Why did you get a smartphone with the fastest processor and huge amount of RAM and a graphics processor that makes a prior generation video game system green with envy? For animated weather, that’s why.

Okay… perhaps not. But still, this application for Google Android phones is real impressive to say the least.

The exquisitely realistic video effects of cloudiness, rain and snow provide the vivid sensation of current or future weather conditions for more than 50,000 locations over the world.

• Animated daily weather forecast
• Realistic Video effects of cloudiness, rain and snow
• Multiple scene backgrounds
• Global world weather
• 50,000+ locations worldwide
• Auto update forecast

Currently on sale from $9.95 down to $4.95 for the Pro version in the Android Market, there’s also a Free version for your phone as well with widgets being promised sooner than later.

[ Links: Animated Weather Application for Android, MobilityFlow ]

Choosing good fonts seem to be one of the hardest parts of a web design. How can you choose a good looking font without using the same 2 or 3 websafe fonts over and over? You can probably work a traditional font into your design, but even the standard Times New Roman or Helvetica isn’t present on 100% of computers. Here are some ways to use the latest technology to make sure that you get the font you want on your site.

HTML 5 / CSS 3 Embeded Fonts

Let’s get this out of the way first. It is possible to embed a font in your webpage and send it to users. This would be great, except for the fact that it has all sorts of issues. For one thing, it has major compatibility issues. You have to do quite a bit of CSS and HTML magic to get it to work exactly the same on all browsers. Even if you get it to work, then there’s still the issues of getting a font. Technically, this counts as redistributing a font, so you can’t do it unless you are licensed to use the font (which is expensive), or use a public domain font (which can work, but there are many bad free fonts out there and only a few good ones).

The Free Way: Google Fonts API

The Google Fonts API is a great free service which lets you use any of the fonts in their (somewhat limited) directory for free. All you have to do is add a header link to your HTML to import a stylesheet, and then you can use the font.

The Paid Way: TypeKit

Same thing as Google Fonts API, only it costs – but they have a way bigger and better selection of fonts. You can sign up and use their service to legally and easily embed fonts on your site.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

I’ve been a tablet user since Adobe Photoshop 3.0.4, Painter 2.0 and the days of Wacom and CalComp used to connect to your computer via the serial connector (read: way back before USB, mid-1990′s or so) and I’m always looking for what’s new in regards to the tablet scene. Adesso, a brand I’ve talked about here quite a few times also makes graphic tablets too.

I got my hands on their CyberTablet Z7, a 5.5 inch by 4 inch graphics tablet. Time to see if their offerings are as well put together as their keyboards.

Made out of shiny, silver but quality plastic, the design of the Z7 reminded me a lot of my older Wacom Graphire 2, a 4 inch by 5 inch tablet that I’ve kept for travel since it’s rather small and doesn’t get in the way. As does the Z7… it’s a smaller tablet that I could easily see throwing into my laptop bag and carrying around with me. The base of the plastic Z7 does have metal with some rubber feet, so it’ll stay put on the table without moving around. I’d say that the build quality easily compares to what I’ve come to expect from Adesso.

The best part about the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 is that it was immediately recognized in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The drivers that come with it do install a few other applications to assist you in other applications, namely Microsoft Office for Windows XP users and the ability to add real signatures into e-mails and other documents. The only problem though is that I found the software to be a bit more crude than I’d rather allow to stay on my machine. So almost out of the box, you could actually use the tablet with your existing programs and not include more than just the necessary drivers.

The CyberTablet Z7 does include 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, something I got a chance to fully test out in the newly released Adobe Illustrator CS5. While playing around, I couldn’t tell a difference between my Wacom Graphire and the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 to be honest. The $69 Z7 actually compared well against my way more expensive Wacom Intuos 3 and did even better than my Wacom Bamboo Touch – which, I’m honestly still coming to grips with while using graphic apps.

The Z7 does come with a bigger – almost grip pen size in regards to the Wacom line – pen than the Graphire and Intuos 3 (out of the box) and fits into my larger sized hands rather well. It fits just like an oversized Cross pen that I carry around with me in my briefcase. However, I won’t say that it is a good size for everybody, if you have bigger hands or like the pen to have a bit of heft to it… go for the Z7. Unlike the Wacom pen offerings, there’s one AAA battery that goes into the pen, giving it that aforesaid heft. To the average geek, or the mobile geek, that will sooner than later become just another battery to possibly replace at the worst times. This part, I disagree with how Adesso designed their pen. I love the heft, the replaceable pen tips, the activity light(s) and the even the almost too-flush but not as easily breakable eraser. About the eraser though, I didn’t find it as easy to use as the Wacom offerings – it was too flush to get any idea of how hard I was pressing down and in some cases where I was trying to erase in Corel Painter IX just a small section, I pressed down too hard and removed a much bigger section than intended.

I do have dual screens, but tend to only draw on one at a time. I also have wide screen LCD’s and the almost 4:3 aspect ratio of the Adesso Z7 does mean that on some up to bottom type of strokes, I might have to be careful not stroke too long because there is (in ratio) more room on the tablet than on the screen. It’s slight, but most of my tests in Adobe Illustrator CS5 and in Corel Painter IX went swimmingly.

Pros:

• Cheaper priced
• Works just as well in professional design apps as more expensive tablets
• Manufactured out of quality plastic with a solid metal base
• See-through flap to place smaller drawings under and trace
• Really responsive, up to Wacom Bamboo level

Cons:

• Some flex when pressed down on hard
• Single AAA battery in pen adds more heft than other offerings and would have to be replaced
• Pen base is non-replaceable, unlike the Wacom offerings
• Software (beyond drivers) does not support Windows Vista or Windows 7

All in all, I give the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 3.5 out of 5 (Pretty Darn Good) where it was a great performer inside of professional level apps like the entire Adobe Creative Suite 5 as well as my natural media favorite Corel Painter but the inclusion of the battery, the lack of software that integrated well with systems above Windows XP being the biggest cons. If you’re in the market and cannot afford the Wacom offerings, you might want to keep the Adesso offerings in mind.

[ Links: Adesso, Adesso CyberTablet Z7 ]

I come from the era of Polaroids, 35mm Canon cameras and those real cheap, plastic cameras that were given to kids that had plastic lenses that captured pretty much the world from a child’s perspective of the world (read: a lot of knee-caps and unintentional crotch shots) but were always more warm albeit less precise than our digital, megapixel endowed cameras. I miss those crotch shots days.

Just about anybody can open up Adobe Photoshop and change the color balance, apply a few plug-ins but sometimes you just want to quickly add some “warmth” but it’s not really the same. Well, Pentacom, a Japanese company, has created ToyCamera AnalogColor. An application that does just that via many presets and sliders that allow you to see what your image looks like in real time. It even adds a color border that emulates the Polaroid look if you so wish.

Not bad for a $10 app. There’s also an $1.99 Apple iPhone app too.

[ Links: Pentacom, ToyCamera AnalogColor ]

Adobe has announced that Adobe AIR, synonymous with desktop application development and applications like Twitterriffic [ site here ] or Skimmer [ site here ] will be bringing their ability to run on almost any OS – currently Mac OS X, Linux and Windows are now supported – and coming to the mobile smartphone market. Many popular applications are already deployed via the Adobe AIR runtime, an Adobe Flash based runtime that runs on most desktop OS machines already. So this is a very good thing for developers and customers alike.

Twenty-four of the largest phone operators have banded together to challenge the dominance of mobile app stores, such as that operated by Apple. The Wholesale Applications Community, as it is known, aims to make it easier for developers to build and sell apps “irrespective of device or technology”.

As well as the 24 network operators, the work is also supported by hardware manufacturers such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, as well as industry body the GSM association.

On top of the ability of the upcoming Adobe Flash CS5 to publish applications to the Apple iPhone; this sounds like a great time to be a developer of if you’ve already fallen in love with some Adobe AIR apps already.

Over at Adobe TV, there’s a video of Adobe AIR running on Android already up – [ view here ]

[ Links: Adobe, Mobile Firms Unite to Offer Apps, AIR Coming to Android/Mobile Devices ]

While I love the detail that my 10.2 megapixel Sony DSLR can output, it lacks that soft focus and warmth that my 30 year old Canon 35mm camera tends to introduce into each picture. Sure, I can open up Adobe Photoshop – and often do – to alter my photos, but not everybody has either a Lomo camera or Polaroid or the money and/or patience to alter the levels, colors, brightness and contrast via Adobe Photoshop.

What to do? There are other applications out there, some are even for the Apple iPhone, like ToyCamera for instance, but even those can be somewhat harder to use because they have sliders and options that can become confusing if you’re just dragging and playing with their values. Enter Rollip with a set of online “filters” that make your photos look like they’ve been taken on an older camera, or they enhance the contrast or even make your colors pop out among other filters.

After playing with a couple of photos, I’d consider Rollip almost dummy proof (read: even I had no problems with it). You start by selecting your desired effect, then upload the image via the browser, Rollip.com does some magic, and then sends you your image back to your e-mail or you can download it immediately. No sliders, no confusion, and pretty darn quick. And it works if you’re on a PC, a Mac or Linux too it seems.

And for a limited time, Rollip.com and Remove The Labels are offering the first 15 people a FREE Pro account with 30 credits (about $6.00 worth of credit) by using this link: http://www.rollip.com/pro?coupon=removethelabels348 and signing up.

What do you have to lose? It’s free, give it a twirl.

[ Links: Rollip ]

Custom prints and graphics on t-shirts, hats, picture frames and the such can get real expensive if you just want a very small run or just want one. Sure, you could invest into a light table, your own screens, some amberlith, a way to cut or print onto the Amberlith, and of course the ink and a way to dry the prints. But it can get expensive. Or you could use Cafepress…

YUDU hopes to bring that ability to the masses and rather inexpensive with their YUDU Screen-Printing System:

The Yudu™ screen-printing system is the easiest, cleanest way to let everyone know who you are—and how you see the world. Don’t settle for what everyone else is wearing or spend hours futilely trying to find a t-shirt that expresses the real you.

With access to a computer and an ink-jet printer, you’ll be able to create and print your own designs not only for t-shirts or other apparel, but also for home dècor, art prints, posters, cards, schoolwork, and much more.

Priced at $299, it’s not an expensive way for you to make that Goth Hello Kitty shirt you’ve always wanted but knew that a Bedazzler was not going to be hardcore enough for you.

[ Links: YUDU Screen-Printing System, YUDU Video ]

Nikon Imaging has announced two new NIKKOR optics that deliver the pinnacle of image quality for professional photographers who demand super telephoto capabilities.

The new, fast aperture AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II super telephoto lens and AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III deliver images with stunning edge-to-edge sharpness and clarity throughout the frame. Continued refinements and new technologies such as Vibration Reduction (VR) II and optimized autofocus (AF) modes in the lens enhance functionality and improve performance for discerning FX and DX-format digital SLR photographers.

Link to the original article…

Dell Precision M6500 tops the Dell series by high-end hardware as well as its prices. Surely it will be wallet-crushing amount; however it is not announced yet. Taking into consideration M6400 with Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme costs start at $2,149; the new M6500 with Core i7-920XM will be even more.

M6500 has a 17-inch screen and 1920 x 1200 resolution with LED backlight and pretty odd resolution for HD devices with 16:10 ratio. The customers can choose to equip their notebook with either ATI FirePro M7740 or NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3800M graphics chips. Besides, it supports up to 3 hard drives with RAID configurations. Core i7 supports up to 16 GB of 1,333MHz of DDR3 memory.

Link to the original article…

Aw man… I really remember Kai Krause’s Power Goo. In fact, it was one of the few Adobe Photoshop plug-ins that I actually used and liked. Mostly for fun, I’d make my graphic design professor look like Droopy, which in retrospect wasn’t that hard to do. But it was just fun.

Well, MetaTools is back. And Power Goo is now named Making Faces and it’s coming for out for your beloved Apple iPhone. No price yet.

[ MetaTools ]

Hey, looks like LightScribe has come out with an even cooler way to label your disks.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling today announced the launch of the LightScribe Design Center, a free resource available on www.lightscribe.com offering more than 400 CD/DVD labeling designs with themes such as weddings, music, gifts, travel, photography and business. Anyone owning a LightScribe-enabled computer or external CD or DVD burner can visit the LightScribe Design Center, explore free designs by theme and immediately create visually striking full disc designs – complete with personalized photos and text.

In addition to offering hundreds of designs free of charge, the LightScribe Design Center has the following CD/DVD labeling resources:

Photo Labeling Center: Customer can combine digital photos with text to create personalized and one-of-a-kind disc designs.

Disc Sleeve Designer: With this easy to use tool, customers create vibrant customized designs for jewel cases and disc sleeves by choosing a background, dragging art, adding text, and printing.

Creative Extras: Customers can design labels with themes that include creative extras like matching mailers and custom cards. Users can create printable mailers in minutes.

Find out more over at LightScribe’s website.

Thanks to the kind folks at Dymo, they sent along a Dymo DiscPainter for review. I decided to take my time, get to know the printer, compare it to my other disc labeling hardware like my internal LightScribe drive in PC, Avery Ink Jet disc labels, and of course my all-time favorite disc labeling “tool”… my trusty Sharpie permanent marker that I’ve been using for years.

After over a week of rigorously using the Dymo DiscPainter… I have a new favorite.

Enter the Dymo DiscPainter. It’s no bigger than a small shoebox; with a higher back part that conceals ink cartridge. In fact, I’ll have to admit it sorta looks like a mixture of the Atari Jaguar CD and a toilet stool.

Ok, bad jokes aside. Inside the box, you’ll find the typical things… USB connector, power supply, software, a few blank printable CD-R’s, a Dymo ink jet cartridge and a “Quick Start” pamphlet. I started this install originally in Vista then moved over to my aging Mac. Both systems installed in a relatively quick time, prompted me to register on the first start up of the software; I was up and running from disc install to print in less than 10 minutes.

Things could have gone a tad bit faster if I had realized that I had to add the printer to list of installed printers on the machine before trying to print a disc. That small part should be common sense; however it is a very small omission from the instructions that might confuse a few if they don’t logically think things through.

So manually flip open the bottom part of the printer, the part with the clear acrylic window, and pop in a printable CD face up, data side down and then open up the Discus application in order to start the printing process. The application, on both Vista and Mac looks surprisingly the same.

Open up the application (here’s the fullsized image from above), choose a template or create your own from your own images: jpg, png, bmp, among a few others. In this example, I used a 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels at 72dpi Photoshop document that I had created a while back for a calendar image, exported out to *.png.

The Discus for Dymo application also includes the ability to add filenames via iTunes, (Mac) Toast, Dragon Burn or even adding/synchronizing via tab delimited files. On Vista, it picked up my iTunes application, and offered to import filenames from iTunes or a tab delimited file to allow printing of those aforementioned filenames on the face of the CD.

In goes a blank white, printable CD-R and the process is surprisingly fast. If you’re a LightScribe user, you know that once you up the quality to high, and just use text and perhaps a high-contrast image, it can take upwardly to 18 minutes just to “print” using LightScribe and that’s not including burning the disc. By average, a picture via the Dymo DiscPainter at the best quality took about 3 minutes, tops. Seriously… 3 minutes. And it’s totally dry, huggable touchable once you take it out.

So… remember that trusty ol’ Sharpie permanent pen that you probably are still using like I used to?

Perfect each time too. Much unlike the messy Avery labels that require that applicator that haphazardly presses a disc down onto a label that sometimes might leave unsightly bubbles under the label – no matter how hard you press down, you still might get a bubble or two. And in a slot loaded drive, that’s something that might get stuck on entry or ejection. And the labels sometimes separate from the disc even while laying around… creating a sticky, nasty mess. Needless to say, printing directly onto a disc alleviates the fear of label separation.

The cons? There’s always a few.

The printer capacity is only one disc at a time. There is no stack loading, no way to just print and forget about it. If you’re used to burning discs in your internal drives, this is not any different. Another minus would be the fact that you’re likely going to be buying more cartridges very soon, and they’re not normally in your Walmart or the such. But the cartridges are at your favorite online places like Amazon and B&H Photo, as well as the Dymo website among others.

The fact that the drive is not internal could be seen as a negative as well. And it will add another USB and plug-in to the wall socket as well. So if you’re a geek like me – printer, VoIP phone, printer, iPhone and charger, external USB hard drives (three of them), and a charger for my OQO 01+… not including the charger for the rechargeable batteries for my mouse… no wonder my electric bill stays high! – you get the point. Just keep that in mind if you have a cluttered desk already.

All in all, the Dymo DiscPainter is worth every penny for a printer only. There’s no optical burner; however this is a full-color printer mind you. No longer do I have to try to read my horrible writing (see image above) and my discs are nice and labeled.

Despite the one at a time method attached to the Dymo DiscPainter, it’s a recommended buy if you’re a disc backing up fool like I am. Perhaps for once I can locate a disc by sight alone now. And with the software abilities to add filenames from other 3rd party applications like iTunes and other applications, that level of integration makes even my rigorous backup routine fun, colorful and easy to sort out at a later date. Check out the Dymo website for more information.

Recommended.