Talk about being in two places at one time…virtually speaking.

Novelist and poet Margaret Atwood is the pioneering creator behind the LongPen. This gadget allows an author to be in one city and sign a copy of their book in another city.

The pen utilizes the internet and fiber optics to accomplish its goal. With electricity as a power source, you sign a book as you normally would, although the pen tip and ink are not where you are - they're in another location. Of course, this device is not limited to authors' book signings; it has business applications as well.

Here's how it all works. You are in one location and have a document that needs an original ink signature. However, the document, book, or whatever is not in the same geographical location as you are. You sit down at an electric writing tablet. This electronic tablet shows the type of document or book you're going to sign at the other location. With a magnetic pen, you write your signature and anything else on the tablet - on the image of the book or document.

Now here's the fun part. At the other location, the actual book, or document sits under a pen mechanism. This mechanism has the pen nub with ink attached. At the other end, the writer hits the send button after he or she finishes writing with the magnetic pen on the electronic template. At the receiving end an ink signature prints onto the piece requiring signing. It's an actual handwritten signature in ink. Watch the LongPen in action!

The LongPen is currently gaining favor in the book, music, film, TV, and sports industries. The company is also accepting inquiries for its use in business settings. They're ready to explore avenues for its use in the business world with different companies.

The company feels their device will be a boon to bankers, lawyers, and real estate agents. All and any business sector that requires original signed documents in a person's own handwriting in real ink. As they advertise, a signature signed using the LongPen device is a legally valid signature. As it should be - the result is a document with an original ink signature on it.

Another great thing about the LongPen is that there is a video-conferencing component available with the signing apparatus. This allows one party to see and converse with the other party as they perform the signing function.

Check out the above link and watch this amazing long-distance pen in action.

The LongPen is something right out of the Jetsons'. It's here right now and ready in the coming years to become a household name.

Posted by Mike.