Leapfrog Talking Pen

AndroidCat writes "Leapfrog has just announced their Fly pen computer for children. It talks, giving feedback as they write and draw, and with special Fly paper, you can draw a calculator, press the 'buttons' with the pen and it will read the answers. Cute, but is this a real working product? Let's see. If they included a 1 GB USB drive, it would be an interesting product for geeks too--just don't write fdisk. And remember to turn off the voice when making notes during meetings." Here's a picture of the device.

Test for a true product.

[Antonymous Flower]

If I draw Lindsay Lohan, can I push her buttons too?

yowza

[macsox]

hopefully it can also draw those bitchin' lens flares so prominently featured in the 'photo'. curse photoshop for popularizing those things...

What If I write / . ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will it spontaneously melt down?

kids....

[wh173b0y]

...are spoiled rotten these days.
back in my day we had burnt log and a reasonaly flat rock and we loved it damnit.

Is there a return policy if mine happens to...

[Anonymous Coward]

... CROAK?

I can see it now

[knarfling]

"Here I was writing some erotic fiction in my spare time, when my pen started moaning! I will never write erotic fiction in court again."

If pens could talk

[Tackhead]

> And remember to turn off the voice when making notes during meetings.

"Hey, who turned out the lights? WTF is this CueCat doing here? Oh no! GET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARD! [userfriendly.org]"

Re:kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

a burnt log? luxury. We had to chisel runes in solid stone using our foreheads. But try and tell that to the kids today and they won't believe you.

No doubt, the slim line 'ladies'' version ...

[Anonymous Coward]

will come with three settings.

Prior Art

[clinko]

Prior Art!!!

Bill Cosby had a talking pen in Picture Pages in the early 80's. [clinko.com]

It even sang and danced...

Re:kids....

[AceCaseOR]

A log! Feh! In my day we were lucky to have a burnt log. We had to draw using our own fecal material. If you didn't have to go (nudge-nudge wink-wink), you couldn't write!

And forget about having a flat rock. We had to write on the ground, and every time it rained, our writing got washed away. You got it easy!

Nope, no problem hear....

[Thud457]

Aye taut meeselph teh 3Ng1e5h 0n slashdot!1

You want a 1GB USB drive?

[Kippesoep]

What're you writing? The Encyclopeadia Britannica? A Windows bug list? You'd still have room to transcribe the entire Linux kernel, the Bible and War & Peace! (Well, perhaps not if you include the Windows bug list, but you get my point!)

Re:Just how "smart" is this thing?

[AndroidCat]

Can it correct for poorly drawn/backwards characters?

You'll have to buy their smart Fly Pencil for that. It comes with an editor attachment on the other end.

the talking pen says:

[kertong]

"Hello! I see that you are writing a suicide letter.

May I suggest:
- A new template (?)
- A slower, more painful way to die(?)
- The Grammar Wizard (?)

If there is anything else you need, please feel free to contact my distant brother, Clippy.

Have a nice day!"

You have to write on Fly paper?...

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't that be ... sticky?

Re:Practical applications

[nizo]

How about a pen that screams, "Help, I am being stolen" when someone else takes it off my desk?

Re:Practical applications

[iNetRunner]

Nah. .. I just immediately get these horrific mental images about a pen, that when I start writing shouts "It looks like you are writing a letter/poem/..suicide note. Would you like some help with that?" ... Aaarghh!

Re:kids....

[autophile]

Chisel runes in stone with your foreheads? When *we* were kids, we chopped off our fingers and wrote in blood in the snow, and then we'd get killed by our parents, who would dance on our graves, singing "Hallelujah!"

--Rob