First, I want to say that I am not an artist, and my drawing talents are really very weak, but I enjoyed being able to use a drawing tablet on more than one occassion since receiving it.

The Adesso Z12 is a twelve inch by ten inch tablet with a ten inch by six and a quarter inch drawing area. The whole unit is very lightweight, and I found it to have a very solid build quality, especially for how thin it is.

While I probably won’t use over half of the features it includes, the Z12 has 1024 level pressure sensitivity and 2000 LPI resolution with twenty-eight programmable hot keys.

The Z12 comes with a software package for Windows XP and Vista users, but installing it on my Windows 7 computer was easy. I plugged it in via USB, and immediately it started working. Of course the hot keys weren’t functioning, but it was easy enough to install the drivers that came with the package.

Other items in the package included the stylus pen, AAA size battery for the pen, two extra pen tips, a solid rubber pen holder, and various disks including drivers, Adesso’s own software, and a copy Corel’s Ulead PhotoImpact 12 SE.

I decided to use Paint.NET, a free drawing application. The tablet worked well. It took me some time to get used to how a tablet functions as it is very different from a mouse. When I picked up the stylus from the tablet, and moved it to the right or left, and placed it back down, it was though I was drawing on a paper, and so the drawing would start in a new area, rather than where I “left” the mouse cursor. There was also a disconnect for me, as I continued to look down at my position, only to not have any real information without looking at what I was doing on the screen. I think this would change after some use, but for me, it was a strange feeling.

There is a toggle button on the pen that allowed me to stop it from drawing, so I could keep my strokes fairly consistent. I found the reaction time of the tablet to be amazing, and it didn’t show any signs of lagging behind or having any issues with my rapid strokes. I tried a few times to throw it off without issue.

I was also worried about the amount of pressure I could put on the pen. I have a fairly light touch when it comes to writing and drawing because I am left handed, and get annoyed when pencil or pen ink smears on the page. I wasn’t worrying about this with the tablet, and found myself having to remember to push a little harder than I am used to to create thicker lines. This pressure difference though makes controlling the thinness and thickness of lines much easier.

If you can draw, design, or otherwise create art, this tablet is a must have. If you enjoy taking notes by hand, or love to mock-up user interface sketches, this tablet is also a great accessory to have.

While I’ve only tried and tested a few other tablets before, I find myself being very impressed with the versatility, build quality and overall simplicity of this tablet. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the sensitivity and precision beats competition, but it is definitely equivalent. If you are interested in the Z12, it currently retails for $129.99.

Other products in the Adesso tablet line include: CyberTablet M14, with a larger drawing area, the CyberPad A4, made for handwritten note taking on the go, the CyberTablet 12000, a tablet that can also be portable, the CyberTablet 6400, a smaller tablet, and the CyberTablet M17, a 17″ LCD Graphic Tablet monitor.

Had this girl never sent a real, paper letter before? I was shocked, but this brings me to my point: Shutdown Day is May 3rd, please participate!

If you are a parent, teacher, or otherwise able to shape the minds of the youth of today, get them to shut down their electronic devices and do things manually. A paper letter is a great thing to receive, and I am saddened that the youth of today aren’t taking part in sending them on occasion. Sure, the girl could have been a little slow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most children around her age haven’t had the experience of sending a real letter, as e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, cell phones, and the like are continuing to make snail mail a dead medium for communication.

Sure, it might be odd to go without technology for a day, but it will help your state of mind, and balance your life a bit better. Besides, on May 4th, we can turn all of our gadgets and gizmos back on and catch up on what we missed before Monday rolls around.

Cyber crime often makes the news, but this time a “Cyber Village” was credited as the crime fighters. The cast of characters (other than the thief) were all members of the beyond.ca car enthusiast’s forum. You see, the car was stolen the old fashioned way but was recovered within 48 hours by cyber tracking. Even without a GPS tracker on board the crime was solved by people that shared a love both for cars and for the internet. Fortunately there were cyber friends available to answer Mr. Ironsides desperate plea.

While I have participated in many forums, this makes me wonder how helpful they would be to me if a similar situation arose. I have to admit though, I am hear more and more about how YouTube, Facebook, and forums are helping solve crimes, find people, and make this world a better place, undoing one bad thing at a time.

Would your cyber friends have your back? Stuff like this definitely makes me want to be even more active in some of the online communities I am in. You never know when you will need their collective resources, or when they will need yours.

Both my wife and I have been craving an old Super NES controller for the Wii, and it looks like that time is here, at least for Japan, and soon Australia.

Like the Wii’s “Classic Controller” this one connects to the Wiimote, giving it a wireless connection to the console. I love the look and button placement. Oh, how I want you old school controller.

Found via OhGizmo!

Western Digital has released a new hard drive technology nicknamed VelociRaptor that is upwards of 35% faster than previous Raptor technology.

The hard drive spins at 10,000 RPM and features a 3Gbps SATA interface, 16MB cache, and comes with an IcePack Mounting Frame to keep the drive spinning cool.

It will be available exclusively to Alienware’s ALX gaming computers sometime this month, and then separately in your favourite computer stores starting the middle of may. Expect it to retail for around $300 USD.

Will this be enough to hold off the advances in SSD hard drive technology, or are hard drives as we know them doomed?

It looks thought like they made it over half of the way there, with around 604 titles available for rental, but that is still a fair bit shy of the original estimate of a thousand.

Macworld says that it is because of the movie studios, and not Apple that they haven’t met their goal.

When asked about the delay in movie rentals, Steve Jobs placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the movie companies, suggesting that deals over rights were taking longer than anyone anticipated.

Has this slow uptake by studios frustrated anyone or have those that used the service been happy with the selection and new additions to the marketplace? Let me know in the comments below.

The second movie will allow us to get past the origin issue that most first movies in the genre have, and get right to the action. So will it be a better movie?

Well, check out the new trailer, and let me know what you think.

From Gadgetell:

In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Hulu’s CTO implied that they are currently working on making the videos available internationally but was mum on the subject of when it will officially be launched outside the US. It’s been said that the only thing preventing Hulu from streaming videos in other countries are the rights holders. No word yet from Hulu so let’s just wait and see if they ditch the drop down menu and go global for real.

My main question now is, how much content will other countries see? I know most of the visitors here are from the USA, but you might be surprised to know that not many of the writers on Forever Geek live in the USA. Currently, every other major video provider online has crippled the Canadian access to the service. We only get certain content, and it is never as good.

A shame really since there are so many great services, and so much great content.

You can find the development of this technology happening at the University of Bath in the UK where RepRap, or the self replicating rapid prototyper could replace other 3D printers currently on the market.

As a child, I always assumed this type of technology would be in my home by now, but the current generation of 3D printers cost around $25,000 and are still used primarily by big business industry to create parts for aircraft engines, spaceships and hearing aids.

From New Scientist:

Now Adrian Bowyer hopes to change that by making the first 3D printer capable of fabricating copies of itself, as well as a wealth of everyday objects. He reasons that prices would plummet to around $500 if every machine was capable of building hundreds more at no cost beyond that of the raw materials.

Better still, the machines could evolve to be more efficient and develop new capabilities, says Bowyer. Once he has the software to guide the self-replicating process, he plans to make it freely available online, allowing users to contribute improvements, just like the open-source Linux computer operating system, he says.

Personally, I am very excited by the development work being put into this technology. With the proper mix of software and hardware, we can probably expect the ability to “print” vases for flowers, cups, and other small objects with the first consumer level 3D printer, but even more interesting to me is the self replication part as this technology made many times smaller could be used for a variety of different uses. I am sure my imagination can’t even do this technology justice on where society will direct it.

What would you use a consumer level 3D printer for? What do you think of the idea of a machine that can create copies of itself? Let me know in the comments below.

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The system is said to be useful for sales training and collaboration exercises and will be integrated with other back-end applications. This will allow workers to manage business data from within the virtual conference room.

Is this something we really need? I never got into Second Life, and as such, I am not sure if I can really understand the fascination with adding such tools to the workplace. I feel like Second Life doesn’t provide the interaction needed to truely be more productive than other groupware applications.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Source: ZDNet

The speeds promise 50Mbps down, and 5Mbps up, and that will allow you to download a 4GB DVD quality movie in about ten minutes.

The upgrade in speed will set you back a wallet-hurting $149.95 per month, but with Hulu, Skype, and other online services, do we really need subscription television and phone service any longer?

And here I am all excited about finally getting a 10Mbps service here in Ontario, Canada.

Source: Engadget

With AT&T the Surface will have the capabilities of dragging videos, photos, ring tones, songs and dropping them into the phones.

Sounds to me like the feature was already planned, but now they have someone paying for its development, and AT&T will probably get nearly exclusive rights to have their products work in a more advanced way with regards to the Surface product. If Surface ever really catches on.

I really don’t think Microsoft and Apple should take on such exclusivity deals as it creates a bad environment for consumers. Who wants to buy anything that might not work with another product or service? These days, I like my products to work independent of brand.

Now, it looks like THQ is working on the second installment of the popular title. With three expansion packs out on the first game, I continue to wait for the Tyranids, an insect like race, to be added to the mix, but so far, no luck.

If you recently bought the third expansion, Soulstorm, you will be able to participate in the multiplayer beta test of Dawn of War 2, sometime in the future.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe – a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Developed by critically acclaimed RTS developer Relic Entertainment, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II ushers in a new chapter in the acclaimed RTS series, as ancient races – including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks – clash across ruined worlds on a mission to claim the galaxy and preserve their own existence.

Powered by the re-vamped Essence Engine 2.0, the next evolution of Relic’s proprietary game engine made famous in the award winning Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will deliver fast-paced RTS action with ferocious melee and ranged combat in fully destructible environments. Immersing players in an in-depth non-linear single-player campaign and a fully-co-operative multiplayer mode, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set to deliver the most visually-stunning Warhammer 40,000 setting ever created.

I am looking forward to its release, and hope that they bring about the addition of more of my favourite races. I mean, Dark Eldar before Tyranids? What were they thinking? Expect to see much more of Dawn of War 2, as 2009 gets closer.

The Tesla Roadster is an electric car that has acceleration that can push you back into your seat so hard that you can’t move your head from the headrest, and it is going into larger production than the one hundred boutique, collector vehicles that were previously sold.

Tesla Motors is now taking orders for the 2009 run of the vehicle and already 900 cars have been reserved. I wonder how long it will be before I see one of these cars on my local streets, and if the continued sale of these cars will help promote the battery powered electric cars in our society once again.

Details from Engadget.

From the Miami Herald:

Under the spiffier label of ”graphic novels,” these bound books feature every stripe of hero and story. “The themes and genres can range from science to biography, and from memoirs to yes, superheroes,” said John Shableski of Diamond Book Distributors, which

specializes in comics. “Every subject is available in the format.”

These are not your father’s comic books. Superman and Wonder Woman, yes; but also graphic novel editions of the works of Shakespeare, and many classics — The Red Badge of Courage, Beowulf, Greek myths, the Adventures of Robin Hood, even Canterbury Tales.

I wonder how my reading habits would have turned out if comics weren’t so elusive, and I was able to devour as many as I had wanted as a child. Would I be more interested in reading fiction as an adult? It is an interesting thought, though I worry that not forcing the youth of today to consume long, difficult texts might just increase the dumbing down of our society, rather than just getting reluctant readers into reading.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that there hasn’t been as much excitement about Ubuntu since the last release in October of last year. What has happened since then that we aren’t seeing an even wider adoption of one of the easiest Linux distributions?

Well, one thing has been the increasing attention that Apple is getting with their products, as well as Windows continually trying to fix their Vista mess, but I am here to tell you that Ubuntu is looking even better with the release of Hardy Heron.

Some changes that you can expect include:

• Easier display and graphics configuration
• Better user permissions control
• FireFox 3 Beta 4 by default
• Transmission BitTorrent Client
• Vinagre VNC client
• Easier Virtual Machine Support
• Firewall
• More Secure Memory Management

One of the most discussed features is Wubi, an application that allows you to install Ubuntu as though it were a Windows application. If running it on the Live CD isn’t enjoyable or useful enough for you, then you can install it on your Windows computer without really dedicating anything more to it than any other application in Windows.

There is a new installation option for Windows users. Wubi allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical to a full installation. Wubi works with a physical CD or in stand-alone mode, by downloading an appropriate ISO to install from. It can be found on the root of the CD as Wubi.exe. A full installation within a dedicated partition is still recommended, but Wubi is a great way to try Ubuntu for a few days and weeks before committing dedicated disk resources.

I am definitely hoping that with this release, Ubuntu will work hard on marketing and branding, as well as advertising as they have a great product and should be a staple choice when it comes to selecting an operating system for nearly every type of user.

Check out the Ubuntu 8.04 beta.

From TorrentFreak:

The popular BitTorrent site Mininova is currently Beta testing BitTorrent powered video streaming. The new streaming feature allows users to watch videos instantly, streamed from .torrent files.

The new feature will be integrated into the featured torrents section, which lists all the distributors taking part in Mininova’s content distribution platform.

The Open Source “swarmplayer” which is used for the video streaming service is developed in collaboration with the Tribler team from the Technical University Delft and Free University Amsterdam. Tribler is also working together with the BBC and several other European broadcasters, and they recently received a $22 million grant for P2P research from the European Union.

For people using in-house video streaming technology, this could help alleviate some of the bandwidth costs, and hopefully still allow for a very high quality video stream. I look forward to seeing how widely this technology is implemented and what the legal ramifications are as flash based copyrighted material video streaming becomes more popular.

The HTC 730 looks really interesting because it allows you to use the device like a traditional slider phone, while also allowing you to convert it into a mobile information input device with a full QWERTY keyboard. Very interesting.

Found thanks to Gadgetell.

From Engadget:

a report from the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG). Apparently those folks found “conclusive” results of “unacceptable” levels of interference from WiMAX of satellite signals in the C-band. Naturally, it sounds like this group’s primary purpose is to come up with data like this to protect that satellite spectrum turf, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless

I don’t think this is something that will be a big deal, as WiMAX isn’t a very fast moving standard. By the time we have WiMAX in major cities, I am sure they will have this problem solved. To be honest, I don’t really care too much about satellites if I can have ubiquitous wireless access.

My favourite:

5. Vista reminds too much of Windows Me. In late 2006, I had dinner with some Vista user interface designers. By then, I had used Vista betas for nearly 10 months. They heard: There are two Microsoft operating systems that the more I used them the less I liked them—Windows Me and Windows Vista. While not my intention, the comment hugely insulted the UI designers, because of how much Windows Me is regarded, even within Microsoft, as a marketing failure. What happened: Some critics have described Vista as Windows Me II.

If you enjoy bashing Microsoft’s latest operating system, and even after all these months, who doesn’t, then check out the full post on Microsoft Watch.

I think this is a great use of solar technology. As we continually light up our world, why not use the energy of the sun during the night?

From SolarHype:

Kelowna, BC is getting a shiny new set of solar powered LED lights at their city hall, as well as a bunch parks and transit facilities. Thanks in part to a nice big $500,000 grant from the Canadian Federal Government, and Carmanah, the makers of the lighting technology being used, more than matching that with about $530,000 worth of lights….considering the city is only putting up the installation costs(quoted at $128,000), that’s a pretty nice deal. According to Carmanah, the EverGen solar-powered area lights they will be installing, use batteries with a five to six year lifespan, and LED light fixtures with 10 year lifespans. Pretty good investment, since I’m sure they’ll pay for themselves pretty fast.

I wonder how long it will be until we see more innovations such as this, especially in the brighter southern states? The more cities that take advantage of solar technology, the cheaper it will become for everyone.

Two different teams have managed to crack the encryption on the chips, making it possible for hackers to make perfect clones of the cards, and creating a huge security issue.

The real question is how RFID tags will remain secure over the course of time as computers get better at helping crackers break encryption, will our data ever be safe in the hands of a radio frequency tag?

Source: Engadget

People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones.

I tried first to convince her to let me buy a 24-inch monitor but at the current prices she wasn’t going for it. Then I switched my strategy and asked to get a much cheaper 22-inch monitor, saying that it would help increase my productivity by at least another 25%, using estimations based on the scientific efforts by the University of Utah. After a period of silence she agreed.

It is always nice when Universities help back up my technology needs as a necessary evil.