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Logitech's Crayon for iPad is available to everyone September 12th
Logitech's Crayon was a dream for 2018 iPad owners who wanted stylus input without paying a premium for Apple's Pencil, but there was a catch: the schools-only focus ruled it out for anyone besides students. You won't be shut out for much longer, though, as Logitech is making the Crayon available through Apple's retail stores on September 12th. It won't be as much of a bargain, unfortunately -- it'll cost $70 for everyday users instead of the $50 for schools -- but it could be a better choice if that extra $30 for a Pencil seems unnecessary.
Logitech built a $49 digital crayon for the new iPad
Apple's new starter iPad is designed to make drawing more accessible, but the $89-plus it takes to buy the official Pencil for that iPad is a lot to swallow for cash-strapped educators. That's where Logitech might help: it's introducing a $49 Crayon accessory for the new iPad that should put art and handwriting within the reach of more schools. It promises low lag, tilt support and sub-pixel precision with an 8-hour battery life, and won't need pairing to get started. The most glaring omission is the lack of pressure sensitivity -- this isn't for pros. Still, it's evident that Apple is comfortable allowing Pencil alternatives if it means getting more iPads into classrooms.
Review: Crayola ColorStudio HD and Griffin iMarker pair up for coloring time
When Griffin and Crayola announced their collaboration back at CES in January, the idea of a combined stylus and drawing/painting iPad app for kids -- with the power to distinguish between finger touches and the tip of the stylus -- sounded fantastic. The flexibility of the iPad for keeping kids engaged and entertained, especially on long trips, is remarkable; something like the iMarker could supercharge it substantially. We were curious, though: how (and how well) would it actually work? Now shipping in both the App Store and at Best Buy, the iMarker and ColorStudio HD combine a well-designed, kid-friendly app with an innovative stylus technology, but is the bundle US$30 worth of fun? And does it meet the demands of both parents and kids? There are plenty of painting and coloring apps already out for iPad, so let's talk about what sets this package apart: the hardware. Griffin's iMarker stylus -- a black and silver unit labeled as "Assembled in China; Designed in Nashville" -- is different from other capacitive pen-like accessories, because it's powered (by a single AA battery) and because the free ColorStudio HD app can differentiate between finger-touches and the stylus tip. The trick, apparently, is all about speed. A small electric motor in the iMarker 'buzzes' the electrostatic tip, making and breaking contact extremely rapidly; you can hear this vibration in action if you hold the stylus close to your ear, although it's not particularly audible at arm's length. There's also a lighted oval on the side of the stylus to let you know it's on. Since the app is watching for a vibrating touch, it can tell when you're using your finger to operate in-app controls like crayon color selection or brush size and when you're using the pen to actually draw. It sounds technically complex, but like all good iPad-related products, in practice it "just works" -- even for small kids. I found initially that it took a somewhat firm press of the stylus to get it to register on the screen, but a check of the Griffin FAQ for the product suggested that I'd get better results by removing my iPad from its case. That worked well, and the pen became somewhat more responsive when I was holding the back of my iPad in my hand. (Back-case skins or front screen protectors will also decrease the pen sensitivity.) With the distinction between pentip and fingertip being handled in software, it feels very natural to switch back and forth from app controls (color/brush selection, undo, email/save, etc.) to drawing with the stylus. If you leave the stylus at home, however, the activated version of the app (you unlock the full feature set by drawing a pattern with the purchased stylus) lets you switch into fingers-only mode at will. Annoyingly, the iMarker comes with a protective cap that doesn't fit on the back end of the stylus, so you have to tuck it away somewhere else or risk losing it.
The Daily Grind: Create-a-Server
In this day and age, it seems as though servers have checked their creativity at the doors. PvE, PvP, RP, RP-PvP come as standard as red, green, blue and yellow in a Crayon four-pack. Hey, if it ain't broke, right? These four server rulesets do their job admirably, and for most people, that's good enough. It's almost easy to forget that devs have the ability to create rulesets that strike out in different directions, such as permadeath servers (oh yes, I went there) and progression servers (where a server resets to the core game, with expansions added at a steady pace). Of course, on rare occasion you do see a game experiment with unusual rulesets, such as EverQuest's 51/50 server. More recently, Realtime Worlds announced that they're contemplating a slew of unique rulesets for APB, including newbie, Chaos and pure skill. So the potential is there for servers to branch out -- it's just that, for various reasons, the risk is seen as not worth the potential reward. But this is The Daily Grind, a place to unleash your imagination and engage the "What if?" in its full glory. So if you could create a unique ruleset server for your game, what would it entail?
Crayon Physics Deluxe for iPhone
Crayon Physics Deluxe (App Store) is an iPod Touch/iPhone 2.0 game highly similar to Touch Physics (App Store) in that you must move a ball to the goal (represented by the star on the right) by drawing various things on the screen. For instance, to move a ball across a gap, you would simply draw a line with your finger over the gap.The game has 50 levels, and it includes a level editor so that you can make your own levels to increase replay value. You can play straight through the levels, or use the level chooser to jump around and play any levels (useful if you get stuck on a particular level). The music is calming and the graphics are good, but the levels initially draw very slowly.
Cinemassively: Coca Cola Virtual Thirst
Millions of Us and Crayon recently held a contest for Coca Cola Virtual Thirst in Second Life. Entrants were asked to submit their ideas for an innovative vending machine. The grand prize, won by Emerie May, consisted of a trip to San Francisco to collaborate with Millions of Us on their idea, plus 500,000L to spend inside SL.The Machinima for the winning idea was created by Aren Mandala, otherwise known as Michael Verdi, vlogger extraordinaire. It explains what the contest was about and showcases the winning entry. Among the features you'll discover are puzzle bottles, a snowglobe photobooth, a giant bubble ride, and a snowball vending machine. You can start your Coke puzzle by heading to Style today![Via Millions of Us]
Crave opening big box of virtual Crayolas
The washable-crayon-stylus hybrid thing seen here may still be a dream in our somewhat odd fanboy minds, but it is true that Crayola is bringing its unique brand of waxy, brittle pigment to the DS in electronic form. The company has made an agreement with publisher Crave to release a Crayola-themed DS game.Apparently, the game will be a minigame collection, with all of the minigames involving drawing and coloring with a wide selection of Crayola crayons. We're excited about this if only for the possibility that we may get to color a dinosaur. And because this way we won't lose 33 of our 64 colors within a week.
