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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.

7 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Practical applications by teiresias · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While it's intended market is for children, the applications this could be used in are astounding for all ages. Lesson plans become interactive, doodles become narratives, and comments become richer. This would open up a unique interface which would benifit those who aren't technically proficient.

    Not to mention a few crafty programmers and this could be a great tool for around the house.

    or practical joke. :)

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    -Teiresias
  2. neat, but... by LiquidMind · · Score: 5, Interesting

    would you really want to put down cold hard cash for this? it seems like just another thing that parents could buy to give their kids in hope that it'll help. If you were that age and got one of those, how much time would you really dedicate to it?

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    This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
    1. Re:neat, but... by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      would you really want to put down cold hard cash for this?

      Personally, I wouldn't. But, based on the number of Leapfrog toys we own already, I am sure my son's Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and various other hangers-on would be more than happy to purchase one for him.

  3. Just how "smart" is this thing? by Miraba · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Considering the current translation technology, I'm not sure that such a function would be very useful. Also, just how smart is it's spelling? Can it correct for poorly drawn/backwards characters?

  4. Re:Too Much Technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Books? You mean the blocks of paper with runes written all over it? That's the problem we have today: everyone thinks technology will save us and kids will learn from computers.

    I love computers, programming and geek stuff, but it's like schools giving laptops for free to children, it's either broken or filled with games in less than a week.

    Technology might be making it too easy for them
    Are you sure about this? I think it's worse than this: you can't educate children with computers because the info that is given is filtered to 10% of what would be a real course. I've seen history lessons taught with laptops: animated gifs and almost empty texts (but we're lucky, they forgot the wav files).

    You will have to learn the old-school way: take a book and read!
  5. Re:Logitech io pen for kids? by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I remembered various pens, but not the special paper. Yup, this sounds like they're using that technology. (It probably has a patent or two.) Since the Logitech one had USB, maybe Leapfrog has just hidden the connector? Add that 1 GB drive and a hackable OS...

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    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  6. Re:BSO... by milkman_matt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    B...S...O..D...

    Y'know, that brings up an interesting point that I'm wondering now... Think they'd incorporate any easter eggs into this thing? You'd think that someone involved with the project would have thought that something like that could be funny. ;)