Archive for July, 2008

Story Circle blog button

Published
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beccataylor
2 months, 1 week ago
in Musings
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If you’re a Story Circle Network blogger, you can add our button to your blog. Here are some quick tips for adding the button on your blog.

First, save the button to your computer so you can upload it to your blog’s control panel. Go to http://storycircle.org/blogs.shtml, right-click on the image and select Save Image As.

If you’re using WordPress (self-hosted or on WordPress.com), you can add the button and link in a sidebar widget.

  1. Upload the blog button and note the URL of the uploaded image.
  2. Click on the Design tab and click on the Widgets menu item.
  3. Add a Text widget.
  4. Enter this code into the widget. I’ve used a sample URL for the image source, so be sure to update it with the URL from the image you uploaded on your site.
    <a href="http://storycircle.org/blogs.shtml"><img align="center" src="http://mysite.com/blog/uploads/2007/blogbutton1.gif"></a>
  5. Click the Change button on the widget.
  6. Click Save Changes on the Widget control panel page.
  7. You’re done! View your blog to see your button.

If you’re using Blogger, add a Page Element to your sidebar.

  • Click on your blog’s Layout tab.
  • Click on the Add a Page Element link above the sidebar elements.
  • Select the Picture element by clicking on the Add to Blog button next to it.
  • Upload the image you saved to your computer and enter the link to SCN blogs (http://storycircle.org/blogs.shtml).
  • Click Save on the Configure Image window.
  • Click Save on the Add and Arrange Page Elements section to save your changes.
  • You’re done! View your blog to see your button. Note: if you click on Preview before saving your changes, the link won’t be active yet.

Livescribe dollars and sense

Published
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beccataylor
2 months, 1 week ago
in Musings
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Okay, I’m into my 4th day of ownership and still learning something new every time I pick up my Pulse pen. So there’s still more to talk about!

Cost of the pen

“So,” you’re wondering, “how much does this nifty new gadget cost me?” There are 2 models of the Pulse pen: 1 GB ($149.95) and 2 GB ($199.95). The only difference between the two models is the storage. According to Livescribe, you can expect 100 hours and 200 hours (respectively), depending on your audio settings. Personally, for only 50 bucks more, I opted for the 2 GB model. :)

In the pen kit you get the pen, a case (see more below), notebook, USB dock, and earphones.

Accessories

The pen comes with a standard pen case that has a little pocket to carry an extra pen nib, and a little velcro tab you can tuck the earbud cords into. It’s not much to look at but it’s functional. You can buy ($24.95) a slightly fancier leather pen case (in black or red) that has a flap and clip on it. I bought the leather case but find that I don’t prefer one over the other. You will want to use a case, though, because there is no cover for the pen nib (what with the sensor on the end). Hopefully a convenient nib cover is something the folks at Livescribe will design.

You can buy additional pen nib refills in blue and black (with a red cartridge in each pack). The cost is $5.95 for 5 nibs. Oh, and you can buy replacement docks for $19.95, in case you need an extra. Note, though, that you can only link your pen to one computer. I bought an extra dock because I have a laptop and wanted to keep a dock at home and one at work.

Paper

One drawback of the technology is that you have to use specially designed paper. The sensor uses very small dots to track and record your writing. You can opt for 2 types of paper: a spiral notebook or journal notebook. I have both.

Your pen comes with one spiral notebook (paper is 8.5×11 inches, 1 subject, college ruled, 2 pockets, 100 sheets). The paper is a nice weight and is perforated should you want to remove a page. The dots aren’t at all distracting for me. In fact, I love writing on this paper as the dots make the page look a little gray, thus reducing the glare you can sometimes get from bright paper. You can buy additional 4-packs of the spirals for $19.95. I plan on using the spiral notebook for work.

I’m a lifewriter, I journal, therefore I bought the journals. :) Each pack ($24.95) comes with 2 journals (paper is 5.5×8.5 inches, black leather cover, lined or unlined, 198 usable pages, elastic closure strap). I bought the lined journal because I can’t write in a straight line and I also can’t draw worth a damn, so I don’t. Which reminds me that when you import your pages into the Livescribe desktop, you can choose whether you view the lines or not. So, if you make a drawing on a lined page, you can still view it without the lines in the Desktop viewer. Kinda cool!

I now carry my journal and pen in my purse, so not only does my journal record my daily thoughts and musings, but notes to myself about other writing projects I’m working on. Like the spiral notebook, I find the quality of the paper more than adequate. The ballpoint doesn’t bleed through at all, which is sometimes annoying when you tend to cover every inch of your journal page. The only catch with the journal is that the lines seem pretty small. Luckily I have relatively small handwriting, so I don’t have to adjust my writing habits to stay within the lines. For people with large handwriting, that could be annoying.

Purchasing

If you’d like to buy the pen or any of the accessories, you can purchase them online at Amazon.com. If you use this link, the purchases will benefit the wonderful Story Circle Network. Or you can use the direct links below (which don’t point to the SCN store). At the time of this posting, Amazon.com is sold out of many of the items, so you might be able to find them at your local Target. Amazon and Target are the only retailers.

Do you have questions I haven’t answered? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer you!

Livescribe is still heaven after 3 days

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beccataylor
2 months, 1 week ago
in Musings
. 1 Comment

It’s been 3 days since I first unboxed my Livescribe Pulse pen, and I’m still eagerly finding excuses to write in my notebook and journal. It’s been a long time since handwriting has been this much fun!

Audio recording - phone calls

The concept of being able to record audio that is tied to the text you write really sold me on the pen. That’s just too cool! So the Pulse comes with earbuds that have built-in mics (in addition to the mic that’s built in to the pen itself). When I saw that I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could record my phone calls?” See, I spend almost all day, every day, on conference calls at work. It’s the cost of a global economy, I suppose. I have teams in India, Brazil, Germany, and the UK, not to mention spread out in all time zones in the US. My most exciting discovery is that I can, indeed, record my conference calls!

photo.jpgI use a one-ear headset for my calls. A user on the Livescribe forums suggested putting the earbud in your ear, then putting the headset over it. I was skeptical, to say the least. I figured there would be too much interference from the earbud/mic scraping against the headset ear piece. Or at least the sound quality would be too diminished to be useful. I was wrong!

The sound is so much better than I imagined. I can hear audio from the phone just as well as I can hear my own voice. There’s no interference and it captures everything. I was blown away! The only problem I had was having two ear piece devices with cords. My headset is not cordless, and the earbuds have cords, so there were a few times I got tangled up in all the cords around my neck and on my desk.

Text recognition

In my last post I showed you a digital capture of my journal. When you dock the Pulse, the Livescribe Desktop automatically imports the latest sessions from your pen. Then you can access the pages in the “Current Notebooks” window (image 1). Here’s where it gets cool: say I wanted to see my journal pages where I mention my SCN projects (image 2). All I have to do is select my journal and enter “SCN” in the search box. Then Livescribe Desktop will show results highlighted on images of my pages (image 3). Holy Toledo, I do a little happy dance every time I try it! :)

Livescribe_CurrentNotebooks

Livescribe_JournalPages

Livescribe_SearchResults

I’ve done dozens of text searches and all of them have been accurate. However, I only have a few pages entered into the tool, so I don’t have a large source from which to experiment yet. :)

Now, the text recognition could get WAY cooler. Right now you can only search your Pulse writing sessions from the Livescribe Desktop application, and there isn’t an export feature. However, buzz on the Livescribe Forums indicate that Livescribe is developing an export feature so you can export your Pulse sessions as text (no official ETA on that though). When you can pull your Pulse sessions into third-party applications, like Word, then it will worthy of many a happy dance. Not just a little booty-shaking jig, but a full-on flailing, ecstatic, whirligig of a dance. I can’t wait!

Livescribe in real life

So, how useful are these features, really? Well, as I’ve mentioned, I can now record my project calls. For someone with as faulty a memory as mine, this is a heaven-sent capability. But think about the recording capability for journalists and writers–now your interviews have the audio and text tied together. I ran across a teacher online who uploaded an audio and text session for his students because they were having a hard time understanding the assignment he gave that day. And wouldn’t this have been handy in college?! If you miss a lecture, your buddy can upload his audio and text session so you can hear everything that was presented that day. For study purposes, this takes flash cards to a whole new level. Yes, I love my new toy!

A lifewriter’s dream pen

Published
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beccataylor
2 months, 2 weeks ago
in Musings
. 4 Comments

Last week as I wandered through Target I spotted a new gadget that I just had to have. My friends will ask themselves, “What else is new? She’s turned into a bona fide gadget freak.” Well my friends, this new toy has really put a sparkle in my eye. It has so much potential, I get giddy just thinking about it! But you know what? Me sitting here typing this out is completely unnecessary. I’ll just use my nifty new Live Scribe Pulse to show you. Click on the image to see it full size.

My first Live Scribe journal entry

I bet you’re wondering, “How did she do that?!” This Live Scribe Pulse pen is awesome, I tell ya! It takes my journal entry and puts it on the computer using a really simple dock.

Live Scribe Pulse and journal Live Scribe Pulse docked

How a Queen made me recognize the power of my own values

Published
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beccataylor
2 months, 2 weeks ago
in Musings
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I just stumbled upon a great article on CNN about Queen Rania of Jordan.

“The most important thing is to instill [my children] with the right values,” Rania says. “I just feel that values are the shield that you carry with you throughout life. It protects you from whatever life throws at you.”

…

Helping others is something Rania says she feels compelled to do. “Once you feel that others are like you, then you want for others what you want for yourself,” she says. “And that way you start helping others.”

This is so true. Where I think people run into problems is in the belief that values should make us immovable and infallible. Each of us is given free will and intelligence, I wish we all had the confidence to use them: to apply our values to life’s situations in positive ways; to refine our values by learning from ourselves and others; to understand that values aren’t equal to religion, though they may be shaped by religion; to realize that we can look out for ourselves and our neighbors; to know instinctively that we all have value and add something important to the huge ecosystem of the universe; to recognize the beauty of ourselves in others. I hadn’t thought until now how much power my values hold for me.