As I’ve mentioned in my Tablet PC Tip #4, MS One Note makes it easy to record audio in sync with hand-written ink. Livescribe’s “smartpen” makes it even easier...

Based on Anoto’s "dot paper" technology, Livescribe will be selling a simple pen that records audio and digitizes handwriting while you write on the special paper that includes “invisible” digitization patterns. What they show in their cartoon-styled product demos is that it is very simple – you can take notes and record audio with ease, without a computer.

I've seen other products based on the Anoto digitization technology, but this is the first time I've seen the digitization technology combined with audio. Of course they fail to mention is that audio is notoriously difficult to record when you sit far away at the back of a lecture hall, even if you have a really expensive shot-gun microphone. Who knows - maybe they've found a clever way to overcome this! Ah, details, details...