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Sony VAIO Tap 20 battery-powered all-in-one arriving this month for $880 and up
Sure, you were expecting PC makers to announce loads of Windows 8 hybrids, but a battery-powered all-in-one? Probably not. Nonetheless, that's exactly what Sony unveiled last month at IFA when it showed off the VAIO Tap 20. Designed with families in mind, it could stay plugged into an outlet, but it's built so that you can carry it easily enough from the kitchen to the living room, if that's where the kids are hanging out. (It's 11.4 pounds, so we're guessing you won't want to schlep it much farther.) Though we've already gotten a sneak peek at the machine, Sony announced today that it will go on sale in the US on October 26th (the day Windows 8 launches), starting at $880. At that entry-level price, you'll get a laptop-grade Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive, though you can also configure it with i5 and i7 CPUs and an SSD. As the photos suggest, that 20-inch, 1,600 x 900 display can lie flat, which should come in handy with drawing apps and certain games, like jigsaw puzzles. In keeping with that kitchen-friendly, kid-proof theme, Sony's also billing the display as "drop-resistant" -- there's a rubber seal around the bezel that promises to keep water far, far away from the motherboard. Oh, and though this isn't exactly a premium desktop, the display at least uses IPS technology, so it's safe to say you can expect decent viewing angles if you're crowding around to watch a movie or have the screen lying flat. Rounding out the spec list, the Tap 20 also has built-in NFC, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, dual speakers and a subwoofer. Software-wise, the Tap 20 comes with Artrage Studio Pro, along with Fingertaps, a Sony-made app that combines drawing functions with to-do lists and reminders, all arranged in a cute clothes-pin-style interface. Head over to the Windows Store and you'll also find some other Sony apps ready for download, including the Socialife aggregator, Music by Sony, VAIO Movie Creator and Album by Sony (the latter is a photo and video organizer). Again, this thing won't go on sale for another two weeks, but if you're curious we'll point you toward our earlier hands-on post for photos and video.
Grandma plus iPad equals artistic expression
Reddit user Oxide42 posted the above photo of his grandmother with the following caption: Bought my Grandma an iPad. She's 84 and never had a tablet, and wanted it for "art." I bought ArtRage for her and left her alone with her new toy for 30 minutes. This is what I came back to. Nice work, Grandma! ArtRage for iPad is currently on sale for $2.99, but talent is priceless (and apparently ageless, too).
Art of the iPad brings out the creativity of toddlers and tots
Jonathan Gay works as a project manager for a pre-school in Newton, PA and has created a project he named Art of the iPad. He wanted to see how creative very young kids could be using new technology without the usual prerequisite of training. Not wanting to use any of the existing art apps for children, Jonathan decided on using ArtRage (US $6.99), a fully featured painting app with a simple interface that includes pencils, brushes, rollers, spray paint and other tools that can create quite realistic painting effects with a swipe of the finger. ArtRage3 is far more than a coloring book and is not geared to use by kids. In turn, each child, who was given next to no instruction, had a go to see what they could come up with. Jonathan watched the first child. "I watched him scan up and down the device and I watched as a sudden spark lit up the room as soon as the student touched the screen for the first time." The child was amazed as "all of a sudden, his finger became a burgundy crayon that produced a line across the page." The class took to the iPad with no trouble at all and quickly adapted to the idea that their fingers can create. Children used different tools. They mixed paints to come up with new colors, some layered paint to build textures, and one even used the eraser to create white lines. Art, on a simple level, seemed to transcend age as the children used techniques and styles not usually attributed to their age group. %Gallery-122122%
TUAW's Daily App: ArtRage
ArtRage is a very slick drawing and painting app, originally for Windows and Mac, but now also found on the iPad. The app is extremely realistic. You can use any number of various brushes and paints, and the colors will even blend and warp on the canvas as you lay them down, just as they would on a real surface. The iPad app even allows for unlimited layers and blending, and it can export files out with a sync or send them straight to email for the Photo library. ArtRage is an excellent app for the iPad, and just for the CES 2011 show, it's been discounted to just US$1.99. If you're interested in a serious art app for the iPad, that's a bargain at even twice the price. We got to meet Ambient Design at CES just last evening here at the show in Las Vegas, and in addition to chatting about the iPad app and the sale, we asked the representative if ArtRage would find its way onto the Mac App Store as well, since the original program is still available for OS X. But we were told that it wouldn't. There was an issue with the way that ArtRage opens certain file formats in layers, and the company rep told us that because Apple was leery of malware and locking down the way certain apps opened certain files, ArtRage as it exists wouldn't be allowed in the store. That's too bad. Hopefully as the Mac App Store develops, Apple will find a way for developers like Ambient Design to do what they want to do.
Cinemassively: Making shirts for Second Life in ArtRage
Second Life's new user experience can be baffling, but the worst part happens after the resident gets used to the virtual world. When it comes time to create something, the templates required are tough to master. While many residents, including this blogger, hung up their Wacoms, Torley Linden has an instructional video that just might help us out!Using ArtRage, a program that offers both free and paid versions, Torley shows us how to use the tools. Afterwards, he explains tracing and preparing the image for upload in SL. At almost 17 minutes, you're walked through every step of the process. Soon we'll all be clothing makers!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them. Please note that due to the high volume of Second Life submissions, we would prefer submissions from other platforms.
