This is not your father's note-taking

As a reporter I've spent my career in search of the perfect combination of pen and notebook. I'm still looking. I use a digital voice recorder today, but now I'm starting to look at these fancy new digital pens.

Wired has a review of Livescribe's Echo.

Packed with an ARM 9 processor, an infrared camera, a built-in speaker and mic, the Echo lets you write, record and then seamlessly transfer all your notes (with the help of the company's free desktop software) to your Mac or PC.

Well, of course that's impossible. Of course I'm old enough to remember hearing about some called a "CRT" (cathode ray tube), a TV-like screen on which reporters could type and letters would appear. Impossible, I said.

You're looking at something around $200 for the Echo, depending on how much memory you want -- and depending on the memory of how much you have left in the bank. However:

The real allure of the Echo remains the way the software and hardware work together to make your life easier. Yes, there's something immensely satisfying in seeing your deranged scrawlings rasterize onscreen. And for college students and journalists in particular, the Pencast option is quite simply a Godsend. Simply hit the record icon on the included paper and start taking notes as you usually would. Once you've finished the lecture/meeting/interview, you can not only replay the entire recording, but also instantly move from one section to another by simply tapping on a specific note. The pen will automatically play back the audio from that precise moment. This has the obvious benefit of helping you navigate long, meandering lectures, but it also frees you up to write random or tangential thoughts without the fear of missing important information. 

I feel like a new toy coming on.

Also posted at My Skunkworks