Yesterday I got some welcome new additions to my workspace. The Wacom Bamboo Pen, a tablet and a Contour Design ShuttleXpress, a jog dial.
The Bamboo Pen by Wacom. This model only accepts pen input, there are also tablets available with touch input.
I hope to use it where a mouse proves inaccurate, and maybe it will renew my interest in freehand drawing.
The ShuttleXpress by Contour Design. I’ve wanted a jog dial for a while but I mostly bought this now to save on shipping and such.
This is a compact and not very expensive jog dial but will most likely fit my needs.
The controls as they are now. Hmmm, still some gadget room left…
This is what I gave my father this Christmas, a fully functioning model of a stirling engine.
A stirling engine works on the pressure differences caused by temperature differences between bodies of gas/air. Read more about stirling engines here. This model is a small-scale beta stirling engine.
The set comes as a kit to build by yourself, but pre-built packages are available too. After construction, which is quick and easy, you can run the engine from the warmth of your hand (provided you have warm hands) or you can run it on top of a cup of hot water. Longest running time we got so far was well over one hour!
In case I got you interested is this kit; you can get it from Kontax in the UK.
Unpacking is as always a moment to enjoy, I think you’ll agree.
The netbook looks good. It is small but by no means flimsy.
As always these netbooks/laptops are loaded with stickers advertising the very item you have just bought.
The construction seems sturdy, a set of firm hinges holding the screen in place. The keyboard is bit different, but has a good feel about it. The touch pad is integrated in the body and is indicated with a grid of small braille-like points, this works very well.
Windows 7 starter came pre-installed and as far as I have experienced it works reasonably fast.
Getting Windows 7 was a deliberate choice as the main purpose of this netbook is testing my online productions on Internet Explorer (using IE Tester).
