Sold together under the 'V Collection' title, the pricing hasn't been confirmed yet but we don't need to tell you it'll be more than the average phone costs.

Looking much like the ballpoint pen included in the collection, the Bluetooth 2.1 headset has six hours of talktime, and features a fold-out earpiece with metal ear loop for attaching to your hearing-hole. The memory card reader, which also looks like a pen, only reads microSD cards so won't be of much help to digital camera users unless they use a microSD card adapter too. [Vertu V Collection via SlashGear]

[Brando via Foolish Gadgets]

Above, you see Olympus' "The PEN Story," a charming collection of some 9600 prints strung together in stop motion animation. From the video's YouTube description:

This is the PEN Story in stop motion. We shot 60.000 pictures, developed 9.600 prints and shot over 1.800 pictures again. No post production! Thanks to all the stop motion artists who inspired us. We hope you enjoy :-) Song & Lyrics by Johannes Stankowski
Produced and Arranged by Michael Kadelbach.

Thanks all around! Thanks for everyone! Now watch this, posted months before the E-P1 was even announced:


That's "Stop motion with wolf and pig," a video made by this Japanese fellow. The aesthetic similarities are obvious, but forgivable. The conceptual similarities? Not so much. Our tipster:

From the beginning with opening envelope, to the stairs, trains, swimming, the whole thing is a complete rip off. Kind of crosses the line between inspiration and theft. Unless they hired him to do it, which seems unlikely.

That Olympus didn't directly thank Mr. Wolf 'n Pig doesn't take away from the fact that their video is equally—if not more—technically impressive than the one that inspired it, but it couldn't hurt to at least acknowledge the poor kid's work a little more directly. [Thanks, Nick B! <— (see, that wasn't so bad!)]

At $50 it's not cheap, but since Amazon charges $30 for a book cover already, you're only really paying $20 more to be able to write things and read on the toilet with the lights off (twin LEDs!). The downside is that you need to use three AAs to power the thing, and combined with the pad, the pen and the weight of the notebook, the whole contraption has multiplied the weight of the Kindle 2 to the point where it's heavier than a regular book.

I've been reading lots of books on the Kindle and something like this would be fairly useful if I wanted to do so in bed without angling myself toward the lamp, but the added weight may be an issue depending on which way I was propped up. [Periscope]

It’s not possible to write any smaller than this.

They achieved the atomic pen using the tip of an atomic force microscope, which interacts with the surface of a semiconductor when it's near it by exchaging silicon atoms. According to the scientists, this is a new step towards the miniaturization of chips, which will eventually take us to impossibly-small computers. [Pink Tentacle]

[d-Vision via DVICE]

To be honest, writing in mid air seems like more of a pain in the ass than anything, but they do envision it having some practical use in place of laser pointers during presentations. SMK is currently applying for a patent on this technology, so when we might see it available to the public is anyone's guess. [TechOn via Japanite via I4U]

Basically, the Triped combines the mouse, the touchpad, and the digitizer pen into one ergonomic device. That having been said, its main advantage over the traditional pen is in the area of text entry. According to the product page, the combination of mouse and pen functions, with improved document navigation would make it a better choice. Unfortunately, we won't know if these claims hold water until the device is picked up by a manufacturer—but something tells me that will probably happen fairly soon. [Simtrix via Stuff.co.nz]

[Funshop via TFTS]

The Falter 2D hand-made flat pen is hand-made in Italy, from a design by Albert Ebenbichler developed by ATOdesign in Florence. The question now is: who hand-mades the hand-made hand-made pens? I sense a time-space galaxy-destroying paradox coming up. [Parafernalia]

The Etch a Sketch pen is neat, too. Both run $5.50. [Product Page via nerdapproved]