Vibrating pen could some day make you smarterer
If we had handwritten the horrid text above, Lernstift would have let us know, as it is a vibrating pen that alerts users of when they have made a spelling error or if their handwriting is not legible.
The vibrating pen was invented in Austria as an experimental educational aide for children, teaching them to write legibly and use correct spelling. It features technology that recognizes all writing movements, and calls its alert an “unmistakable” short vibration.
For now, the concept device features notifications separated into two modes: “Calligraphy Mode” which alerts of illegible writing, and “Orthography Mode,” which alerts of spelling errors. The company asserts that the second mode also detects grammatical mistakes, which is helpful for any writer, child or adult.
The company says, “For centuries, mankind has been learning to write. All that time, we used to depend on someone to look over our shoulder or correct spelling, grammar and form afterwards.”
Not on the market yet, but promising technology
Further, they note that “In the future we can get our feedback another way—and more importantly: instantly! With Lernstift, it combines a time-tested writing utensil with state of the art technology and thereby gives writing by hand new relevance and appeal in the age of iPad & Co.”
Because the company is Austrian, demo videos and some of their website is in German, so some of the finer details may be lost, but the product is not patented or publicly available as of yet, but the technology is promising.
They even note that future generations of the product could include wi-fi for instant note storage with written words going directly to the cloud. Additionally, they say they have figured out how to use it as a tool to teach children the proper pressure to use when clutching a pen so that the learning curve is shorter.