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Wacom Technology Corp. introduces a new family of pen tablets

mary | 20 September, 2007 13:20

Wacom Technology Corp. introduces Bamboo pen tablet, an all new family of pen tablets available in the Americas for the first time. This new family of human interface devices includes Bamboo Pen Tablet and Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet, two distinct pen tablets that provide a natural, personal and creative digital input experience in any home or work environment.

Just like the first writing instruments in Asia created from bamboo and fur, Wacom's new Bamboo Pen Tablet and Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet reinvent the pen for the 21st century and offer new inking freedoms for our era. “Advances in both software applications and computer operating systems make this an ideal time for us to interact with computers in a more expressive and efficient manner,” said Dennis Hoff, Wacom’s consumer product manager. “Now, you can use a pen to create expressive content, personalize communications and navigate more freely.”

Both Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet and Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet sport elegant designs with increased functionality and ease of use in mind. Four programmable ExpressKeys™ are situated on the tablet surface to customize commonly used commands, such as “undo” or “copy.” A finger-sensitive Touch Ring has been positioned to allow for quick and easy zooming and scrolling. The textured work surface of the tablet provides an intuitive pen-on-paper feel, while the stylish and ergonomically designed pens allow users to experience seemingly unlimited levels of pressure sensitivity, to create variations of pen strokes, from fine lines to bold brush marks. Additionally, Bamboo Pen Tablet and Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet work elegantly in both Mac and PC (including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista) environments.

Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet: Create your World

Available to consumers immediately in two sleek sizes and four cool colors, Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet provides all the tools needed to have fun exploring digital creativity. Ideal for digital photo enthusiasts or those just wanting to satiate their creative hunger, Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet makes it easy to enhance photos and create artwork for scrapbooks, craft projects and slide shows. Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet includes valuable software applications that embrace pen support and deliver greater control when editing photos or creating works of art. These applications include Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 (Academic Pricing) which make it possible to quickly and easily edit and organize digital photos. Many of the retouching and brush strokes required in Photoshop are accomplished more accurately and rapidly with the use of a pen. Additionally, Nik®’s Color Efex Pro™ 2 GE filtering software allows one to simply select and apply high-quality photographic enhancements with the stroke of a pen. For those with an artistic flair, the natural feel of the Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet pen combined with the capabilities of Corel® Painter™ Essentials 3, also included, makes creating great looking artwork easy and fun. When used with a Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet, Painter Essentials 3 can take on the look and feel of just about any natural art tool and is perfect for creating original digital artwork from photos.

In addition to Wacom's patented cordless, battery-free pen, the Bamboo Fun mouse, uses the same electro-magnetic resonance technology as the pen, offering quick response times and accuracy. Because the mouse has no ball, wires or batteries, users discover a virtually maintenance free experience. When used alternately with a mouse, the Bamboo pen can effectively reduce repetitive motion and increase comfort and control.

Bamboo Fun Pen Tablet is offered in two sizes (small and medium) each in black, silver, white or blue.

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QuarkXPress Keeps On Winning

mary | 20 September, 2007 09:17

Quark continues its winning trend with QuarkXPress 7. In recent years the creative design and page layout software has surpassed the competition in design, collaboration, and production.

QuarkXPress 7 most recent award:

Macworld UK Editors' Choice Award

Macworld UK says, "In terms of practical design production, QuarkXPress 7 is second to none... For the first time in 10 years, QuarkXPress can stand up for itself as a compelling purchase rather than an upgrade for existing users who are too scared to switch"

More honors and awards for QuarkXPress:

Macworld Best of Show — MacExpo Cologne 2006

QuarkXPress 7 received a Best of Show award from the Macwelt editors at the MacExpo show and conference. The Cologne show awarded only 5 such awards that are "given to products either making their public debut at MacExpo or recently introduced, innovative and generating excitement on the show floor."