"Bill made a comment about how he met with you recently and you had 'switched' from a Mac to a Motion tablet," wrote Brier Dudley, a technology reporter for the Seattle Times who covered the Monday meeting.
"He said you came to the interview with a tablet, so he didn't have to make the tablet pitch to you. Is that correct, that you have switched from a Mac to a Tablet PC?"
Holy Cupertino. Where did Gates ever get that idea? (Source: MIKE WENDLAND, Detriot Free Press)
The new TC4200 Tablet PC from HP is an exciting product. At only 4.5 lbs. and powered by the Sonoma-based Intel Pentium M processor, this convertible Tablet PC functions as the perfect powerhouse travel companion. The TC4200 also sports a 1.3" thick, sturdy and roadworthy casing, a bright 12" electromagnetic display and operates as a perfect sub-notebook and a fully-functional Tablet PC.
Of honorable mention is the improved Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 video architecture. For users who require more punch and performance for graphics editing and 3D, this new video solution, although not "dedicated" (it shares system memory), promises significant gains over the consumer-level "Intel Extreme Graphics" chips found in the majority of Centrino Tablet PC's and notebooks.
With the "finger mouse" pointing device and the professional look and solid feel, the TC4200 closely resembles an IBM ThinkPad which is a good thing! (Source: Barry J. Doyle, TabletPCReviewSpot)
Posted Thursday, May 5, 2005 by ChrisD Rating: 2.13Comments ()
Designed for the woman who needs to be able to do it all, Jackie's design combines a briefcase, Tablet PC or laptop) bag, purse and makeup bag into one easy to carry leather tote that allows a allows a woman to walk into a meeting or through an airport carrying everything she needs in one bag.
The all leather Jackie tote has a padded compartment with strap to keep your Tablet secure, a section for personal items or papers,. spaces for business cards, pens, two accessories pockets that can hold a cell phone or a PDA, interior key clip, large zippered compartment, and an additional large exterior pocket that snaps closed, and if that were not enough the designer of this tote even included a separate detachable zippered bag for makeup or other small items and last but not least pink ribbon breast cancer key chain. (Source: Linda A. Epstein, TabletPC2)
While tablet PC prices are dropping, the devices still cost more than the average laptop. Therefore, enhanced productivity is essential to justifying the extra expense. In this videocast, we look at some real-world examples and discuss how to maximize ROI with the tablet. Requires Free Registration (Source: ZDNet)
Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2005 by ChrisD Rating: 2Comments ()
I�m back on the Tablet again�and loving it once more. Whatever I think of Microsoft�s slipping grip on the rest of the network OS, there�s no doubt that the Tablet continues to go where noone has gone before. As those of you who downloaded the Podshow strategycast now know, I�ve signed with Adam Curry and Ron Bloom to produce a series of shows for their new company. In addition to reincarnating the Gillmor Gang, I will also deliver a daily program, ironically called Gillmor Daily, produced with the CastBlaster software on, yes, the Tablet.
Back to the Tablet. The first thing I�ve noticed since the last time I used the form factor (a year or so ago with an HP unit) is how powerful the Firefox Wave is. I call it the Firefox Wave as a tribute (and commentary) on the Longhorn Wave of yore, where we all were Scobleized and then Allchin Taxed and then Allchin Reset and now Tiger Counter Punched. But this time I�ve been determined to retain cross-platform compatibility and redundancy via Firefox, Skype, Rojo, and GMail. In doing so I�ve sacrificed a bit of Tablet engineering in Firefox, which does not support (Brendan?) in-place ink recognition as IE does. So I have to use the frozen UI at the bottom of the screen for text input into Firefox requesters. Skype, AIM, and Windows Messenger clients support in-place, and Messenger supports ink directly, which shifts my IM traffic to Scoble from the terse to the illegible. I love Robert trying to decode my scrawl�world�s fastest typist reduced to smoke signals. (Source: Steve Gilmour's InfoRouter, ZDNet)
The original was widely seen as slow and clunky - very unlike the new model which has the "Sonoma" chipset, launched by Intel this year as the latest "Centrino" technology. As a result of their memories of the old one, the European marketing team decided to hold off a launch of the new - with the exception of the UK, where the product is now in good demand.
Product managers in the UK decided that the new machine looked like a winner, and decided to discount much of the early negative feedback which the earlier model had generated. "We placed an order with the factory as soon as machines were available," commented one UK executive, "and now, the rest of Europe is suddenly pleading with us for stock." (Source: Guy Kewney, Newswireless.net)
Read Bill Gate's answers to the following questions:
Before we have to wrap things up, I wanted to ask you about Tablet PC. According to IDC, only 1.3% of all PCs sold last year were Tablet PCs. Is that good enough? Were those the sorts of numbers that you were expecting when you launched the platform a few years ago?
How far away are we from that (mainstream), do you think?
But doesn�t what you just said point to the fact that a big part of the problem isn�t just hardware and software, that it�s also with the way the Tablet PC has been marketed?
So I�ll be able to get my Tablet Media Center PC? (Source: Peter Rojas, Engadget)
People often tell me that, yes - Tablet PCs are cool and yes - pen input and digial ink add features and flexibility that a notebook just can't match. They will even go so far as to say these features would save them time. And yet these same people tell me that they won't buy a tablet at this time for the following two reasons:
Tablets are more expensive than an equivilant laptop
Tablets are underpowered.
Last week I posted a hypothetical example that demonstrated that, over the life of a mobile computer, the marginal cost of a tablet over a laptop was minimal.
This week I'm taking it a step further. I've identified a Toshiba Tecra M2 PM725 laptop and a HP TC1100 tablet that are similar. Both have 512MB RAM running on a 333MHz FSB and and a 5400 RPM hard drive. The laptop has a bigger screen (14.1" vs. 10.4") and a faster CPU (1.6GHz instead of 1.2GHz) and the tablet is lighter, more flexible and has a bigger hard drive (60GB instead of 40GB) and is more portable. But really performance will be about the same (so that takes care of point 2). (Source: Bog:: Craig Pringle)
A special show with a special guest. James and I had the pleasure to sit down (in three time zones) with a member of the First Family of the Tablet PC, Lora Heiny. Lora is well known to most everyone involved in the Tablet PC community and we had a wonderful conversation that covered a lot of ground.
In the interview we find out how many web sites and blogs the First Family is directly involved with (more than two dozen) and Lora fills us in on all the fun things shown at WinHEC including the convertible Tablet with the sliding screen, Bill Gates� UMPC and the Intel Entertainment slate. We also talk about some of the newest Tablet PCs that have been recently announced and how the different choices confronting the prospective consumer meet anyone�s needs. (Source: James Kendrick, thetabletpcweblog)
San Diego-based EKM Corp., an award-winning knowledge discovery systems technology firm, continues to lead the electronic lab notebook (ELN) market with added features such as Digital Ink. Digital Ink technology allows users to handwrite notes directly onto a tablet PC by using a stylus.
EKM's Digital Ink technology, provided with Microsoft Windows for the Tablet PC Edition, is now compatible with the enterprise and team versions of the company's LABTrack ELN. LABTrack - software that runs on any Windows-based device - is the first electronic lab notebook based on a scientific word processor platform that allows researchers to format electronic pages that mirror paper-based notebooks. With Digital Ink, LABTrack users can now quickly jot down notes and draw directly onto the notebook pages when typing on a keyboard isn't convenient.
Digital Ink gives LABTrack users the choice of converting their handwriting immediately into text or saving it as ink on the notebook page and converting it into text at a later time.
"The benefit is that by using mobile devices such as Tablet PCs, researchers can enter information immediately and very quickly," said Richard Stember, LABTrack creator and CEO of EKM's Scientific Division. "The Electronic Lab Notebook should be as easy to use as paper - and now it is."
EKM incorporated digital ink into LABTrack with Austin, Texas-based Motion Computing, one of the leading suppliers of tablet PC's.
"It puts us way ahead of the competition," Stember said. "We're bypassing the ELN competitors in leaps and bounds."
About LABTrack:
LABTrack is the notebook of choice used by research, analytical, production and academic laboratories. LABTrack can be tailored to fit any organization's processes and procedures, existing notebooks, templates and reports.
EKM offers three versions of LABTrack - Personal, Team and Enterprise.
The Personal version, which can be used on any PC running Windows, is ideal for the individual researcher. The Team version is a server-based application designed for small to medium groups of researchers who can access the lab notebook to add info, make changes and to collaborate in real time. The Enterprise version is a powerful and flexible server-based collaborative application that can be accessed by several thousand users in a large corporation or academic/research institution, including top-level management.
For more information please visit www.labtrack.com (Source: Press Release, Business Wire)
Digital course materials and tools developed through a groundbreaking alliance between the University of Virginia ( UVa ), Microsoft Corp. ( Nasdaq: "MSFT" ), HP ( NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ ) and Thomson Learning, a part of The Thomson Corporation ( NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC ), are having a positive impact on learning in the UVa classes taking part in the collaboration. According to study results released today, the majority of participating students report that the tools either increased understanding or retention of class content, or stimulated greater interest in coursework.
The results mark the first research findings of the pilot project that was launched at the start of the 2004 academic year aimed at identifying and measuring the value high-tech tools and rich digital content could bring to students and instructors*. The first phase of the project involved 362 UVa students enrolled in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' fall 2004 biochemistry, psychology and statistics classes, as well as their instructors. Students participating in the technology-rich courses provided formal evaluations of the tools and materials and gave predominantly positive feedback on the content, Microsoft� Office OneNote� 2003 software and the HP Tablet PC 1100. A number of benefits and advantages emerged from the study, including the following:
Digital materials and advanced tools can stimulate students' interest in their courses . Sixty-seven percent of the surveyed students reported an increased interest in the course as a result of using the integrated digital solution. Thomson Learning's online resources helped students understand and retain class material . On average, 66 percent of students reported that Thomson resources and content improved their understanding of a topic and 62 percent reported Thomson resources improved their ability to retain/remember. Microsoft OneNote note-taking software had a beneficial impact on learning . Seventy-one percent of the surveyed students reported an improved ability to understand and remember class content, using the software in class lectures and specially designed templates as study aids. HP Tablet PCs are valuable additions to course materials. Eighty-three percent of students viewed the HP Tablet PC as favorable, and approximately 80 percent of students used the Tablet PC for applications beyond the pilot class such as note-taking in other classes and e-mail. "We're always examining ways to reinvent traditional approaches to learning and teaching to better serve our students and bolster their academic performance," said Edward L. Ayers, Dean of Arts and Sciences at UVa. "These results are exciting in that they hint at the value the right combination of advanced technology, content and learning applications can bring to the classroom. Given how dramatically the academic environment has evolved in recent years in terms of how students learn, how faculties teach and how course materials are produced and used, digital learning programs such as the ones we're examining could prove critically important in helping students, faculty and institutions continue to achieve their best and maintain solid footing in a changing environment."
The program combined Thomson's rich library of digital content and e-learning applications with Microsoft OneNote software and HP Tablet PCs, allowing students to take digital handwritten and/or typed notes anywhere on the page, and access the interactive educational platform from any location. In addition, the technology and content package enabled students to collaborate with each other and communicate digitally with their instructor in real time on campus and in wireless classrooms. These fully integrated learning-centered course packages also included animations and simulations, such as three-dimensional models of molecular models and other complex discussion items, to facilitate understanding of a given topic.
"The primary goal of the pilots is to identify the innovative educational solutions that best help students and instructors," said Steve Rago, senior vice president, Thomson Learning. "As our customers grow more interested in digital content and tools, we need to explore more options for meeting their needs and providing them with the tools best able to enhance their performance."
To measure the impact of the materials on participants, multiple evaluation measurements were applied, including Internet surveys, focus groups, classroom observations and course evaluations. The data was gathered anonymously to preserve student confidentiality. Faculty also offered pre-semester, mid-semester and post-assessment interviews.
"The positive results of these inventive pilots at UVa clearly demonstrate the value of integrating technology into the college curriculum, thereby boosting student achievement and transforming the classroom experience," said Cathy Martin, director, Education and Government, HP. "HP is pleased to participate in these collaborative projects with Thomson Learning and Microsoft, bringing our innovative technology solutions for the digital classroom together to better address individual learning styles."
To help guide the development and assessment of the program, each sponsor outlined key educational goals they hoped the program would achieve. One of Microsoft's primary reasons for participating, in addition to contributing to student achievement, was to understand how technology could be used to expand the classroom experience beyond classroom walls and, possibly, stimulate continual learning. By providing students with access to integrated online resources, both in and outside the class, Microsoft will be able to gauge technology's role in supporting continual learning. Similarly, by collaborating with Thomson, Microsoft and HP on this pilot, UVa has been able to identify the utility of new materials as well as focus on short- and long-term issues that affect their use in the classroom. These elements will continue to be examined and measured as the project progresses.
"Microsoft works hand in hand with the educational community to foster greater understanding of technology's role in supporting continual learning," said Linda Zecher, vice president of the U.S. Public Sector at Microsoft. "The positive results of these innovative pilot projects tell us we are moving in the right direction and will help open the door to development of even better and more relevant tools to help teachers and students reach their full potential."
As the pilots proceed at UVA and elsewhere, Thomson Learning Labs, based in Stamford, will work closely with academic institutions and business partners to build electronic products that combine high-value content and applications to make institutions more effective, instructors more productive and improve student learning.
These collaborations will involve four-year colleges and universities, two-year community colleges, online distance-education programs and the for-profit post-secondary sector. A key objective will be to measure the educational impact of next-generation tools for teaching and learning. (Source: Press Release, i-Newswire)
Still, there are a number of programming techniques that haven't been discussed online, at least as far as I've been able to tell. While some of these techniques are a little "out there," the majority could be useful in a variety of scenarios. Unfortunately, a scenario that single-handed tied together all the techniques was too hard for me to imagine.
Instead, I'm going to present a bunch of techniques that I've used in various places (and, honestly, came up with for the purposes of this article) in small programs that have no function other than to demonstrate the techniques themselves. Some techniques require very little code, others require larger chunks. Hopefully all will be easy after you've read this article, but I've ranked them in order of how hard they were for me. Here, then, Larry's Stupid Pen Tricks. (Source: Larry O'Brien, Tablet PC Developer)
A friend of mine has a very talented 5-year old daughter who has been using a Tablet PC to draw pictures. You can see her hard at work on a Tablet PC at http://www.helencards.com/. Her dad, Paul, has used Microsoft�s Small Business Center (was called bCentral) to make these available to anyone willing to purchase his daughter�s artwork. Paul was recently telling me how easy it is to use the Small Business Center to setup and run this small business, and it makes me want to dream up some business too, but I think I�m already busy enough with my day+ job. (Source: Brian Groth's Life at Microsoft Blog)
Posted Monday, May 2, 2005 by ChrisD Rating: 3.5Comments ()
You don't have individual documents in EverNote. You simply open the program, and everything you've written or pasted is there, much as if you were opening a traditional notebook, the sort you used in school. So, you might see a bunch of letters, reports and diary entries, all on the same long scrolling screen. Finding individual entries is easy, as we shall see, and the program constantly saves your work automatically.
You can, of course, type traditional text into EverNote. But it will accept much more. For example, when you install the program, it places a button at the top of Internet Explorer. When you are surfing the Web and come across a page you want to keep, you press the EverNote button, and the page -- graphics and all -- is quickly pasted as a new note in EverNote. It's like you clipped a page from a magazine and pasted it in your notebook.
EverNote is smart enough to know where one note ends and the next one begins, making it easy to hop from one to another. And the right-hand side of the screen sports several navigation aids to move up and down in your roll of notes. For example, a vertical calendar lets you quickly move to the notes you wrote, say, three weeks ago.(Source: Lee Gomes, The Wall Street Journal, BaltimoreSun.com)
Posted Monday, May 2, 2005 by ChrisD Rating: 5Comments ()
Copyright 2001 - 2012 Chris De
Herrera, All Rights Reserved A member of the
Talksites
Family of Websites
All Trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
