Teaching, Technology, and Learning

It was brought to my attention that PenAttention and CursorAttention don't work on 64 bit operating systems. I've recompiled both of them and here is a version of each that runs on XP 64 or Vista 64:

PenAttention64.zip

CursorAttention64.zip

Sorry, I didn't make an installer for these, but if you unzip them somewhere then just run the .exe to start it up. You can put a shortcut in your startup folder if you want it to start up when Windows boots up.

A couple of people have sent in bugs regarding my PenAttention program. I might have some workarounds:

Bug #1: Program crashes when trying to run

It may be that there is an old version of the Ink DLL. You can update it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=84bbefa4-7047-4...

I received a few emails asking for a version of PenAttention that runs on Windows XP (not Tablet PC edition), primarily for folks using an external tablet like a Wacom USB tablet. Apparently the cursor still gets changed to a dot for those using external tablets, but the Tablet PC extensions that the program assumes exist cause the program to crash.

I've updated my PenAttention program to v1.2. See PenAttention for a description of the original program. The changes are:

1) Dialog box that allows the user to set the opacity, radius of the highlight, and color of the highlight.

2) An option to highlight the mouse in addition to the pen.

3) Fixed issues causing flickering and strange refresh behavior in some applications (e.g. PowerPoint presentation mode, Sticky Notes, PDF Annotator).

Thanks everyone for your feedback, interest, and support for this program!

To download the installer for this program click the link below:

Update 5/10/08:An updated version of this program is available that fixes the bugs described in this post.

I've been using my Tablet PC to deliver lectures for years, and I love having the ability to record lectures, mark-up PowerPoint, and write by hand using OneNote. However, it's always bothered me that the pen cursor is a tiny little dot. An example is shown below from OneNote: