CNN) -- Wher woud some of us bea withoot spell check?

The sometimes annoying, but frankly indispensable computer aid has spared billions of typographical blushes.

Now, an ingenious prototype pen developed by a German start-up is promising to give our longhand writing a similar sort of safety net.

Lernstift (German for "learning pen") is a digital pen with a difference, carrying not only ink inside its casing but also a tiny computer that alerts users to spelling errors.

Daniel Kaesmacher, co-founder of Lernstift told CNN: "Basically there are two functions. The calligraphy mode which helps you correct individual letters, and the orthography mode which vibrates when a word is misspelled."

The AAA battery-powered Linux computer includes a vibration module and a patent pending non-optical motion sensor which recognizes specific movements and shapes of letters and words.
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The pen employs a menagerie of sensors, including a gyroscope (for measuring orientation), accelerometer (for calculating propulsion) and magnetometer (a device that measures the strength and direction of magnetic fields) -- all to calculate the pen's 3-D movements.

http://on.cnn.com/15QsZav