Technology

You are currently browsing the archive for the Technology category.

Fujitsu Lifebook offers convenience at a low price

November 2, 2012 in Reviews, Technology | No comments

A pair of Fujitsu Tablet PCs. Photo by Media Commons.

By Jeremy Kahn

Owning a Cintiq can be a nightmare for the artist on the go. It’s large, bulky and comes with so many wires that you might as well just carry a desk around with you. It’s not going to win any awards for portability any time soon. What would you say if I told you there was an alternative device that solves these issues and doesn’t dig into your wallet as much?

I’m crazy, right? How about if I say you could have this alternative for below $300? Nuts, right? Well, I can assure you I’m neither.

Many companies offer tablets that have the same function as a regular Cintiq. Fujitsu, Lenovo and Acer are just a few examples. Of these, Fujitsu’s Lifebook is arguably the best deal. In fact, I got mine for $175 off lease. The Lifebook doubles as a regular notebook as well as a drawing tablet. An attached stylus pen lets you draw right on the flip down monitor.

Still craving that Cintiq experience? Another neat feature is the monitor rotates 180 degrees so that you can lay it down on top of the keyboard and use the device just like a tablet. No need to deal with the keyboard if you don’t want to.

Making use of Wacom’s Penabled technology and Intel’s Core 2 Duo, this notebook is no slouch in the art department. Buttons on the side of the monitor allow you to map commands making working with Adobe Photoshop that much easier. The ability to change the screen orientation allows one to work from any angle. A SD and Pro memory card slot opens up the ability to manipulate photographs straight from your camera’s memory card.

You heard right, this little machine is able to run Photoshop. Granted, you might be better off using a regular laptop or desktop for intensive projects (everything has its limits) but for projects on the go, it works very well. There’s barely any lag, and the sensitivity of the touch screen is good enough to handle detail work without feeling like any small move will somehow close your work.

A vent on the side does let off some heat, but the underside stays at a good temperature. A weird design forces you to chose between an optical drive or an extra battery. If you’re planning a long trip, I’d stick with the extra battery. An LCD below the monitor shows the computer’s current status, from the battery levels to the status of the CPU. Some features aren’t exactly useful though.

Despite how cool it sounds, you’d be hard-pressed to really find a need for the finger print security scanner. Unless you have top secret government papers stored somewhere. But at that point, you’d have to be more worried about being a bad secret agent.

With the power to run Windows and the ability of a drawing tablet, this laptop is perfect for the artist on the go. And, at a price that no college student could argue with, why not look into getting one yourself.

SCAD offers free CS6 download

October 5, 2012 in Briefs, Graphic Design, News, Student Life, Technology | No comments

By Carlos Serrano

It began not with a bang, but with a whisper. One seemingly innocent Twitter post thanking SCAD for a free download of some sort, followed by another one asking how to actually download the program. Pretty soon it seemed everyone had heard the news. SCAD was offering a free download of Adobe CS6 for all current students, as well as incoming freshmen and transfer students.

Photography major Jessicla Clickner is one such student. “I was ecstatic when I got the email about the CS6 download.” She says, “I had almost paid the $250 student rate to get Photoshop alone.”

It’s not just about saving money of course. The opportunity to use CS6 should help students be better prepared for schoolwork, and hopefully make things easier for them as well.

As with most new things, there were a few hiccups. Freshmen had to wait until the start of the new school year to receive their download code, which caused some confusion among the newest students. There was also the unfortunate reality of slowdowns and downed websites.

Of course, that was all to be expected, after all, with so many students vying for the same link, it would have been naive to think there would be no bumps. Thankfully for everyone involved, things settled down, and students began to download CS6 in earnest, just in time for a fresh new quarter.

If you haven’t yet taken the time to download your free copy, yo should. It’s an easy process, made even easier by the fact that at this point in the quarter, you’ll have beaten the initial rush of students. Various SCAD-affiliated social media pages have already shared the steps to take in order to download the software, but because sharing is caring, you can also find them in this article:

To request your free copy of CS6, just log into MySCAD, hit up the Resources tab and click on SCAD Deals. If all goes well, you should be designing like a pro in no time flat.

Asked about what she thought of SCAD’s decision to offer this download, Clckner had this to add, “To get the free CS6 software was not something I was expecting, and this school continues to surprise me.”

With surprises like this one, it seems like everyone wins.

 

Tech for Artists: Tablet PCs

October 1, 2012 in Technology | No comments

A pair of Fujitsu Tablet PCs. Photo by Media Commons.

By Jeremy Kahn

Nowadays many business men and women can be seen traveling with notebooks and tablets working during their morning and noon commute. Every now and again, you might see someone with a tablet PC. By allowing users to draw or write straight on the monitor, as well as having the ease of use and familiarity of a keyboard, the tablet PC is a piece of hardware that combines the best of both worlds.

A month ago I was looking for an alternative to my Wacom Cintiq. Since I use my Cintiq for most of my work, having a backup seemed like an obvious choice. Of course, I didn’t want to spend the large amount needed for a new Cintiq, so I went about looking for an alternative. While I found some drawing tablets in the low three and two hundred range, I just didn’t feel what I found would work for what I wanted.

As anyone with a Cintiq can tell you they require a decent amount of space to set up due to all the wires. It’s not a very easy set-up for anyone who travels often. While I take my laptop with me when I travel, I can’t do the same easily with my Cintiq. So my first priority was getting an alternative that was travel sized and could easily be attached to my laptop.

Through my search I eventually came across a few tablet notebooks. While not a new technology, this seemed like a good alternative to look into. Researching further I found out these notebooks could be bought for anywhere between one hundred and two hundred dollars and still satisfy my needs.

I went on to buy a Fujitsu T4215 which is a model that is no longer supported. This, in addition to the seller selling it off lease, helped keep the cost down. What this offers me is the ability to run XP Mobile Edition or even Windows 7 (which is what I settled with) without any problems. With the OS installed I could now use Photoshop and any Windows application I needed. With the ability to draw straight on the monitor, this has become my go to tablet instead of my Cintiq. All for $190.

Tablet PCs make great alternatives to drawing tablets, especially to those who are constantly on the move. I’ll dive into my Fujitsu, reviewing it’s features so you can get a better idea of what these tablets offer in a later article.

For now though, as a fellow student on a budget, you can’t go wrong with a tablet notebook.

Voice your opinion and save money

May 8, 2012 in Technology | No comments

Jeremy Kahn guides you through the world of tech. Image: Jeremy Kahn

By Jeremy Kahn

Phone bills. With the advent of smart phones and the coming of text messaging, the bills start to pile up. For those who have to plan everything with a tight budget even something as simple as this can hurt (your wallet that is).

Never fear though, as there is a way to get around this problem.

For a while now I’ve heard people clamoring about saving money by using Skype for phone calls, either to a land line or a wireless phone. But here lies the problem, this service isn’t free.

In the end you’re still paying some sort of fee to be able to make these calls. Fortunately, there is a better method.

A year or so ago Google introduced a special feature to their Gmail service. Through your Gmail account you could make phone calls to any phone within the Continental US and Canada for free. Anything outside US or Canada would have a small fees.

 France – Mobile 10¢ 20¢+ connection fee

Germany – Mobile 10¢ 25¢+ connection fee

India – Mobile 2¢ 9¢+ connection fee

Mexico – Mobile 15¢ 33¢+ connection fee

United States free from the U.S. & Canada

1¢ from everywhere else 2¢+ connection fee

Another feature is the ability to use your Google Account to receive phone calls. Google Voice is the system set up to handle this. Through Google Voice you can register a phone number you create. Once you get a unique phone number you can send and receive phone calls through it for free (for at least inside US and Canada).

Google also provides you with a voice mail service so you can receive phone calls even when you’re not at your computer. If you wish, you can set up your account so it’s link to your home phone or cell phone.

What this does is redirect any incoming calls to you phone of choice. Again, helping you if you’re not near a computer to answer the call.

Another neat feature is the ability to send and receive text messages. This feature works in a similar fashion to the voice mail system.

What makes this item interesting is you can use it as a work around to paying for a text plan. For example, I have basic data plan costing $9.99 a month. With this plan I can access Facebook, Twitter, my Gmail account, and a few other things of interest (note: I don’t have a smart phone so the features I have are basic.)

Since I can access my Gmail account with the plan I have, by logging into my Gmail account from my phone I can send and receive text messages without paying for an actual text plan. All I pay is the basic data plan of $9.99 a month.

It might be small, but it does help conserve money in the long run. And of course, any bit helps.

For the student with a tight budget

April 22, 2012 in Technology | 8 comments

Jeremy Kahn guides you through the world of tech. Image: Jeremy Kahn

By Jeremy Kahn

If you haven’t learned by now, art classes can be expensive. Art supplies and computer software can cost you tons and tons of cash. If only there was an easier, and legal, alternative.

Well, just sit right back and ready your credit card, because this article is about to tip you off to a little secret. That secret is, OEM.

OEM stands for “original equipment manufacture”. Without getting complicated, companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Final Draft and many more, provide distributors with serial codes to their products in bulk.

Because these serials codes are bought in bulks by distributors, the purchase price is very low. In turn, the distributor can sell them to the consumer for cheap.

For example, a $249.95 copy of Final Draft 8 can be sold for $79.95, or a $229.95 copy of Final Draft 7.1.1.19 can be sold for $35.96. Since the distributor buys these products in bulk, they can sell them at a discount.

Now, the down side is how the products function. When you buy an OEM from an authorized distributor, there are many false ones out there, you are essentially buying the serial code for the product. The serial code you buy is good for a one time use.

This means, you can only install the product once. Also, the product can’t be updated, and there is no customer support for the software either. In sort, the software is tied to the computer it’s installed to, can’t be updated, and isn’t supported by the manufacturer.

Still, for the amount you save, you can’t really argue.

When purchasing an OEM, make sure to keep an eye out for the seal of approval on the site you’re buying from. All approved sites have a Verisign or a Microsoft Approved seal.

As mentioned above, there are many fake sites out there that say they sell OEM, but really are just sealing pirated copies. There are some sites without the two above seals that are okay, and even some with the seals that are not.

Usually you can tell if the site is okay from the layout. A bad site looks bad design wise. If in doubt, do a Google search, and you can normally find a review for the site that can clear up any concerns.

Good luck, and happy savings.

An article made on demand

April 22, 2012 in Reviews, Technology | No comments

Jeremy Kahn guides you through the world of tech. Image: Jeremy Kahn

By Jeremy Kahn

As we move further and further away from brick and mortar stores, new avenues pop up for willing consumers. Digital and online providers, who sell products for far less than their brick and mortar counterparts, are dominating the market.

Still, even with the option of online exclusivity and digital distribution, some companies see no reason to release products that have a low demand.

If they were to release products to the mass market, no matter what route they took, there would have to be some profit. Even with just digital distribution, a company usually has to fork some money over to the digital service to host their product, or provide bandwidth for them to transfer it to the consumer.

With this in mind, how can a company make a profit off of something deemed unprofitable? A new method answering this question has become available the last few years in the form of MOD, or Made (or Manufactured) on Demand.

Let us start with Amazon. For a while now Amazon has had a special section of their site allowing companies to sell old TV shows and movies to consumers without the risk of losing a profit. This service is called, CreateSpace.

The way it works is, a company, let’s say Paramount, knows there is a fan base for their old Nickelodeon cartoons, such as Doug. Yet, they believe this fan base isn’t large enough to warrant a retail release, as the amount made off of sales would never be enough to warrant a profit.

The alternative is to make the show available as a bare bones release, essentially having the fans pay for the manufacturing. In this scenario, Paramount tells the fans, “We have the first season of Doug available, but we aren’t willing to release it as a actual product. Instead, you pay us, and we’ll make you a personal DVD with the entire first season on it.”

For many old TV shows and Movies, this has been welcomed with open hands by many fans. Following Amazon’s lead, companies like Warner Bros., and Shout! Factory have begun making titles available exclusively through their online sites.

Titles that normally would never see the light of day. For example, consumers complained that Shout! would start DVD sets for series, but due to lack of profit, never finish them. With this new alternative, many of these unfinished series are now being completed, such as COPS and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Warner Bros. is doing the same thing through their Warner Archives service. As many know, WB owns the Hanna-Barbera library and at one point was churning out DVDs of their properties. Due to lack of sales, these releases eventually stopped. One of these sets happened to be “The Jetsons,” which stopped at Season 2, Vol. 1.

Through their Archives, WB has now released the final volume of “The Jetsons,” as well as many old Hanna-Barbera titles that normally would have a hard time selling (“Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos”).

This new way of getting titles to fans may turn some off, as you are basically paying for a DVD with a movie, or a bunch of episodes burned on to it. In some cases, there is no cover art on the case, or disc, the menus are static, if there are menus at all, and you could probably get better production values through bootlegs.

What we have is being done mostly for die hard fans. Granted, there are releases that do go all out with a good quality release like you’d get through a retail purchase, extras included. The thing is, this is still a new way of doing things. Given time, and more companies realizing the potential, I’m sure what is purchased through MOD will become just as satisfying as any retail purchase you may make.

 

« Older entries