jot
Latest
Adonit's Jot Touch and Jot Script 2 make a strong case for the stylus
I've never been a big fan of the stylus. Sure, I don't really have a choice when I'm using Wacom's Cintiq pen displays, but other than that, I don't care much for styli. Adonit has a pair of them -- the Jot Touch and Jot Script 2 -- and they promise a more pen-like feel, so now seemed like as good a time as any to give the stylus another shot. Alas, though, after spending a few weeks getting to know these two gadgets, I can confidently say that I'm not ready to give up the ol' pen and paper just yet.
Adonit's latest Jot Touch stylus works with Adobe's cloud software
Adonit, the company known for its artist-oriented iOS styluses (stylii?) has just released a new model: the Jot Touch with Pixelpoint. The "Pixelpoint" term refers to the fine point 3.1mm tip that Adonit claims is more artist friendly than a regular stylus. For further fine control, the pen has a thinner design and 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity (which requires an iOS device with Bluetooth 4), along with 2 shortcut buttons. Finally, the company says the new Jot Touch is the first stylus to work with Adobe Creative Cloud (via Adobe's Line and Sketch apps), allowing users to access their Jot files, copy and paste between devices and use Adobe's Kuler color picker. The Jot Touch with Pixelpoint is now available from Adonit for $120, and you should be able to grab Adobe's Sketch and Line apps soon at the App Store.
Evernote's Penultimate for iPad now behaves more like a real notebook
Penultimate is supposed to mimic a notebook on your iPad, so it only makes sense that the app's interface should mirror the pen-and-paper experience as much as possible. Right? Evernote thinks so, as it has released a Penultimate update that gets closer to the real thing. You can swipe from off-screen to turn pages, and you can set a color for every pen width; effectively, you now have a collection of favorite pens. Not all of the updates are meant to simulate analog drawing. Penultimate notes look much nicer when seen from Evernote, and there are improvements to ink rendering, palm recognition and connections with Jot Script pens. The upgraded app still won't replicate the feel of actual notebooks, but you might not miss them quite so much.
Equil JOT nabs Evernote integration for easy scribble cataloging
Equil's JOT smartpen made its debut back in the fall, but here at CES the $150 accessory is expanding its tool set. The company has just announced that its writing utensil now plays nice with Evernote. Thanks to the productivity software outfit's API and the Equil Note iOS app, users can now beam their doodles and important transcriptions to the cloud quickly and easily for safe keeping. If you're an Evernote user looking to take the leap, the JOT is now available.
Adonit's Jot is a stylish, precise stylus for the iPad
A few months ago I reviewed the Adonit Writer, a superb keyboard case for the iPad. The Writer was the debut product from Adonit, and it's since released an updated version for the iPad 2. Apparently Adonit was just getting started, because it's nearly ready to launch a new product, the Jot. The Jot is a capacitive touch stylus built for the iPad (and any other capacitive touch screen) that comes in two flavors, the Jot and the Jot Pro. Like the Writer it's being crowdfunded through Kickstarter. There are a lot of good styluses out there, many of them quite superb, but the Jot is a whole new take on these familiar accessories. What makes the Jot special is that it isn't using a foam tip like most other styluses; instead, it has a clear, flat, pivoting 'Precision Disk' attached on a small metal tip. I got an opportunity to give both versions of the Jot a try, and it lives up to its promise beautifully. The precision disk is just that, precise. It takes one of the biggest weaknesses of touch screens and drastically minimizes it. You can clearly see the center point of your strokes, and you get more feedback as you draw. I was surprised just how significant that little difference is. Unlike foam, the Jot requires almost no pressure to use and feels a lot like a really nice ballpoint pen gliding across a textureless paper. While it handles strokes wonderfully, I did find that I occasionally had trouble tapping buttons with the disk; usually it connected fine, but I found that it sometimes took a very slight movement to make sure the iPad registered the tap. After using it for a while I adapted my taps a little, and I haven't had any trouble with it since. Being so fast and precise does actually have a slight downside. I suddenly found that most of the notebook and art apps I use feel sluggish and had trouble keeping up with the Jot. Worse, some of them offset the point a little because they expect you to use your finger or something else of similar size. Despite this, I still love using the Jot everywhere I typically use a stylus; it just takes some adjustments. The good news is that Adonit is working on an app fine-tuned for the Jot. From the video it's posted, JotStudio looks really good. Besides being built for the Jot it looks like a flexible drawing program with an internal browser, support for images, web clips and PDFs, not to mention a well designed interface. JotStudio will cost US$2.99 when released, but all Kickstarter backers will get it free. With Adonit's Writer, one of the things I was really impressed with was the craftsmanship. It's every bit as evident in the Jot & Jot Pro. They are carefully designed, the materials are solid, they feel great in your hand and the weight is balanced with enough weight to keep a steady hand but light enough to be comfortable. One of the first things I tested was pulling the precision disk off like they showed in one of the demo videos. Despite the small size it takes a lot of pressure to separate the disk from the main body -- way more than you'd ever encounter using it under normal circumstances -- and the protective cap keeps it safe in your pocket or bag. If it does get separated, it snaps right back on, no damage done. What's the difference between the Jot and the Jot Pro? The key components are the same. You get the same precision disk either way; the materials and size are nearly the same as well. The most prominent difference is that the Jot Pro includes a rubber grip that I find nicer to hold. The Jot Pro also has a magnet in it that can attach onto an iPad 2 when you need to put it down. Did I mention it's gorgeous? The colors available are different between the two versions. The Jot comes in green, red and purple while the Jot Pro comes in turquoise, gun metal and silver. Personally I find the Pro colors to be more appealing. The black rubber contrasts beautifully with the gun metal of the stylus I'm reviewing. Adonit's Kickstarter campaign for the Jot and Jot Pro will be over on Saturday. If you want in on the first batch, a $15 pledge will net you a Jot, while for $25 you can get either two Jots or a Jot Pro. Regardless of whether you've got a Writer and you're backing the Jot, Adonit is quickly developing a reputation for releasing well-designed, lovingly crafted and unique products. I can't wait to see what it has in store for us next.
TUAW makes Joy of Tech cameo
Well color us red: TUAW reader loki capret tipped us off that we've been honored with a cameo appearance in the latest Joy of Tech! The comic (their latest as of this writing) features Apple's keynote command bunker, and you can imagine everything they need to keep track of in such a top secret and secure monitoring facility. Without ruining much more of the comic, you can simply see a screenshot of TUAW (alongside Engadget) on what must be a massive Cinema display for internal use only.Check out the comic for yet another good laugh from the JoT crew, and a big thanks to them for the cameo! We'd also like to thank the readers, and our AOL overlords, and the committee, our manager for believing in us and...Thanks, loki!
Joy of Tech with marketing advise for Microsoft's 'iPod Killer'
Joy of Tech has put together a rather humorous comic offering some marketing advice to Microsoft to aid their iPod Killer in its quest. Tips include celebrity endorsements, siphoning Gates' fortune and a contest to win a date with *ahem* Miss iPod Killer.My advice? Instead of naming it Argo, why not just keep the name everyone is already calling it: 'iPod Killer'. That way, everyone will know why they released the device, and it'll be clear what its function is when it locks up, crashes and mysteriously deletes all the users' music beginning with the letter 'i'.
