Mightier than the sword: Pen Power!

by Sinha Dissanayaka

The pen. Your essential accessory. History has been made, international boundaries have been demarcated, nations have risen and fallen at the stroke of a pen. All of us use it. Even the Veddah Chief uses one to keep track of how many pojja's worth of souvenirs he's sold. Some journalists wield it as an expert fencer would, striking elegantly at the heart of injustice and corruption. Others use it as gracefully as a monkey with a deli-pihiya in hand. This week, "Gadget Mania" takes a closer look at the mighty pen.

Power Dressing

For the Corporate personality or professional, the pen has become a way of expressing one's individuality or so, the Image consultants and other Gurus say. Parker, Sheaffer and A.T.Cross have been household names for generations. Even brands such as Dupont and Mont blanc are seen adorning the shirt-pockets of the Rich, the Famous and the upwardly mobile in Sri Lanka.

Hi tech

With the advent of technology, it is amazing to see the features now available in pens. Multi- purpose, multi-function is the order of the day, and technologies not previously thought possible have been incorporated into the venerated writing instrument.

Some Techno- Pens in the market

Pen cameras now exist and are for sale. Since these are digital, storage is made that much easier. There also exist live- video cameras built into pens with wireless transmitter!

Pen Voice recorder and MP3 player - This would have huge benefits in terms of work, study and leisure for the consumer. Just switch on at any seminar or lecture, and record anything of significance. An mp3 player the size of a pen would make listening to music or pod-casts a breeze.

USB flash drive- Carries all your data in your pocket! Just connect to the USB port on your computer, and save your documents into the drive and Bob's your uncle!

Laser - pointer pens- Adding more power to that vital presentation.

Swiss Army Knife- Yes they've included a pen in some models, too!

New -pen torch pens with powerful LED bulbs

The PDA Pen/ Stylus

With the arrival of the PDA (Personal digital assistant) and the smart-phone, we see a new phenomenon, that is, people gazing at a plastic device in the palm of their hand, occasionally tapping at it with a small plastic stick! (This plastic "stick" is known as a stylus.) "Just what do you do with that THING?" is the sales slogan of a leading PDA company! Well, these "things" or PDAs have come to stay, and the stylus is like a mouse and cursor which enables navigating with complete ease, at the touch of the screen.

The same principle applies to Tablet PC computers, which use a "digital pen" for screen tap navigation.

Stylish Stylus!

The major pen manufacturers have refused to be left behind in the technological age, and have developed an array of products to combine tradition and technology. A.T. Cross and Co. have developed a PDA stylus the size of a Cross ball-point refill, so the user would operate his PDA using an elegant Cross Pen! (It is appreciated if the local Cross Agents make this available, as we Sri Lankans certainly are not in the Stone Age-I have made repeated requests).

I bought a gorgeous Parker (Model: Vector 3 in1) from the Agents Walker & Greig Ltd.(Browns Showroom) which has a ballpoint, PDA stylus tip and mechanical pencil all rolled into one pen, with Parker's distinctive features! This costs approximately Rs. 1,800, not bad considering the features. The "Pierre Cardin" outlet in Majestic city also has PDA stylus combo pens.

James Bond and the local Underworld

Remember the pen-guns in the spy- thriller movies? Well one Sri Lankan was arrested a few years back for manufacturing pen-guns, which actually worked! Even the authorities were amazed by the talents of this youth who might have put Sri Lanka on the Techno- map for the wrong reasons!

All time favourite!

"My all time favourite" vote will be for the good old Reynolds ball-point which, true to its slogan Bima wetunath Reynolds, yasata liyai Reynolds , used to go on writing even if you dropped the thing!