wow, ink rocks! and some .mac impressions

rokrok
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
sure, i am still wondering about what you would use it for regularly, but if you have a tablet of any sort, it is REALLY GOOD at recognizing print-style handwriting (cursive support seems to be pending), and it's scary what it can do open up the drawing pad, draw a quick map, click send, and a snapshot of your drawing is instantly sent into whatever your active application is (i threw a quick map to my house into stickies, and wrote a URL into the addres/location field of internet explorer.



and i've just got a dinky graphire 1st generation.



this is very friggin' cool.



oh, and jaguar speed rumors are to be believed. i thought 10.1 was adequate, so this is, well, MORE than adequate speed for my 400 MHz G3. i may not sell my computer after all.



you folks are gonna be pleased with jaguar. and while i atill disagree with .mac for several reasons, it is integrated to almost foolproof levels in jaguar. as some can attest to from my initial posts following the .mac announcement, i NEVER thought i would say this, but if they add a few addtions to .mac within the first year, it'll be worth the $50 easy. whether it will be worth $100 down the road remains to be seen.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    Ya, maybe Apple will surprise everyone with some sort of 1st party writing tablet in the future. Also, .mac IS already worth the money but, trust me, there are going to be some MAJOR upcoming improvements.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    yeah, i was talking with a co-worker, and the hardest thing to do with inkwell is to write on the tablet, but watch your letters form on the screen. trust me, your handwriting becomes, roughly, 7229% WORSE with this method. if apple and wacom could release a peripheral that JUST showed your letter forms UNDER your pen as you drew (like an interesting magna-doodle), it would actually become a very effective input method.



    as far as .Mac being worth it right now, well, if you mean $50, probably. $100 for new users? no way. Backup is a joke, considering that you have to have a live internet connection to burn a CD with it. and don't say that's what disc burner is for... if so, then why use Backup to begin with? anti-virus is decent. idisk seems way slow, even under os x.2 and on my dual ghz g4 at work. sure, you get 100 mb of space, BUT you have as-of-yet undisclosed bandwidth limits for access. and apparently you cannot have your own html on your idisk anymore - it's homepage or the highway. i don't understand that, unless apple needs an easier way to monitor content.



    anyway, they need to tweak the service, and make them tantalizing ADD-ONS to the apple experience, NOT a crutch necessary to make apps work, or strangely behaving applications. if they do that, and maybe add some more on by sept. 2003, then i might pay $100. for now, i'll just try to live with what i get for $50.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    [quote]Originally posted by rok:

    <strong>yeah, i was talking with a co-worker, and the hardest thing to do with inkwell is to write on the tablet, but watch your letters form on the screen. trust me, your handwriting becomes, roughly, 7229% WORSE with this method. if apple and wacom could release a peripheral that JUST showed your letter forms UNDER your pen as you drew (like an interesting magna-doodle), it would actually become a very effective input method.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    They do. It's called the Cintiq.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    cooopcooop Posts: 390member
    [quote]and apparently you cannot have your own html on your idisk anymore - it's homepage or the highway. i don't understand that, unless apple needs an easier way to monitor content.<hr></blockquote>If this is true, which I don't think it is, it certainly hasn't gone into effect yet...



    <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/cooop/gamecube/default.html"; target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/cooop/gamecube/default.html</a>;
  • Reply 5 of 8
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    first of all, nebire, thanks, i am well aware of cintiq. what i am talkign about is a solution that, oh, i don't know, is SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS CHEAPER maybe? imagine a graphire tablet, but with a simple 1-bit or 8-bit grayscale screen on it. that's all you would need to see the letterforms and such as you draw them, and keep the price in range of us mere mortals.



    coop - i can't recall where i read, heard or saw this, but it was definitely coming to those who signed up for new accounts. perhaps apple hasn't approached the headache of what to do about non-homepage-based sites? or maybe i'm on crack. i've been wrong before... plenty of times.



    and even if you are allowed to use your own site via .Mac, we allsaw what ahppened if your site gets too much traffic (when someone posted images fo the L.A. store opening on macnn.com) - the site got switched off for "excessive bandwidth usage." yet, i can't find where apple stipulates WHAT kind of bandwidth allotments you get. anyone out there know the answer?
  • Reply 6 of 8
    rogue27rogue27 Posts: 607member
    I'd imagine the bandwidth cap is higher for paid .mac accounts.



    Anyway, it's nice of apple to switch you off when bandwidth usage is high. Other web providers will just charge you a ton of money for exceeding your bandwidth allotment.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    [quote]Originally posted by rok:

    <strong>first of all, nebire, thanks, i am well aware of cintiq. what i am talkign about is a solution that, oh, i don't know, is SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS CHEAPER maybe? imagine a graphire tablet, but with a simple 1-bit or 8-bit grayscale screen on it. that's all you would need to see the letterforms and such as you draw them, and keep the price in range of us mere mortals.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    And they do. It's a touchpad made by synaptics that has an lcd in it that can do numerous things including showing your handwriting. Toshiba has already shipped a laptop with it inside. Take some more pills before you post next time.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by rogue27:

    <strong>I'd imagine the bandwidth cap is higher for paid .mac accounts.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It would be nice to know that.



    [quote]<strong>Anyway, it's nice of apple to switch you off when bandwidth usage is high. Other web providers will just charge you a ton of money for exceeding your bandwidth allotment.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Every provider I've ever heard of - at least, for commercial and small business accounts - tells you up front exactly what your bandwidth quota is, and shuts you off if you exceed it.



    Otherwise, you end up in the situation AOL was in before they went to a fixed rate, where people racked up huge bills that they couldn't pay. That doesn't do anyone any good.
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