The ball-point pen is getting a makeover.

Andy Van Schaack, the Senior Science Advisor of Livescribe, earlier tonight unveiled an almost-finalized version of the company’s new smart pen to a group of eager Vanderbilt University undergraduates. During the presentation, he answered a number of questions about the current and future capabilities of the pen.

The pen has two built-in microphones, a speaker, and a small display, which shows “recording” when pen is recording audio and what looked like some sort of control when playing back audio. The pen can record audio while you write, and you can later play back that audio by tapping on the text that you have written. (For more on the pen’s basic capabilities and how it works, visit the company’s website at Livescribe.com.) Audio recording is started by tapping on a "button" on a pre-printed sheet of paper, and playback is controlled in much the same way.

In addition to the pen, consumers will get a pair of in-ear headphones with microphones built into each ear bud. The headphones can plug into the pen and record audio in stereo sound, using the shape of the earlobe to direct sound into the microphones. If students or others don’t wish to wear the earphones in class, Mr. Van Schaack suggested that users can drape the headphones over your shoulder to get the same effect. While a neat feature, the headphones are by no means necessary; during a demo, the pen played back clear audio of a Professor Van Schaack’s voice that was recorded from the back of a lecture hall with the pen’s built-in microphones.

Battery life will apparently last through an aggressive day of use (including note-taking, game playing and audio playback). It is designed to be charged at night.

Left-handers need not worry about being inconvenienced by an upside-down display, as the pen can be configured for left- or right-handed use. However, the initial launch of the pen will be Windows-only. The pen’s software will run on Boot Camp, though, and Livescribe plans to release a Mac-based version of their pen’s software soon after launch. The Windows software has not been tested on Virtual PC for older Macs, so it may or may not run on a non-Intel Mac.

Up to 100 hours of audio can be stored on the pen, which can then be archived to a computer. It is apparently possible to select what sections of audio are added or deleted from the pen’s memory when doing this.

The ink cartridge will be replaceable, so no need to worry about running out of ink. There will also be options for buying different types of ink cartridges, so you don’t need to be stuck with standard black.

One individual asked whether the pen would still work if the notebook in which the notes had been taken got wet. Livescribe has not tested this yet, but I’m sure they will now.

Livescribe is going to release a software developer kit for third-party application development. They are also hoping to encourage user-generated content creation. Individuals will be able to create interactive study guides or other items for the pen and sell them (or provide them for free) on an iTunes-like store. Users will be able to download the audio for the study guides onto the pen. The possibility of interactive books was also mentioned – imagine a copy of a Harry Potter book with audio commentary from the author that can be triggered by touching the pen to the page. Pretty neat idea. Also, there will be a way for users to draw a note and upload it to Facebook (goodbye, Graffiti application).

The pen will sell for “less than $200.” Mr. Van Schaack laughed when someone suggested $199. The first generation of the pen will not have any wireless capability, but future generations almost certainly will have both WiFi and Bluetooth. Currently, the pen must dock with a computer via USB in order to transfer information.

I was able to get some pictures of a finalized pen as it was passed around amongst event attendees. Here are the pictures I took with my cell phone (sorry about the poor quality):

The display side of the pen: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x57/cskene/display.jpg
The charger/sync side of the pen: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x57/cskene/port.jpg