Unique Textures

I've been experimenting with some random acid-etched textures on the aluminum handles of the oStylus DOTs. It gives a bit of a depth to the surface to hold on to, but more importantly, each of these DOTs is completely different from any other – one-of-a-kinds you might say.

Two sample etched oStylus DOTs

The darker areas are recessed, and that dark grey colour comes from the etching process. The handles are then anodized and hot-sealed, the same process as the production models.

Detail of two textured handles

If you are interested in these variations, they are $75. Send me an email and I can send you images of what I have available. The picture shows two that have optional pen clips. agoss(at)oStylus(dot)com

oStylus DOT Launches

After many months of work, the new oStylus DOT is ready. You can check it out on our website at http://oStylus.com, or see it in action in this video.


We are now offering two designs of stylus for capacitive touchscreen devices. Our original oStylus, introduced 18 months ago, was designed primarily as a drawing and painting tool for the iPad and other tablets. The new oStylus DOT is designed primarily as a writing and note-taking tool, but also handles other applications with ease. See our March 8 blog post for more details.

Touchscreen Delay

One of the things we can't control in stylus design is delay or latency in touchscreen systems. Several customers have emailed us saying they thought the drawing point for a stylus should always be right in the centre of the contact area. Unfortunately there is a delay between the actual touch and the appearance of the line on the touchscreen device, particularly apparent when drawing a line quickly.

Microsoft has been researching how significant this is. They have found that with today's touchscreens there is about a 100 millisecond (ms) lag. This happens whether we use a finger or a stylus, and is noticeable when we are quickly sketching curved or zigzag lines – the line appears a few millimeters behind the centre point of the finger or stylus.

Here is the video Microsoft Research posted:
http://youtu.be/vOvQCPLkPt4

They demonstrate in the video that a delay of 1 ms would be ideal. The human eye cannot detect that small a lag, and at that point you "feel like ink is coming from your finger" – a real physical connection with the screen. Unfortunately they estimate this technology may be as much as 10 years away. Until then we have to either put up with the delay, or simply slow down our drawing.

New "DOT" Design for oStylus

We have been working for several months now refining a new and alternate design for a stylus for touchscreen devices. It's called the oStylus DOT. That's DOT as in "dot", because it has a small round contact pad that slides across the screen.

The original oStylus was developed primarily for drawing and painting on tablets such as the iPad. We were thinking about artists and graphic designers who wanted more accuracy and more visibility of the screen than their finger would allow. But we found that a lot of people were primarily interested in note-taking and handwriting on their tablets. Some of the feedback we got suggested that even though the oStylus allowed you to see through it for more accurate placement of a line, it was a bit big, and a bit awkward for writing with.

So this is what we have come up with. The oStylus DOT is designed primarily for handwriting and note-taking. It has the smallest possible contact pad -- hinged to give you a comfortable hand position. The combination of the small contact size (6 mm) and wire hinge connection means you have an excellent view of the screen compared to your finger or other styluses. The oStylus DOT complements the original oStylus which was primarily designed for drawing and painting Apps. Both are hand-assembled and finished in our studio from aluminum for the handles and stainless steel for the contact pads, with a vinyl surface for smooth contact with the screen. More information will be posted on the website oStylus.com,  where you can ask to be notified when they are available.

Two Things

We have registered oStylus.ca as a domain name. It redirects to oStylus.com – as a Canadian business we thought we should claim the name to avoid any future confusion. Our domain name registrar also convinced us that .CA names are very cool, and worthy of trust. Perhaps the economic crisis and the stability of Canadian banks is having a spill-over effect?

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We have now sold oStyluses pretty well all over the world but we are not selling them in retail outlets. Our parts manufacturing costs plus our own labour to assemble and finish by hand simply mean we can't afford to do that. Our web site (and Etsy.com as a new experiment and one hometown outlet) remain the only way to order online. I know it seems like a contradiction that we work on Apple computers and use iPads and iPods, all of them made in China, but we are not willing to go offshore and have these manufactured. As craft jewellers we see ourselves like a cottage industry, having strict control over aesthetics, finish, quality and customer satisfaction. Our main market continues to be the United States, but the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Germany are close behind. Then there's Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Denmark, Greece, Brazil... and countless more.

Two details... shipping, California

1. We are back at work and our postal system is functioning once again.

2. While the postal disruption was on, and for a short time afterwards, we spent two weeks in California enjoying wonderful hospitality in Idyllwild (at the Idyllwild Arts Academy), Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

Postal Shutdown in Canada

After a few days of a rotating postal strike in Canada, Canada Post shut the whole system down. I'm not taking sides on any of the issues in the dispute, but would like to make a plea on behalf of small businesses in this country that depend on postal services. Basically all our styluses are shipped out with Canada Post. Private shipping companies charge as much as three times the postal rates, so it's not an option.

In the meantime we had planned a vacation shutdown starting June 22  -- so all our shipping process would have been shut down anyway until July 8th. As of today, there is a government back-to-work order being debated in our federal Parliament. To be optimistic,  the postal dispute should be resolved before we return to fill the orders on our waiting list.

Our apologies to those of you who are patiently waiting for an oStylus.