Hardware
Tips & tricks
Wide tablet
Wacom has released a wide-format tablet for people with wide screens and multiple monitors. The wide Intuos3 6x11 means that people with two monitors can now use their tablets at full size, rather than reducing the aspect ratio to accommodate the large screen area on narrower tablets. Once again the tablet comes with the touch strips and programmable areas. It ships with a cordless stylus and mouse, Photoshop Elements, Painter Essentials and the nik Color Efex Pro photo plug-in. $390.
Getting paper straight
Sometimes the roll of paper on the Epson 4000 gets skewed slightly when it's lined up with the mark that the manual tells you to use. To remedy this, try lining it up with the edge of the paper tray. This line goes the full width of the tray and is about two inches from the front edge. Doing so will more accurately align the paper edge parallel to the printhead path. The sides of the roll of paper are then perpendicular to the printhead path and not skewed.
Tough case
Laptop Armor has a new soft case that compliments their metal cases. These new cases are very light (under 3 lbs.) and yet still offer excellent protection for their contents. The neoprene front pocket allows stretching to accommodate extra gear, the handle is rounded for extra comfort, and extra internal padding ensure a snug, secure fit. $49. An extra-sized case with room for external devices and paperwork and a detachable strap for maximum comfort when carrying heavy contents is $100.
Graphire Bluetooth offered with software
Wacom has recently added new software to their Graphire Bluetooth pen tablet. These now include Photoshop Elements 3 image editing software, Corel Painter Essentials 2, and nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE. For PC users, there is also JustWrite Office 4, which allows you to annotate Microsoft Office documents; EverNote Plus, which facilitates managing personal information by providing shape recognition, a time-line-view of notes, instantaneous note searching, and web page cataloging; and ritePen 2.5, for handwriting recognition and automatically converting handwriting into text.
Scanner calibration
If you would like to calibrate your scanner, you will need to get a good target and accurate numbers relating to the target. Check out the target from Wolf Faust of Germany www.targets
.coloraid.de/. It comes with an IT 8.7-compatible reference file containing the color measurements for the target, from which you can build a profile for your scanner.
Paper tray/hub
Pressure Drop has combined a paper tray with a Firewire and USB hub. All the connections are at the back of the lower of the two trays. There are four outputs for each. The USB is 2.0, while the FireWire ports are 400 MPS. There is also a plug for each to connect to the back of the computer. The hub has a single power supply. As the plugs are all at the rear, all the wires are located out of sight. The tray is made from solid brushed aluminum. $150
