stylus

The Samsung Galaxy S III and its Galactic chums could be getting a next-generation stylus, which you could use to chat with your friends as well as do the usual scribbling and scrawling.

Spotted by Patent Bolt in a recent patent application, the digital stylus is designed for writing or tapping on the screen of your phone or tablet -- but also for chatting, thanks to a built-in wireless headset.

The headset, housed in the clip, lets you make or receive a phone call without interrupting your doodling. It also means you don't have to lift your oversize phone or tablet to your face.

Read more of "Samsung Galaxy stylus scribbles, scrawls, makes phone calls" at Crave UK.… Read more

Despite the late Steve Jobs' mockery of a stylus, Apple has been tinkering with the notion of an iPen complete with haptic feedback.

That's according to a newly published patent application unearthed by enthusiast site Patently Apple. Apple's idea for an iPen would include haptic feedback to improve the user interface.

Users would feel a small vibration depending on how much pressure they applied to the stylus, or whether the stylus moved over a link on the screen, creating a more realistic experience. It could also vary depending on the angle of the stylus, orientation to the screen, … Read more

The overall movement in technology is to slim things down, make them dainty, make them portable, and create ever smaller versions of hardware. Studio Neat is bucking the trend with the $25 Cosmonaut wide-grip stylus.

The Cosmonaut is proudly low-fidelity. It's meant to feel like a dry erase marker rather than a fine-point pen. It has a rubber grip and will work on just about any capacitive touch-screen device.… Read more

In an effort to show off the content-creating potential of its large-screen, pen-enabled Galaxy Note device, Samsung Mobile today announced the winners of its Samsung Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge. In all, over $200,000 were awarded to the winning app developers, with a grand prize of $100,000 going to Square Island for its Monkey Write - Learn Chinese app.

Entries were judged by a five-member panel of representatives from AndroidCentral.com, AT&T, BlueRun Ventures, Gameloft, and Samsung Mobile, who evaluated not only the quality and originality of the idea, but also the overall user experience. … Read more

The Samsung Galaxy Note officially has some competition in the world of huge phone/tablet hybrids that work with a stylus--coming from another Korean company, LG, and its 5-inch Optimus Vu.

South Korea's second stab at a mega-phone went on sale in the country today with an unlocked price of about $900. The LTE-enabled Optimus Vu comes with Android Gingerbread, but LG promises an Ice Cream Sandwich update is just around the corner.… Read more

If indie bands can dress like Fleetwood Mac circa 1975, and women in New York City can sport leg warmers like "Flashdance" extras, why can't Samsung bring back the stylus pen for tablets and smartphones?

It seems like the company just might try to revive this old trend, much like those indie rockers and fashionable hipsters of New York City are bringing back bygone fashion trends many of us who lived through them the first time wish we could forget.

Ryan Bidan, a product marketing manager for Samsung, told Laptop in an interview published this week that that the company may bring the Galaxy Note's S Pen stylus to tablets, along with some "3D gesture" technology.

"I think a pen interface continues to make a lot of sense across a number of screen sizes, like the larger is more obvious of those," Bidan said in the interview. "That's about as specific as I can be without announcing a product."… Read more

The digital world has plenty of accessories that aren't strictly necessary, but Ten One Design's Pogo Sketch Plus caught my eye today.

It's a stylus for iOS devices that replaces your finger with something a bit more precise. I've been interested in the user-interface convergence between tablets, laptops, and drawing tablets. Such devices today are quite separate, but I foresee a future where they get closer together--and devices like the Pogo Sketch line could help.

The $15 stylus updates the two-year-old Pogo Sketch with a tip with "more consistent and smoother operation," the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Caricature artist Kathy Bailey perches on a stool, a tiny wand pressed against the 5.3-inch face of the Samsung Galaxy Note she's grasping in her other hand. "You have a lot of hair," she tells me, furiously inscribing brown circles.

Bailey and fellow artist, a young woman named Sam, were hired by Samsung's mobile team to draw attention to the Samsung Galaxy Note's artistic capabilities, by quite literally illustrating CES conference-goers. Last night Bailey sketched me at a press-only showcase (pictured above); throughout the rest of the week, she and her team of … Read more

While our various gift guides and roundups have provided plenty of really great holiday ideas, there are always a few worthy products that get left out.

During the past few weeks, Scott and I have frequently found ourselves at each other's desks, eyeballing cool accessories for laptops and other mobile products that we never got around to reviewing, but nevertheless deserve a nod.

These include portable laptop desks, wireless video connections, and even a few bags and cases, and prices run from a few bucks to a few hundred.

Check out our odds-and-ends collection in the gallery below, and if you have a great gadget stocking-stuffer idea, let us know in the comments section. … Read more