Tony Ibrahim

My handwriting isn’t bad. In fact, I’ve been complimented on my penmanship many times, but as soon as I pick up a stylus, I write like a drunkard. And I’m not alone.

iWorld is looking to banish illegible penmanship with their new product: the Adonit Jot Touch.

It’s a pressure sensitive stylus that delivers more accurate interpretations of your strokes. It’s Bluetooth compatible and can differentiate between thick and thin lines.

On board are two shortcut buttons that will undo a mistake or will alternate between tools. Inside is a battery which is easily charged by plugging the Jot Touch into a common USB port.

Although the Jot Touch will work with any app, it works best with those calibrated for a precision stylus. It’s available now for a recommended retail price of $129.95.

The World of Warcraft has been compromised as a hacker’s gaming character has virtually massacred all of the characters in the game’s major cities.

The carnage in World of Warcraft

They’ve created an unstoppable character that can destroy all others, including those controlled by the game. Ironically, the TV show South Park parodied such a situation in an episode titled Make Love, Not Warcraft six years ago.

Unfortunately the real life fix to this escapade is far less entertaining than that of the episode; the game’s creator, Activision Blizzard, simply released a software patch to prevent repeats.

“This exploit has already been hot-fixed, so it should not be repeatable,” Blizzard said in an online forum.

According to the BBC, more than 10 million gamers play World of Warcraft.

Olivia Grace, who contributes to WoW insider as an editor believes “it was a significant hack.”

“They discovered a method to roll a level-one [beginner] character, which ran to the major cities.

“We don’t know exactly what they did, but somehow they were able to kill every single player’s character in that city and every single computer controlled character – and they were doing this repeatedly.”

Grace believes the same hackers have attacked WoW before, but to a lesser extent.

There’s a texture to Apple products that you just don’t get from a Windows alternative. It has to do with the marriage between software and hardware, achieving a synergy that continuously eludes Microsoft and co.

Take the iPad’s capacitive touchscreen as an example: as the gateway that allows you to manipulate its software, it recognises a variety of gestures and is characterised by utter precision. You won’t find this experience listed on a spec sheet because it’s not actually something that can be quantified. However, anyone who has used an Apple product needn’t any further explanation, because you would’ve already experienced it.

On the other hand is Windows, the software engrained in the enterprise market due to its open-source practicality. But no Windows tablet has managed to captivate users in quite the same way because you can always see the seam where Windows software meets tuned hardware, with the two making do with one another’s limited understanding.

Today Microsoft is beginning to make reparations by acquiring Perceptive Pixel, a recognised leader in research, development and the production of large scale multi-touch displays. Perceptive Pixel will be brought in house, and together the two companies will work on improving the touch experience found in Windows products.

“The acquisition of PPI allows us to draw on our complementary strengths, and we’re excited to accelerate this market evolution,” Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s office division, said.

“PPI’s large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful Windows 8-based PCs and open new possibilities for productivity and collaboration.”

Perceptive Pixel previously worked with Microsoft to develop the world’s largest touchscreen display. The 82″ screen was on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March. TechRadar reports they also partnered with Microsoft to produce their touch mouse last year.

Microsoft also announced the release date of the touch oriented Windows 8 (October), which will complement the touch savvy Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 Pro for tablets. With Microsoft’s new appreciation for touch interaction, bringing a multi-touch manufacturer in house was the safe move, allowing them to create products that actually inspire, and not just facilitate, work.

Whether it’s loved or loathed, Microsoft’s Surface has generated interest

Arguably the most powerful smartphone yet has been confirmed by an LG executive: the Nexus 4.

Amit Gujral, LG’s Head of Mobile Product Planning, revealed LG is working on a Nexus phone in an interview with IBN Live. He confirmed the Nexus 4 will be revealed officially at Google’s upcoming Android event on October 29th.

Gujral claimed the Nexus 4 will be available in India by the end of November, but kept hush on the smartphone’s global availability.

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LG’s rival Samsung was commissioned to build the previous two Nexus smartphones. The most recent, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, was released locally a mere 11 days before Christmas of 2011. History proves Google has the audacity to release smartphones on the cusp of the peak shopping period, indicating they could do the same with the Nexus 4.

Although the Nexus 4 will run the new version of Google Android, version 4.2, the smartphone is a bigger deal for LG, as it marks the first time in recent years LG has managed to one-up Samsung in hardware.

Inside the Nexus 4 is a quadcore processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of Ram, 16/32GB of external memory (with MicroSD expandable memory) and a 4.7 inch HD screen (720 x 1280).

The potent hardware will work with a version of Android free from manufacturer skin and add-ons. It’ll be faster, more efficient and receive updated software first. [Via GSMArena]

The old days of photography were the most romantic.

In the same way footprints on beach sand is proof of someone’s journey, cameras document a fleeting moment and offer a developed photo as proof.

The digital age of photography has seen this ‘analogue’ process replaced through software manipulation, and although it is evolution, it’s not as magical. That’s why I like FujiFilm’s X10.

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Even though it’s a digital compact cam, it’s a throwback to an era were memory (film) was finite, and you had to make every shot count. With the X10, you can compose photos by peering through the optical viewfinder, as you would’ve in the golden days of photography. It communicates real colour and lighting, and not the recreated kind you find on a digital screen. The only problem with relying solely on a viewfinder is you can’t instantly review your photos, and navigating through the menu blind would be tricky.

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For these reasons, the X10 includes a 2.8 inch LCD screen. The screen has a reflective coating to make sure your photos are legible when viewing them under the sun and the brightness does make browsing the menu enjoyable.

The other ode to the cameras of yesteryear can be found just by looking at it. It has a retro design that fuses together a leather grip, bespoke manual dials and switches characterised by familiarity. FujiFilm has taken inspiration from the 35mm cameras popular in the 1970s and have simply imbued it with modern technology.

Take its dual core processor for instance, which delivers the kind of prompt computing you’d find from flagship smartphones. It’s a great benefit to the X10 because it helps rapidly focus and renders images quickly.

Immediacy is a requisite when you take notice of the camera’s imaging sensor. The compact camera uses a 2/3inch EXR CMOS sensor which puts to work a different pixel arrangement. Photos can be snapped in its full 12MP resolution, but when lighting is dim, it’ll fuse neighbouring pixels together in order to diminish image noise and produce a better quality photo.

Couple these traits with four times optical zoom and Full HD video recording, and you have a compact camera with genuine photographic prowess.

It might not be the smallest cam, taking up a little more space by including the viewfinder and a flushed flash, but users will get a vast array of manual settings foreign to other cameras in the category. This, then, is the compact camera of choice for the enthusiast who values the art of photography and doesn’t think the occasion merits their bigger DSLR.