So you want to take hand-written notes but you don't want to transcribe them onto your computer? No problem. Livescribe's new Smartpen 3 is a magic for note-taking tool that automatically translates your scratches and scrawls into an iPad or iPhone app.
When you write notes in a Livescribe notebook, it instantly ports them over to the Livescribe+ iOS app. Don't you wish you had one of these in college? It also doesn't need a Wi-Fi connection like the second-gen pen, because this one works over Bluetooth. And it's prettier than previous versions—it's sleek and black and looks almost like a Mont Blanc pen.
One of the coolest features of the Smartpen three is it will automatically convert your hand-written notes to typed ones. And say you have a date or an address written down. It'll hyperlink that so you can automagically open a date in iCal or a location in Maps. Additionally, the app will let you add photos and other files, and it can convert your notes into PDFs instantly for easy sharing over email, text, Dropbox, and so on.
The Livescribe Smartpen 3 will be available in November for $150 for the pen and a 50-page notebook or for $200 for the pen, a 100-page notebook, and a leather-bound case.