The LongPen – landmark distance tool

from Inventors and Remarkable People (112 articles)

A-

A+

Page: 1 2 3

Click image to enlarge

Image Gallery ( 19 images )

March 30, 2006 The unveiling of the LongPen at the London Book Fair earlier this month is one of the most important technology stories of 2006. The fact it was conceived and funded in its development by Booker Prize-winning novelist Margaret Atwood seems to have helped to disguise the story from the tabloids. Similarly, the absolute focus of Unotchit on the LongPen as a tool to enable authors to escape the drudgery of book signing tours has been equally myopic – Atwood could not have picked a harder industry in which to pioneer a machine that challenges traditional ways. The LongPen machine threatens the lucrative tradition of book signing tours because it enables the author to sign a book remotely while they chat via videophone with the recipient – all facilitated by the Internet. Viewed with some perspective though, LongPen is the world’s first real-time, remote signing device and will likely find many applications in a world unshackling itself from the tyranny of distance. It is already being adapted to sign basketballs and will be used by entertainers, musicians ad infinitum to sign CD/DVDs and photos remotely. Instead of focussing on how much the value of a signed book is diminished by LongPen, we think Unotchit should forget the book market and go after the burgeoning distance-everything markets where it is a landmark tool that will enable public figures of all types to represent themselves more effectively to the global community.

One of the more intriguing technology stories of recent times has been the unveiling of the LongPen at the London Book Fair 2006 earlier this month. Conceived and funded in its development by novelist Margaret Atwood, the LongPen is the world’s first real-time, remote signing device and was created by Atwood in the hope that book authors will no longer need to traipse around the world for book signings.

It works like this - the author signs using a LongPen machine, and another machine signs the book remotely while the author and the person with the book chat via videophone – all facilitated by the Internet. The machine is being adapted for use with sporting memorabilia (so it can remotely sign baseballs, basketballs etc) and will no doubt find application in other aspects of the entertainment industry where musicians and actors can sign CD/DVDs or photos remotely.

Ironically, though the LongPen will undoubtedly be embraced by many of the world’s digital communities and will likely find many applications in a world unshackling itself from the tyranny of distance, Atwood might well have picked an easier industry in which to pioneer a machine that challenges traditional ways.

The immediate questions raised by the LongPen’s target audience of book signing attendees surround the value of a book, baseball or an autograph signed remotely in comparison to being signed by a flesh-and-blood human.

It seems to us that everyone, including Unotchit, has missed the point, focussing almost myopically on the book-signing market and failing to see things with any perspective. The LongPen is a tool of landmark importance for the burgeoning distance-everything market and will facilitate important people of all types to represent themselves to the global community.

The LongPen consists of two units. One unit is the signers and features a video screen, a bit pad, and a magnetic pen. The second unit is stationed with the recipient and includes another screen, a book/document holder and an electronic arm wielding a pen.

The participants can see and hear each other with clarity through the video screens and audio connections and it should be said that the LongPen incorporates a high-quality videoconferencing system that facilitates clear and compelling eye-to-eye communication. The recipient places the object to be signed in the LongPen holder and, in the case of a book, informs the signer what they would like written in the inscription.

When the signer obliges, a preview screen appears before the image is sent, in case corrections are needed. Whatsmore the entire process is recorded and either party can have a DVD copy of the transmissions.

...continued

Page: 1 2 3