Drawing on TVs with Panasonic’s Electronic Touch Pen (hands-on)

A recurring theme we’re hearing this year at CES is the idea of getting the family around the TV instead of isolated on their own devices. One way Panasonic thinks that might happen is with its Electronic Smart Pen — a new product for 2013 that lets you write on the screen of your 2013 Panasonic 1080p plasma.

After you connect your battery-powered pen to your TV with Bluetooth, you can use Panasonic’s Swipe and Share app to flick images off your mobile device and onto your big screen. That is, unless your device runs Windows — Panasonic says Swipe and Share is only available on Android and iOS for now. Once you have a picture on the screen, you can use some bundled software to paint and scribble onscreen, then send the photo back to your device. It makes for a fun demo, but isn’t exactly a killer app. The more down-to-earth uses for the tech are the digital whiteboard app and tablet-style games that Panasonic’s rep showed us, both of which were responded well to the pen input.

So far there’s no pricing or release window, but Panasonic tells us that the pen will be released in packs of two later this year.