SAN JOSE, Calif. - It is a dream coming true for all writers - a computerized pen that stores hand-written notes, which can be then translated as text on a PC.
The creator of the Pulse Smart Pen, Jim Marggraff, is no stranger to developing innovative learning tools out of modern technology. His children’s education company Leapfrog, known for its popular multimedia learning products, reaped $1 billion in five years’ of operation and is popular among American children - especially Asian American children - learning English. Now Marggraff has taken the magic of learning to the adult world through his new company LiveScribe, which he founded in 2007.
His product was at the top of the prestigious Red Herring 100 Award list this May at the magazine’s North America conference in San Jose. The 300 attendees raved about the pen after Marggraff’s presentation.
Marggraff demonstrated the pen’s capabilities at the conference, asking me to say “Where is Forbidden Palace?” in Mandarin into the pen, which recorded my voice. As he wrote the same sentence in English on a notebook custom-made for use with the pen, my recorded-voice was broadcasted back in Mandarin with a touch of the button.
The pen currently has over 10 different language capacities. In the ethnically diverse Bay Area, the pen could potentially change the world of multi-lingual learning in the US.
The conference, now in its eleventh year, has been a major meeting point between Silicon Valley VCs and promising entrepreneurs such as Marggraff.
Michael Terpin of Terpin Communications (a serial entrepreneur himself after creating Market Wire and making a deal of US$18 million with NASDAQ) is a PR industry veteran and news distribution pioneer who has been sponsoring the Red Herring 100 for the last five years. He believes blogging is the biggest thing to hit the world of business since the Web itself, so the “blogging everywhere” capability of LiveScribe’s magic pen attracted Terpin’s interest. He has also been active in the Asian market, with clients based in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and finds the pen useful for American corporate travelers going to any part of the world, especially to Asian countries where English is not yet commonly spoken.
At this year’s conference, many entrepreneurs were building products for the Asian market, like Funkysexycool, a site with about 200,000 subscribers globally, mainly from Australia, US and Germany. CEO Tim O’Connor is beta testing Asian language sites, from Thai and Chinese to Japanese to tap into markets where millions of mobile phones are used among the young. O’Connor said he was pleased to fetch a Red Herring trophy, saying the award will certainly boost his company in the expansion stage of fundraising.
The awarded companies were selected from over 1200 applicants by a team of seasoned editorial staff from our magazine, said Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux. As someone whose first language is French, he is also looking into having a Chinese version of the magazine soon. “Sooner than the French version, I am sure,” he said.