pen, though, people just have to take their lumps. Or, rather, they did; a new project on Kickstarter, created by two German dads, hopes to improve spelling around the world by alerting scribes whenever they make an error.

Present digital pens use optical sensors to pick up the writing movements and digitalize the words or sketches for computer use. Some of them need external devices. Others only work with specialty paper. Lernstift is different. It requires none of those. It's the first truly intelligent pen because all the tech and software is built-in. It can be used with apps but it doesn't depend on them.


The computer inside Lernstift is an embedded Linux system. The board contains motion sensor, processor, memory, Wi-Fi and vibration module. It will be oval-shaped to fit perfectly inside the pen. Upon launch, Lernstift will be available in English and German. As soon as we can, we will roll out more languages: Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, etc.

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