Editing The Pen Addict 63/transcript (section)

== Lernstift Pen ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Lernstift. So it's Lernstift, the first pin that vibrates when you make a mistake.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How does it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I've read through this. This is a really, really long and in-depth project page. It's pretty ambitious. It's basically, you know, it's got a little CPU board in there in the pen. And the pen is, and the, it runs like a, I don't know, like a Linux software module that can learn your handwriting. And I guess eventually tell you when you're making mistakes, either, I don't know, in penmanship style and or in spelling. It's pretty extreme.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I kind of don't know what to make of this. I'm kind of scared by it. This is the, now this, on the other hand, this is a project that, like we were just talking about John Biggs' article where most of these pins are straightforward and safe. This looks pretty risky. This is kind of a high risk type of situation.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Number one, it's very expensive. I think the base model is 99 pounds. So what are we talking, like $150? That's in the ballpark, I think. They're also looking to get 120,000 pounds for their goal. And they're only at 18 right now with 23 days to go. So it's got a long way to go. I think they may not get there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think they'll make that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't really see what this is meant to do, though.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's supposed to be a trainer for kids, essentially, to where if they make a mistake, it will vibrate and let them know that they've made a mistake. Someone will have to tell them, you know, I guess it's a two-person deal. Someone, if the kid's writing and it makes a mistake and he doesn't know what the mistake is, that doesn't really help him unless someone can point that out to him. So someone would have to be sitting there with the child to, you know, as the child studies and writes, which I guess it's pretty normal. I mean, I sit with my kids while they do their homework. But I don't know. I don't want to say I don't get it. I get it. But I don't understand why someone necessarily would want this. It seems...

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not convinced it works.