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Leapfrog Talking Pen

Posted by timothy on from the more-paper-only-$1M/pack dept.

AndroidCat writes "Leapfrog has just announced their Fly pen computer for children. It talks, giving feedback as they write and draw, and with special Fly paper, you can draw a calculator, press the 'buttons' with the pen and it will read the answers. Cute, but is this a real working product? Let's see. If they included a 1 GB USB drive, it would be an interesting product for geeks too--just don't write fdisk. And remember to turn off the voice when making notes during meetings." Here's a picture of the device.

5 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Now with Lens Flare! by hab136 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since the picture isn't a photo but a computer-generated 3D drawing, I don't they've actually built one yet. No mention on their site either.

    1. Re:Now with Lens Flare! by harrkev · · Score: 3, Informative

      They can make it. This is nothing more than a Logitech io Pen that has a new case, speaker, and software.

      --
      "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  2. I was wondering by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Informative

    what logitech was going to do with that digital pen and paper failure of theirs.

    remember the pen that as you write stored your writing in memory and then you could download to the computer but only IF you bought their horribly overpriced paper?

    I was given one that came with a 30 page notepad. Neat idea, but it's data format was too closed so you either had to dink with it too much to send the "writings" to friends or they needed to download and install a special app.

    still sitting in a drawer here at work, Used it for 1 meeting, got pissed at the software that supports it, and threw it there.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:I was wondering by badmammajamma · · Score: 2, Informative

      Looks like the io2 doesn't have this problem. According to the website you can pass the information easily into Word or emails, etc.

      --
      Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. -- H. L. Mencken
  3. Re:neat, but... by timeOday · · Score: 4, Informative
    I can't comment on this brand new product specifically, but my kids have the Leap Pad computer books, and I can tell you that, in fact, they do get used. Especially on long car trips. The Leap Pads have a fair-sized library of books you can buy for them, so it's easy for somebody to get the kids one when they want to give something in the $10-$15 range. And then of course there's ebay.

    I think they're especially good for pre-readers. You touch part of the page with the attached pen, it says something about it. One book has a little "detective" narrative where touching a person gives you clues about them, and you use simple logic to guess whodunnit. And you can do basic music composition, learn the countries on the map, and of course pick up new vocabularity.