pens

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on pens:

This spy pen would be right at home in James Bond’s tux

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This spy pen is the write way to do covert recording.
This spy pen is primed for some covert action.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Feel like going full 007? The iSpyPen Pro is a covert camera with 128GB of storage and a long-lasting battery — and yet it still looks and works like a regular pen.

Grab this stealth camera in silver or black for up to 19% off, and prep yourself for your next big undercover adventure.

Secretly record audio and video with 10% off these stealthy spy pens

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iSpyPen Pro: Grab 10% off this two-pack of camera pens and live out your super-spy dreams.
Grab 10% off this two-pack of camera pens and live out your super-spy dreams.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It’s OK to admit it: Our love of the latest tech is essentially spurred by our desire to have a cabinet full of James Bond-worthy spy gadgets. But did you know that those awesome super-spy inventions aren’t just the stuff of fiction?

You can grab a two-pack of these iSpyPen Pros — which look like a normal writing implement but give you 007-style capabilities on sale for just $114.99. That’s a 10% discount off the regular price of $129.

Marc Newson designs the Apple Watch of fountain pens

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Marc Newson's Montblanc M pen is sleek as can be.
Meaning it's really expensive and does one thing really well.
Photo: Montblanc

Apple’s Marc Newson is one of the best designers in the industry. His plane-inspired Lockheed Lounge chair was reflective, smooth and looked incredibly uncomfortable. And we’re still enjoying the look and feel of our Apple Watches, even if the other night a drunk girl at a bar made fun of me for wearing mine in public. And that was hurtful.

But Newson isn’t just about shiny devices and even shinier chairs. He’s recently teamed up with luxury accessory designer Montblanc to create the Montblanc M, a classic fountain pen that looks like it came from the future.

Livescribe 3 Is Fantastic, Right Up Until It Sends Your Writing To Your iPad [Review]

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Livescribe 3 Smartpen byLivescribe
Category:
Works With:
Price: From $150

Spoiler: Writing with ink on paper is still way better than stabbing at a hard glass screen with a soft rubbery tip. Double spoiler: writing with a ballpoint pen which records your every stroke for searching and editing on your iPad is amazing, and way better than taking photos of every page you finish just to feed into Evernote. Third spoiler: No matter how good the hardware and the AI behind the scenes, a crappy app lets everything down.

How A Bunch Of Hardcore Bikers Stopped Making Hot Rod Parts To Make iPhone Cases [Feature]

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Bill Karas (pictured above) has switched his business from making hot rod parts to iPhone cases, and it's paying off

Bill Karas isn’t your typical biker. Yes, he’s got the type of facial hair that would make ZZ Top proud. He’s even got his own custom shop where he can build you anything your bike or hot rod needs.

But behind all the facial hair, metal music, and hot rod loving exterior, Bill Karas and his crew at Karas Kustoms have found something far more exciting and lucrative than building hotrods: making iPhone cases.

How does a group of bikers go from building custom steering columns to iPhone cases? It was pretty much a compete accident, but it starts with a pen and Kickstarter.

Livescribe Sky Pen Sends Handwritten Notes To Evernote Via Wi-Fi

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Calling the new Livescribe Sky a pen is like calling your iPhone 5 a phone. Technically the Sky is a writing instrument, but it has about as much in common with a pen as your iPhone has with an old rotary dial telephone.

The Sky lets you write and draw on paper, and it then uploads your notes wirelessly (no computer required) to your Evernote account. From there you can immediately access them from your iPad, iPhone, Mac or any device with a browser.

Wacom Bamboo Pocket,: A Tiny, Extending Stylus

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Wacom might be letting every other pen maker bring touch-sensitive styluses to the iPad first, but at least its regular dumb iPad styluses are amongst the best out there. And if you have ever hefted your Wacom Bamboo stylus and thought “This is almost perfect, but I wish it were a little stubbier,” then I have good news:

Wacom has made a stubby stylus. What’s more, it transforms into a long and slender stylus. It’s called the Bamboo Stylus Pocket.

JaJa iPad Stylus Works Without Wires, Wi-Fi Or Bluetooth

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Under pressure: The JaJa turns your iPad into a digital sketchbook.

 

If Crocodile Dundee had been a digital artist instead of a hardened Aussie hunter, and if you had pulled your iPad stylus out in the middle of a heated argument somewhere in NYC, then he would have said this:

“Call that a stylus? That’s not a stylus… This is a stylus.”

And then pulled out the JaJa, an iPad stylus that is not only pressure-sensitive (with 1024 levels), but manages to communicate its intent to your iPad without a cable, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or any other radio protocol. How the hell do it work?

TruGlide Duo Packs Stylus And Pen Into One Stylish Tube

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Write anywhere with the TruGlide Duo.

 

If you carry a stylus for your iPad, it’s fair to say you like writing (or at least doodling). And – by extension – it’s likely that you also carry a pen. Now one of our favorite styluses – – the metal-mesh-tipped TruGlide from Linktec – has been turned into the Duo, a single stick with a different writing technology at each end.

The Best iPad Styluses [Best Of]

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You only need look at a child's drawing to know why you need a stylus.

“If you see a stylus they failed.” That might be everybody’s favorite Steve Jobs quote about touch screens, but the fact is the finger is terrible at both drawing and writing — just look at your kid’s scrawlings up on the refrigerator door if you don’t believe me.

If you want to make pictures and words that the rest of the world can recognize as such, you need a little help. Luckily, iPad accessory makers also ignored Jobs’ complaints and set out to fill the world with wonderful iPad pens. Here are the best you can buy.

Hand Stylus Comes With Retractable, Replaceable Tips

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The Hand Stylus might be the last stylus you ever need

You might like to think that Cult of Mac deputy editor John Brownlee is a beacon of intelligence in the world of Apple news, but sometimes he can be as dumb as the rest of us. Example: When staying with the Lady and I recently, John came to meet me in a local bar.

I pulled out my brand-new, just-bought Wacom Bamboo stylus to show him, and mentioned that it had a super clean, easy-glide tip. I handed it over and watched as John absent-mindedly stabbed the virgin rubber repeatedly onto the filthy, sticky bar table. Thanks a lot, John.

If I had had the Hand Stylus, though, I needn’t have suffered. The biggest feature of the Hand is its retractable tip, but there’s more to it than that.

The Great New Alupen Pro Stylus Also Writes On Paper [Review]

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The Alupen Pro: Thinner, healthier and pen-ier than its fat predecessor Photo Charlie Sorrel (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The Alupen Pro: Thinner, healthier and pen-ier than its fat predecessor Photo Charlie Sorrel (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

I was a big fan of the Alupen when it launched — so much so that I went out and bought my own. It was chunky, looked like a metal pencil and felt pretty good in my big hands. Then came the Wacom Bamboo stylus and our love affair was over.

Now, though, the newer skinnier, cleverer Alupen Pro has got me two-timing the svelte Bamboo. Why? Because it has a biro built in.