A real pressure-sensitive iPad stylus

The Jaja is like the grail of iPad styluses. Ever since selling my beloved Wacom 12WX because it was, admittedly, too much machine for someone who only occasionally doodles for fun, I’ve been wanting to draw on my iPad with real pressure sensitivity. Pressure sensitivity is what allows digital drawing devices to accurately mimic real-life drawing and painting implements; it allows styluses and drawing tablets to know how hard you’re pressing and alters pen and brush strokes accordingly.

The iPad in its current form doesn’t have any real fine pressure sensitivity to speak of. Sure, it can tell how hard you’re hitting the keys in Garage Band, but that’s a different kind of tech, and nowhere near subtle enough for sophisticated painting applications. The Jaja has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity built-in to its body design (that’s a good number), as well as a speaker, two contextual buttons and a rechargeable battery.

Like the iPen we’ve covered before, it’ll do more than any other stylus out there, but unlike the iPen, it doesn’t require any additional parts. It actually uses high-frequency sound to communicate with the iPad and convey info about contextual clicks or pressure info. That feature will require that apps make use of a special Jaja SDK, but talks with potential partners to do just that are already underway.

The Jaja isn’t yet funded: it’s at just over $9,000 and has a goal of $25,000 with 25 days remaining. Were it possible for me to wish things into existence, however, this stylus would already be in my hands.

The popping and locking iPhone case

The PopSockets looks a bit ridiculous, but its two extendable protrusions aren’t just an aesthetic oddity. They help prop up your iPhone, stick it to surfaces make it easier to hold and provide a simple cable wrap solution.

Whether you think the design is garish or stylish, the PopSockets is highly customizable, will eventually come in a variety of colors and designs, and the popping elements themselves hide away almost completely when not in use. The PopSockets project is nearing its funding goal of $12,000 with 30 days remaining, so it will almost certainly become a reality. You can secure a pre-order for $25, but do yourself a favor and don’t watch creator David Barnett’s Kickstarter promo video.

Small add-on addresses major iPad flaw

I like watching movies on my iPad, but I hate having to cup my hand just right or prop it against a hard surface to try to get sound coming out of the speaker to bounce back at me. Without taking these steps, though, I often find that even at full volume it’s hard to pick out clear dialogue against background noise.

The SoundBender is a small, simple magnetic attachment that clips onto your iPad 2 and provides a backstop against which soundwaves redirect back towards you, the listener. It’s pocketable, one-piece, and even works with plenty of case designs. This project has just started, so it’s still far from its modest $4,500 goal, but a simple $15 pledge secures a pre-order.

I wish the iPad didn’t need something like this, but since it does, this small, unobtrusive solutions seems like the best possible fix.

Got an exciting Kickstarter project? Send it to us for consideration in our regular roundup of promising accessories.

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The 24HD is a brand-new addition to the Cintiq line, and it’s the largest yet of Wacom’s combined display/tablets. It features a built-in 24-inch screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution, with a 178-degree viewing angle and a wide-screen, 16:10 aspect ratio. The tablet features 2,048 lines of pressure sensitivity; it ships with two pens for drawing input, an art pen that allows for roll effects in certain painter applications, and a classic pen for everyday sketching and drawing.

The beast connects via DVI-I or DisplayPort, and it also ships with a DVI-I to VGA adapter, so you’ve pretty much got your bases covered. You’ll also have to connect a USB cable to your computer to power the tablet functions. The bezel around the screen also includes 10 express keys, to which you can assign keyboard functions like undo and redo, as well as two touch rings for zooming and scrolling.

The bigger screen, which beats the existing 21UX by 3 inches and doubles the screen size of the smallest Cintiq, the 12WX, comes with a cost in terms of weight. It’s 63.8 lbs, which means that this baby will likely take up permanent residence at your desk. Wacom took that into account and mounted the display itself on a weighted stand that lets you adjust its position so that it hangs over the edge of your desk, letting you work with the massive tablet essentially in your lap.

Price will be a factor for those hoping to grab a 24HD but not as much as you might expect; at $2,499, it’s actually only $500 more than the 21UX, which for pro designers won’t be a lot to ask for in exchange for the added screen real estate. It’s available to order now from Wacom’s website. Not being a graphic pro myself, I’ll just have to ogle the 24HD in this video below and drool, but let us know if you get a chance to take her for a spin.

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If you’ve ever used a tablet before, you’ll know that the Inkling is a pretty amazing prospect. Wacom’s drawing tablets have always tried to mimic the experience of drawing on paper, but the majority of the time you’re applying a pen to a blank plastic surface and then looking up at a screen to see what you’re drawing; it’s not anywhere near the same as sketching on paper, and it comes with a significant adjustment period. Even using the expensive Cintiq line, which lets you draw directly on a display built-in to a drawing tablet, doesn’t really feel like drawing on paper.

With the Inkling, digital drawing feels like traditional drawing because it is. The Inkling is basically an A4-sized clipboard that works with any old piece of paper you have lying around, complete with a pressure-sensitive drawing stylus that’s actually a pen. You draw on your paper clipped to the Inkling using the pen, and a detachable sensor records your strokes so that you can later upload them to your computer via USB. Tapping the sensor also creates new layers, so that you have a more flexible file to work with after import. The Inkling is wire-free and rechargeable with an estimated 8-hour battery life, so you can use it wherever you want, and the pen takes standard Mini Ballpoint refill cartridges, so there’s nothing expensive or specialized to replace.

Using Wacom Sketch Manager software that ships with the Inkling, you import your images as vector-based drawings that you can then manipulate in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, as well as Autodesk Sketchbook Pro or Sketchbook Designer. You can also save files as plain old unlayered JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, SVG and PDF files if you’d rather not do much advanced editing to them after upload.

If the Inkling still doesn’t impress based on my description, check out the official video from Wacom below. It pretty much guarantees, along with the relatively inexpensive $199 price tag, that I’ll be ponying up for one of these when it arrives mid-September.

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Now, the Bamboo line is getting a much-needed update, and part of that update includes multi-touch gesture support. That’s right, the staunchly stylus-oriented Wacom is releasing touch-enabled devices, available today.

Gradually, Wacom has introduced customizable buttons, scrolls, rockers, and touch strips to make them easier to use without the aid of a keyboard and mouse. And they’ve made great strides. My 12WX has 10 customizable keys and two touch-sensitive scroll strips, all of which result in a much less clumsy drawing experience than I ever had using any of my Graphire tablets. Still, it can’t help but feel somewhat awkward and counter-intuitive.

The new multi-touch controls so closely resemble those already in use on Macs with trackpads that experienced Mac laptop users will likely feel right at home with them. Judging by the promo video, in fact, having a Bamboo with touch could actually completely eliminate the need of using a mouse at all, which represents a massive technical leap for the tablet maker.

Pinch to zoom and spread to expand, two-finger swipe left and right to scroll or move backwards and forwards, two-finger swipe up and down to scroll, and two-finger rotation are all included as usable gestures, and more besides.

The new Bamboo line now includes five distinct products, including one that doesn’t support touch at all, so if you’re thinking about getting one, think carefully about what you want out of the device. Since I already have a drawing tablet, I’m thinking about picking up the Bamboo Touch ($69), which doesn’t allow pen input at all and basically just brings multi-touch to your desktop. Could come in handy for browsing through large photo libraries, for example.

For the same price, you can get the Bamboo Pen, which doesn’t allow finger input at all. Maybe good for digital artists who only need the very basics, or for business people who only use it to digitally sign documents, but I don’t see this one being a hot seller.

The Bamboo ($99), Bamboo Fun ($199), and Bamboo Craft ($129) all offer both pen and multi-touch input. Price differences account for size, mostly, since every device includes the same ExpressKeys and pressure levels sensitivity. If you manage to get your hands on one of these, let us know how the multi-touch experience stacks up. Check out the following video for more info.

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It’s likely you’ve heard mention of the Axiotron Modbook, the third party (and only) Apple tablet computing solution, but I like talking about it anyway. Axiotron, a small company operating out of El Segundo, California, won high acclaim for their Modbook, taking best in show at 2007′s Macworld convention.

The Modbook is a converted Macbook, equipped with a Wacom-penabled touchscreen display. It’s a drool-worthy piece of tech, especially for graphic designers who do a lot of field work. And now you can drool even more, because the Modbook now comes complete with Sketchbook Express 2009, an exclusive version of Autodesk’s graphics software.

If you work with Wacom tablets in any kind of graphic design/illustration capacity, then you’ve probably also heard of Sketchbook Pro, formerly of Alias, until it was acquired by Autodesk. Sketchbook Pro 2009 was released earlier this year, finally bringing Intel compatibility to the versatile graphics editing software. I’d previously been a huge fan of Sketchbook Pro, but switched to Corel Painter when the program wouldn’t work on my black MacBook. Getting Sketchbook Pro 2009 was like hooking up with an old friend after a lengthy absence. The Express edition that bundles with the Modbook features much of the functionality of the full version, but users are limited to three layers, whereas the full version supports unlimited stacking.

Currently, Axiotron only offers their service for pre-aluminum MacBooks (no MacBook Pros, either), but they’ve recently committed to supporting new models in the new year. You can get a Modbook either by ordering one directly from Axiotron, or by buying Modservice, which uses your existing MacBook for the conversion. Existing Modbook owners can pick up SketchBook Express free by clicking the download link on the application overview page.

Modbooks start at $2,199, while Modservice using your existing notebook starts at $1,299. Not a bad idea if you have oodles of cash lying around and you’ve just upgraded to a new MacBook and haven’t found a use for your last gen model.

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