We've seen a few before, and Rob did a few videos with the ModBook, but this one on Engadget is a very interesting spin on the whole "Mac Tablet" idea.  Wei of Weistudio has taken a Wacom Intuos tablet and shoved a MacBook inside (not really but just about).

Very well done!

(Site must be getting slammed form Engadget, but here is the image and Link for when it's back up)

Is Apple ever going to make one of these for real???

This has tremendous potential for those of us who like to read e-books / newspapers and mark them up using a digital pen:

From EarthTimes.org

Wacom and E Ink Corporation announced today a partnership that will integrate Wacom's Penabled(R) digital pen input solution with E Ink's Vizplex(TM) electronic paper displays. With pen input high on the list of many eBook, Tablet PC, eNewspaper, PDA, eNotepad and appliance-type designers, the Wacom and E Ink partnership comes at an ideal time for mobile computing manufacturers looking to develop new and exciting consumer products.

E Ink's Broadsheet AM300 prototyping kit, available in a 6 inch diagonal size in June and other sizes later, combines the two technologies in a solution that mobile computing manufacturers can easily integrate into their product designs.

Electronic paper with pen input is ideal for reviewing documents on a portable device. E Ink Vizplex displays enable slimmer devices to have bigger screens that are easy on the eyes, even in ambient light. The intuitive nature of pen input makes it easy to navigate, write down ideas, highlight points of interest, as well as sketch or draw. Together the technologies achieve the ultimate vision of an interactive piece of paper.

At CES 2008, we brought you word that Wacom was going to be bringing capacitive touch out this year. Today, Wacom is announcing their capacitive touch technology and will be unveiling it May 20 - 22 at the International Society for Information Display Exhibition in Los Angeles.

Here are the details via PRNewsWire:

Wacom introduced new innovation in capacitive touchscreen technology, called Reversing Ramped Field Capacitive (RRFC) touch, that will be publicly unveiled at the International Society for Information Display Exhibition, booth #1129, May 20 to 22, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

Wacom's patent-pending technology employs newly designed low-power circuitry and reversing ramped electro-static fields to provide pinpoint precision and drift-free performance to touchscreen users. The technology can be integrated into dual-input applications with Wacom's market-leading EMR pen-input technology for Tablet PC OEMs or work by itself on other platforms that require only a finger touch interface. With this newly developed technology, Wacom can provide true flexibility to OEM partners seeking best-in-class interface solutions.

"Our new proprietary RRFC touch technology is exciting on a couple of fronts," said Shawn Gray, Wacom's Director of Touchscreen Operations. "New controller processing methods and system design provide extremely accurate pointing at much lower power consumption levels and without increased cost. These factors and others, such as ease of integration and stability, position Wacom RRFC touch as a natural alternative to resistive, surface acoustic wave and infrared touch technologies. Any OEM should seriously look at Wacom's solution when deciding to move beyond resistive touch solutions on portable devices or when seeking to find new and exciting capacitive touch performance in AC-powered applications."

This is an interesting look at the difference between the digitizers on a Wacom 21UX (I have one of these at work - they are really nice) and a Toshiba (?) Tablet PC. Watch the video and see for your self.  I don't think I can even make squiggly lines that nice - better an artist do it than me :).

For the past two weeks, I have been able to try out what I've called my ideal office setup - a Wacom Cintiq 12WX combined with an OQO Model 02. Generally I've been very happy with this combination as an ideal office set up. You've heard a lot about the OQO already, so I focused on the Wacom Cintiq 12WX for my very first solo InkShow.

As some initial impressions:

• What a marvelous screen! It's crisp and clear and easy for me to read. The resolution is 1280x800 and that's perfect for me for that size of device.
• The size and weight are good. It's easy to pick it up and hold it in my lap while writing or browsing.
• I wish all Tablet PC pens were as comfortable to use as the Cintiq pen! The grippy bit is very nice, and it has good balance and diameter.
• Love the pen stand. It's a simple thing, but I never wonder where my pen went to on my desk.
• I love the ExpressKeys. It's entirely possible that I might be able to completely rid myself of a keyboard on a regular basis.
• On the negative, I have seen the "confused digitizer" issue that Ken Hinckley mentioned in my first post, but I think I may have a workaround. Ironically, I haven't seen the problem since I figured out the workaround, so I haven't been able to test it yet.
  • The symptom I saw was when I had the OQO docked and resumed from sleep, the 12WX digitizer and the OQO digitizer were flip-flopped. I had to use the pen on the OQO to move the mouse cursor on the 12WX screen. The 12WX pen didn't appear to be doing anything. There was no clear way to fix this aside from a reboot, although an undock/dock sometimes worked too.
  • Workaround: I mention it in the video, but basically, use two of the ExpressKeys to force the digitizers to "remember" themselves. Once I find out for sure if it works, I'll give an update.
• In one of my "D'oh!" moments, I completely forgot to demo the actual inking on the monitor, so I'll do a quick follow-up showing how the inking works in an application like Journal or OneNote. My impression is that it works just fine, dependent on the actual computer. Recognition rate was the same as it was on the computer.
• Available from Wacom for $999 and from many other places online.

Oh, and the one I bought for work just came in today, so I'll still have the joy of using this lovely monitor every day.  

• Download the hi-res version (wmv, 20min, 139MB)
• Watch the embedded video below

Click To Play

Yes, you see what I had previously described in a podcast as my dream setup for home - an OQO Model 02 paired with a Wacom Cintiq 12WX digitizer monitor. I've only had the two together for a couple of days, but already I can tell that these two make a marvelous pairing - the ultimate portability of the OQO combined with the usability of the 12.1" widescreen format 12WX running in 1280x800 mode. After installing the software drivers for the 12WX, the OQO automatically configured the 12WX to the correct native resolution when I plugged it in the first time. After a quick calibration, I was off and writing. Simple and beautiful.

I plan on doing an InkShow on the Wacom Cintiq 12WX in the next week or so where you'll get to see exactly how well it performs. But so far, I've been very impressed with this combination of mobility and desktop functionality with a responsive pen. Let me know what questions you have on this setup!

The entire GottaBeMobile.com team got the opportunity to sit down with InPlay Technologies at CES to catch up on the new technologies. Let's get this out of the way first. Yes, InPlay Technologies made the troubled FinePoint digitizer. However, a lot has changed since that time - management, engineering, and the manufacturer they use to produce their products. They claim to have addressed the quality control issues that plagued the FinePoint digitizers on the early Gateway models. I hope they have, because the new InPlay Technologies MagicPoint line of digitizers is pretty impressive technically, and I want them to get a chance.

Digital versus Analog Input

I just left the Wacom booth, talking with Wacom's Steve Sedaker, their OEM Sales Manager. I asked him about Wacom's take on N-Trig entering the space. He pointed to Hp's $1299 multi-mode TX2000 vs Dell's $2399 XT - nuff said. He also said that they are actively working OEMs on on capacitive touch, and to expect some new stuff from OEMs this year.

We’ve turned a corner into another year, and the New Year promises to bring lots more GBM InkShow, Shortcut, and Podcat goodness. But before we head off down the path of that New Year, let’s take a look back at the December goodies we left under your Christmas tree.

We covered a range of topics from Inking with a Bamboo Tablet, to the Fujisu U810, and a pen and paper note taking system, Capturx. So, set back, and enjoy whatever holiday leftovers you’ve still got in the fridge, and cue up a GBM InkShow, or a podcast, or a shortcut.

Happy New Year graphic furnished by Tablet PC artist Chad Essley.

All GottaBeMobile.com InkShows and Podcasts are sponsored by TechSmith.

Check out this great video of the new Wacom Cintiq 12WX monitor.  This would be a great addition for us Tablet PC users to have hooked up to our desktops, or even an additional screen to write on with our Tablet PC's!!  Nice video and well written summary - I've been trying to get one of these to look at from WACOM, but no luck yet - I think us Tablet users would really enjoy one of these things. 

Here's the video review for the new Wacom Cintiq 12WX, a tablet that allows you to draw directly on the screen with extreme precision, great feel and amazing results (even with butter fingers like mine). The Cintiq 12WX is probably the best peripheral I have ever tried. If you are not a professional illustrator or photographer, you may want to get one. If you are pro, however, you will be wondering why have you been waiting for so long for this 12" wonder.

As a side note, we have a 21 inch WACOM in our office and I love to play around with it in my 'free' time :)  Makes going back to my 12" Tablet PC screen seem REALLY small to ink on...

I've recently changed my desktop computing situation picking up an iMac. I'm running both Mac's Leopard OS and Vista Ultimate in VMWare Fusion virtual machine, and was curious how Inking would work on a desktop using a Wacom Tablet.

I could have waited for Shogmaster to show me,  but picked up a Wacom Bamboo Tablet second hand and thought I'd give it a go. Like Shogmaster's video shows, handwriting recognition using Ink Well has a long way to go. I also have a long way to go in getting my hand/eye coordination in sync so I could use the Bamboo effectively to do any real Inking on the desktop when I'm running Vista.

All GBM InkShows are sponsored by TechSmith

Mitchell Oke over at Gear Diary just posted a detailed review of the Toshiba Portégé R400. I've always like Gear Diary's reviews; I've been reading Judie's stuff for years. This is no exception, and the short video that Mitchell provides gives a great overview of the capabilities.

The seriously cool wireless dock appears to work quite well. I was surprised by that, but it encourages me to think that maybe the technology will trickle down into a reasonable price point.

Speaking of price, this is one spendy system. The review model topped out at over $4000, including the top-of-the-line system, dock, and accessories. I didn't think anyone still paid $4000 for a computer. Wow.

I had an opportunity to try out an R400 very briefly and frankly, it didn't seem like a $4000 (or even $3000!) system. Too plasticky for me, particularly the keys. One seriously nice feature, though, is the fact that the digitizer pen comes standard with the Wacom felt nib. I fell in love with the felt nib on the pen, but I can buy the felt tips for Wacom pens for a lot less than this system ($4.95 for a 5 pack).

This thing is something I really want!!  Aftermath in the forums put up a link to the new 12" Cintiq 12WX that I think looks really cool!!  I want one of these things hooked up to my desktop at work.  Or to anything for that matter!!  We just picked up a DTZ-2100 from WACOM and it is really cool, but not something you can sit in your lap...  But this little 12" screen could easily be placed in your lap while leaning back in your favorite desk chair.  Now, if the price conversion is correct, that's the only downfall...  $1,670.00 US.  Might be a little steep for most people.

If you’re in the market for a Tablet, versus a Tablet PC, or perhaps in addition to one, you might want to check out Wacom’s Bamboo Tablets. The small design comes in three models and price ranges, according to Engadget. The $79 model is targeted at the casual photo retoucher, the $99 model is a little bigger, and of course the $199 model is a touch larger and a few more features.

I think Wacom should send us a few to do some InkShows about, don’t you? Check out more on the Wacom site, where I see the lowest price is listed at $69.

Some more news on the ever popular multi-touch / multi-mode front, this time from the digitizer leader, Wacom. This could spell big moves on the touch front for UMPCs and Tablet PCs:

From EarthTimes.org:

Wacom(R) Company Ltd., the leading manufacturer of digital pen input devices, recently announced its acquisition of Touchscreen Konnection Oasis, Inc. (TouchKO), an Austin, Texas based company specializing in touch input. The acquisition expands Wacom's human interface technology portfolio and is intended to accelerate the growth and product offerings of its components business. By integrating its patented Penabled(R) electro-magnetic resonance technology with TouchKO's touch sensor capabilities, Wacom is well positioned to deliver intuitive dual input options to such computing devices as Tablet PCs, mobile phones, PDAs, displays and info-appliances.