R. Stevens, the mind (and hand) behind webcomic Diesel Sweeties as well as renowned robot sock purveyor, treated himself to one of those new Wacom Cintiq drawing screens and was kind enough to write up his impressions for us here. Thanks, "R.," if that is your real initial.

The newest Cintiq from Wacom is a baby, but a very wise Buddha baby. It's taught me something that I'm sure untold years of therapy couldn't—leaving the house is a good thing! Eight hours in and I'm already a lot less freaked out about attending conferences and doing work on the road.

First things first. I use a Cintiq 21UX [pictured right with the 12WX below] in tandem with a mouse at my desk, two-handed ambidextrous-stylez. The first thing I did upon receiving the 12WX is try to replace the larger one with it. I lasted about fifteen minutes before putting the big one back. The 12WX doesn't replace a larger tablet, but instead creates a new form of portable art studio.

Tablet PCs are old hat and they've got two problems that kept me away: Windows as the only Photoshop-capable, legal OS choice and horror stories from friends who have had cracked hinges and other physical flaws keep them away from their work for days at a time. Both these things horrify me. Not in a good Lovecraft way. This Cintiq solves both.

Combining a laptop with a second screen is a nice innovation. The input device and display don't care what hardware you hook them up to. Wacom could discontinue this product tomorrow, but you could still have it attached to the fastest laptop on the planet in five years. It's flexible and easy to share. I can see how a studio would buy one of these and lend it out to whichever artist is traveling without moving all their files to a shared laptop.

The tablet itself is very attractive- dark plastic with multiple textures, not too much shine on the screen, comfortable viewing angle, good color. I haven't calibrated it yet (and frankly, my eye is not properly trained to judge this) but I'd say the color on the 12WX is at least as good as a normal laptop in this regard. I could hold mine in the fingertips of one hand. It's that light and thin. There's a fold-out stand built into the tablet which you won't even notice if you don't use it.

Wacom would probably slap me for wasting their tech like this, but the 12WX is probably the best screen I've ever read a webpage on. Imagine a larger, slightly lower resolution matte iPhone with all the intimacy of a paperback book. This is the baseline for all future eBook readers to be designed off of. (sorry, Amazon)

We had a few pen calibration issues on first doodle, but nothing worth condemning the device over. It's not easy to calibrate a pen when you move the tablet around. My co-reviewer did an animation thesis on a tablet PC and she thinks the issue is just a matter of getitng used to it. Also, having come from a wobbly-hinges-and-all tablet PC, the first thing she mentioned was how sturdy this Cintiq feels in your lap.

Out of the box, Wacom includes pretty much everything you need. Macbook (non-Pro) and iMac users will need to purchase a separate Apple mini-DVI to DVI connector, but that's not Wacom's fault. The Cintiq' accepts DVI and VGA and both cables are provided. They even throw in a DVI adaptor for Apple's slightly "off" implementation of fullsized DVI. There's no carrying case per se, but the product box is sturdy, handled and about the size of a large briefcase.

The power brick (or "Video Control Unit") that the device runs off of is less awkward than I had feared. It's about the size of a naked hard drive, but much lighter. Power comes out one end, video and USB work their magic from the other. Once you plug it all in, this little guy gets out of your way and lets the tablet do its job with a single wire in your lap.

As a whole, the 12WX is portable, but not quite "take it on the subway" portable. It's more of a "I'm spending the night at my boyfriend's house" or "I can't miss a deadline while at a hotel" kind of thing.

There's a tiny bit of cable clutter, but it's managed about as well as possible while still using standard cables. (and allowing for both VGA and DVI)  The fact that you can run to the mall and grab replacements in a pinch while traveling will do wonders for your blood pressure.

In closing, this little guy is a strong yes with caveats for professionals.

Do look into the 12WX if you travel, do field photo or drawing work, drool over the idea of a pen-based tablet Mac or want to try the "Cintiq Experience" at a lower price point.

Don't buy the 12WX as a stepping stone to a larger screen that you know you need for studio work. It's a wonderful device, but it doesn't replace a large workspace anymore than a notebook replaces a painter's canvas. I also wouldn't buy it if you're a Japanese manga superstar who has to ink his pages while commuting via bullet train- that kind of portability is for a one-piece device.

Thanks to Meredith Gran, who offered me the perspective of a former Tablet PC user who moved to a Mac with Cintiq.

I know some of you freakazoid trackball people are still out there. (Don't email me to complain. You're the one with the problem!) But because I am not the type of judgmental person to point out what heinous, horrible human beings you are for choosing to use an alternative input method, I will do the Christian thing and mention that someone has made a product to address your disability, while also asking that you please leave the public internet to those of us who know the majesty of God's own peripheral, the laser mouse.

Oh. The product. It's called the Genius Traveler 350 and it's a portable USB trackball. I don't actually know how much it costs, but I'm sure the state will pay for it with doctor's approval.

Tiny trackball mouse gives travelers a new choice for mousing [Coolest-Gadgets.com]

While I think anybody who rides a motorcycle without a full-faced helmet has a wish to have their jaw sheared off and wrapped around their trachea like a bone choker, I have a feeling the chopper-and-hog set have few such concerns. And as such, this Skull Helmet from Santiago Chopper meets their primary criterion: open-throttle badassery.

It's $150. Update: Kurt L. adds: "The skull helmet is out of stock and not DOT or Snell approved." Who cares? I'll see you in Snell!

Product Page [SantiagoChopper.com via Oh Gizmo via NotCot]

Millepede Cable Ties are at first glance just regular zip ties—until you discover they can be unlocked and reused. And because the fastener works through any of the holes in the tie, you can cut off any excess after tightening it down and reuse it.

I can't believe I've never heard of these. Even if they don't hold as securely as zip ties, they'd still work for 90% of the things I do.

Millepede Cable Ties [Cool Tools]

Here's another knife designed to make dealing with blister pack plastic packaging easier: the "Plastic Surgeon." It's nine bucks, plus shipping, although you can get similar products like the Open X for around the same price. (And I've seen the Open X sold in stores.)

You know what would be better? If retailers would just stop asking for companies to sell items in blister packs. I know they think it helps prevent theft. Maybe it does. But as a reformed teenage shoplifter (at least the teenaged part), I can assure you that thieves are only too happy to carry these sorts of knives with them, the better to liberate the item from its packaging in a dark corner.

Product Page [PlasticSurgeonOpener.com]

Could the cheap Chinese manufacturers be sniffing out our propensity for steampunk computer peripherals? This "Driverless Webcam" has an obviously anachro-fantastic design, although its $12 price belies its plastic construction. Still: shiny! (For me it's less about the admittedly attractive top and more about the articulated arm. If I owned my residence, I'd put every screen I have on some sort of counter-levered arm, and perhaps keyboards and other peripherals, too.)

Don't let that cheap price lure you, though. Apparently the shipping starts around $26, so you might want to wait until someone imports a crate of these things via tramp steamer.

Product Page [ChinaVIsion.com via Brass Goggles]