Every year at TED there are some cool new technology introductions. This year was no exception, and one that really captured my attention was a new "pen." It is actually much more than your average pen however. It is called the Pulse SmartPen by a company called LiveScribe. What makes this device interesting is that when you take notes (using special note paper), it captures the ambient sound in the room where you are writing. Later, if you want to review your notes, you can tap the pen to any word on the page, and it will play back what was going on at the time you took the note. 
This is a fantastic concept for any situation where you need to take notes, but might want more detail (a lecture in school for example). The pen has a variety of other functions too. For example, if you have a phrase that you have written down, you can touch the pen to the phrase, and it will repeat it back to you in a foreign language. Another feature is that you can write down numbers, and then arithmetic statements such a plus or minus. By touching the numbers and math statement, plus adding an equal sign, the pen will give you the correct answer to the math problem.
The pen is not available yet, but will sell in both one and two gigabyte models for under $200.
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