Livescribe (http://www.livescribe.com) has announced a tool that
embeds handwritten notes and audio recordings as Flash videos, called
"pencasts," within any web site or blog. Like podcasts, videos,
tweets and digital photos, pencasts are a new online communication
tool, allowing anyone to digitally share notes, ideas, drawings and
conversations from pen and paper online for the first time.

The Pulse smartpen is a computer in a pen that captures handwritten
notes and simultaneously records and links the audio to the
notes. Pencasts are interactive Flash videos of handwritten notes and
audio captured by the Pulse smartpen. To embed a pencast, individuals
simply find a pencast on their My Livescribe page or the Livescribe
Community, click "Embed this file" and then copy and paste the HTML
into a Web site or blog.

Since its launch last year, the Livescribe Community has received
more than 1.5 million pencast views, says Byron Connell, Livescribe
chief marketing officer. Livescribe provides each Pulse smartpen user
250MB of free online storage to share pencasts either publically or
privately. In addition to embedding pencasts on web sites or posting
them on the Livescribe Community, individuals can share pencasts
directly on Facebook, save their notes as a PDF file or export their
recordings into an audio file.

The Pulse smartpen is available at Target, Amazon.com and
Livescribe.com in 1GB and 2GB models, priced at US$149.95 and $199.95
respectively.