Wacom Tablets Used in Schools

It's great to see high schools using Wacom drawing tablets. Teaching them design skills that will help them when they want to find jobs.

Joseph Sliger, with beard, an applications specialist for Wacom, demonstrates the use of the pressure-sensitive digital pen on one of several newly purchased Wacom computer tablets to Union High School students, from left, Russell Beaver, Austin Klein, Aaron Siegel and Trey Cornish. The students are in a game design class at the school in Camas.

via columbian.com

Samsung Highlights the Galaxy Note’s Wacom Digitizer

I'm glad to see that we will be able to use Photoshop Touch and possibly other drawing apps on more than just the iPad.

Galaxy Note is the first device that incorporates their pen input experience into a smartphone form factor. Samsung is taking advantage of the tech with modifications to its TouchWiz interface, plus custom note, writing and art apps that allow for true graphics tablet functions on the five-inch device. Imagine using something like Photoshop Touch on that sensitive screen. Samsung’s SDK will allow third-party developers to take advantage of the hardware as well.

via androidcommunity.com

New Wacom Bamboo Tablets Ad/Demo

I haven't had a chance to play around with the new Wacom Bamboo tablets, but here's the official advertisement for the new line. I especially like how you can add a wireless input option to all three for an extra charge. 

Wacom Bamboo tablet ad on Youtube

Advanced Digital Software Recommendations

Not sure which graphic software is best for you? Here's my list of suggestions for advanced designers.

My top picks for advanced photo editing software

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo
Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe Illustrator CS5
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

via wacomtabletreviews.net

Digital Art Software for Beginners

Read this before buying any digital software! I offer some suggestions for beginners.

Recommended software for beginners

Depending on how you plan to use your Wacom tablet, you might not need professional or expensive software. Some of the more basic Wacom models come with some software already, but the Bamboo Touch doesn’t include any software.

Here’s a list of my top design software choices for beginners with product features.

via wacomtabletreviews.net

Samsung Series 7 Slate

This Samsung PC tablet is very intriguing to me since I'm in the market for a new laptop and like the fact that it can be used as a stand alone or with a wireless keyboard.

Samsung isn't new to the tablet game, but the company's newest offering - the Samsung Series 7 Slate - may be exactly what buyers have been waiting for in Windows tablets. We went hands on with the new Series 7 Slate, and we were pleased with what we saw.

via pcmag.com

New Wacom Inkling is Like No Other Drawing Tablet

The Inkling is yet another excellent drawing tool from Wacom!

When it comes to tools for integrating freehand art into the digital workflow, Wacom remains the leader. Its tools aren't perfect--and certainly aren't cheap--but it's hard to find any more respected. And when it comes to drawing, nothing yet beats pen (or pencil) and paper for fluidity and portability. Wacom attempts to combine the best of both worlds with its Inkling, a pen and receiver combo that tracks your penstrokes for up to 50 sketches and uploads them to a computer for use with applications like Photoshop or Illustrator.

via news.cnet.com

ICEFIRE Medical Technology Uses Wacom Digitizer

I always find it interesting when I come across other uses for Wacom digitizers. This one is sure to help improve the medical field.

ICP Electronics Australia presents the ICEFIRE 10.4” Mobile Clinic Assistant, an IP64 compliant medical-use tablet PC, which is based on Intel and Windows open architecture.

The ICEFIRE 10.4” features dual mode input that utilises both WACOM digitiser and traditional resistive touch input with auto-sensing and auto-switching. The ICEFIRE also includes dual hot swappable batteries, wireless and advanced data acquisition technologies with inbuilt Gobi 2000 and RF technologies.

The ICEFIRE 10.4” Mobile Clinic Assistant can make wireless connections to WLAN and WAN and can be customised to meet the needs of point of care and other healthcare applications.  This allows the medical-use tablets to offer safer, more efficient and higher quality patient care in medical services.

The ICEFIRE 10.4” Mobile Clinic Assistant tablet PCs are available from ICP Electronics Australia and comes in an ergonomic and lightweight design.

via ferret.com.au

A Paintbrush for the iPad

This seems great alternative for an iPad owner who isn't interested in buying a separate Wacom drawing pad.

The Flow is a paintbrush designed specifically for your iPad or Android tablet. It's the perfect companion to the modern touchscreen canvas. The Flow looks and feels just like a paintbrush with its soft bristled tip and svelte design. 

via joystickers.com

Wacom Cintiq Rated 8 Out of 10 on Wired

If you think I might be biased about Wacom Cintiq 21UX, then check out Wired.com's professional opinion.

As an artist, I’ve always wanted some sort of one-to-one input when working in Photoshop or zBrush. I’ve used several of the traditional input tablets, but I’ve never been fully satisfied. I still ended up drawing on paper and scanning the results. It’s just more natural.

Input tablets have been constantly improving in the decades they’ve been around. But the technology remains imperfect. The pressure-sensitive pad sits on the desk, separate from the screen, which takes away some of that natural feel you get from drawing with a pen, especially when trying to add tiny details to your work.

So I jumped at the chance to test the Cintiq, a tablet that tries to do away with that annoying physical disconnect by allowing you to draw directly on the surface of an LCD screen.

via wired.com

NEW Wacom Cintiq 24HD!!

Drool... Excuse me while I dream about owning this Wacom Cintiq 24HD.

Few devices make you reassess your career choices, but the Wacom Cintiq is one of them. The interactive pen display device makes us wish we'd gone to art school and learned how to draw (instead of listening to our parents and study law). This newest model, the Cintiq 24HD has just been approved by the FCC and, while the documents don't reveal much, we presume it's a 24-inch (and HD-resolution) follow up to last year's device.

via engadget.com

www.wacomtabletreviews.net

Wacom vs. Tablet PC

Comparison between Wacom tablets and PC tablets

You may have seen the HP EliteBook PC Tablet on the hit T.V. show Project Runway. I admit that I watch the show and have been wondering if it is a better use the HP or a Wacom tablet. I've chosen to use the HP EliteBook as an example for most PC tablets. I am comparing it to the Wacom Cintiq 21UX and Cintiq 12WX because they both allow you to draw directly on the screen like the HP EliteBook... Read More here

Click here to learn more about Wacom Cintiq 21UX and 12WX.

Click here to learn more about or buy the HP EliteBook.

Windows 7 PenBook Tablet on FCC Website

This Cregle PenBook tablet is interesting. It may not look as sleek as other Wacom tablets, but it has a Wacom active digitizer and other nifty features.

The Cregle PenBook is a new tablet computer with a 10 inch display. But while most tablets hitting the market this year run Google Android, the PenBook is a Windows 7 machine. It also adds a digital pen for handwriting and drawing to the mix.

We first heard about the PenBook last month, and now the tablet has shown up at the FCC website. While there’s still no official release date, it looks like the computer is inching a little closer to reality.

via liliputing.com

 

Gadget Works Like a Wacom

Not sure if the world is ready for this cool gadget, but maybe in a few more years when it's fully developed.

What you are seeing here is a type of interface that could easily be the future. Designed by Kei Nakatsuma, a PhD student at the University of Tokyo, it allows the user to use the back of their hand as a mouse pad and a finger as a mouse.
I think we used to dream of an era where everyone had a two-way wrist communicator like Dick Tracy, but the age of cellular phones makes that practically obsolete. An interface like this could bring that back.

via coolest-gadgets.com

Wacom Focusing on India

A growing market in India causes Wacom to increase their marketing efforts there.

“India is the fastest-growing market for Wacom, hence we are investing significantly in sprucing up our Indian subsidiary. This will include adding more sales people, expanding and enhancing post-sales, and increasing demand for our products both in the consumer and commercial segments,” said Shigeki Komiyama, Director & Executive Officer, Japan & APAC, Wacom.

The Wacom tablet range includes the entry-level pen and multi-touch input device under the Bamboo series for consumers; Intuos for creative pros; high-end Cintiq pen input with LCD display; and the business range for the commercial segment.

via crn.in

Wacom Tablet Making the Wine Industry more Efficient

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology plays an important role in the wine industry.

The prestigious Chateau St. Michelle Wine Estates in Washington uses the combination of the Wacom DTZ-2100 interactive pen display with Esri software to display precision canopy density in the vineyard. The aerial imagery is converted to the NDVI format (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), which displays the photosynthetic output of plants, based on their spectral bands in aerial imagery. The DTZ-2100 pen’s accuracy makes it possible to pinpoint specific plants easily, so their fruit can be picked separately to take advantage of certain flavor characteristics.

“We’ve found a correlation between the size of the canopies and the grape flavors,” says Jennifer Smithyman of St. Michelle. “Many of our winemakers have preferences, such as grapes with more vegetal characteristics and others prefer more fruit flavors. Because the Wacom display allows our georeferencing to be so accurate, we can divide the vineyard into different zones for separate picking to give the winemakers what they want.”

“GIS is providing new insight into the importance of maps and is making industries like wine more targeted with resource allocation, which in turn leads to greater efficiency. This increased efficiency is especially important in these current economic times,” says Gabriel Schmidbauer, GIS professor at American Sentinel University.”

via directionsmag.com

Pen/ Stylus Holder by PenMoto

Interesting Pen Holder for Wacom (or any) Drawing Tablet

The new project involves the same pen mount product – a magnet holds your Wacom or drawing pen in place so you can use the keyboard and then flip it back into your hand when you’re ready to draw

via techcrunch.com

Wacom Bamboo Stylus for the iPad

Tech Digest Weighs in on Wacom's Bamboo Stylus for iPad

Verdict:

You'll have to be pretty big on tablet doodling to justify shelling out £25 for a capacitive stylus, but if you are, there are no finer options than Wacom's Bamboo Stylus for iPad. A well-weighted finger alternative with a responsive nib, you'll be an iPad Picasso in no time with the stylus. We'd personally like to have seen a smaller tip, which we believe would have lead to even greater accuracy in our hands, but for the most part this will be a point of personal preference, married with the brush/ tip size specifications of the app you're using. Highly recommended otherwise.

via techdigest.tv

Wacom’s Sales Dip Due to Earthquakes

The earthquakes in Japan cause a drop in quarterly earnings.

Wacom Co., a manufacturer of touch-based graphic tablets and pens with U.S. operations headquartered in Vancouver, reported a 21 percent year-over-year drop in U.S. sales and 6.2 percent drop worldwide for the fiscal quarter ending June 30. The company recorded about $21.2 million in U.S. sales and $92.3 million worldwide for the quarter.

The Japanese company’s quarterly earnings report, issued last week, attributed the drop to the lingering impact of the March 11 Japan earthquake on manufacturing, the rising value of the Japanese yen, and a change in its product line that dampened sales.

via columbian.com

If you would like to donate to Japan's recovery, click here to go to www.redcross.org.

Telepass Deploys E-Signing at Italian Motorways

Wacom and Softpro joined to make a new signature pad. This is a great way to be green. Unfortunately, no word about if and when it will be available in other countries.

Signature Capturing
Telepass has rolled out 300 signature tablets of the type SignPad eSignio (Wacom STU-500). This kind of signature tablet was chosen because signatures captured on its screen resemble the way signatures look on paper almost perfect. Signers experience a natural way of signing on screen unlike on devices known from courier services. They have the visual impression that their signature is taken seriously. The large 5 inch screen of the SignPad eSignio allows displaying corresponding text the purpose of signing clear and crisp and it offers also excellent visibility of content on screen in bright Italian sunshine due to its reflective TFT. Another reason for Telepass to choose the SignPad eSignio was its long life expectancy due to its robust design. The sensor lies below the display surface, preventing the wear and tear found in devices based on other technologies. Softpro hardware partner Wacom has developed the SignPad eSignio based on detailed specifications from the German signature experts. Wacom and Softpro joined forces with the Italian specialist for electronic document processing Kartha who are supplying the SignPads to Telepass.

via newswiretoday.com