Check that info page again, Tablua. The link to the download site is right there where it says: "download."

As of yesterday, when I wrote the other post, that link wasn't there yet. In fact, the page changed in several other places over the last day, including the bottom link to the product guide for the MUIRP.

Hey there... I can't seem to replicate the problem on my Acer C110

I like the idea of a jog wheel, but why add it to the tablet? Instead, it could be added to the pen by making the pen switch dual-fuction: push for right click, stroke for scoll. Mechanically, perhaps a capacative strip could be used; just a thought.

Maybe the applications themselves should handle this (like Acrobat) rather than have a powertoy try to add the functionality.

For example, you spend more time scrolling in IE than selecting text, so maybe IE's default cursor should be Acrobat's "hand" cursor.

Wow that was incridable. If I saw you with your tablet pc I would have thought to myself that theirs a guy with a cool peace of technology. I wish I knew him. But, I probably would not disturb you. And seeing that the only Tablet PC that I have seen in real life was in Best Buy I would have thought it was cool.

Hmmm...

If you hadn't mentioned that you had been waiting for your girlfriend, then I wouldn't have been at all sypathetic. However, given that you pretty clearly stated why it was that you were waiting there, I can totally see why you'd be so upset.

Actually, I'm *still* not sympathetic - I want a tablet, damn it!

Not sure if this is an issue with some graphics drivers, but I have confirmed reports so far about the problem being present on HP, FIC, and NEC tablets. All competent users with updated drivers, too.

Odd sort of situation.

Paul - very true. Given the changing orientations of the tablet, hardware buttons or a jog wheel become awkward in some situations. I would love to have HP's page turning strips around the screen, like they had on their e-book reader prototype.

Dumky - agreed that apps themselves should handle it, but as a short term fix that wouldn't require a lot of third-party re-development, a little power toy would be a nice alternative.

Actually, you know what, while I'll admit I was upset at the time, it's all good. It was just one of those examples of two things:

1) Bad customer service gets talked about and turns people away. At the same time, it would have taken so little (namely a good manager) to have turned the incident from a horror story to something I would have forgotten about 5 minutes later.

2) Being cutting edge, high-tech, and a self-appointed evangelist for what you feel is a cool new technology is fun a lot of the time, but you also have moments like this when somebody just comes over and spits in your coffee.

Get a life, loser. No one uses tablet PCs except complete geeks. It's lamebrain people like you who get so easily swayed by the latest hyped useless product that make marketeers drool.

People are just fools. I say take you Tablet where ever you want. You wouldn't remove someone from a store walking around with a pen and notepad would ya? Just tell the non-digital fools to suck it and move on.

oh man, im just glad to hear that your gurlfriend went to a differnt store. I would have been pissed if a store treated me like that. i prolly would have argued with the security guard alot more than you had described. Just shows what kind of people a store in the mall does hire.....

Brent

I am so pumped on Acer. I hope they succeed, they are simply rocking in so many ways. :-)

The rundown...

• Acer C102 - Ummm, oh oh. Dear me. Sorta a beta test. But near fear, C104 right on heels and much improved.
• Acer C104 (and later) - 1st Gen, still a nice, high-quality Tablet.
• Acer C110 - 2nd Generation HOMERUN. Packs a punch.
• Acer 250PE - 14.1" Laptop/Table hybrid. Seriously heavy, but best of both words. Everything and the kitchen sink. I like it.
• Acer C115 and C120 - 10.4" Fast CPU (1.5-1.8+ GHz), Outdoor Display
(rumored). Toshiba and Fujitsu killer. (plus Acer as none of the quality problems all too often tagged per Toshiba and Fujitsu).
• Acer C300 - 14.1" XGA (possible SXGA+ version, re: Wacom), Outdoor Display
(rumored)

(No C200, conflicts with some Acer phone product).

HPClean was reporting a Centrino 1GHz, 12.1" XGA LCD Slate, so that was sorta expected, but this lightweight 10.4", 900 mhz Centrino was sorta out of the blue. So yes, two models. Rock and roll. Lock and load. :-)

When I got my TC1000 I put my laptop away (which was my only machine at the time). I don't have the time to tinker with syncing multiple computers, I maintain 2 office locations, and I am out of the office much of the time. The tablet may not perform as well as my PIII 800mhz did, but it is much more functional. Anyone who has any need to use a computer while standing up could easily switch to a tablet and be thrilled.

If you spend most of your time at a desk then a tablet is not the right decision, but if portability, quick notes, training others, or giving presentations outweigh outright performance, than the Tablet can't be beat.

It is not an accessory, it is simply a computer with different priorities.

there is a particular type of IT afficionado that i call "the haute monde" and those are your real problem. I also call them "i type faster than i handwrite" folks. This people with their specific agendas are the real problem , but am not worried about them, cause am sure once upon a time someone thought being able to ride a horse all over the place was a very good thing.
The Tablet and related pen based computing will eventually be the dominant method of computing before other ways of interfacing with machines happen.

For the most part I agree with you, but one of your questions is answered in the article.

You said:
"And then does that make all the previous ultraportable laptops - ones that have external optical drives - "accessory" toys as well?"

The article said:
"tablet PCs fall in line with the basic marketing profile of ultraportable systems. They are not intended to be a substitute for a dedicated system, whether it is a desknote or desktop. Instead, they are designed to accompany it."

So in answer to your question, _yes_, this does make ultraportables "accessory" toys as well according to the author.

I think a slate tablet PC really isn't complete enough to replace a desktop or full-function laptop. But a convertible does everything a desktop does, and they are most definitely capable of being, as you said, _the_ portable PC someone uses.

I posted this over on the Scobleizer weblog too but figured I may as well update here rather...

IMHO the Tablet is a great idea and long overdue.

But . . .

In some respects however it does make you think that perhaps the Tablet wasn't radical enough (perhaps it would have failed if it wasn't immediately recognisable as an XP platform ?)

On the one hand you have Palm PDA users who say "It does a few things and it does them really well", on the other you have Pocket PC and Subnotebook users who say "Its just like a real computer" and somewhere in between you have old HP200 and PSION EPOC users who say "Its like a real computer but without all the unnecessary junk"

I imagine its not an easy course to tread....

I still say the Newton was the most radical Tablet style machine. Forgoing a traditional OS for something better suited to a notebook replacement.

Lets face it - who really needs all the junk in a "real pc" ? I'm not advocating a simplified Microsoft Bob type thing just an OS and Apps suited to the task that needs to be performed.

If we're at the stage where Linux (Zaurus et al) and XP (Tablet PC) are required to be up and running just to take notes then theres something fundementally flawed with the "more power" Tech mindset.

What happened to words like "elegance", "simplicity", "right tool for the right job" ?

Or are we at the stage where we stick a fullblown OS and PC into everything ?

Raj.

Personally I'd settle for a little diagram to popup when you linger over a button. This would be easy to add because it wouldn't affect the main interface so design would be the same, and the architecture for "tool tips" is already buidt in, just expand it a little to put in pictures or ink.
-Lewey

P.S. The only problem is that exact diagram to use and when to use it would have to added to each program seperatly. Maybe if MS just put that into it's tool kit then people could do it easily.

Definitely polka dots.

Thanks, Peter.

See, I think pop-up tooltips would be a great addition to one of the other toolbar modifications. They'd be perfect for a quick lookup of a particular function.

At the same time, I don't recall off the top of my head what all a tooltip can be made to do. The ideal solution would be a small animation that shows how to draw the gesture, instead of just a static icon. The icons mentioned in the other methods are helpful, but don't quite explain the sequence required to perform the gesture correctly.

However, I do agree that some sort of standardized SDK for common tablet functions and UI modifications would be very helpful in developing tablet apps. I wonder if something along those lines is planned for a new version of the Tablet SDK, Whidbey, or some future Longhorn development tools.

I've used a Tablet PC, Palm, WinCE devices and a Newton. They have their place, but necessarily useful. The tabletPC has been around since the early Newton with little support from customers. Mac fans hate copy-cats, but fail to realize they are only using a copy of computer invented many years ago. Will the tablet fail??? I don't care one way or another. I'll spend my $$$ on something more useful.

Just at clarification from a mac advocate here. I'm pretty sure that Apple's attitude about the Tablet PC is not that it's a bad idea in and of itself. It is rather that the industry isn't going anywhere yet, and they'd rather concentrate thier efforts on G5 servers, desktops, laptops; they also have a lot of work to do on the software front.

Jobs's comment about "people already accuse us of being a nice market company" is dead on -- from a business perspective, it makes no sense for Apple to get in that game for the time being.

On behalf of sensible Mac users everywhere I'd like to disavow all intellecutal association with fanatics who are incapable of acknowledging the benefits of technology developed any place besides Apple.

/p

Ooops.

s/nice market/niche market/

/p

If I recall correctly, I saw a prototype PowerBook at a MacWorld where the screen removed, much like a so-called Tablet PC of today.

Guess they did the research that said there was no market for them.

Not sure there will be much beyond vertical markets for the Tablet PC -- much like the Newton. The Newton was used in many vertical markets, the Marines, medicine, inventory... where is the tablet showing up?

I have tried to use TabletPC's at my local CompUSA, but they didn't work.

Oops.

Too bad you didn't quote the part of my "rant" where I pointed out that handwriting speed on paper maxes out at about 20 wpm. I guess that's a fact you can't refute, so it's best to ignore it, right?

>The Mac guys think that Apple could single-handedly, overnight reinvigorate the Tablet PC market, if only it entered the segment

They accomplished this with HD based audio players, WI-FI, GUI, USB, Floppy drive, Newton, Consumer video editing software, FireWire, Zeroconfig, 64-bit computing, 32-bit computing, converted and unfriendly unapproachable system into one of the most user friendly and coveted OS in the world and have with countless other technologies, so why is it impossible for them to do this with tablet's.


The iPod is now considered the standard and rolling stone has declared it as cultural American icon....sour grapes, I think so.

I too am a long time Newton user (I still have 3 working ones), as well as Palm, Pocket PC and Psion.

For real tablet pc fans, I can say that I'm also one of the developers who worked on the Momenta.

As I see it, pen input is a powerful tool for a subset of input needs, not a solution to the problem. I would *love* it if my Powerbook had a pen enabled display, but I would still use the keyboard for text input. Pens are for pointing and drawing. A pen enabled laptop will always be more useful than a pure pen based machine (and a "keyboard and trackpad" laptop too).

Instant messaging and free email have meant that children are learning to type now almost as soon as they learn to print. My daughter, like most of her friends, is a 30 wpm typist, with illegible handwriting. Schools encourage keyboarding skills at an early age. Unless these trends reverse, focusing on pens as a primary input device is unlikely to be successful.

On another note, the industry is getting closer to having viable speech input, but even that is years away from being *generically* useful outside of dictation. This, if anything, may save the tablet pc form factor in the long run.

Every computing generation has a new flurry of tablet PCs of some ilk. They *do* get better each time. However, I believe that the MS Tablet PC in its current form is just as "wrong headed" as shoe-horning the Windows look and feel into the Pocket PC was: It's doomed to fail because it's complex, counter-intuitive, and requires too many sacrifices from users.

I have used Tablet PC and to tell you the truth, its not worth it. I can communicate faster and easier with a laptop. And with a laptop, I don't have to be delicate and gentle with it. And you have to be honest with yourself, not everybody has same preference as you, just because you find it good to use, doesn't make it true for everyone.

Its not just the Mac Fans who are disinterested in this device, its also 99% of the PC users. But also there are Fans of the Tablet PC as well, so you shouldn't make it look like all Mac users are against this idea.

All you tablet people, THINK BEFORE YOU ACT! Okay, let me put it this way for you, you will NEVER win if you try to take out the keyboard, it's just too powerful. So the answer isn't to say "if you get a tablet you will never use your keyboard again", then most people won't get a tablet. What you tell them is that, "look, if you get a tablet, you can still use the keyboard when you need it, but if you ever need a pen for some of the applications that really require it, it's there for you." There is a reason it's called the evolution of the laptop, not a new species. If someone says "I won't buy a tablet because I don't use the pen that much", then they are missing the point. We have tablets so that we have a more verastile laptop. I personally, as a developer would NEVER give up my keyboard, but I'll tell you, despite desperatly wanting a PowerBook, I'm worried that I won't have my pen anymore. And that is the feeling we want to give people. The real problem, is that we don't have enough applications that really use the pen to make worth while.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that if you attack keyboard people, we will definatly loose. If you try to expand on them, then eventually every laptop will have a pen. Just stop acting like a tablet isn't a laptop.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
-Lewey

Every powerbook with osX is enabled with "Ink" functionality, which allows you to do pen activities using a wacom tablet.

Apple would implement full pen computing in the powerbook if there was a need. The INK functionality is actually pretty good!

tablet pc's are worthless for the vast majority of computer users. they are a niche product, and that's all they ever will be. plus, MS's implementation sucks rocks. not surprising sales are well below expectations.
and none of these opinions have anything to do with anything other than tablet pc's. we have 15 of them in use at work, and we're not going to buy any more, 'cause they're too expensive, and no one has any use for the tablet features in the first place. we're probably going to replace the tablets with pocket pc's, since the whole point was to allow people to enter data into db's in the field. tablet pc's are just plain overkill for this.
god, i just hate them so. DIE, TABLETS!!! DIE, DIE, DIE!! so pointless and so expensive. yuck.

(hee, hee- random simpsons flashback- Sideshow Bob: "that tattoo doesn't say die, bart, die. that's german. it says the bart. the, the, the." Parole board member: "no one who speaks german can be an evil man! parole granted!!")

Apparently Apple is working on a tablet-style device that eschews the pen as an input system and instead works with a modified etch-a-sketch interface. According to the rumor sites, anyway.

The Tablet PC has its roots in Xerox PARC, Butler W. Lampson and Charles Thacker, both with Microsoft, worked on the Tablet PC. And were developers of the ideal DynaBook, or as it became known, the Alto, the first personal computer. So tons of prior art/thought/ideas, before the Newton. Sorry, look into the History books, the entire world was not invented by Apple. In fact Apple ‘took’ the GUI idea itself FROM Xerox PARC.

Irony of this all is, if Mac were to come out with a Tablet, suddenly it would be the coolest device ever, but just because the current form is Microsoft, the entire Pen Computing idea is null? Makes no logical sense. Before you start the barbs, I am a total OS X fan, but some of the sheer illogical leaps and bounds made in the ‘Only Apple’ mode are quite a bit off the deep end.

Adressing points...one by one.

1. Vertical is a shoo-in. Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 is getting tons of orders, vertical is a GIVEN in this market.

2. So keyboard lets you type faster? So? 99% can type faster with a keyboard. So type. Doesn’t cancel out the extra Ink/Reco functionality. And can you type while standing up, while on the go? Furthermore this is NOT a zero sum game. It is NOT Pen vs. Keyboard. It is both. Embrace all. As I always say, give unto the Keyboard the things that are the Keboards, and unto Ink the things that are Ink’s.

3. Don’t have enough applications? Look around. Tons out already there, and more hitting every day. But yes, more is better.

4. Long-term outlook. This is a slow ride up. Plus just on crip of 2nd Generationals CPUs. And Microsoft’s, market share, regardless of what you think of the merits of the OS, is something to contend with.

5. The Handwriting Reco, tho not perfect, is better than anything to date. Newton, wellll, lets be honest, was more known for showing up in the pages of Doonesbury than anything else. And the serious Reco R&D and Asian Reco, is far far beyond the tech of the Newton at the time. Slew of convering tech (and serious R&D), that has all come together to make the Microsoft Tablet PC possible.

" In fact Apple ‘took’ the GUI idea itself FROM Xerox PARC."

Apple didn't TAKE anything from Xerox, they BOUGHT it, in a huge stock trade for the exclusive rights to Xerox's GUI, because Xerox didn't think it was useful.

Get it straight, sick of the FUD being spread by people concerning how Apple got the GUI from xerox. If you don't believe me on it, go to http://www.woz.org and email him and ask him about it, I did.

x

>>>
A big part of this (and any other) tablet misconception is that most of these people have never tried a Tablet PC. (snip) A lot of people agree that Tablet PCs are one of those technologies that must be tried to be fully appreciated...

Not being FUD-dy. Bought it, yes (I know my history), but invent it? Nope. That being my point. :-) Hence ‘took’ instead of took. But to counteract that very point, not always who invents, more to whom makes things useful. Apple made the GUI useful when Xerox didn’t. Microsoft is making the Tablet PC useful, where no one else is. Can yabber all day long about how great Newton was, but where does that get one now? Nowhere. :-)

The way I see it, Tablet PCs are a bit of a gimmick form my point of view. That doesn't stop them from being incredibly compelling pieces of technology in their own right as well as them owning some vertical segments which in past years had been dominated by vertically integrated Netweon based handhelds that were replaced by winCe handhelds. The most compelling thing about a Tablet is the form factor (and that software from Alias!) but the problems are that the hardware is generally a generation behid what's happening in the "real world".

Don't get me wrong - I'd love a Tablet. But it would have to run Mac OS X. Running Windows just to get a Tablet simply isn't worth it. You do know, of course, that if Apple did it, it would be cool. It'd be a Mac, but it'd be cooler than anything on thr market. but for Apple, at this time the numbers don't add up. they'd be fighting some incredibly cool hardware in a niche market especially aginst some vertical market specialists.

so while Apple would do it right, it's for the best that they don't do it at all.

Looks great! I especially like the orange headers in the sidebar :)

If it’s for the best that they don’t do it at all, then that means that it wouldn’t be right. If they would do it right, it should be. But if in being it won’t succeed, then that means it is not right, for whatever reason. For to not be, is not right, if in being it would be right.

Hardware is generally a generation behind? You just aren't keeping up are you? Lots of Tablets with 2nd Gen Centrino tech, with a Noah's-Ark-level flood forthcoming in October. And the Acer Travelmate 250PE desktop-replacement laptop with Tablet functionality, is not behind at all. One thing that strikes me from the slew of Mac detractors of late, is that they are not even following the Tablet PC market, and are blindly slicing out, without having even tried using one; automatic reflex “Oh it’s Windows”. Hey, I am a Mac fan too, but this anti-Microsoft political posturing doesn’t help things. Apple makes great stuff, but give credit where it is due, even if from Microsoft.

hi peter

the price exclude VAT. You must add 19.6 % ...

I wish they would have a couple semiars east of the Mississippi.

l am an engineering student who cannot live now without my Tablet PC and OneNote. l use it everyday through lectures, recitations, and homework. l don't have to carry any messy binders filled with volumes of paper that would be impossible to search through. When anyone asks about something from a past lecture, I am always the first to pull up my notes. l never run out of paper, ink, or lead with my tablet. I really don't know how I managed before my tablet, and other students are beginning to notice as well. Not only are my notes in one place, but I can pull up information off the Internet wirelessly at any time (even while walking), and use necessary software (i.e. Mathematica) on the go. And since it's light-weight, it truly is portable computing.

A very good point, since that does add a large chunk to the price.

You're a perfect example of what a modern-day "connected" student should look like. Kudos for adopting cutting edge technology to become more productive as a student.

I've been looking at buying the TC1000 - can anyone tell me what resolution the dock will support for the (simultaneous) display on an external monitor? The docs on the web site are not so great.

Thanks,

-jlw

More places... :)

http://asp.flc.dk/brochurer.asp?vis=mobile
http://asp.flc.dk/brochure_vis.asp?vis=mobile_tc1100.pdf

The battery seems to be the same of the TC1000 (45 or 47 Wh) and battery life is the same too (important for HP) -> 3h30 - 4h30

Jay - it's not a function of the dock, since it just provides a pass-through VGA connector. The video card is responsible for the handling supported display modes. I think the original TC1000 could handle something like 1600x1200 on the external monitor, but I don't remember off the top of my head. Some spec page someplace mentions it.

At any rate, I run my external LCD at 1280x1024 without any problems. The new model should support at least that much, since it sports a much newer video card with more memory.

Thanks for the info and taking the time to respond. I'm very anxious to see the new models.

-jlw (jlw@pobox.com)

I am completely sympathetic to that. Philadelphia would be nice.

I too am constantly thinking about how to improve this "out of box" experience. The same problem really happens with standard branded desktops and notebooks too. Lots of critical updates and that "what do I do now" syndrome.

As one customer (who has had a Tablet PC since February) said to me last week about software updates for his Tablet PC, "How was I supposed to know?"

It's an issue from the time a customer looks at the unit on the Internet or in the store through the entire maintenance of the system. Though MS Newsgroup, TabletPCBuzz, TabletPCTalk, and even to some extent Whatisnew, offer great assistance to people it is not reasonable to expect an average business or consumer user to seek these sites out for help - let alone read them on a daily or weekly basis. Yet, especially with the Tablet PC, the situation changes on a daily basis. There really needs to be a coordination of information for the standard consumer.

We need to get the techy exclusivity out of technology. Maybe one day :-)

Pictures of this new Tablet PC on TabletPC'Corner

I think the "full version" of Adobe's Acrobat Reader 5.1 allows you to anotate documents (which I'm not sure version 6.0 allows you to do).

Not to mention the Reader 5.1 takes less than half the time to load compared to 6, important when your running a ULV CPU (like myself Acer C111TCi owner).

If you have a set of headphones or even some kind of "null" jack you can mute the standard speaker. (A volume dial world be nice, mind you... )

Very true about the load times. I myself haven't switched to Acrobat 6 on my tablet either. I heard that disabling most of the plugins that Acrobat uses - and a lot of people don't really need, at least not all the time - speeds things up a bit, but I haven't tried yet.

That's actually something I never thought of. A stop-gap measure to deal with the hardware limitations, but a good one. A little nubby "null" jack, as you put it, could a very useful tablet accessory. :-)

Can you post some photos of the damage it took?

It's not very major, I suppose, but sure. Tomorrow I'll document some of the worst spots.

Ouch.

What I'm really concerned about is the graphics capability of the tablet. Longhorn will use hardware rendering for the deskop and alot of the new features I imagine will rely on this. But it doesn't seem that any great graphics cards will be avialable on the tablet, even only decent ones. This personally I see as one of the MAJOR problems with the tablet, they need better graphics, if they don't they will definatly be on the very low-end of Longhorn capability.
-Lewey

Ouch! That looks VERY painful!! And to think I screamed and screamed when I found a 3mm scratch on the screen!! ;-}

Try the Piel Frama case - I can heartily recommend it!

http://www.ncrg.aston.ac.uk/~jamescj/TC1000/my_tc1000.html#PielFramaCase

Looks an aweful lot like the Comaq tablet PC...

Interesting .. not sure I can wait that long...
I've got a Sony PCV-LX920 which is pen capable and fun, but it's a slim desk top and doesn't use Win XP Tablet Ed. Got a good price on a closeout in May 02.

Well, it is the Compaq tablet - hence the similar name (TC1100 as a successor to the TC1000), The only visible external physical change is the SD slot replacing the Compact Flash one. And, of course, HP is no longer branding it as a Compaq model, but rather as an HP device, much like the iPAQ PDAs.

Yes, the alleged release date is very far away, so Sony's plans could change many times before it hits the market. Still, it's nice to finally have at least some indication that Sony will get into the tablet market.

I have also heard rumors that the new 12" HP tablet will be powered by the efficeon processor.

salient1 probably had no idea compaq and hp have been one for like a year or so now

While it may be possible, HP is said to have walked away from discussions with Transmeta after they couldn't crank out a faster processor in a reasonable amount of time. And if HP is now bound to Intel's Centrino, there will be both incentives as well as obstacles for it to change processor partners again. So I think HP will snuggle close to Intel for the next tablet as well. But ultimately, you never know until it happens.

Consider this intriguing statement:

"HP is expected to maintain its relationship with the chipmaker, however, by continuing to offer the TC1000 tablet for a time. It is also likely to make clear that it has reserved the right to move back to a Transmeta processor in the future, should it find that Efficeon or another chip meets its needs."

From "HP draws on Intel for next tablet" John G. Spooner Oct. 2, 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1005-5085718.html

Bottom line, the TC1000 has been the most popular tablet on the market, despite the absence of Intel inside, of which Carly and HP are keenly aware.

Style-Challenged?! The thinkpads are right up there with the Apple Powerbooks style-wise IMO.

While the TC1000 has been very popular, pretty much everybody admitted that putting the Transmeta chip in there wasn't the best decision. Granted, it provided rather good battery life, but the performance does drag. And right now a 1.0 GHz Crusoe is tremendously outgunned, even by a 900 MHz ULV Pentium M.

The Efficeon may be all that and a bag of chips...maybe. But by the time it actually starts shipping, Intel will be on its second generation of Centrino - the Dothan - and there will be even less of an incentive to look away from Intel. Unless the Efficeon is pretty much the most revolutionary chip ever, it's just too little too late.

Well...I personally wouldn't go as far as Apple...but everybody has their own tastes. But overall the IBM designs are treated as functional and solid...yet a little on the conservative side, and not really changing much over the years.

For some, I see the weight being an issue, but it's one hell of a machine.

Some really nice features on there too. And like you said, I'm glad to see more options, and gradually it looks like many won't have to make the choice between Tablet PC and laptop...

Any more detail or a link to Beth's OneNote setup?

Not that I know of. She just mentioned that she took her time, customized the toolbars, set up custom note flags, set up her sections, and just adapted OneNote to the way she works. I too am curious to see what it looks like and exactly how much she has managed to store in her notebook.

The Pricing for the SC-20x0 series has been announced and I'm pleased to say it's not it the 3000 USD region. The SC-2000 is 2299 USD while the SC-2010 (the suped up version) is 2599 USD.

Correct, Correct and Correct.

Actually, abletInkPdf was used as the basis for the ablets on the Legal Page at the abletFactory. And yes, it was released as nothing more than a "Concept".

Two drivers are in play here.

I've really been struggling with some of the "ink" related formats. And I wanted to create a direct Ink/Pdf solution because unfortunately, the center of our universe (Journal/ISF) is not very widespread. Those with Journal or Journal Reader is limited. But to be able to share "ink" directly with everyone that has Adobe Reader, now that moves the bar. And the Adobe Acrobat/Distiller is also a barrier for many. Creating your own PDF's on the Tablet without having to go through intermediate processes seems beneficial.

If the Tablet's path moves toward the Enabled Laptop Model then the fundamental "ink" data type of Ink Serialized Format (although valuable) is also going to need to gain a wider audience. Right now that posistion is held by Adobe.

I would speculate had the Tablet been released with Journal's native format been something like Pdf/ISF, it would have really captured the imagination of the marketplace. A lot more people would be in the "I get it" camp. To me, trying to demonstate the value currently is too high, hence, the acceptance rate is questionable.

As I mention, imagine being able to share with "everyone" what you do with and appreciate your tablet for. I don't think we are there yet and hopefully attempts with things like abletInkPdf might take a small step to getting there.

w.r.t to cleaning up abletInkPdf, yeah, yeah I'll get right on it :)

Fritz

Exactly! Acer is singlehandedly doing more to blur the lines between Tablet PCs and traditional laptops than any other OEM. And they are pricing the models reasonably too, which also helps adoption.

I used OneNOte on my TabletPC for a few months now, and one thing really puzzles me.

In the 'olden days' before OneNote, I used my trusty notepad (the real paper-based kind) and pen to keep notes of meetings and the like every day. I actually wrote the day and date at the top of a new page each day, and continued to add notes throughout the day.

OneNote doesn't seem to work like this. It does have a heirarchy of sorts with sections and pages, and it does know something of the date that notes were taken.
But their seems to be no "View by Date" functionality.

Anyone have a similar experience? How do you organise your own notes?

R.

Here at Colligo, we completely agree with you. In fact, we haven't faded into obscurity. We have been working to develop more software and more relationships with Tablet vendors. We are already bundled on Motion Computing's Tablets which are sold throuhg Dell and Gateway. Look for Colligo bundles on a number of TabletPCs this fall.

We niw solve the ad hoc WiFi problem with a single click. It can get any easier than that! And our ad hoc security technology is both easy to use and highly secure. Please take a moment to check us out again at www.colligo.com and download a free 30 day trial of our Workgroup Edition.

- the Colligo marketing crew

Re: View by Date

If you search for something, you can have OneNote sort the list "By Date". That gives me the results only sorted by date but broken into sections "This Week", "Last Week", etc.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but close.

// Ric

I think this site is a great Tablet PC site. You don't just regurgitate news, but give thoughtful analysis of what is going on with the Tablet PC. Keep up the good work.

How do you like working with .Text. Do you really have to understand .Net to use it? Is it difficult to setup the database?

Thanks for the nice words. I try to make the reading a little interesting, even if I end up being too opinionated at times. And it's not like I try to present some sort of high-level intelligent market analysis either - just things that come to mind when reading certain things.

As far as .Text goes - I love it so far. The database setup is really easy - just create a database, and run a script to create the necessary objects. The rest of the installation isn't too bad, although isn't completely straightforward either. And I underwent some downtime and suffering when I recently changed to a multi-blog configuration. But then again, it's a free product, and you get a lot more than you pay for. And you really don't need to know anything about .NET, unless you plan to customize the source code and recompile it.

I am a licensed private pilot and have both a Tablet PC (TC1000) + compact flash GPS (Haicom HI-303CF) and a Garmin GPS295 (colour portable/yoke mountable). The GPS295 costed me about C$2400.

There is a huge difference in terms of signal time. It seems the HI-303CF only updates every 12 seconds while the GSP295 updates your position virtually instantaneously. That is a huge difference (you can't fly a plane using a GPS where your location is only updated every 12 seconds)!

Plus, of course, the GPS295 is yoke mountable (so you can keep your eyes directly in front of you) and is small enough to not block your instructments or get in the way.

I see the Tablet PC/CF-GPS more of a planning tool and would be no different that using my regular notebook (which you can have sitting on some "table-mount" - ie, Tablet PC is not a WOW! Technology innovation for pilots.

The Haicon update only every 12 seconds?! Seriously? I use an off-the-shelf Garmin eTrex Legend GPS receiver, hooked up via a serial-to-USB converter (which is a big pain), along with MapPoint for in-vehicle navigation, and the refresh rate I have configured is about 1 second or so. 12 seconds would definitely make it completely unusable.

But great insights. I was wondering about the original article, since the author admitted to not being an active pilot.

Hi, I'm the guy who wrote the Syllabus article; it's great to see it got noticed.

In the article I mentioned OneNote only in passing, since then I've written a proper review: <a href="http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/onenote/">OneNote and Classroom Note Taking</a>. OneNote is clearly a move in
the right direction, but overall, for most students, I don't
see a clear advantage. Someday I think class notes will be
digital, and students will start to reap more of the benefits
of the productivity revolution. But I don't think we're there yet.

Hi, I'm the guy who wrote the Syllabus article; it's great to see it got noticed.

In the article I mentioned OneNote only in passing, since then I've written a proper review: <a href="http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/onenote/">OneNote and Classroom Note Taking</a>. OneNote is clearly a move in
the right direction, but overall, for most students, I don't
see a clear advantage. Someday I think class notes will be
digital, and students will start to reap more of the benefits
of the productivity revolution. But I don't think we're there yet.

Also about the "marketing blitz", this was just speculation when I wrote the article, but Microsoft is showing it off at 1600 schools and distributing half a million free copies, according to
this press release: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/aug03/08-25OneNoteforSchoolPR.asp">
Special Pricing, Incentives Make Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 "Must Have" For Students in Upcoming School Year</a>,
which seems pretty blitzy to me.

Sorry for the broken links in my last posting. Here's another
try:

The Review: http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/onenote/

The Press Release
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/aug03/08-25OneNoteforSchoolPR.asp

I assume that you have seen all of the TC1000s on Alias, right? Jennifer Garner holding a Tablet PC--you have to like that!

Yes, I did. The next-to-last episode must have made for a nice big order from HP. However, with most of them just sitting in docks on the desk, pretending to be "personal monitors" or something of the sort, the true potential of the Tablet PC was a little wasted. At least they actually carry them around from time to time.

And Jennifer Garner has my vote for Tablet PC spokeswoman any day. :-)

So is this your next Tablet PC?

Sure, if Toshiba decides to send me one. :-)

Right now, as sluggish as my TC1000 sometimes is, I am not really budgeting for a replacement just yet. Maybe once the Dothan tablets start hitting the market around Q1 of next year. Having said that, I am drooling over many of the recently announced models.

This app is pretty buggy. i installed it on Outlook 2003 and much of it just didn't work. Also I didn't see any tablet or inking capability. Bummer cause it looks cool.

Hmm, that's a shame then. I thought they had a couple of months of beta testing. I wonder what happened there. Of course, the original TabletPlanner was supposedly pretty buggy too.

Sigh.

Word I heard is NO NDA's at PDC...

Hi,

It was interesting to read this comment about Microsofts, um, levy on the Tablet PC licensee's

http://news.com.com/2100-1005-5095467.html

Hopefully like Apple & the Newton before Microsoft don't shoot themselves in the foot by making the Tablet pricier than it needs to be.

Raj.

$1,999 for a TC1000? Nowadays? Please. $1,999 can getcha an Acer C110 and for just a few dollars more a C300. Or $1,999 can get you TWO laptops. Therein lies the problem...

"I have been playing around with an early beta of ArtRage" - please, please, please post a link to a download source for the ArtRage beta - I've been searching high and low without success

Actually, I think at this point the beta is still in a limited private phase, with only a small number of testers. I haven't heard of any plans for a public testing program yet. But then again, ArtRage could easily launch in the next month or so anyway, so everyone should be able to take a peek before too long. Or so I hope.

Comdex. Bank on it. Along with 9 others...

Also it might not be in the first release or so, they are still cranking the roadmap out. And Toshiba undergoing a big reorg of sorts, and supposedly redoing shoptoshiba.com (which is ironically undercutting as it is outsourced) and reorging the Channel, Reseller and Direct model relationships. Also this might be just a sample, hence not a production unit. Sometimes Engineering units are pressed to the metal, that don't make it into real-live productional units.

With the SDK 1.7, it should be possible to include Inkable components in a web page (without any security warnings or security configuration). It surely will open new doors, but I couldn't find much documentation on that yet, though.

glad someone reads the blog, PDC stuff is keeping all of us busy and am still unable to find an "opening late " wifi location. The weather in NYC is a bit better this week, so if i really was determined i could probably go sit outside all night at bryant park or somewhere. I have been commuting with my Axim for sniffing out wifi nets, but i think what i really need is an antenna. Anyone have any ideas? I looked at some orinoco cards and antenna's. Anyone have a story or similar idea about being able to use the widely available wifi networks in manhattan?

Questions of the moment: Did someone WIN the MS contest? And this is a new run? Or was the contest opened up the the public after a lack of internal sign-ups? :)

err to

Thinking In .NET

Peter, I take it you are involved in some cool tablet apps? perhaps wireless oriented? we should talk.

eppley

Here is the link to the first review

Sorry here is the link [url]http://www.ncrg.aston.ac.uk/~jamescj/TC1000/my_tc1000.html#StylusUpgrade[/url]

"they seem to get a "we already have that", "been there done that", or "filing for a patent as we speak" response."

l understand your description and am familiar with this style - it happens in the hardware and software world. l am not sure that these statements are always intended to intimidate. Yes, sometimes they are. However, sometimes the company representative stops the selling "support the reseller/ISV" mode and jumps to defend efforts of his or her own company. These pridefull comments may be because the rep was personally involved in a project and, regardless of the "should", they seem protective of it. Unfortunately, the conversation may come off as rude or inappropriate because the listening stopped and the conversation became unfocused. Just excuse it, understand where it may come from, and focus on the real goal. There are also other reasons, such as the representative doesn't actually know the relevant information or because it is the wrong rep to be talking to.

Always keep in mind your goals and move forward.

Oh, and the most obvious too: honest trade of information. Information about direction, competition, and new ideas are critical to any business and valuable.

Example:
Share KMC fills an immediate, open niche. Software switches were popular in 99/2000, but the Tablet created a new opportunity with a different angle and even more uses. It is probable that the next version of Microsoft's product will be influnced toward Tablets too. :)

Supposedly? Nope. It was. Exceedingly so. However, ver. 2 was much better and added lots of features, but it has super potential, as Outlook ink hooks aren't too deep even in 2003. But Tablet Planner 3 is supposed to finally be everything, all the beta testers are raving, I hear, so 3rd times a charm. :)

I dislike the use of voice recognition for anything other than recording meeting or class transcriptions. Of course the present Tablet PC can't do the transcription because it is speaker selective. I just hate the idea of everybody in a cubicle intensive office trying to create spreadsheets or documents by "dictating" to their computer. The noise level would probably rival a telemarketing boiler room. This is not conducive to my engineering work.

Short answer: No I do not use voice recognition.

Great example! And thanks for bringing up the point about recording meetings and class lectures. Simple voice recording (without actual voice recognition) seems good enough to be usable, especially along with handwritten notes in OneNote. It also bypasses the privacy issues, since you are usually recording something that is being spoken publicly anyway.

At the same time they announced the sequel. So now, why would anyone buy the one they're selling? Doh!

>>
LG will also add to its tablet line-up soon with a new edition taking advantage of Intel's new Dothan, a 1.8GHz, 90 nanometer mobile chip with a 400MHz front side bus and 2Mb of cache.

At the same time they announced the sequel. So now, why would anyone buy the one they're selling? Doh!

>>
LG will also add to its tablet line-up soon with a new edition taking advantage of Intel's new Dothan, a 1.8GHz, 90 nanometer mobile chip with a 400MHz front side bus and 2Mb of cache.

great post -- I'm going to link to it from my onenoteinfocenter forum.

I do like the idea of transcription for meeting notes, but can't imagine this would be easy - maybe a future system that could distinguish between speakers so the transcript resembled an instant messenger chat - now that would be useful! As it is, I've used recordings from my tablet to fill in my written notes (the only problem being when the fan comes on from using journal...).

I do know one person who uses voice recognition - a writer who does a great deal of research brainstorming early in a novel, and who has carpal tunnel syndrome. He's still not doing as well as he'd hoped at it...

Hi,

Sounds kind of like the pervasive information sharing of the Newton.

Perhaps one day this will be included in the next version of OneNote / Outlook ?

For Outlook to pickup info and create (or suggest) an inter-relationship between its own data and OneNote would be very very cool. Like the Newton Assistant you should be able to Ink 'have lunch with John' and have it suggest a free lunchtime slot and list the various Johns in your Address/Contact list.

Raj.

hear, hear , it might help also if they release the new Windows Longhorn Tablet PC edition before the desktop version to create the required buzz around the tablet...

Good points. You said, "Do this in a "tour" format across multiple locations." I just wanted to touch on this a bit.

Yes, Microsoft does have a built in structure for these. You can see this month's events for parterns at http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/search.aspx?culture=en-US&month=11&year=2003

These events are all over the country and fairly regular too. They aren't as large as launch events. Many are one day or half day seminars aimed at consultants, resellers and system builders (Microsoft OEM partners). Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system frequently falls between the cracks at these events because it is not a product that general OEMs can install on whitebook Tablet PCs. (Granted, this isn't for lack of want or interest on the system builders parts.) Point being, some of these events can focus on developers. Microsoft can blend some of the events to keep their expenses lower than launching an entirely new event series.

Microsoft has a tiger by the tail with Windows XP Tablet PC edition. On one level there is interest in small ISVs, like xThink, ArtRage, etc., and extremely large ISVs, like Adobe. Groups that fall in the middle seem to be an issue too. In talking with some of them they aren't aware of the subset of the operating system, aren't sure how to justify the expense because the sales numbers of hardware units wouldn't cover the expense of the development in the first six months, they see Microsoft's actions as hesitation or temporary as an interim step toward Longhorn, or may be interested and need information to proceed. Regardless, will be interesting to see how it progresses!

Regarding the code sharing:

I agree that it shouldn't be mandatory to include source code. But, I'm hesitant to run software from people I don't know or trust. Having the source code present at least lets me compile into a clean executable that I can make sure doesn't do anything bad. I would consider running the app from a semi-trusted zone except that many things can't run that way (for example, any database interaction must be run with full trust since it uses the System.EnterpriseServices assembly).

Don't be such a doubting Thomas...

So how did you like it?

Well...(here we go, right?)...not really sure yet. It may take another viewing. Overall, I was a little disappointed. I still like the first film for its originality, the second for its visuals. This one... has to be there, because it all had to end.

Plus I never played the game, which adds some adidtional background information. It wasn't bad at all, just different from what I expected. At the same time, it just goes to show why managing expectations is important. In a few years Longhorn will be facing the same challenge. :-)

I saw the new Gateway M275 convertible shortly after this event, and LOVED IT.

The 14.1" display is one of the brightest, clearest I have ever seen in any laptop, period! Max. resolution was 1024x768, but with 14" of desktop, this seemed like plenty of space. I got to play with Journal, and digitizer response was terrific - even right up next to the screen edge where I've sometimes seen erratic behavior - the M275 was dead-on accurate. Weight seemed like 5 pounds, maybe 5.5 - and it is thin, about 1 inch. It is Gateway's own development - they did NOT just brand another box, so this is truly another new entry in the convertible space!! It had some interesting engineering features as well - can turn on just by lifting the display, special ergonomic brightness settings, etc.

Optical was indeed a DVD/CDRW, but very thin. I got to see a DVD playing in it, and you could rotate the movie while playing - 90 degrees at a time, to watch in portrait or landscape - flawless performance! Speakers seemed pretty good too, even in that noisy environment. Battery life was claimed to be over 4 hours, but we'll see.

Overall, I was thinking of a 12" convertible, but the new Gateway M275 changed those thoughts - just too versatile with that 14" panel as a serious laptop. I may spring for the 1.6GHz faster machine for $2100. It's what I want for Christmas.

FYI, the little nib isn't an integrated pointing stick, rather it's a mouse wheel replacement that does scroll up/down left/right. Also it may not be ideally located for a right handed user

Hmm, so it's essentially like Microsoft's new Tilt-wheel mice, and it can scroll documents sideways as well? Is it a 5-way pointer, with a click action? And yes, I do agree about the location. It almost seems better suited for a left-handed person, if you turn the tablet upside down.

Wow, that sounds really good. Is the optical drive in a modular bay, or just hard wired in?

I have version 3.0 installed from a download purchase at FranklinCovey.com

No need to wait.

Can't comment on the tilt-wheel mouse :-) but yes I should have mentioned that it does have an "enter" state in the center so it is a 5-way pointer.

And luckily I'm left-handed....

Yes, I did forget to mention that. The downloadable full and trial versions seem to already be available now, and not just starting from November 17th.

Well, I'm a bit disappointed in the size. I had hoped it would be at least as small as the 200X. However, given the 200X had a 2 hour battery life and this one sits at 4.5, I guess I can understand the additional pound. Plus the digitizer had to go somewhere. I also see that the vent fan is in the back/side of the unit. This would seem to alleviate some of the complaints on the 200X that related to venting on the bottom and getting REALLY hot. This is a positive thing. Overall, I'm impressed. I guess in another week we'll have the full set of generation 2.x offerings and I'll make a decision then. I can't wait...

NOTE: The European “C111” modeling, wasn’t a true C111, was just European remodeling # of the C110, but now a C111 is a C111, except when a C111 is not a real true C111 (in Europe), got that? :) Whew. Just look for the Pentium M ULV 1GHz. When in extreme doubt, look at the part numbers. :)

The ink in a browser thing was announced at PDC. MS is working on it, and in fact, they are also talking about an ink blogging tool!

You know, this is totally mea culpa here. A number of people pointed it out to me, but I guess I just wasn't thinking about it when writing. What came to my mind was some neat new method to make all existing text fields within a web page ink-friendly, without using components on the server and rewriting the applications themselves.

The simple fact that this was extensively talked about just never came up, even though I had read about it so many times. One of those days. :-)

"Oddly enough, the 80 GB drive is listed at a slower 5400 rpm than a 60 GB drive (7200 rpm)."

The two recently released Travelstar drives use the same technology in a trade off with size vs. spin speed.

I'm actually very impressed with OneNote after using it for two days on my laptop. When you leave behind the inadequacies associated with using it on a tablet (poor handwriting recognition, though I've heard mixed reviews on that, it is a powerful tool. My notes are much more detailed, clearer, better organized than I could ever get them on paper. And I can listen in class more instead of writing something down. True, it's next to impossible to take down pictures or diagrams quickly, but I can make the diagram into words and draw it later. I think it's a great tool for students, and I'm glad my university decided to give it to students.

specs are online
http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_ptb_completem275.shtml

The PR...

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=144245&TICK=GTW&STORY=/www/story/11-11-2003/0002055747&EDATE=Nov+11,+2003

One I missed in the Gateway and recent Tablet runs, not sure when the WinTop came out, if old or new. Seems fairly recent, as that CE Tablet “iMe” was only ran before this summer. But the 800 x 600 res. is a half death knell for the machine as is the VIA 800 Mhz CPU. Still tho, with the correct OS, it is a more powerful alternative to some of the CE based Tablets.

Wintop XP Tablet PC
http://www.wintopusa.com/xp_details1.html

Display: 10.4", 800 x 600, VIA 800 Mhz, 256 meg, 20 GB, One Type II PCMCIA, Dimensions: 275 x 218 x 24.6mm, 10/100, 802.11b, USB x 2, IEEE 1394 ports (4 pin), VGA output, Battery life: 4 hours, Weight: 3 lbs. OS: Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition.

Sorry, haven't been back to this forum for a while.

The Gateway M275 optical drive is in a bay, not hard wired in. While you could easily remove it, I'm not sure what you would do then, although that would make the overall weight less. I noticed that the M275 is now on the GW website, and optical drive options are only the combo DVD/CDRW drive.

One other thing that was really cool that I forgot to mention. The M275 has a 4 in 1 media card reader built in! After taking pictures, you just slide your Smart media/Secure Digital/Multimedia/Memory Stick into the M275 and with WinXP the photos just pop up right there on your desktop for a slideshow, or to edit, etc. Now I know you can do this with an external USB or firewire reader, but this is just one MORE reason to like this machine, the convenience of this is nice.

It also has a dock that offers 3 2.0 USB jacks, a host of legacy ports (parallel, serial, PS-2) as well as more jacks for video/audio options. Having a quick connect dock is important to me.

Peter - Wow! It's a whole story when you look at it this way. I'm so glad that what I'm doing is of some value to someone. I spent ALL day struggling with the WinAPI and ChangeDisplaySettings. I really want to make this happen so stay tuned for the outcome!

Ink in IE was talked about at PDC and will be in SDK 1.7; with the blog toolset demo'ed. Hence, I'd venture info in around 24 hours, NOT 3 years. Much more before Longhorn, has to be for the Tablet PC to take off in new markets. Larry is way off per timing, methinks. :)

Julie, it IS a story. :-) I think the development of any application is a story, it's just that most people don't realize that the process can be very convoluted and sometimes you spin your wheels just trying to solve some teeny problem. That's why I like your posts so much - it shows it like it is, with all the nitty-gritty.

Hey, I'll be the first person to cheer if I am off on the timing! A blogging tool that's a demo in the 1.7 SDK is probably not going to have a significant feature set, but if it's a powertoy / application that comes with Lonestar, I'm still for it -- I'm thrilled at the prospect of a Tablet OS update sooner rather than later!

P.S. And if it +is+ both a demo in the 1.7 SDK +AND+ has a significant feature set, I'll still be happy, as the SDK needs lots and lots of demos.

Nice nice nice.

hi

can you also please post a pictue of wirte anywhere, if it is also updated

thx

"The Tablet PC brings a sort of a first for developers in the sense that nobody really had to deal with changing orientations. Even PDAs are just starting to be able to change from portrait to landscape, "

Well...way back in 1997 Apple had a PDA (well all remember the Newton, right?) that could change it's orientation in 90 degree turns (so the base could orient at 90, 180, 270, 360) at the user's request. I often switched depending on if I was taking notes (portrait) or reading mail (landscape).

It might be interesting to hear what former Newton developers have to say on the subject (from technique, of course not technology) on dealing with fluid orientation.

Thank you for putting this page together. Great introduction. Appreciate the effort.

Thanks so much for this effort. Keeps the mouth watering.

THANKS!

>can you also please post a pictue of wirte anywhere, if it is also updated


Write Anywhere has been replaced by the new TIP. Belive me, you will never want to use Write Anywhere again once you've used the new TIP.

It's here folks... Check out http://www.inklog.com and you'll see the sample we created to show off Ink Blogging using our new SDK features. The sample in the sdk isn't as feature rich as inklog.com but that was because of production dates. We'll make the updated code available soon.

/frank

I agree completely that there is a lot more we (Microsoft) can be doing for our tablet developers. We are working on this and will be moving forward with our community efforts. I think the Alpha release of Lonestar is the beginning of a long term relationship

For starters we’ve created an email alias TabISV@Microsoft.com please feel free to drop us a line, let us know what you are doing and how we can help. At minimum this will enable us communicate directly with you and integrate you into any alpha/beta release or co-marketing efforts. Such as Lonestar Alpha and the new Partner link on tabletpc.com
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/partners/software.asp


More to come…
/frank

Can you comment on the quality of the LCD screen (did 'sparkle free glass' reduce glare compared to 1st generation tablet PCs? was color and brightness good?)

Knowing .NET

Did y'all get 1.7 SDKs, too? They're saying that they'll be going out in a few weeks as part of the post-PDC attendee packages, but I'm anxious to get ink into the browser so I can get InkPositive.com up and running.

thx

sounds pretty cool

i've another question:
is it possible, to use two or more recognizer enginges at the same time, e.g. english and german?

Tablet PC's are great for school. I'm in my senior year of high school, and I bought a tablet for this year and college. Since, I've taken all my notes on it and have scanned all the handouts that teachers give me, and filed them in folders. Its awesome to have searchable notes, it keeps me way more organized. And instead of carrying around the four inch thick binders everyone has filled with papers, I simply have the tablet!

i TRIED YOUR PRODUCT FOR MY pc AND NOW i HAVE INK ALL OVER MY MONITOR! tHIS SIN'T HELP ME WITH OUTLOOK AT ALL!

Has there been anything done about painting the scrollbars on the left of all panes (derived from windows controls not custom) for left handed users... it drives me INSANE!

Yes, the SDK is on the CD also. I'm pretty sure that they said it would be out for developers around the end of the month. (A little fuzzy here -- it was 2AM....) I know I heard OEMs will get their copies after the 21st. It's probably the same time.

> i've another question:
> is it possible, to use two or more recognizer enginges at the same time, e.g. english and german?

Well, within the editing interface you seem to be able to pick a specific language for a particular word, so I suppose in that sense you may be able to. However, this is not something I have tried yet.

I think I heard something about it being sent to PDC developers, who...signed up for it, or are getting something else as well. Like Lora said, it was late (or early), and we were all too hyper/tired to pay attention to every bit. But developers are supposed to get the SDK at some point.

> Has there been anything done about painting the scrollbars on the left of all panes (derived from windows controls not custom) for left handed users... it drives me INSANE!

I really doubt it. I realize that it is a big concern for left-handed users, but I think that will need some sort of core Windows XP update, if it ever makes it to the market. TPC 2004 just seems to update the TIP but doesn't quite touch the core OS underneath it. Then again, it could be something that makes it into some update before Lonestar ships. However, there are no indications so far.

This could prove a disaster for certain applications. I need to see the entire screen for certain input and the TIP may be covering exactly what I need to see!

Well, it's not my product. And I'm not sure how you would get ink all over your screen. When I tried it, it worked fine, but, of course, your mileage may vary.

Evidently you both missed the 15" Tatung Tablet that was sitting next to it too :-) I have it partially in a photo of the other one that I can send you.

Yes, i have noticed an increasing buzz about the missing Write Anywhere. I guess if enough people complain, maybe it will make it back in, before TPC 2004 ships. I wonder how many people actually do use it heavily.

Geesh, seriously, was I even at the same Comdex? I guess I was really missing things left and right. And, Evan, yes please, if you could, I would love to see the photo.

looks pretty cool

- What about help bubles or baloons ?

I would like them up of the pen and not under my right hand (so stupid at this time).

- And what about couloured key for Backspace or Enter (and others keys) ?

When you move from writing to typing with the panel, these keys are crazy to reconize because not at the same place.


- What about english language selector at the top of the panel ?

I swap from French to English (and reverse) for technical works, and it's not the best way to go down each time


Thanks


Sylvain

I think this isn't such a good idea. Most people's handwriting are just to hard to read. I think this site proves it, plus how do you do linking?

I like the idea of having the option to use ink, especially if I am trying to demonstrate something visually and quickly, but the default method of text should be good old "typed text", so it can read easily, not to mention translatesd to other languages if need be.

I will be there, hopefully with some interesting software to share!

I actually received my C300 two weeks ago through CDW... Though a bit on the heavy side, this is one sweet machine.

Motion Computing offers qualified developers a $500 discount per tablet on up to 5 tablets.

For more info, send an email describing your development efforts and providing your website url to TDK@motioncomputing.com or to me at steveh@motioncomputing.com

Thanx!
steveh from motion

I'd be interrested. I'm in the Philadelphia area. Hopefully the meetings would be fairly easily accessible via Amtrak as that is how I usually get to Washington or NYC.

Oh, goody, so you are nearby then (I'm based out of Delaware). I was actually thinking of just picking a PA location that would be central to the region, but I'm not sure how many people would end up located where. I definitely don't want people to have to spend a lot of time and money getting there. It wouldn't be some huge technology summit - just a regular social meeting.

Just to let you know though, I don't have a Tablet yet, but am fairly knowledgable about them becasue I research them heavily. I am one of those users waiting for the IBM Tablet ;)

Perfect! I think a lot of people would like to come see some real tablets in action - a bit more than the few terribly abused demo models at CompUSA. Play around with some tablet software, poke around Lonestar, see some hardware options. Maybe when it comes time to make a purchase decision, potential buyers could have a better idea of what they'd like to use.

mmm SXGA+.
I'm a bit addicted to high resolution stuff as my desktop runs at UXGA. That was priority 1 problem with the first batch of tablets IMO.

Wish the HP team would've included one on their slate, thats what I was banking on before the tosh was announced.

The interesting axis feature was icing to me.

Cincinnati region. Fairly interested.

Northern Va. Region and interested.

NO! Have it in Vermont!!! :-) I'm too far away. About an hour south of the Canadian border.

I'm interested. I'm in NYC.

Let's do it here - central, and easy to get to by everyone :)

Keep it coming everybody. And send in suggestions of preferred as well as "doable" locations. I'm sure that in the end not everybody will have it right in their back yard, so some compromises are probably inevitable.

Definitely interested - NYC would be great

I use Notepad several times every day -- its simplicity is a strength.

As for OneNote: I'm using it on a desktop sans pen (so I know I may not be seeing it at its best). It is surprisinglyl cumbersome; the interface is too elaborate. I find I keep having to reconfigure things every time I start -- things like the Task pane don't return to my settings. What about the Side Note? Outlook does that better (I use 3Ms free post-it notes instead). This isn't meant to be a flame (or invite a flame in response). OneNote is a promising version one but not the killer app I expected.

mjh
mark@mjhinton.com

I took a Tablet PC out a few times while visiting booths. I kept it in standby mode, so I could just pull it out of the bag. I tried to keep it out of sight so it didn't disturb other people (afterall, I was using a competitor's Tablet PC model while standing at a booth). Then, I had it out during lunch at the food court, hoping that I could use wireless. Loren kept his 2 in his bag and used his camera a lot.

I saw a couple people standing around one Tablet PC right outside of the Comdex trinket store. I ran into Yarone and Daniel a couple times. Did you notice if Yarone had his C300 with him? I can't picture it. Oh, I saw Linda with her Motion propped up behind an ASCII sponsored demonstration area. That's where we found out the Wacom guy was running around handing out the new, executive pens.

You're right though, not many Tablet PCs in plain view by attendees. I didn't even see PPCs, but camera phones were everywhere.

Near philly too. interested.

Hehe. That's funny. I know Tablets are popular in the Asian market, and Asia has a very dense population, but they're not THAT popular and Asia isn't THAT dense. I could believe 1/12 of the world's population using personal computers (inlcuding Macs, despite the negligible effect they would have on that number), or if that's being very conservative, maybe laptop computers, but not a new, and relatively speaking expensive system like the Tablet PC.

Anyway, I'm sure Bill Gates was hoping that it was half a trillion, that everyone in the world would be using 83-84 Windows XP based tablet computers. As far as he's concerned he can't have too much money. :)

Good question. I'd imagine the keyboard would draw less power as using it involves very small bits of data that can be recognized perfectly well by 4MHz 8088 CPU, so it's not like it would result in any undue strain on the current CPUs to recognize and render keystrokes.

Had my tablet out the whole time but I guess Todd Bishop never saw me. I took a lot of notes while walking the Comdex floor. Enjoyed seeing the new tablets and things. I think it was a pretty good show.

Interested as well...live in Northern Virginia so Washington, DC, Baltimore or Philly would be good.

ACER travelMate C300 Preview is online :)
http://www.tabletpccorner.net/revue_38.html

I have experienced the identical problem... Explorer Windows were closing non-stop. I figured I had a virus. After running several diagnostics and system analysis', I uninstalled the most recent installation on the system: Replay TV's Photo Transfer software. The problem disappeared. Get on it, Replay TV!

This problem exists in Windows XP. I am not experiencing the same problem on Windows 2000.

How can we buy the LG tablet. And any idea about the pricing ?
I made up my mind, but i can't find the info anywhere ?!

I dont really agree with this comparison. Lonestar is just an upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition. A better comparison would be between Windows XP Service Pack 2 (scheduled for release sometime next year) and Lonestar. And I dont think anyone is going to pirate SP2.

True, Lonestar is more like a service pack than a whole new OS. At the same time, it makes the lives of Tablet PC users a lot easier, and it just feels like more than a patch.

Also, early beta versions of SP2 were hot fodder on various sites over the summer, and a lot of people downloaded them.

We will be there to introduce the new long-awaited Wacom/Cross executive pen for the Tablet PC. We are participating the the Digital Experience press event on the eve of CES to promote the pen.

Peter Rysavy got the Comdex rundown on the new Tablet PC "Lonestar" update .

Interesting article. I'm living in Japan, and other than in the shops the only Tablet PC I've ever seen out on the streets is my own! Perhaps the main use is around the office rather than out on the streets.

For me one of the best things is when I get onto the hugely squashed trains in the morning and see the smirking businessmen thinking that I'm crazy to try using a laptop standing up in the little space available. The smug grin is promptly replaced by intrigue when I flick the switches on my Sotec (Acer) AT380B and cooly swing into Tablet mode :-)

What I would really like to see for my tablet PC is some innovative carrying case. It would have to protect the Tablet PC, but be light and slim. Allow access to the buttons and stylus, have screen cover for when not in use, ideally also allow easy cvoversion between tablet and laptop mode and also have a shoulder strap or handles for easy carrying. This would make carrying Tablet PCs to shows much easier.

Other innovations I can imagine are a portrait screen in laptop mode, built in camera, IR keyboard (http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=477), and maybe even some sort of projector for sending an image of the screen down onto a desk surface if not the wall.

Andrew
--
http://www.tabletpcexperience.com

Any hints regarding the speech interface with the new tip? I do not see a speech bar in the photos of the new 2004 edition. Any news regarding speech in the new edition would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

Thank you. Syncope does not become you ;-)

Looks like both your readers are still here... :)

Our condolences to Monica's family.
I still check every day. Thanks very much for all your sagacious posts. I think you were one of the factors tipping me toward my purchase of a TC1100 (yesterday).
Thanks,
Doug

I'm sorry to read about the loss. This might be a good time for you and Monica to sit and remember all of the good things from his life. Maybe even write them down for future generations to read about his life. My grandpa was gracious enough to leave his family a few notes about his up-bringing, the end of WWI, and even a little bit about working for the airline industry in the 40s and 50s.

Pretty cool stuff. Its getting harder and harder for me not to get a tablet :)

-Scott

So where can the rest of us get ArtRage ?

Fish-
There is a link to ArtRage right in Peter's post. http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html

oops - sorry:
"ArtRage was announced and previewed at Microsoft's TechEd conference in Auckland, mid August. It is due for beta testing soon and will shortly after be available as a fully working, free download. More information will be made available as the package nears completion."

Looks like he got a pre-pre-beta cause he's special. Maybe they thought he needed a head start to work on his art skills?

Hehehe - I was just about to ask! Thanks!

Peter - "to the stars"... hardly. Thanks for the laugh!

Hi. I use Acer TravelMate C110 in Japan. I'm always concern about the BAG ! You showed many solutions to me. I agreed that it's always wise to visit the enemy camp. The Sling Pack looks really cool. Thanks.

I love the timbuk2 commute bag. It can carry my iPod, tablet, charger, digicam and all adapters, cables dongles, and overnight clothing ;-).

http://www.shahine.com/omar/PermaLink.aspx?guid=b0622c50-bf02-439d-9b51-257510f05283

Leverages has a Laptop Limo that is quite nice: http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/PRODIDPG.ASP?Category=1-11-11-11&PageID=101-155-73-1795&Level=2-3-3-3&special=&C=&L=&SPCID=&Title=

To redirect a feed you need to send the client an HTTP 301 Redirect. However, you would need to programatically do this using ASP :-(.

That's what I feared. I guess it would have been easier to switch from a dynamic ASP page to a static one. I guess there is no standard way of having RSS aggregators honor a 301 HTTP message for a feed file?

Wow, quite a nice collection there!

How does it work together overall? any regrets, or wishes?

If you have access to IIS User Manager, then you can create the rss.xml file (or use the one you have), right click on it, select Properties, then pick the option of "A redirection to a URL". Type in the new URL for the resource (i.e., http://www.kstati.com/tabula/rss.aspx), then select the "The exact URL entered above" and the "A permanent redirection for this resource". This will instruct the aggregators to automatically use the new URL in lieu of the old URL (well, most aggregators support it).

Why do Microsoft olny let people in the US with Tablet PC not any one in the uk when r they going to change it or not put it on the net

Do any one know werre i can win a Tablet PC in the uk

What do you mean by flaky? I would love hear what problems you might be having with it.

In addition, even though the links have changed, old links will still work.

-Scott

Scott,

Good to hear that the old links will work! I'm not actually having any problems with it, since I haven't tried upgrading yet. 0.94 has been solid, but after my recent problems caused by my host's server misconfiguration, I am a bit jittery. Especially since some people are having minor problems when upgrading. That will probably mean that I personally will be stricken with some horribly catastrophic downtime. Plus I figure I'll wait a week or so until the code updates and deployment tips and tricks get finalized, and I'll have better odds. :-)

I almost went back and edited that section several times and decided to leave it alone. The <i>attitude</i> of the OEMs is changing toward volume purchases for Tablet PCs. Many are starting to handle them as a standard stock item, versus a specialty item resulting in OEM representatives starting to be less willing to negotiate. I've seen it happen with other items and it seems to be one step toward making Tablet PCs a standard commodity item, as you describe. Cost of labor is a major reason this has happened though. Afterall, companies are seeing a steady increase in sales for Tablet PCs and it's time to recover costs. "Bargain less and move forward," seems to be the sales approach.

Do I agree with the tactic? I would suggest that OEMs remain aggressive with pricing until a larger percentage of sales are Tablet PCs (relative to traditional notebooks). But consumers need to know that this price negotiation shift is starting to happen.

Now, to your question of whether Tablet PCs will decline ("much cheaper") in price over time because of competition. If the components within Tablet PCs remained constant over time, as they do with consumer electronics, then I would expect the high and middle price points to decrease as volume increases. However, the components within leading edge Tablet PCs change frequently (has been once every 4- 6 months), as they do with desktops and notebooks. So, I would expect that the newest, performance Tablet PCs will remain at approximately the same price point and the older models to drop in price as they are replaced by newer units. There will be a small drop in price (with the extra $250 or so cost that the Tablets have over a standard sub-notebook) but not enough to impact sales drastically. Since the Intel processor is one of the most expensive components in the units, then this is where the price drops will happen. Intel schedules these decreases regularly and when a new speed grade is introduced it moves in at the same price point as the previous #1 speed grade and they all move down respectively, with the lowest speed grade being discontinued. This, more than anything, will probably control pricing for Tablet PCs. I have many suggestions on how OEMs could negotiate / work around this issue :D

There you go. I...err...what she said... :-)

You guys beat me to it :)

But if you do output a 301 redirect, most aggregators will respect it and update their links.

I have always been a fan of FC tools and the Seven Habits. It all works on paper, but not one software package ever really worked well. Planner was rudimentary, PlanPlus 1.x was expensive for the added functionality, and PlanPlus 2.0 doesn't work with Outlook 2003. Tablet PCs may or may not become a platform on their own, and I wonder why FC can't get it right -- PlanPlus 2.0 would really rock if it worked!

Tablet pcs are a waste of time. They will never take off. Imagine writing a business report -- that's the whole point of computers -- so you dont have to write. It's quicker to type.

Can you send me more pictures of toshiba portege M200 please
my adress

duyuru@teknopazar.net
info@mece.net

How can you guys keep popping off to Las Vegas every few months? :-)

My dream tablet would also have connectivity between tablets. I'd like to see the tablets smaller than they are now though (even more so than the NEC tablet) and then have a wireless super-high speed but short distance connection between the tablets that would allow them to act like two displays and share system resources.

new york please

Ever heard of the Internet Connection Sharing feature in Windows XP? Connect one machine to the wire and let it share this connection ofer a wireless adhoc connection. Absolutely no need to carry a WLAN Router, who needs such bulk? ICS is also a great idea when a group of people is meeting in a commercial hotspot. One person logs in to the hotspot and shares the connection over an additional WLAN adapter (PC-Card) with his mates. Hotspot costs then can be shared!

Oh sure, and I probably should have mentioned that. But that still ties one of the machines to the wire. So somebody would have to "sacrifice" their machine. And since I don't know how to do ICS in OS X (or if it even has it), it would have to be me.

On the other hand, APC's new router is small and can be powered by USB. I wouldn't mind carrying the few extra ounces for the added convenience. Good point though.

Too bad the g5 has proven to be as much as 314 times slower than the pentium 4 64 ee or the athlon 64(1600mhz fsb) and now its becoming clear that their overcooked numbers dont justify a big heavy boat anchor like the g5 when a good 32 bit computer can beat it.The benchmarks and other test were done by maximum pc who also own macaddict and they slowed things down to try to help the g5 but they do say that at least it is a computer that is worthy of testing unlike the painful and embarrassing numbers delivered by the g4.If kids nowadays werent such blind believers in media then they would be building rigs that could blown the g5 into the stratosphere for about half the money instead of thinking "cool" about a machine like this.Oh yeah,the editor of macaddict alos concedes to these tests in the maximum pc showdown issue because these tests dont lie ,unlike Steve Jobs.

tysons borders has moved a mile from comp-usa. next to best-buy now,at rt7 & beltway

I know! I love the new location. You can just walk over into the Best Buy, without ever leaving the building. The parking garage is handy, and you have a plethora of eateries around there. And the mall, of course, with nice features like the Apple store.

Have you used one? Obviously the poitn is not to write essays on it, althoguht some people are better at writing than typing. But still:

Manuevering witht he pen is MUCh more intuitive and efficient than with the mouse.
Better for document editing (easier to find, click, replace by writing individual words/sentences--I use this even witha keyboard handy)
Better for comments/markup
MUCH better for notes
Better for arts
Better for some games (namely RTS games or games that don't use DirectInput.)

I got one. Cool, you have a blog about this. Didn''t even notice till your post on the tablet blog.

Loving the watch so far. Will blog about it tomorrow I think.

I don't wear a watch (haven't since high school) and neither do a lot of people I hang with. A few years ago, I started carrying a Palm so I suddenly had clock with me. In the last couple of months, I finally started carrying a cell phone (for SMS, though, not so much for calls).

I don't envision myself ever wearing a watch. I don't envision myself giving up my 2"x2" Palm (actually it's a Clie now) screen for anything smaller. I'd like to ditch the cell phone and only carry the Palm.

Wow, excellent :)

I do something similar (ink blog entries), but using Outlook and dasBlog instead of another app.

http://www.greghughes.net/rant/PermaLink.aspx?guid=dda05ed3-e65a-49b3-a07c-9270494a9fef

- greg

One thing we hadn't realized about those new SPOT watches: because they have an FM radio receiver built-in, the radio has to be switched off...

Why would someone have to turn off an FM receiver during an airplane flight, it would make no sense whatsoever. The FM signals aren't transmitting from the device, so they would still be "in the air" if the device were on or off. In addition I am sure they don't require you to not turn on an FM radio onboard a plane (except during the take off and landing period when they have all electronics switched off), which is also an FM receiver. I think this statement is just a blinded marketing attempt to cover all possibilities

All radio receivers have an internal oscillator that emits a low power signal on the frequency they are trying to tune into. I presume this refers to that.

Most FM receivers are superhetrodyne. This means that the radio reception is optimized to one frequency. When an FM signal at a non-optimum frequency arrives at the radio it is mixed with a signal generated in the radio that adds up to the optimzed frequency.

Translation - superhet FM receivers (which is most of them) generate a signal.

I didn't the the same "commute" experience as you. I could select any city in america as a commute city. I are you doing this under "My Location"?

Yes, under My Location on the site. I even went in, and went through the location process again. I pick Delaware, and then get only Wilmington for my Home city, which is fine. Then I say that yes, I do travel outside that area, and it gives me the option to pick a city. The only item in that list is Philadelphia.

Weird, I went back to Location and realized I set Commute Location to No. Now I have it set to San Jose. Cool.

Come on! What is it going to do , my 0.003 mW emitter is going to down the plane??? If it were so, terrosists would have a ball! Leave me alone!

I believe that this is an early prototype of a SPOT watch. See my post here - http://www.spotbuzz.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&m=38&#38

I had this problem with my Fossil Wrist Net Round FX3001. I was waiting until Monday to call Fossil, but your three button trick saved the day! Thanks!

Hmm, I wasn't even sure that pressing the buttons did anything. The first time the watch died and I didn't even notice, I think it just came back after a few minutes by itself. At any rate, I'm glad to hear it works.

And yes, apparently since we now have a Microsoft OS inside our watches, there is somewhat of an equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del. Of course, in this case the problem is not Microsoft's fault.

The Microsoft service agreement does say they have to be turned off, but this is misleading. The watch is not limited by the FCC rules banning cell phones on planes. It is only subject to the FAA regulations regarding electronic devices. This means you will only have to turn off the watch until you are at cruising altitude. (In practice, I doubt the air crew would notice if you "forgot", but that's another question entirely).

The MS service agreement was either written by someone who is confused about the regulations (which is very common), or a lawyer who is trying to be overprotective. Microsoft may want you to leave the watch off for other reasons (moving between FM radio data cells might not work without a reset, for example), but the FAA will not treat a SPOT watch any different than an FM radio.

We hate to pile on with the problems/complaints about the new SPOT watches, but Peter Rysavy has some "tips" on how to kill your Abacus...

Sounds an awful lot like problems I had with the Palm m515 last year. Take off your sweater? Hotsync stops working. Set the PDA on a metal table? Hotsync stops working. The "fix" involved putting the PDA in debug mode and letting the battery completely discharge, thus resetting the bit that allows Hotsyncing.

Anyway, there wasn't much to be done about it; either you get a PDA that isn't static sensitive or you move to a balmier climate.

I've had my Clie for nearly a year now-- no static related problems so far.

Ha ha ha.

http://members.chello.hu/kozari.erzsebet/watch/GI-msw.jpg

http://www.mmmblog.com (Keith Fuhrman's blog) has some comments about a similar problem, and the subsequent fix he found. He bought his watch at the same time (and place) as I did, and we've compared notes a few times.

--- JRJ (www.jrj.org)

So there's a new watch lineup called SPOT. Actually, Spot is an umbrella term for all sorts of things that'll be wireless devices for personal use - but right now it's watches. So here's an article on how to temporarily...

There were similar problems with static on the Garmin iQue 3600 PDA, which they managed to fix with a patch. Getting a hard reset every time I took the PDA out of my pocket was awful. As it stands now, I still get an occasional soft reset from static, but no data loss.

<blockquote>"decided to contact MSN Direct support last week. I submitted an online technical support request, and the resulting page promised some sort of response within 24 hours. I haven't heard from them since"</blockquote>

That's because their support team has the messages delivered to their SPOT watches, so they never got it. ::evil grin::

Peter Rysavy has first impressions on Microsoft's SmartWatch SPOT. To begin with, it can't even reliably tell the time. His total watch downtime was 80 minutes ON ONE DAY. Well done Microsoft, just as we expected......

Am I the only one to find it amusing that you have to push three buttons to restart(?) the watch? Do they have C-A-D stamped on them? ;-)

Yep, I've had the same problem with my Abacus, which stinks since I live someplace cold.

Is M$ the ONLY software company to empoly the HALT command in their OS ??? Remember SPOT is an anagram for STOP !!! We should have been expecting as much !!!

Just so you know... If you Zap electronics with static, they STOP WORKING.

If your watch is static sensitive, it CANNOT tell you the correct time, because it has been ZAPPED WITH STATIC, and all of its electronics are in a really nasty state known as LATCHUP.

This is a problem with CMOS electronics; NMOS (as used in most older digital watches) doesn't have this problem.

So, no, it's not a Microsoft problem. It's an electronics problem. And it's probably a bad watch design that allows it to be so badly affected by static.

this is not right and yet what did we expect...

Found a couple more things on the SPOT watch: Total watch downtime: about 80 minutes Microsoft watch requires three-fingered reboot I'm not pointing this out to beat the dead horse. I am really interested in technology like this, and I...

Wenn eine solche Uhr sagt, es sei Mitternacht, mu man standesgem erstmal schauen, ob es drauen wirklich dunkel ist.

Sorry folks for the above post. Auto-trackback by Movable Type. Hmmmm.

Prototype of IBM tablet... http://www.nottes.com/tabletpc/LGIBM_LT/a_view.asp

I've been using One Note for close to a year (whenever they opened the Beta up to the public) on a regular laptop. I haven't yet purchased a Tablet PC (although I hope to within the next few months.) I love it. Its ben a very good thing for me, and has actually cut down on the amount of stuff I write in little spiral notebooks. My biggest problem with it is that laptops aren't really easy to take to meetings, so I generally have to transcribe meeting notes back into One Note when I get back to my desk.

I haven't had any of the page legnth problems that are mentioned in the article, but I am always starting new pages.

Abacus (and Fossil) watches are badly designed, the antenna in the wrist makes them very sensitive to static charges. No problems with the suunto so far (antenna is in the rim ;-) )

I think the page length limit notion must certainly be in error. I have often created pages of over 10,000 words. I just now created a notes summary page for my entire OneNote notebook, and it came out to be 23,000 words, roughly 50 pages of Microsoft Word document.

We are probably talking about a journalist who failed to figure out how to extend the default page length (icon at the bottom of the vertical scroll bar) and thought that what you see is what you get.

I saw this-- it was an excellent ad. Did a fantastic job of demonstrating the functionality. Good stuff.

I too have been using OneNote since the beta came out in March last year. After, Outlook, it is the app I use most - on my desktop and laptop without ink.

The great thing for me is that it moves away from an infinite tree structure to organise information. Other note programs, Word files in folders, favorites in folders, emails in folders all have this tree. This always gets in a mess for me. OneNote has just four levels and with a different visual representation for each: Folders, Sections, Pages, Sub-Pages. Whoever designed this was inspired.

I am amazed, but only slightly, the the coverage for MSN direct is not shown on any map. Instead a person is required to type in their postal code or zipcode to retrieve information on their particular area.

Why does Microsoft refuse to tell us? Is it because at this point in time the coverage is almost nil for Canadian customers? What is the US coverage like? I'm willing to bet the coverage is limited to major cities there.

Let me know if you ever get some real information that would be of use to us. This particular topic, "MS SPOT Technology", was a topic I gave my students to research. Although they did an excellent job of getting their presentation to last 1/2 hour, they were hard pressed to answer any questions outside of the limited knowledge they attained.

In fact, one key complaint is that none of the current watches have a way to turn the audible alerts *off*.

How so? At least my Abacus has three sound settings: All On, All Off, Alerts Only. I can definitely turn all sounds off, which is what I do overnight.

I've had mine for a week, and I am really pleased! It's got all the features you want on a modern laptop, it's easy to use, and I love having all my extensive notes on a full size screen. With the DVD/CD-RW drive, speed, great battery life, Acer finally got it right. Highly recommended.

The problem I have with an All-Apple solution is not knowing where I can play these files in the future. Will I be able to play the music I bought on iTunes on something that comes out five years from now? Your basically betting Apple will be on top forever. You will forever be tied to Apple. To me that is a huge price to pay ... doesn't that scare you a little. The same goes with WMA, but at least I feel comfortable I'll have more options down the road. Regardless, I am sticking with the MP3 format all the way. Rumor has it you can buy a song online from any of the stores online, download it legally, burn to CD, rip back from CD into a MP3 format. I'd love to know how well that works and if you loose any quality. By then I might as well have bought the CD or find it for free online. I just don't want lock in. It really limits your choice "in the future".

Also, I agree with you that Apple does do it better, but any proprietary solution which builds all the parts from the hardware, the OS, integrated applications, and web services is going to be better than one that is not. Apple hardly partners with anyone, that is why nobody builds anything for their platform, at least not compared to the amount of third-party developers for the windows paltform. The problem with Apple is that Steve Jobs wants to control everything about the Mac ... it his baby and he will be damn if someone design something better.

Excellent piece. Now if only I could make the leap from PC to Mac... *sigh*

(sigh) Ok, Apple's solution is proprietary - but so is Microsoft's. You can license it from them, but it's still their baby all the way. At least Apple uses the AAC format, which is an open standard - only the Freeplay DRM isn't. Actually, as Real discovered, any other player can play the Apple ITMS files by hooking in to Quicktime - and it's all legal since the file still has to go through the Freeplay decode in Quicktime. It only works if you're authorized to play the song in the first place, so this doesn't get around Freeplay.

Right now the 'standard' for music downloads is being fought and everyone's coming out with a solution: MS, Apple, Real, etc. all have their own DRM solution and the market will decide which will become a standard.

The article is dead-on right though - Apple does understand that CONSUMERS want seamless, simple and elegant solutions. that's one reason the iPod is so darn successful - it just works on EITHER platform. Tell me about ANYthing on the Windows side of the world that is that hassle free (consistently - there are always the lucky few that some things work ;) )

>> "At least Apple uses the AAC format, which is an open standard - only the Freeplay DRM isn't"
Doesn't that make the format put together proprietary? That's like saying I cheated on the first exam, but I didn't cheat on the second exam, therefore I am not a cheater. It's either all or nothing. You can't be "kind of" pregnant.

>> "by hooking in to Quicktime"
Another install? What if they don't have it already? What a hack.

I agree the Apple solution is an elegant proprietary solution. No matter how you look at though, it's an ALL Apple solution, which is certianly better than an All-Microsoft solution. (sigh) However, it simply amazes me how Apple advocates bitched and moaned about MS lock-in on the desktop, but once Apple does it ... it's OK. Talking about "drinking the kool-aid".

Yes, I was told the new version will support RSS feeds. You'll be able to combine the info from the feed with your own ideas and then create a report, presentation, or post to a site.

There has been a wave of posts in the blog world recently that all related to Microsoft, how it is perceived and what it may be doing wrong. Sometimes the debates seem a bit absurd because of the very different values of the participants (like what is success, what is good or evil,...), but it is good to see that the communication channels are continuing to open. I believe the Microsoft main problems to be its many coupled or conflicting interests, while being so dominant in the desktop market. For example, few (or none?) companies are in such a multi-faceted...

I'm not very happy with Write Anywhere being gone myself. I find it hard to write on the lower section of the screen while standing. Mid-screen just feels more natural for me.

I was hoping for F1 covorage, but from the info that I have seen, it appears that no motorsports will be covered initially. Deep sadness...

Yes, the cover is compatible with the N3.

Yes, like most gadgets, SPOT watches are for men.

I actually prefer the IBM design to the Apple design. The Apple tries too much to be cool, seems more like a "look at me" deal as opposed to the Maturity that IBMs exude.

Woody,

You can stick to nothing but mp3s on an ipod and still have all the ease of use and such.

And yes, you can buy online songs, burn to cd, reburn to mp3, and it sounds the same. At least I don't detect any degredation in quality for the 2 albums I bought and converted.

Are there more language recognizers included (e.g. Italian)?

Thanks for all the info. TIP looks a lot more user friendly!

Do you have any idea whether the new keyboard will support Dvorak? (an alternative to the standard qwerty board?) With every version of Windows I have been able to change the way the hardwired keyboard works, but with the existing XP Tablet OS the TIP keyboard showed the qwerty layout but recognizes the Dvorak layout, which makes entering a password (as a touchtypist) really complicated.

I downloaded the 60 day demo for OneNote, and boy am I glad i didn't just buy it on the reviews!!
OneNote is terrible!
I have a MotionComputing M1300. I have used OneNote for about a month, and don't plan on going back!
Big problems:
-Buggy!! People keep saying how "mature" this product is, but it "freaks out" on me pretty regularly. It starts duplicating inks in random places while I write! Once this happens, it wont work properly with anything short of a reboot.
-TERRIBLE INK SUPPORT!!!! If OneNote was as good as Journal at manipulating Ink, life would be swell. But OneNote's attempt to make ink containers more text-like means the results of copy/cut & paste is a NIGHTMARE. I cant just select an area of text. If OneNote thinks that the one word I put in Red is a different paragraph (and it usually does..) and does not select with the rest of the paragraph/sentence. Same with trying to add space in the middle of a document. SOME of the closest paragraph move down, only to covers/overlay lower paragraphs that DIDN'T move down properly.

Journal + OneNote's organization/tabs would be awesome. OneNote v1.0.. it totally unusable..

On a tangent --
Radio Userland supports emailed posts too. I believe the setup instructions suggest using a special email account for this option. I wonder what happens with random emails with virus contamination. I realize there is a password, but the security risk makes me a bit edgy. I assume no one has had this problem though. You heard of anything?

Hmm, good point. Even the Pro version of Blogger used to have a post by e-mail feature. I'm not really sure what happens with virus spam. Blogger let you create a specially named address to send to, so I guess you could create something very "non-normal" that even the random spam wouldn't hit...much. I'm not personally familiar with Userland or dasBlog, so I'm not sure how they deal with it.

After installing the new driver the upper side switch no longer works on my NEC Versa Litepad either.

This will add to the confusion that some folks who are developing for tablets on a non-tablet machine already have with "I *have* the sdk installed on my desktop, but I still can't do ______ or _________ when I am testing..."

great post -- I was searding for the same function. Sorry to find out that it is not yet available.

Well, the press release (http://www.franklincovey.com/planplus/press_info.html) states:

"New features and enhancements in PlanPlus 2.0 include:
• Full support for the new Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 [...]"

However, I just installed it -- and it does not work. Well, to be precise: *Some* things work, others don't. ("PlanPlus Home" is unable to load and adding a "PowerNote" results in an script error.)

Do they have a quality control?

Obviously not. Well, probably quality is a "C" task for some people.

Gerhard.

I really look forward to Longhorn too, since it will have the Ink in the main OS, not only the Tablet version.
The question about this video is whether this is running code, or if it is a demo prototype ;-)

Very true. I hope that it is, in fact, real code, because it just looks so promising. But then again, you never know.

DELL sucks in general. But, rather than just say DELL sucks, I'll stick to the facts.
Just consider my experience with the first and last DELL I'll ever buy . . .
_________________________________________
SUMMARY of 16+ FAILURES/REPAIRS in 22 months ( purchased for $4208 ):
Replaced 2 times: notebook (Service Tags: for i7500:2H0440B(18-Oct-2000),
for i8100:93DH811(05/30/2002); for i8600:GHTMS31(11/15/2003)
Replaced 4 times: motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;02/??/2004
Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
Replaced 2 times: hard disk drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
Replaced 1 time: lid latch: 05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: video card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003 ,
Missing: 2nd battery missing with 2nd notebook replacement
despite two batteries were purchased and returned
with 1st notebook;
Malfunction: repeated video problems and system lock-ups
since received May-2002 ; DELL replaced the
NVIDIA GeForce2Go-16mb with a ATI Radeon-7500-M7-64MB
video card/driver: 5/9/2003; LCD back-light failed
later (22-Oct-2003)
Failure: LCD developed red-tint at start-up (16-Oct-2003)
LCD back-light failed (22-Oct-2003) 4 days
after 3-year-complete-care-warranty
expired (18-Oct-2003)
Failure: Error: IDE Disk 0 - Write Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D DISK 030 068
Device: IDE_Disk_0 Test: Write_Test,
Disk: Msg: Block 7022454: Uncorrectable data error.
Failure: Mini PCI 3Com NIC - NIC Interrupt Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D MINI3COM 030 026
Device: Mini_PCI_3Com_NIC Test: NIC_Interrupt_Test,
Mini3Com: Msg: Failed Internal loopback Test
Failure: DELL i8600: motherboard failed; system won't power up;
removed memory, drives, modem, wireless, & battery, and
when power switch is pressed; LCD and Power LED flicker
briefly, and shut-off; nothing happens during attempted
power-up when AC power is disconnected (i.e. battery only)
________________________SIG-LINE______________________________________
DELL Inspiron 8600, 1.4GHz P4 Mobile, L2 1024KB Cache, Model:PP02X, Service TAG:GHTMS31 ;
BIOS: DELL-INSPIRON 8600 ROM BIOS Version A00 , 07/01/2003) ;
MEMORY: 512MB DDR 333MHz (two 256MB DIMMs) ;
VIDEO: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB DDR 4X AGP M9 3D Video, PN:8X960/X1913 ;
LCD: 15.4" WXGA 1280x800 60Hz, Samsung Part# Y0316 ;
HARD-DISK: 60GB IBM-MRGA, PN:0T673/X1629 ;
CD/DVD: CD-R/W & DVD combo SN:CN-0K0033-68861-3A9-01HT REV A00, QSI DMOD, PN:K0033/C3414 ;
ETHERNET and MODEM: Broadcom 440X 10/100, V.92 56Kbps, PN:D2465/00009 ;
WIRELESS: DELL True Mobile 1400 Dual band WLAN Wireless Broadcom , PN:3X548/6X216 ;
SOUND: Sigmatel-9750 Audio Controller ;
BATTERY: 72 Watt Primary Battery, 9 Cell Smart Lithium-Ion, Rating: 11.1v ; 6486 mAHr, for Inspiron 8600/8500 , Type 8N544 , DELL Item # 312-0101, Sanyo Manufacturer Part # 2P700 , DELL PN: 9X472 A00 ;
USB: USB Controller: Intel USB Universal Host Controller ;
IDE: ATA/ATAPI Controller: Intel Bus Master IDE Pri/Sec IDE Channel, external(floppy) drive ;
OS: Windows XP Professional 2002, Windows XP Professional SP1
__________________________________________________________

Knowing .NET

Recently Wacom released an updated version of their graphics driver for penabled Tablet PCs .

the pin fell out of my watch as i was walking out of a store one day, and FOSSIL refuses to replace it, the watch was 6 days old.

I think both-- but perhaps with a sensitivity setting. My son is learning disabled and soon 11 years old. I still have a lot of hopes for this technology for him. I was thinking of something simple like a button to hold down WITH the touchable screen, or a toggle switch you don't have to keep holding. Most users could probably make this work, and it would prevent utterly random "clicking" by accident, especially in transit.

I was wondering what you thought of the thumb keyboards :)

I'm glad your site's back up, too - I freaked out last night when I got a .Text "application not found" error...

Eek! I wasn't even aware of any serious downtime. Great, time to check the logs again.

No matter how I tried to get to the site (I thought that you might have switched URLs or something), I was getting the same error. I tried getting here through google, links from other blogs, etc. - nothing - just the .Text error.

Feeling better now, though :)

Why not simply use the Tablet PC Input Panel, and type using not a lame thumb keyboard, but the full-sized on-screen keyboard that can even be resized to fit your particular hands?

That's a good suggestion, but since the vast majority of Tablet PCs does not have a touch screen, I still couldn't poke the on-screen keyboard with my fingers, and would still have to whip out the pen, which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

Ah, but is this the 'real' star wars, or another one of Lucas's hacked up versions that do nothing but take away from the once-in-a-lifetime combination of factors that somehow led him to create the original trilogy and not mess it up entirely (at least not until he got the tools to go back and fiddle endlessly with it)?

where are the fossil's

Don't we all! I have been waiting since the beginning for the IBM tablet. I have got the money budgeted and all saved up. Now, I am just waiting for the launch...

haven't bought it yet, cuz sum sites say tiz gud and sum bitch abt it so yeeah....dunno wat to do, help! e-mail me at hippie_reject@hotmail.com

I'll be there from 3/15 - 3/17! 16th is devdays (speaking) and 17th is the tablet tour (I'm speaking) plan to drive home on the 17th.

Sigh. As usual, that's just my luck. I'm there from the 9th (arriving in the evening) to the 12th (leaving in the evening). Good try though.

I think the problem has been the combination of the premium price and lackluster hardware.

I believe there are four things that are important to tablet pc users:

weight
speed
battery life
resolution

weight -- When you can get Thinkpads that weigh under 2 pounds, anything over three pounds sounds like it is going to be tiresome to hold for any amount of time.

speed -- based upon all of the reports I've heard about Outlook and other office components dogging down the systems, I'd say 1 Ghz is probably the lowest acceptable speed.

battery life -- there's been a lot of advancement here. When Electravaya is getting 8 or more hours, you know there are solutions. No one wants to dock their tablet for anything other than overnight. The goal is day long mobility - not to run for a power cord every three hours.

resolution -- some seems to have mistaken this for screen size. I doubt many want a tablet any bigger than the standard sheet of paper it promises to replace. This means in portrait mode the horizontal resolution should be comparable to the horizontal resolution for which standard web pages are designed ( currently 800px but approaching 1000px ), so 1024 by 768 isn't going to cut it in portrait.

Compound all that by these 'convertible' laptops that weigh over 4 pounds -- all of the premium and none of promise, guaranteeing that users will use them as regular laptops.

Anything bigger than 9x12, 2 pounds and less than 1 Ghz, 8hr battery and 1280x1024 is just going to be like those old brick-like cellular phones back in the 80's -- an expensive piece of bling you'll replace when they finally correct teh design.

( can you tell I've been desparately waiting for this? )

Touccccch-screeeen? Make that Active Digitzer. So much for expectations when even the analysts can't even get the basic hardware specs right. :)

Don’t count on it I just purchased this device to find that 15 feet came and went through doors and walls and the receiver never even peeped. The unit does not invoke an iota of security. This item will be returned tomorrow. Do Not Buy This Item for security.

I dunno. I think its worth waiting for a "Designed for Longhorn" labelled tablet. In fact that may be the only way to be able to get one if Longhorn Tablet PC Edition is only available via OEMs like XP Tablet Edition has been.
Plus there may be additional hardware requirement beyond raw processing and graphics power. Longhorn is supposed to be much more power management aware so it'll need to support ACPI 2.0 properly. Longhorn is going to be much more processor heavy so a current tablet might only last for a couple of hours and get very hot while running it.
Also MS might make the XEEL User interface concept part of the hardware requirements.
Also Longhorn is a long way off, If you bought one next year it would still be horribly out of date by the time Longhorn Tablet PC actually arrives in 2007 or whatever
If your current tablet is already feeling slow it may be worth considering getting an intermediate model to last until Longhorn arrives.

In among the noise are some satisfied Tablet PC users with good recomendations. I am currently in search mode for a Tablet PC and find some of the comments to be usefull in my own search. My RSS feed lead me to your site from Scoble's Blog. This is a great resource. Keep evangelizing those Tablet PCs....

First of all, you contribute to general Tablet PC information regularly. Thank you.

Get in on the regional Tablet PC Users' Group (TUG) this spring. They will appreciate your ideas and tips. Granted, it is in Central PA :)

You attend training sessions for your job on a regular basis. Each time you show up with your TC1000 you influence the way other people perceive Tablet PCs. This is valuable. Will you get a tangibie from it? Most likely no more than you have received already.

How much do you say before your hardware is just too obsolete? This is a great question. Since you aren't "selling" Tablet PCs or software, you have a little more flexibility than others in the industry might. Plus, you have access to emerging software that people want to learn about. For a little while yet the software will be more important than your aging hardware.

A Toshiba Portege 3500 at Best Buy and it was actually functional? Wow, quite rare. Most superstores, have Tablets turned off and DOA, gathering dust. And if its actually ON, the "salespeople" are clueless as to its functionality; try and explain a Tablet and they send you to the PDA section. And furthermore most of the time its locked-down, like a laptop, so you cannot twist it into Tablet mode. But IF it is turned on and the salesperson IS knowledgeable, its still hard-coded into that el lameo Flashy demo, hence you can't really 'experience' the full feel, except some minor generic demo handwriting with basic reco, but 95% never get to that stage anyways. And the superstores never have current product. All the Toshiba's I saw at Best Buy were infamously dust-coated.

One things for sure, leaving it to "general advertising" and Microsoft's own PR teams, won't cut it. It is really a grassroots-styled 'see it' product. My guess just takes time, 84 people on that Meet-Up, small but was 0 at start. And sorta "build it, and they will come". Lots of very enthusiastic Tablet'ers out there, not being served. Missed opportunity on Microsofts part methinks, as focus all vertical. But the markets overlap here. Post-Lonestar I expect some pickup, software and hardware at 2nd Generation. Just have to make people aware.

The new Wacom drivers are MUCH worse than the last version, on my Motion Computer m1300.
It works fine in standard landscape mode, but if in portrait mode, or "upside down" landscape mode(MotionComputing puts all the ports on the bottom, uncovered, so i usually run landscape mode upside down, so the ports are available, and not in my lap..)
While the last set of Wacom drivers weren't great (every time you changes orientation, you had to re-calibrate the pen) they worked. The new drivers seems to base it's coordinates when Rt. button is clicked (via side switch) on the standard landscape. So if you rt-click in any other mode, the pointer JUMPS to some other place on the screen, and NOT where you wanted to click. This makes these drivers unusable. I have removed them. I only wish i still had access to the older version!

We have tested it. It only makes sense. Kind of a technology catching up to itself (and demand) situation. You will see this and anything else that makes sense on TA! :-)

Great. When will it be available in US and Europe?

Helge Batt

... but it is a WinCE device (not Tablet PC).
Check out <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=vadem+clio&sa=N&tab=wi">Google search for "Vadem Clio"</a>.
The hinge allows a position for "underhanded" typing. Put it on your lap and slip your hands under the screen (requires touch typing).

I want tomorrow's products today too ;)

"Speaking of, where are Tablet PCs with some decent GPU muscle?" And yes, video too.

Yes, there is plenty of room for more powerful designs. (You could pay just over $6000 for a Portege M200 with the 1.7GHz, 2GB of memory, bluetooth, 80GB hard drive, etc.) Luckily, new hardware is not necessary for all Tablet PC users today. I still want a 2lb, 3.6GHz, 256MB graphics, 2GB of memory, 200GB Tablet PC, with always on Internet and great indoor/outdoor display but I have to wait for that too and that doesn't mean that what I have is not usable. :)

"I think its worth waiting for a "Designed for Longhorn" labelled tablet."

I enjoy statements like these! :) I think your follow-up statement, Edward, was right on. People will have to keep applying the adage, "Buy what you can use today". If today you want to save ink notes that you took during a meeting or a research project, sketches for a new product or advertising design, fill out forms repeatedly, work away from a desk, or see some other direct use of ink and mobility for you, then today's Tablet PCs have value to you. Can you increase your organization and productivity by using one? Some companies are recovering the expense by decreasing employee labor time in just 6 months. (Afterall, labor is expensive.)

You're both right in that hardware in 2006 will be different from hardware in 2004. We do know that mobile PCs in 2006 will be more like Tablet PCs of 2004 than notebook PCs of 2003. There are components that will be the perfect thing to have on a machine with Longhorn that are not close to production today. At the same time, the Tablet PCs of 2004 will need more power for Tablet PC Longhorn developers to keep moving forward. It will be nice when everyone can benefit from the changes they require.

Yes, I was always a big fan of the Clio design. Too bad it didn't really take off, and no other manufacturer ever had anything quite like it. Maybe there were some practicality issues?

Yeah ... I delete them. :)

I'm in the same boat... I do try to delete them like Woody has said, but there are times when I don't even get into a feed until the info is either not interesting anymore or not relevant. I use NewsGater as well, and like it a lot... an inheritable archive would be nice... hmm.. sounds like and add-in possibility.

I guess I'm not the only one thrilled with the changes in Infopath. All week I have been talking with either people at work or elsewhere that are totally pumped about the new functionality included in the "preview". As well, I've noticed that every morning when I check out my search folder in Outlook that I have configured for Infopath there are usually like 10 new posts of people talking about it. Peter at Tabula PC seems pretty thrilled with the new Infopath and has included some screenshots of how the ink support works. I was also very pleased when I loaded a form up for the first time on my Tablet and I noticed that I had more options for filling out forms via the Tablet. As well, the improvements for tying directly to Sharepoint lists and working with secondary datasources are tremendous. Working with data sources and expression boxes before was kinda weak. However now I have been able to turn some kinda OK forms into some pretty sweet pieces of work. All without the help of a developer. Not bad for a business geek. I can now feel more comfortable recommending solutions to clients that include Infopath,...

I guess I'm not the only one thrilled with the changes in Infopath. All week I have been talking with either people at work or elsewhere that are totally pumped about the new functionality included in the "preview". As well, I've noticed that every morning when I check out my search folder in Outlook that I have configured for Infopath there are usually like 10 new posts of people talking about it. Peter at Tabula PC seems pretty thrilled with the new Infopath and has included some screenshots of how the ink support works. I was also very pleased when I loaded a form up for the first time on my Tablet and I noticed that I had more options for filling out forms via the Tablet. As well, the improvements for tying directly to Sharepoint lists and working with secondary datasources are tremendous. Working with data sources and expression boxes before was kinda weak. However now I have been able to turn some kinda OK forms into some pretty sweet pieces of work. All without the help of a developer. Not bad for a business geek. I can now feel more comfortable recommending solutions to clients that include Infopath,...

I'm a teacher and I've been wanting an application which I could use to take students through the writing process. I'd like to be able to ink a draft, then in the revision stage be able to have an overlay pop in areas where students wish to add inked revisions. The ink should then become typed text and should move surrounding text so that it can imbed itself. Is this possible with InfoPath or is it only a forms based application?

Nancy, apart from being somewhat difficult to obtain for the casual user (InfoPath is more for corporate deployments), it is definitely mostly a forms oriented, XML friendly tool to collect data.

What you describe sounds great, but I would see that as maybe something in the next revision of OneNote. Unfortunately, certainly nothing I know of today (anybody else, feel free to correct me) provides quite such functionality.

Thanks Peter. I was able to get a copy of OneNote from Microsoft but days later had to return the Tablet PC I had on loan from Gateway. I have it sitting on my desk. I've got to get my hands on another Tablet so I can try it out. You know, if tablet manufacturers want to make some large sales they really should facilitate getting tablets into the hands of teachers who are willing to break ground creating lessons and trying out what works. Oh well, I'll keep pressing and find a way! BTW, love your blog and read it daily!

Don't forget the Visual Studio pack for InfoPath. There are still going to be opportunities for developers. I've been converting Forms all day.

I'm just not clear on release dates, previews, and roll-out schedules. But this should certainly get some "attention units" from the Tablet community.

Fritz

Yeah, nice feature, too bad some of the news stories come back after deleting them... MS is working on a fix...

I know it's a shameless plug for my own company's products, but neither of them is mentioned here despite their quite capable note-taking features. The first is FranklinCovey's award winning TabletPlanner. The second is the newly-released GoBinder. GoBinder is an organizer designed specifically for students, and includes the same note-taking functionality as TabletPlanner 3.0, but at a student-oriented price. Don't take my word for it-- try them for free at http://www.tabletplanner.com and http://www.gobinder.com . Let us all know if you like or dislike them.

-James
Agilix

Have you tried this one? This is the one that I'm getting. I won't be using mine much while trying to hold it and the exta features are very important to me. In fact, the extra features *are* what sold me on it.

Actually, I have tried it on a few occasions, although not really by carrying it around. Fot my personal tastes, it would be too big and heavy, since I carry my tablet around a lot. And I very rarely need to use an optical drive. However, I can easily see a large market that wants exactly what the C300 offers, and won't be cradling it in one arm a lot. The sales figures probably confirm that. And that's the nice thing about the tablet market - there's something for (almost) everybody.

I'd say the C300 is not aimed at the market that the Tablet PC originally targeted. I can't see anyone walking around cradling this thing in one arm and inking for any exptended period of time. For that, it is too heavy.

However, for those who need a "desktop replacement" tablet (use it as a laptop, ink once in a while), it is fantastic. As a developer, I fall into this category, and I love it.

I don't have a Tablet PC, but InfoPath 2003 SP-1 has plenty of other new and useful features for form designers and developers. Multiple digital signatures for individual code blocks, event-based rules, and user roles based on Active Directory security group membership or field values. Integration with managed Visual Basic .NET or Visual C# code is seamless.

There are a few examples of forms using these new SP-1 features at http://www.oakleaf.ws/infopath/. Check them out.

--rj

Actually thats just less than 3 notebooks...but whose counting! :)

I was thinking that a good idea might be a small pen that fits on the index finger... much like a finger pick for a guitar. This way, the user is still using the natural and easy way of pointing to what he/she wants, while not being able to acciently click anything with the palm of their hand or with any other object for that matter.

Apple fits all of the same hardware (and more) into a 6.9 pound, 1 inch thick package. Sure, it's and Apple and costs $1000 more, but you expect to pay a premium for Apple hardware. You'd think a PC manufacturer could come up with something close. Even the behemoth from Toshiba weighs in at slightly under 10 pounds for around the same price. How exactly is Acer going to "re-establish itself in the notebook market" with this monster. What a joke!!

Hello, I am very new to Tablet and Infopath, and this blog - so this may seem like a silly question - but I am unable to enter Ink into the field as demonstrated by "Peter" above - could someone tell me how I get the fields to allow this sort of entry? I'll be returning to read the posts as I'm very interested in learning as much as I can. I don't have Longhorn, just WinXP Tablet Ed., could this be the problem?

Hi, Shari! Glad to have you among my three and a half readers. :-) You don't need Lonestar for the ink features to work in InfoPath. However, you have to make sure you do have the InfoPath 2003 SP1 preview, and it's running on a Tablet PC. The original version of InfoPath didn't have this new functionality.

ok, i won't

Follow on to this blog from Tabula PC, Wiping the slate clean, which has some really interesting thoughts on whether or not it would be good to have separate Windows CDs (and etc.) with the OEM computers we buy. Bottom

How to fix your dead watch - take it apart When I first heard about the SPOT watch (which was long, long ago) I wanted one. When I started seeing pictures of them and the prices, I realized they weren't...

me neither

you have it all wrong !
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/33584

I&#8217;ve gone through a series of approaches to organize my life and tasks over the past 4-5 years. The goals are to find one system that would allow me to keep track of my calendar, tasks, goals, and a diary...

I AGREE WITH YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY. I WOULD HAVE BEEN OUTRAGED AND MAYBE BORDERLINE PHYSICAL. UNFORTUNATELY THESE UNDERPAID DOORPERSONNEL ARE NOT PAID TO THINK WITH RESPECTFULLY AND LOGICALLY.

IT MAY TAKE A FEW INCIDENTS BEFORE THEY REALIZE THAT THEY'RE POLICY IS OVERBEARING AND OFFENSIVE AND UNNECESSARY.

IM SORRY IT WAS YOUR TABLET THAT WAS VIOLATED, BUT THANKS FOR LEADING THE WAY TO CHANGE.

LEO

Regarding the Snipping Tool update, that comment was probably by me. It has been code complete since early October last year. Technically it's been in testing since then but I think it's just been pushed down on the priority list.

It uses a lot of memory because it does a lot of image manipulation both for storing snips and for the undo/redo buffers. One thing that will cause new images to be created for undo/redo is annotating past the margins up or to the left in the editor. However, it's not as much of a hog as you might think. The app is written using .NET which manages memory automatically and if your system isn't using much memory it will allocate a large working set for the app to draw on. If your system needs the memory, the CLR (.NET Common Language Runtime) will reduce the working set size. This is why .NET apps look like they are using a lot of memory compared to other apps but they're really not. Also memory isn't released back to the system unless there's memory pressure, i.e. the system needs it. As .NET manages memory automatically, it does periodic garbage collection to release memory but these collections only happen if there's pressure.

Hopefully I haven't got too technical but allayed any negative perceptions that it uses memory in a blasé way.

No link to Zamora?

Blimey! Thank you! I never noticed that I forgot to link to the actual page, which was the whole point of the post. Duh.

Kollen, thanks for the update. Any news on when the updated version might be released? Any beta testing opportunities? :-)

The .NET memoty management explanation makes sense. I think initially some people were surprised that such a seemingly "small" tool (even though it's pretty complex) starts up with so much memory. Of course, the whole thing could get developers started on CLR issues and the whole garbage collector bit, but that's neither here nor there.

At any rate, the Snipping Tool has always been one of the few tablet-specific applications that I may not use often, but absolutely insist on always having available, because when I do need it, it's priceless. I hope the update brings some neat new features.

I worked at Best Buy this past summer and Christmas as a compter sales guy. The people upfront are called "LP" or "Loss Prevention" and it sounds as if the ones you encountered are fairly stupid. Sorry about that. The point of the pink sticker is indeed to control shrinkage. By putting that pink sticker on your laptop, they know that you brought the laptop with you and won't have to look for the purchase of a laptop on your receipt. While Best Buy isn't currently selling tabletPC's (as of two months ago), they did sell the Toshiba 3500 and putting the pink sticker on it helps to ensure that you did not steal it.

I hope that clarifies things and I"m sorry that LP people you encountered were dumb.

-Scott

Scott, thanks for the follow-up explanation. Actually, at one Best Buy in Maryland I even saw an Acer...hmm, well C1xx series model last year, so some stores might even carry tablets, although it seems to change frequently.

I guess my whole "never worked in retail so can't judge these things first hand and thus am talking out my butt" view is that I could more easily understand that sort of policy with smaller items. But laptops, which are normally locked up or on high shelves, and would have to be taken out of many layers of boxes and wrapping, just don't seem like something that should be easily stolen. If they are being nabbed often, than the store has some serious security issues.

But yes, I know that all stores (like life in general), have good and bad people, and there's no point in making generalizations based on the actions of a few employees. Again, thanks for the note.

Thanks. I went and read the article. Too bad they don't offer suggestions on safe ways to clean your keyboard. I'm assuming just using alcohol on a cloth/paper towel will do the trick and not damage anything.

I usually spend some time every week using a can of compressed air to blow it out, and shake things out of it. Alcohol on the keys would probably be a good thing too.

Yep, same here. I thought I was doing something wrong. I actually haven't tried using it any further because i couldn't get the gestures to work. I'm also using SP2 with Lonestar.

Oh, goody. Not that I am happy that it is happening, but at least I know I'm not going nuts. Now I really wonder if it's SP2. Just like you, Steve, I haven't played with it a lot, because I loved the gestures in the previous release, and without them the tablet experience suffers greatly.

I've probably misunderstood your wished-for item, "a way to synchronize notebooks on multiple computers." For it's almost unthinkable that you'd have overlooked something about which I am competent. Just in case, here's the easy fix:

Set-up one of your two computers to run one or more folders/directories in an "offline mode" -- e.g., you might map a drive from one of the computers to the "My Notebook" folder (used by OneNote) on the other computer. Whenever salve computer is reconnected to the network, you'll then be able automatically to synchronize the two computers. (Both 2000 and XP are set-up for automatic such synchronization between two computers.) You'll also need to adjust the settings inside of OneNote: on the slave computer, open OneNote and go into Tools and then Options, and then the "Open and Save" settings, and adjust the Path of "My Notebook", pointing it at the relevant mapped drive.

I regularly use OneNote on both my desktop and notebook computers. I keep them synchronized via the above procedure. It works wonderfully well! I never have to worry that work done on one computer won't make its way into the My Notebook folder on the other computer.

Again, I have probably misunderstood your wished-for-item. If so, no offense intended.

Lex, actually, you didn't misunderstand. It was my fault for not mentioning offline folders. However, I have a number of problems with that method. I have to open up firewall ports. I have share and make the files available offline. I might possibly have to adjust permissions, depending on the user credentials. I have to change the default OneNote file locations.

Think about all that. It may be easy for a competent user, but what about your generic person that can barely make two computers talk to each other? It just takes too many steps. Plus handling the merging of changes could get tricky when both computers are running OneNote simultaneously and accessing the same files, which is something I would do all the time.

Like you said, it is certainly doable, and probably works well enough, but try explaining it to your average user. :-)

Please do. Preferably in words of one syllable or less ;)

I still can't get one PC to see the other, let alone sync folders...

The combination of OneNote and offline files is definitely a winner. It handles conflicting changes quite gracefully - the default action on synchronization is to keep both versions of a file, which then appear in OneNote as two different tabs in your notebook. And yes, then you have to work out how to reconcile your changes, but since OneNote keeps your last viewstate in both tabs (i.e. what pages you were looking at - which are normally the ones you last changed!) this is pretty easy.

I believe we (i.e. Microsoft) are now recommending offline files combined with folder redirection onto a server as a best practice. We're certainly using it internally - having My Documents be a gigabyte of backed-up space on a fileserver that is *also* available offline on my tabletpc is very nice indeed...

UPNP (Universal Plug and Play) provides similar functionality to Apple's Rendevous... but has been hobbled due to security concerns. The sad thing is that Rendevous is similarly flawed, and Apple knows about it... but they aren't issuing a fix. Because the security researcher that found the hole is a good citizen (i.e. not releasing info about the hole to the public until Apple fixes it) Apple has no real reason to issue a patch.

Obviously, with less people attacking Macs this kind of stuff is less of a concern. However, self-discovery and automatic sharing is a dangerous thing, and not something to be implemetned lightly.

Yes, the idea of devices finding each other on a network automatically always leads to security fears. But UPnP has been around for so long, and it's still not viable. I mean, it can't take decades to come up with a secure system of device discovery - I thought technology was moving at a faster pace these days. :-)

The reason this happens is that installation of an application that registers an old version of the Microsoft Office typelibrary on the machine horks the typelib registration. Basically, there's a nasty bug in MSI that while if you register a new version of a typelib SxS with an old one, that's fine, but if you do it in the other order, the old one will wipe the newer one's registration out! This was causing so much trouble -- most people don't write their code assuming that you're not going to be able to get a standard marshaller for your Office CommandBar types -- that we actually did work during startup to make sure that this case didn't happen and issue a repair of the product, which causes re-registration of the type library in the better order (old, then new), which fixes things up.

Of course, it opens up a whole new set of issues related to the fact that multiple products install and register the MSO library and you can't really tell whom *actually* needs to be repaired in order to fix the registration...

Yes, the repair isn't ideal. The alternatives were a dialog box stating that you should go back to add/remove programs and do a repair, trying to manually fix the registry by running out and writing the keys (can't actually do that -- remember the normal user!), and just leaving it as it was, with dialog boxes that popped up and said E_FAIL when you tried to use features. Not the kind of choice you enjoy making.

It should definitely be out before Summer (northern hemisphere) - note that's not official in any way.

I'll let you know when a beta is available. It's not a major release, the version will be 1.1. The most notable differences will be support to send an image to OneNote and dropping of the requirement to have Office installed.

I'm 100% With you - syncing between machines is the number 1 issue with onenote which offline folders doesn't fix.

Kollen, you just made my day!

They changed the basic gestures this time around. Try the "X5 on Tablet PC Overview" on the Tablet tab for more info.

Tom, I have brought up the help tab that shows all the gestures, and try as I might, none of my attempts work. I mean, drawing a simple horizontal or vertical line is pretty straightforward. Even I can do that. :-)

Are you starting the gesture outside the box? The old way you had to start your mark from within the parent field. The new way, you just highlight the parent field, then start to draw a line anywhere else on the screen, but just not from within the parent field. I can send you some screens when I get home if you like....

Actually, I have tried both from within and just anywhere with the item selected. From what it looks like, it's a compatibility issue with the current beta build of SP2.

I haven't tried the SP yet due to concerns that it might affect my production environment. Sounds like that was a lucky decision.
Hope they get it working, though. Used MMX5 on a TC1000 for a 4 hour meeting this morning and it really is a nice improvement from the old version. Had planned on buying it when my 21 days were up, but after reading your other post on this I think I'll wait til they address this issue. Thanks- Tom

Well, don't hold off on account of a beta release of a service pack that won't be released for another 3-4 months. I'm sure by then the problem will be resolved. If it works for you, and you have the need for it now, go with it.

Offline files and OneNote was a complete abomination for me. I highly unrecommend it. the conflicts, resultant duped files, "changed on both locations" etc, were a complete mess.

I would never consider that as "a winner"

Mine has said No Info on the watch face all day long now...

"The Mail app can now even talk to Exchange."

Sort of. Not really. You can't really find any real solid on Apple's website about it. The biggest problem is that Mail.app doesn't support the most common authentication protocol that Exchange servers tends to use. It also doesn't bring you all the cool collaborationg stuff, even if you could log in.

"Sometimes I wish that Microsoft would just split the Windows and Office teams. "

Yipes. That sounds even more confusing... Besides, Microsoft has lately been selling a Student and Teacher version of its Office products.

SP2 RC1 released yesterday. I've seen one report in the beta newsgroups that it fixed the issue in MindManager 2002. I presume it has done the same for X 5.1. I'm downloading RC1 now. I'll let you know if I find out before you. :)

1. The Abacus AU4000 watch discharges often due to static electricity. Rebooting the watch by pushing the three buttons on the right hand side of the watch for 10 seconds rarely works. The only reliable ways to get the watch to reboot is to (1) put the watch on the charger or (2) disconnect the battery. Fossil has not done a product recall so there is nothing you can do to remedy this product defect.

2. The extremely uncomfortable metal Abacus AU4000 watch band can be removed by cutting it off with sheet metal scissors. Although the antennae is in the band, the MSN Direct Signal can be restored to 100% by opening up the watch, removing the remaining copper plates from the watch band, replacing the copper plates with aluminum foil strips where the band connected to each side of the watch, and using an FM antennae (touching the aluminum foil) to strengthen the signal. Note: Removing the band voids the warranty and the Metro Service Center will refuse to do any warranty work if the band is removed.

3. MSN Direct content is not uploaded regularly to the watch. Regardless of the signal strength, their web site states it may take “several hours” for content to be refreshed. There is a button on their website that allows you to refresh the content, but you are fortunate to get it to upload data even 1 or 2 times/day. This renders the instant messaging, weather, stock, and news functions virtually useless, since they are not downloaded to the watch and refreshed on a real-time basis.

Bottom line, the Abacus AU4000 in conjunction with MSN direct is an enjoyable science experiment, but has little to no value to the consumer. My recommendation, don’t spend the $200, until these technologies have time to mature further.

Don't forget for a developer or a systems integrator this could be very useful. There are a million and one reasons why people might wanna test how a box handles crashes!

Entrada no documentada en el Registro de Windows XP permite crear un BSOD desde el teclado.

Utiler

The reason that the Gateway has a button that brings up the task manager is probably the same as my Motion, its a Ctrl-Alt-Delete button. Pressing that combination in the windows desktop brings up the task manager. It's useful when logging onto corporate networks and stuff like that.

The photo functionality is really quite impressive. I've used it a few times, and was very pleased. I like it because (unlike OFoto) the people can download full-resolution copies of the photos if they want, as well as pay-per-print services.

Good stuff.

Of course, if I had to pay $20/mo for it I wouldn't.

I thought MSN Premium was $9.95 per month, no? That was my othe