Yeah, that brief description kinda understates what the LongPen (http://www.longpen.com ) is all about and why it’s kinda cool. It’s not that it allows the author can sign a book electronically. It’s that it allows an author to sign a book, with his/her acutal signature, remotely. Folks can argue whether or not a video-conference is as appealing as face-to-face interaction between fan and author, or whether or not getting an author to transmit a signature to a robotic hand with a pen is as fulfilling as having an author’s hand actually touch your book, but I saw one in action at a book show once and gotta say, it’s certainly more interesting a piece of technology than one might at first think.

That said, I’m curious to check out one of the concept stores.