Weekend Assignment: Whatd'ja Get?
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, December 26, 2008
What was the most interesting or unexpected gift you received this holiday season?
The most interesting was certainly this tablet. I asked for a tablet to use with Photoshop. Paul picked up a really cool one, that does so much more:
I spent hours cleaning my desk just for this picture. Well, not just for this picture. It was past time to clean the desk, and the rest of the reason I'll relate in the regular Friday entry. The easel didn't come with they keyboard, but it was just the right angle and size to fit in that spot. I can use it fairly well in that position, but I can lay it flat if need be.
I haven't even tried the software hat's supposed to make all those buttons work.
One of the very cool things about this tablet is that it does handwriting recognition. It even deciphers my hen scratchings!
That may be difficult to see, but the little boxes underneath show the text the application thinks it's read. From there I can make corrections as needed and insert the text into any open application that takes text input like a word processor, a browser address window, even the resize dialogue in Photoshop. It's not perfect, but then, I have lousy handwriting, so I'm glad to see something that does such a good job. This is something that Windows Vista supports natively, as part of its support for Tablet PCs, but it's also there for use with add-on tablets. I love it.
Extra Credit: What was the most interesting gift you gave this holiday season?
There's a tie here. For one, check back to Karen's blog. Karen, I'm so glad you liked it. I'm right with you on the cover, which is one reason I thought you'd enjoy it.
The other gift was interesting, but a bit of a disappointment. I picked up a bluetooth laser keyboard for Paul:
The cunning plan (and you know how well those go) was that he could use it with his Instict phone. At this point the phone doesn't recognize it. The keyboard may go back for something he'll get more use out of. We can try again when the technology gets better. Life at the bleeding edge is such fun!
I guess I should describe this thing. The projector is a package about the size of a couple of lighters. It projects that keyboard on a flat surface, and figures out which keys get pressed. It sends that information back to the device for input into whatever application is open. Pretty cool, but perhaps it's just not ready for prime time. Darn.
So there ya go. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.
Tags: Weekend Assignment
Filed under: Weekend Assignment
Comments are closed
Karen Funk Blocher said:
Definitely cool! That's almost as droolworthy as Scalzi's mini-laptop thingy. (I keep wanting something that really replaces taking a literal notebook and a pen to a restaurant to write.)
I love the improved comment box here. Hooray for RTF formatting buttons! Typo alert, though: check out the word "commnet!"
Date: 12/26/2008 9:32:28 PM
Date: 12/26/2008 9:32:28 PM
Julie said:
Thanks for the typo alert, Karen. It's been fixed.
Hope this new form works out!
Date: 12/27/2008 1:41:22 PM
Date: 12/27/2008 1:41:22 PM
Karen Funk Blocher said:
Definitely cool! That's almost as droolworthy as Scalzi's mini-laptop thingy. (I keep wanting something that really replaces taking a literal notebook and a pen to a restaurant to write.)
I love the improved comment box here. Hooray for RTF formatting buttons! Typo alert, though: check out the word "commnet!"
Date: 12/26/2008 9:32:28 PM
Date: 12/26/2008 9:32:28 PM
Julie said:
Thanks for the typo alert, Karen. It's been fixed.
Hope this new form works out!
Date: 12/27/2008 1:41:22 PM
Date: 12/27/2008 1:41:22 PM
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