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Livescribe smartpens aren’t just pens.

They’re “multimodal computers”, according to CEO Jim Marggraff. And with the launch of Livescribe’s Connect service, his multimodal computers get an array of useful new ways to send and share notes and information

Livescribe Connect is available today as an update to the Livescribe Desktop desktop application and as an app for Echo and Pulse smartpens, including a new 2 GB Echo model additionally launching today.

Previously, notes written on Livescribe’s dot paper could be exported as “Pencasts”, as PDFs or as audio files through Livescribe Desktop. With Connect, pages can be shared as an interactive “Pencast PDF” that can be accessed by anyone (not just those with Livescribe Desktop installed, necessary for viewing traditional Pencasts). Anyone with Adobe Reader 10 or higher can view a Pencast PDF, which syncs words written on the page with recorded audio and can be played much like a video recording.

Connect lets you share written notes with a number of digital services and destinations (referred to as Connectors), including Google Docs, Facebook, Evernote, mobile devices, email, and your desktop.

“With Livescribe Connect, it is easy to make your handwritten notes and spoken information digital, searchable, shareable and accessible any time, anywhere with a simple tap of your smartpen,” Marggraff says in the press release.

And according to a recent report from Outsell, a research and advisory firm, the ability to easily share notes is key in a smartpen — 75% of respondents that digitize notes end up sharing them with others or reusing them in documents or presentations.

The Livescribe Echo, Livescribe’s latest pen model, was originally introduced in the summer of 2010 with 4 GB and 8 GB models. In October, Livescribe teamed up with Evernote, the cloud-based digital note storing service, for an additional way to share and access handwritten notes. Livescribe was founded in 2007 and began turning heads with the introduction of its Pulse smartpen in 2008. They’ll be shipping their millionth smartpen sometime this year.

To send a handwritten page using Connect, you draw a short line and begin writing a one or two word shortcut above it, like “Facebook”, and the smarten recognizes the shortcut name and instructs you to tap the pages you’d like to include. A double tap (which sometimes had trouble being recognized) completes the function, but notes aren’t actually sent out until the next time your smartpen is docked. Current pen models have no WiFi or Bluetooth capabilities; they rely on a USB connection to transfer data. Marggraff said that in the future, the company plans to produce wireless smartpen models.

So, if you still need a notebook to access your smartpen’s data, why not just bring your laptop to your lecture or meeting and type up notes?

Livescribe Connect lets you create shortcuts so that you can easily share or back up notes digitally when your smartpen is docked

Most people — that is, 87% of business professionals — still prefer taking notes by hand, according to research from Forrester. And a couple of different studies proved that students who bring their notebooks to class aren’t using them for in-class note-taking so much as instant messaging and browsing “distractive” websites (I’m looking at you Reddit).

Using a pen and paper continues to be a good way to keep track of information, and the added benefit of synced audio that smartpen models such as Livescribe’s provide means that you can pick and choose what to write (primarily keywords you can use to jump to a specific point in the audio recording), as opposed to needing to manically jot down everything scrawled on a blackboard. Ned May, Vice President and Lead Analyst for Outsell, a research and advisory firm, says that Livescribe’s audio syncing capabilities are what separates it from other smartpen manufacturers, and that there’s “no other solution that’s better” at the present time.

May believes “the smartpen market is on the cusp of taking off” based on Outsell’s examination of the current smartpen landscape.

I’ve gotten the chance to check out Livescribe Connect for the past few days, and it works quite well. The main caveat, which I mentioned before, is that data isn’t sent over the air, it’s sent the next time your pen is docked. Shortcuts can be added and personalized using the desktop program, and they are recognized quickly and rarely misinterpreted by the pen itself. If you primarily take notes in darkened lecture halls or write super speedily, the pen (I was using the new 2 GB model) may have trouble picking up all of your pen strokes.

Livescribe Connect is available in two flavors, Premium and Basic. Connect Premium grants you access to all available Connectors and is free for 4GB and 8GB Echo owners. 2 GB Echo and Pulse smartpen owners have free access to Connect Basic, which provides sharing capabilities for everything except email and Google Docs, but can pay $14.99 to upgrade to Connect Premium through Livescribe’s online store. The 2 GB Echo smartpen can be purchased for $99.95.