Achieve-IT! reader Laura sent in a tip about a new gadget for book authors called “the Long Pen.” What the Long Pen aims to do is to help authors sign books without having travel the world. When they say long pen, they mean long. An author can use this robotic pen to sign a book from the other side of the world via the Internet.
I can’t say I like the idea. It’s a bit impersonal. Signing machines have been around for decades – write the White House and its likely if you get a ‘signed’ reply from the president it will be with a signing robot. The Long Pen adds the videoconference element which is a plus. But I don’t think I’d like to have a book signed in this manner, unless the author had a disability.
“The Long Pen now consists of three “stations,” if you will: the author has a video monitor and an electronic pad with a stylus, and so does the reader. Let’s put the author in New York, and the reader in, say, Zagreb. These stations are connected via a dedicated Internet cable, and the “go-between” is a metal contraption on the readers’ side that clamps and holds a regular pen (it can be any pen — Sharpie, ballpoint, the reader’s own heirloom Montblanc) that is then manipulated by signals from the author’s station to reproduce signature, inscription — even doodles.
Right now, the design is still pretty “clunky,” as the Long Pen folks admit on their Web site. I believe I said in my London entry that it looks a bit like an enormous Tinkertoy construction. However, it works, and I was so intrigued by the idea and the device in London that I asked Atwood if she would come to Book Expo and give a demonstration in the AOL CyberCafe. To my surprise and delight, she thought it was a terrific idea and our teams made it happen.”
Link : Tracey, Meet Margaret… Thanks Laura!
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