CutMeLoose.com

iPodlounge iPod Accessory Review | Apple Color 4G iPod 20/60GB Review

Good review on the new iPods by Jeremy Horowitz.

Apple Color 4G iPod 20/60GB Review
Pros: Apple’s best iPod yet, with a color screen and user interface, photo display through itself and TV sets, and 17-hour battery life. Great audio quality and overall experience. An affordable, substantial improvement on the black-and-white fourth-generation iPod released less than one year ago.
Cons: Photo display initially requires extended sync process, add-ons required to download photos directly from a camera, or display photos on a TV. Still no way for users to easily replace battery.

Slashdot | David Clark: Rebuild the Internet

"David Clark, who led the development of the internet in the 1970s, is working with the National Science Foundation on a plan for a whole new infrastructure to replace today's global network. The NSF aims to put out a request for proposals in the fall for plans and designs that could lead to what Clark called a 'clean slate' internet architecture. Those designs, Clark said, could be tested on the National LambdaRail, the nationwide optical network that researchers are using to experiment with new networking technologies and applications."

Motion needs to RSS enable their drivers page so we will know when updates are available.

Motion Computing - Drivers

Congratulations, Michael. You'll love your LE1600. And, welcome to the flock!

Simulacrum: I've joined the Tablet PC flock

Check it out!

jkOnTheRun: techADDICTION Show #14 - feel the geek love!

Wired News: GOP Wants to Help Fight Disease

Embryonic stem-cell research that doesn't destroy budding human life? Right now, it's possible only in theory, or on animals. But those alternatives to the most promising stem cell science are enough to win the attention of anti-abortion Republicans and President Bush. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and other GOP lawmakers are considering legislation drawn from a report in May by Bush's Council on Bioethics, which studied research that might carry medical promise but is in its infancy.

Great find by James. The only trouble with this is that I have enough trouble getting one finger to recognize on a consistent basis. 5 would be a nightmare

jkOnTheRun: Tap your PIN

The Electrovaya PowerPad 300 - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Look, we’re gonna keep this simple. Would you be willing to plunk down for a sizeable (12 x 8.75 x 1.2-inches, to be exact) “Lithium-Ion SuperPolymer” battery that could provide you up to 24 hours of laptop life—even if it costs ya 6.6 pounds and $800? Yeah, we would too. Not even a doubt in our minds.

Slashdot | Sun Announces Its First Laptop

Enterprise computer maker Sun Microsystems announced its first-ever laptop yesterday, saying the machine was designed to let engineers and scientists perform demanding computer tasks away from their desks. Sun, which has seen sales fall for the last four years, said that it was also lowering prices for some of its computers by up to 40 percent."

Starbucks to offer free ice cream Wednesday - Jun. 29, 2005

Starbucks Corp., whose sales growth has slowed in recent months, said Tuesday it would give away free ice cream at more than 6,000 of its U.S. coffee shops Wednesday afternoon.

A possible product shot of the iTunes phone?

Slashdot | First Picture of new Motorola iTunes Phone?

Picked this up from Scott Lemon. Great article by Tabletpcbuzz.Com member MiniMage on the virtues of GoBinder.

Blogcritics.org: A TabletPC, Agilix GoBinder, and this Roving Technician

RightFlick for easier shift-click & ctrl-click  for Tablet PCs 

Tablet PC Buzz.com - Forum

Good article by Gary Krakow on tablets and Portables at the >C3 Expo. Although not a fan of tablets, he does see the benefit for some business users

I’m not a fan of using tablet computers myself —but I do see why many business people might disagree. Tablets excel at certain pen-based applications.

GoBinder SDK ... Alpha Code: "
Things are starting to heat up here at Agilix Labs as the GoBinder SDK is now reaching good Alpha stages. I just installed the first cut of the GoBinder SDK (build 931) on my Virtual PC Windows XP machine ... and it's up and running!

The core functionality is there and working, and we even have the first sample 'File System Sync Provider' in place to test with. I'm now beginning the process of writing my own plug-ins ... as a test of the new platform, and my own skills! :-)

It's cool to see things coming along nicely, and we'll soon have some developer forums in place for the SDK. I'm also going to be looking for some developers who want to join an 'early release' program and beta test our SDK. We're looking for .NET developers who want to create some cool plug-ins for our product launch later this year. If you are interested, send me an e-mail: scott.lemon [at] agilix.com



"

(Via Tablet PC Thoughts.)

Great job by Dr. Christopher James on setting up the TabletPCWiki.net site.

Great posts by Warner, chronicling his reinstall process. Very detailed and great observations,

Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2: The Reinstallation Diaries Episdoe I: Preparation

Great article or the internet and its impact on modern culture.

CNN.com - The Internet transforms modern life - Jun 24, 2005

CNN.com - Supreme Court bars Ten Commandments at courthouses - Jun 27, 2005

Check out the Engadget article on why the Tablet PC / Apples OS X install on TabletPCBuzz.com had to be a hoax.

Apple's Intel-based Mac development kits

Review: PhatWare Pen Commander: "

From Josh Einstein:

"It's no secret, I despise Skype. I think their business model is stupid, I think making phone calls from a PC is stupid, I think deviating from a well established standard for VoIP is stupid. Yes I hate Skype.

But lots of people are using it and I am now formally announcing that among more than 20 new features of TEO 3.0, Skype will be supported in the next version! You'll be able to store your pal's Skype info in Outlook and initiate a call to them from within Outlook using your pen. I am not ready to officially commit to doing voice dialing yet but more likely than not, you will see a voice dialer too.

But guess what, I'm also going to support Vonage and Sylantro as well. In fact, Sylantro users will have a MUCH nicer experience than the rest of you. I will discuss that more later.

By the way, TEO development is happening at hyper speed right now thanks to a steady dose of Stacker 2 (with Ephedra) and several cases of C2. Don't ask when it's going to be done cause I don't know. I can't release it until .NET 2.0 is released anyway in November but the beta will open alot sooner.

"

(Via Josh Einstein's Journal.)

I find that when I play games like Minesweeper, FreeCell, and other strategy type games, I do a lot better job with my programming projects. I can think clearer and write better code.

I originally bought the Foof Bag for my 15" Power Book, but I have found it to be a fantastic slipcase for my LE1600 Tablet PC. Its a tad long (maybe by 2 inches) but the width is perfect. Highly recommend it.

My screen protectors from Pocket PC Techs came in. they provide a very nice paper-like writing surface and fix the awful fingerprint issue. Motion should list this on their Accessories page.  Screen protectors should be considered a necessity with slates. $45 is inexpensive when faced with replacing your screen due to scratches

I've been waiting for these.

I won't rehash everything here, but for those of for who have been following my daughters strugglers to past year, check out her forum area for special updates, dated Tuesday and Friday..

A user on Tablet PC Buzz is reporting a driver fix for the intel issues.Tablet PC Buzz.com - Forum

I bought a Dell 1300 mini pci wireless card off of eBay. I installed, and I get 48mb to 54mb throughout the house and no drops. $23.00

Warner points to Phillpe Marjerus’ blog, who is blogging in ink: Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2: Blogging In Ink

 

I like this new, clean, full look and am planning on sticking with it. In addition, I’m also switching to BlogJet to do all my posting. It’ll provide a much cleaner and consistent format.

I've been reevaluating One Note this past week, and I have to tell you that my impressions have changed - for the better. What do I like the most? Note Summary and creating custom note flags. Its' a great set of features for the way I take and review notes.

I can take my notes, flag action items and then click on the summary for a high level overview. An even greater feature is getting a summary of Note Flags over a period time, in a folder, or in a section.

The ability to create custom note flags is a huge plus for personalizing your notes. One area of improvement would be to convert an ink drawing and making a note icon out of it. Some of the icons are cool, but I want to be able to use my own mark up symbols.

I've been using the nice Side Note feature to take quick notes while my daughter has been in the hospital. Its' very quick and unobtrusive in the system tray.

I'm looking forward to the new version, with improvements to ink handling.

I'm having a couple of formatting issues with my blog - I tried switching to another template to give me more room for the articles. Bear with me.

I totally agree with Warner's assessment on Laptop Magazine.

They are too dated to be of any value. Their Editors Choice have tablets that are over a year old.
For goodness sakes, they mention the M1400 as their slate choice? M200 as a convertible choice?
Where is the Thinkpad or even the M4 or HP's TC4200. Come on guys.

To me, Laptop Magazine is becoming an irrelevant source of information, even for a printed magazine.

PocketPCTech is now selling the ever popular screen protectors for the LE1600.

I've used these for both my TC1100 and M200 - they are really nice and provide a paper like writing surface. Highly recommended.

Google CEO: We're not going after PayPal - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

Calling all Tablet PC Artists:

From Warner Crocker:

Tablet PC Artists Apply Here: "

"

(Via Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2.)

I received the LE1600 last Friday. With everything that Motion has done innovation wise to this tablet, I was really excited about the possibilities. I’ve always liked the Motion tablets: I’ve owned 2 of them prior to this one – M1300 and M1400VA. Motion kept up with excellence in design and innovation and there is much to be impressed with in the LE1600.

What did I buy?
1.5 ghz, 60gb, 512mb of RAM.
View Anywhere
Motion pak software
Accessory cable
CD / DVD drive
Bump case
Convertible keyboard
Extended battery
USB keyboard and desktop stand

I purchased a 1gb stick of RAM from Crucial to max out at 1.5 gb of RAM.

Overall impression:
One of my first thoughts when I picked up the tablet was how much lighter and well balanced it felt. It felt very similar in weight to my TC1100. But its' a lot of faster than the TC1100.

I was a little disappointed in how the screen sits a little below the casing. I can’t understand why Motion continues to design their tablets that way. I’d love for the screen to sit flat with the casing. It provides a very smooth surface for your hand and wrist. The TC1100 and the Toshiba tablets are that way, and it makes a big difference in the overall experience.






Writing on the tablet
It has a glass like surface. Having used the M200 and its’ paper-like surface and the TC1100 and its’ glass-like surface, I’ve determined that I really don’t have a preference. For those of you who do, that might be an important factor. I’ve noticed no difference in writing quality.

Handling the tablet
The taper on the back of tablet provides a very nice grip. It never occurred to me when I bought it how much I would appreciate the taper. In addition, the battery has a nice rubberized grip to it. One thing I miss is the hardtop cover that protected the tablet when transporting it in a bag. These were standard with the M1x00 series. I don’t know why they left it out.

On several occasions, the vga port cover came off when I handling the tablet. I’ll likely just remove the cover. Its’ not designed very well to stay connected to the tablet.

The pc card slot has a dummy plastic card to sit in the slot. Its’ very loose and was one of the first things I noticed when I picked it up – it kind of rattles when the plastic card is in the slot. I’ll be putting in a different pc card so it won’t be an issues, but it really sends the wrong message when you first pickup the tablet and hear a rattling noise and feel something moving about. Put a dummy card in there that fits.

This is Motion’s first tablet with a fan. I have yet to hear it turn on. I do notice that it gets warm, but unlike the M1400VA, it does not get hot, even when plugged in to the power supply. Others on TabletPCBuzz.com have reported that it gets hot, though.

Although I prefer a very smooth back on the tablet, the rubber pads are very nice and much improved over the problematic rubber feet on the M1300 and M1400. They don’t interfere too much with the handling of the tablet. When you’ve used as many tablets as I have, you come to appreciate the finer details like a smooth back and a smooth front.

Simply put, the viewing angles on this tablet are simply amazing. Enough said. Look at the pictures.



Wireless
I’ve had periodic issues with my wireless. I switched from the windows client to the Intel Proset, adjusted the power options, and things settled down. It still goes off every now and then. I’m going to play with some different WAP’s and continue to work with tech support on this issue. As a point of reference, I had similar problems with my M1400VA staying connected to my LinkSys WAP and it used the same adapter. When I changed it over to the Dell mini pci card, it worked flawlessly.

There is a button on the side of the tablet that makes it easy to turn on / off wireless. I used it several times during church this past Sunday. Having that kind of accessibility to the wireless device is a productivity saver and saves a lot of mousing around.

Pen
I really like this pen. It feels good and is well balanced. Its’ very similar to the TC1100 pen, but not as heavy. Unlike the Cross pen, you don’t need to press down on the eraser tip in order to erase.



I like how they implemented a balance mechanism so that when the pen lays flat on the tablet or desk, it doesn’t roll away. I wish more OEM’s would implement that feature in their pens.

Fingerprint Reader
I’ve had mixed results with the fingerprint reader. It took me at least 30 minutes to get one finger verified. After doing two swipes with good reads, it consistently failed on the third attempt. I got the best results when swiping away from the tablet – unlike the animation sequence which demoed swiping toward the tablet. The integrated fingerprint reader will be very useful when logging in to websites.

One of the features I like best about the fingerprint reader is that it doubles as a verticle scroll when not being used for security purposes. It also adjusts the orientation depending on the orientation of your tablet. For example, If I’m in landscape mode, I swipe my finger vertically with the reader to go up and down the window. If I’m in portrait mode, I swipe my finger across the short width of the reader. So, you can now use either the finger printer reader or the larger scroll button for your browsing and reading.

One frustration with the fingerprint scrolling is that you have to click on the active window in order to start scrolling, whereas the larger scroll button automatically adjusts itself to the active window.


Battery
As I stated above, the battery has a nice rubberized grip on it. Taking the battery out and putting it back in takes a little bit of practice, however. There are two latches on the back. Figuring which one does what and coordinating your hands / fingers takes a bit of practice. I consistently have gotten about 3 hours of use out of the battery: wireless on, and display on set on dynamic, using Motion optimized power settings.

In order to view the battery charge level, you have to remove the battery – not good.




Convertible Keyboard
The main item that kept me going back to the TC1100 and the M200 was Motion’s hardtop keyboard. To put it plainly – it stunk. I hated typing on it and it was pain to setup. In addition, if I needed to use one of the other USB ports, I had to remember to bring the extention cable with me so I could rotate it around.

This is not the case with their new Convertible Keyboard. For the short time I had it, I found it to be a delight to type on. If I had to, I could type on it all day if I were mobile. The keys were silent, the mouse buttons were silent, and everything was where my fingers expected them to be.

It had great tilt levels and was very balanced when used on my lap – a common practice in my house as I move from room to room to work. In addition. I could carry the tablet around and the keyboard would still be attached – something you could not do with the hardtop keyboard.

The convertible keyboard doubles as a screen protector or attaches to the back of the tablet – whichever is your preference. I found it a little difficult to remove the keyboard from the back / front of the tablet using the latches. I had to really get my fingers between the latch and the tablet in order to get them separated. Again – could be an early prototype issue.

The prototype I had was very difficult to remove once it was attached to the tablet – it took a lot of strength and grunting to separate the tablet from the keyboard.. I’m attributing that to having a very early prototype. I’ll post an update when I receive a replacement prototype.















Bump Case
I love this bump case. Its’ the first one I’ve owned. Its’ very light and all of the ports, microphones and buttons are still accessible when its’ in the case. The fingerprint reader is little difficult to use when the tablet is in the case, and the upper part of the pen garage is covered up by the leather.

They also include a pad filler for when you are using the tablet without the extended battery. It fills the tapered space in the back of the tablet where the extended battery sits. It helps to provide a snug fit. When you have the extended battery, you don’t need the pad filler.






Overall Recommendation

Based on my initial impressions with the convertible keyboard (not including the struggle to remove the keyboard which I chalk up to being a prototype), I can recommend that this tablet and the convertible keyboard as a good improvement over the TC1100 and also be a good hybrid solution for those convertible users looking for something more mobile.

The 12” screen is really nice and at times I forgot that I was working with 1024 x 768, particularly when using it in landscape mode. The viewing angles on this tablet are amazing. View Anywhere should be standard.

I’m a little disappointed in the fingerprint struggles. Once I got my finger verified, though, it worked great. The scrolling option is a huge plus.

They improved the speed and kept the fan noise level almost to nothing. Its’ thinner and lighter. Couple those improvements with the ability to add in the extended battery and not affect the dimensions of the tablet in any noticeable way, and you've got yourself a top-of-the-line tablet and the new standard in slate tablet pcs. Other OEMs should now be on notice.

I received a note from Courtney at EverNote Corporation. They begin shipping EverNote 1.0 today.

From her email:

Some of EverNote's shipping feature highlights since our early beta
include:

- A Web Clipper where you can instantly export web content into EverNote
from IE or Firefox. Our beta users have found this helpful for quickly
capturing content while reading news, researching or shopping online;
- New category icons (over 50), where you can easily assign icons to
identifiable individual categories, such as Web Clips, Business,
Personal, Travel, Shopping and more;
- Ability to email or print notes;
- Backup support;
- Extensive improvements to categories, tool tips and keyboard shortcuts
(a new total of 80).

The eval / prototype convertible keyboard came in from Motion. I'm not ready to do a full review on it yet, but I can tell you that the typing on this unit is hands down better than the old hardtop keyboard, and much better than the TC1100 keyboard. The keys are quiet and full, the mouse buttons are quiet, and I didn't feel like I needed to "hit" the keys in order to get them to work, as was the case on the hardtop keyboard. I effortlessly typed. All the keys were where my hands expected them. I could see myself typing on this all day if I were mobile. What I really like about this unit is that I don't need any cables, and it comes with a usb port and a power supply for the accessory cable.

I've also used it on my lap and had no falling over issues, unlike the TC1100. The base is much bigger. In addition, the hinge provides some very reasonable tilt angles, much like a regular laptop.

All of that said, I've had some issues with getting the tablet out of the hinge - it took a lot of strength and grunting, almost like the hinge and the connectors in the slate needed some WD40 or something. One of the release latches was also very difficult to manuever - kept getting stuck half to the release point. I'm working with Motion on getting a replacment prototype. I'm chalking it up to a very early prototype of the keyboard. We'll see when I get the replacement in.

Motion Computing Launches LE1600TC Tablet Client; Enhanced Security Features Lead the Way for Advanced Wireless Networks in Mobile Client-Server Based Environments

For the artsy folks out there (mac and tablet pc users alike), you'll want to know that Alias Sketchbook announced that 2.0 will be shipping next week.

MacNN | Alias SketchBook Pro 2 to ship next week

Very interesting article on the state of the programmer. In my consulting practice, I've definitely seen the desire to focus on the higher business strategy / analysis role - a mind for business is what my clients want. The fact that I can also parlay that into a workable application or new web interface adds to the strengths I bring to the table for my client.

Programming Jobs Losing Luster in U.S. - Yahoo! News: "Gartner researchers say most people affiliated with corporate information technology departments will assume 'business-facing' roles, focused not so much on gadgets and algorithms but corporate strategy, personnel and financial analysis.

'If you're only interested in deep coding and you want to remain in your cubicle all day, there are a shrinking number of jobs for you,' said Diane Morello, Gartner vice president of research. 'Employers are starting to want versatilists — people who have deep experience with enterprise-wide applications and can parlay it into some larger cross-company projects out there.'"

A Map for Easier Performance Reviews: "

Dwanye Melancon, VP of Services and Support with Tripwire Inc., a software firm in Oregon, illustrates on his Genuine Curiosity blog how he uses MindManager for his performance reviews:

http://blog.dwayne.melancon.net/blog/_archives/2005/5/11/729645.html

"

(Via The Mindjet Blog.)

The Tablet PC Show #13 is online

James Kendrick: The Mitsubishi Pocket LED DLP Projector offers a native SVGA (800x600) resolution (XGA max.) and weighs in just under a pound so you literally can take it anywhere. It's not the brightest projector out there at 250 lux but it does project an image up to 40 - 50 inches and it fits in your hand. Estimated availability September 2005 at a street price of $800.

(Via jkOnTheRun.)

Marc Orchant:

MSN has shipped version 1.2 of their MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop
Search with tabs for Internet Explorer. I’ve had an opportunity to work with a pre-release version of the tabbed UI
for IE and it is very nicely implemented. I appreciate the fact that MSN waited to ship this feature until some
performance and stability issues were resolved - another great example of how feedback from the Search Champs and their
other testers helped make a better product.


Checkout his blog for the full article - now that I have a Tablet PC again, I'm going to check this out.

(Via The Tablet PCs Weblog.)

Turning books into bits: "Working separately and together, a group of organizations are digitizing thousands of books every day, building a global library where every manner of content lives online."

(Via MSNBC.com: Technology & Science.)

Really like this quote from Wenda Millar, Chief Sales Officer at Yahoo:

First Impression: Be Herd: "'People aren't going to listen to you unless you're part of their world.

-Wenda Millard , Chief Sales Officer, Yahoo

"

(Via Fast Company.)

Engadget: Today Intel announced details of their new all-in-one wireless
chip — integrating 802.11a/b/g and ready-for the yet to be ratified +100Mbps 802.11n something that currently requires several chips. They even figured out a way to integrate formerly extraneous bits like power amplifiers. Neato, butreally, why should you care? Well, using a single chip reduces the manufacturing costs and extends the battery life of our portable electronics. And since these CMOS-based chips use the same manufacturing technology as their microprocessors, Intel will be able to quickly saturate the market once production begins. Now, Intel won’t be pinned down for an availability date, but there’s little doubt that we’ll see the new chips packaged in Centrino systems.

(Via Engadget.)

I modified some of the power settings on my wireless card and things appear to be stable. I set the Power Management option on the card close to the highest setting and things improved a lot. The default was set to adjust based on power settings.

As suggested by Josh and others, I'm also going to experiment with some different WAP's. I am currently using a LinkSys WAP, though.

On the whole, though, I'm really enjoying the tablet. I'll report more later in the week after I continue to use it on a daily basis.

I've got some nit picky items to gripe about, but they are pretty minor compared to the pluses regarding this new design. I'll be getting the convertible keyboard on Monday and will run it through its' paces. The old hardtop keyboard was the primary reason I sold my original motion tablets, so I'm anxious to really try it out.

I've been trying out the new ActiveWords Inkpad beta, are it really rocks. I have not had a chance to compare it to the short hard Software that came preinstalled on my Motion, though.

Software that combines the combination of keyboard shortcuts and ink ranks high on my list.

ActiveWords

Oliver is doing a great job of improving PDF Annotator. Its' getting really stable, with 2 more builds in the last week.

PDF Annotator

Report: Google to start new payment system - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

One problem that I've had today with the the le1600 is very poor wireless reception.

I'm 5 feet from my WAP and my wireless signal will flucuate from 54 mbps to 1 mbps. It'll also just lose the signal completely while sitting in the same spot. I've got three other wireless computers in the house that have no wireless connectivity issues.

I've used both the Microsoft client and the intel proset client. I've called tech support and we're going to work on it some more on Monday. I'm sensing that its' something hardware related.

More next week.

Much lighter than I thought. I've owned the M1300 and M1400VA - noticably lighter and good balance.
The taper wasn't as big as I originally thought
Before even turning it on, I added a 1gb memory chip.
The pen has a nice balance (like the tc1100) so that it doesn't roll across the table
The pen is much lighter than the TC1100 pen - feels great.
The pc card slot holder is very loose and rattles when you pick up the tablet. Not a tight fit at all.
Very nice metallic color scheme. Much more impressive in person than via photos.
The pen was calibrated very well.
As usual with view anywhere displays, fingerprints show up bad when the screen is black


More photos to come later after I have a chance to use it and post them.

Here are a couple

First bootup




wide angle

My LE1600 Tablet PC is finally here:

Amazing....

CNN.com - Ketchup stain sparks e-mail flurry - Jun 17, 2005

"Rob - I'm coming home to you, I promise."

June 17, 2005 7:17 am "On FedEx vehicle for delivery"

For those of you waiting to get a PCS Connection Card from Sprint until EV-DO gets rolled out, you can get the new Merlin S620 card from Novatel (sold by Sprint). It will support the CDMA 1xEV-DO ( 400 - 700 kbps) and is backwards compatible to the current 1XRTT network (50 - 70 kbps).

So...enjoy the the dial-up benefit now and when EV-DO gets rolled out to your neck of the woods later this year or early next year, you are ready to go. Selling for $249.99



GeekZone: Sprint Offers EV-DO Sprint PCS Connection Card from Novatel Wireless

Microsoft's mea culpa, and its response: "

A good mea culpa from Microsoft: A Windows product manager says the software giant has been a poor listener.

'We have not done a good job of listening to the needs of online consumer leaders,' says Microsoft's Josh Levine. 'We have heard repeatedly that these communitie want one place to find timely, in-depth information coming out of the Windows group as well as other groups across Microsoft that touch consumer technology.'

More...

(Via Church of the Customer.)

Don't Let Your Startup Kill You'/: "A recent British study confirms what entrepreneurs have long suspected -- the stress of starting a business can take a heavy health toll"

(Via BusinessWeek Online -- Small Business.)

Mac: Pod Genius 1.0 released: "Prosoft Engineering has announced the release of Pod Genius ($59), new Mac OS X software that helps you maintain, manage, and optimize Your iPod, according to the developer. ‘Pod Genius is the only comprehensive software utility geared specifically toward iPod users. Recover lost or damaged music, repair corrupted data structures, backup…"

(Via iPodlounge.)

Good picture and quote from Picture of the Day



A Microsoft official, extreme left, explains the working of a tablet PC to S. Ramodorai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), second left, Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman Microsoft India, center, and M.M. Pallam Raju, Indian lawmaker and Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, second right, at the inauguration of the Microsoft India Executive Briefing Center at Hyderabad, India, Thursday, June 16, 2005. The center is the 5th in the world and the only one in Asia Pacific. The center is intended to demonstrate the business value of Microsoft products and services to customers and partners.

Got this from Mike Wendland....I just might send this one out....hilarious and very well done.

(Via Tech-Knowledge.)

I'm not the brightest when it comes to geography, but can someone explain to me why my LE1600 Tablet PC gets shipped from Kunshan China, goes to Anchorage, Alaska, back to Shanghai, China, then to Indianapolis, Indiana? Maybe before it gets to Colorado Springs tomorrow, Fed Ex will decide to ship it back to China one more time.

Jun 16, 2005
3:15 am Held at Sort Facility INDIANAPOLIS IN
Jun 15, 2005
8:31 pm Left FedEx Ramp SHANGHAI CN
8:08 pm Arrived at FedEx Ramp SHANGHAI CN
3:03 pm Left FedEx Sort Facility ANCHORAGE AK
1:40 pm Arrived at Sort Facility ANCHORAGE AK
Jun 14, 2005
8:34 pm Left FedEx Origin Location KUNSHAN CN
8:33 pm Pickup status KUNSHAN CN

I'm very jealous. Terri just received her LE1600 Tablet PC and has part 1 of her review posted.

From USA Today:Warning: Your clever little blog could get you fired - Yahoo! News

Looks like I'm going to have a fun weekend. My LE1600 tablet pc should be here on Friday by 10:30. It left Shanghai China at 8:30 last night.

I will make sure I have no appointments at all on Friday.

I've been without a tablet pc for close to 4 weeks. Although I really like my Powerbook, I really miss writing on my Tablet PC.

Tablet PC Buzz member mmeir is reporting that an 8 inch tablet pc from Motion will be revealed in July. I have not heard anything to back this up, but it wouldn't surprise - it would be a welcome addition to the mobility line.

Checkout the full story

For mobile pc professionals, this will be a great thing. Several of my customers use their smart phones to dialup using the current cdma technology and the connectivity is ok. The EV-DO option will come in very handy - get skype calls over your mobile pc while driving down the road at broadband speeds - can't beat it. Once it gets to Colorado Springs, I'll be getting a card for sure.

Via Engadget:

Just when we thought we weren’t going to get any more post-Spring pre-Fall-CTIA cellular action, Sprint’s let fly
the first real info on their forthcoming
EV-DO data network, which
should be available in as many as 39 markets this month, and 60 by early 2006 (including the venerable Kansas City,
Mo., Las Vegas, Nev., and Des Moines, Iowa). Their ultimate goal is 200 total markets serving data at between 300 to
500kbps (with burst speeds of 2.4mbps), which, though lofty for any company, is totally within their reach. To make our
wait worthwhile they’re supposedly getting ‘four Asian-sourced EV-DO handsets’ to do the job (as you may recall, they
only have Sierra AirCard 580 EV-DO PC card out right
now), one of which could be announced this week. Oh, and finally, they also announced plans for an EV-DO Rev. A upgrade
in late 2006 or early 2007 which could enable their VoIP ReadyLink Push-To-Talk initiative—a little far off for now, so
just keep your eyes on the prize, Sprint. You’re almost there.



Via Engadget.)

Apple OSX On A M200 Tablet PC?: "

Via Warner Crocker:

"

(Via Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2.)

I just heard from Oliver Grahl, the developer of PDF Annotator. Version 1.1 is finally available for download.

From Oliver:
The new release supports AFPL GhostScript as an external PDF renderer. This software needs to be downloaded and installed separately, though. With this workaround, almost all PDFs should render correctly in PDF Annotator. As a next step, we will replace the internal renderer by a much better one, that will increase rendering quality and performance a lot.

I've got one of these Foofbags for my Powerbook and really like it. They are soft, cushiony, and stylish - you can order them based on a large selection of patterns. I've got the blue corduroy for a 15" Powerbook. They sell them to fit ipods, iBooks, and Powerbooks.



For the LE1600, either the 14" iBook or 15" Powerbook will fit fine based on the dimensions on the foof site. I'll let you know when it comes in. If you have questions about your particular model of Tablet PC, check the dimensions for your tablet pc against this page on the foofbag site. I'm sure that the 12" iBook model will work just fine for 10" slate tablet pcs, and the 14" or 15" for 12" slate tablets.

They are handmade out of Australia and very well constructed - I highly recommend them. BTW: I did not receive any free product or compensation for that recommendation.

foofpod - iPod cover (sleeve) // foofbag - laptop bag (sleeve) for ibook or powerbook

Steve Rubel on the 10 Commandments of PR

Micro Persuasion: 10 Commandments for The Era of Participatory Public Relations

I just checked Motion's website and I have a serial number and a fed ex tracking number - only days away now!

Checkout the Lenovo site....who's buying one?

Maggie is working with a writer on a book. She's been talking in to a voice recorder for the past year. We just got the first draft the manuscript today.

Its' brought so much insight in to what Maggie has been feeling and dealing with...its' a heart breaker and comforting at the same time.

I'll let you know more as it gets developed

Even Gates is Paying Attention to Small Business

From Jeffrey Conwall:

"Fortune Small Business has a story about Microsoft hiring anthropologists to study small businesses. Why? It seems that they finally noticed that this where the growth is in our economy. Fortune 500 companies are relatively flat in their growth, while..."

(Via The Entrepreneurial Mind.)

Salesforce.com's bet pays off
I've heard good things about SalesForce.com....will need to check them out again.

"

As a company that launched its business on a risky-but-bold strategy -- give the web-based service away initially for an entire year -- Salesforce.com continues to reap the benefits of that big bet.

The company announced today that revenue nearly doubled to $64.2 million from the same period last year and was up 18 percent on a sequential basis. It also added 40,000 paying subscribers, ending the quarter with 267,000.

Salesforce.com's strategy is a good lesson for companies that put too many barriers in the way of try-before-you-buy. If your trial strategy requires more than 2-3 pieces of personal information, or a credit card ('unless you tell us otherwise, your credit card will be charged after 30 days of usage') or no trial at all, start over.

Today, Salesforce.com gives its service away just for 30 days yet it remains an unconventional company with an unconventional approach, thanks to founder and CEO Marc Benioff.

"

(Via Church of the Customer.)

New bands get discovered via word-of-blog:

The power of blogging:

"

Chalk another one up to the power of blogs: It's how some bands are being discovered.

A new band called The Hysterics had a song posted on the Music for Robots blog, which led to their discovery by an MTV producer. The music network played the group's video recently even though the band has never played a gig outside of their parents' bedroom. The thing is, The Hysterics is a band of 10th graders.

Hua Hsu, who writes about music for the online magazine Slate, sums it up nicely how blogs create word of mouth:

'If everyone else is putting out horrible CD's,' he said, 'why not buy something from people with taste you more or less trust?'

NYT link: Little-Known Bands Get Lift Through Word-of-Blog

"

(Via Church of the Customer.)

Podcasts growing at a frantic pace: "WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Podcasting is growing at neck-breaking speed, says Dick Costolo, the CEO of FeedBurner."

(Via CBS MarketWatch.com - Internet Industry News.)

I was thinking the other day, how do software shops that only build Tablet PC applications survive? If Microsoft just passed the 1 million mark on tablet pcs sold, how many tablet pc only applications are really being sold? I'm thinking of apps like Math Journal, Math Calculator, Tablet Calendar, TEO, etc?

I'm convinced that the future is not in building the next tablet pc killer app. If it were, companies like TEO and xThink would be being bought out. We've seen plenty of standalone Tablet PC apps come out, but nothing ever seems to stick.

I am convinced, however, that companies must be ink-enabling or at least be programming in context awareness into their applications. If they don't, they are giving away a key competitive advantage to their competitors. Companies like Buzz Bruggerman's ActiveWords gets it. He is doing a fantastic job of using Tablet PC technology to tap into an already stellar keyboard driven program. Another company that gets it is MindJet. They took an already impressive and productive app in MindManager, and made it even more productive for Tablet PC users.

What are some applications that need to be ink-enabled? Full-featured bible study applications like Libronix. Web research tools, like Onfolio. Electronic book readers like eReader.com. Microsoft Outlook for goodness sakes. And here is the worst: Acrobat. Of all the products on this list that need true ink-enabling, its' Acrobat.

Its' been close to three years since the launch of the Tablet PC. Shouldn't we be seeing some progress in this area already? If we are not, is this saying something of the Tablet PC market, or is it saying something about the software development companies?

The software business is a tough one. A company cannot survive on selling $39 downloads, unless they are Microsoft or Adobe. A company needs to seek any competitive advantage it can to differentiate their product from the masses - ink enabling your applications will do that. In addition, building applications that work well with the keyboard and the pen is certainly the better route to go, rather than building pen only applications. I just don't see much of a future for pen only applications. The convertible tablet pc will drive the tablet pc market.

If you have questions about any of this, post a comment or visit the Tablet PC Partners site.

More on Agilix and GoBinder SDK

From Scott Lemon. View his blog for the entire post:

Agilix GoBinder and plug-ins: "
At Agilix Labs where I am working, we are about to introduce the second generation of our GoBinder product. GoBinder is a 'digital notebook' or 'digital planner'.

(Via Tablet PC Thoughts.)

Chris Paris, a TabletPCBuzz.com forum member has posted some really good comparison shots between a non ViewAnywhere Motion tablet pc to a View Anywhere Motion tablet pc. For those of you who always wanted to know this difference, you really to check out this post.

You gotta check this out! Via Engadget:

Dude dances to Jet in the Apple Store:

Apparently some guy in Novi, Michigan saw the iPod ad
halloween costumes last year and decided to one-up them—by dressing in all black (replete with scary facemask) and
dancing to Jet in the middle of an Apple store. We might say the best part is the fact that no one seems to even bat an
eye at the guy, but what really takes the cake is the breakdown and breakout dancing that goes on throughout the song’s
cycles. What, it’s Friday, ok?

[Via cultofmac]

(Via Engadget.)

Scott Lemon on the new GoBinder and SDK

Busy with projects ...: "
I noticed that I am *WAY* behind in my blog reading, and posting. I've been having a blast and just too busy with life in general ... it just hasn't been a priority. Besides spending time with the family, I've been working on:

• My full time job at Agilix Labs. We are well into our partnership with Blackboard, and are deep into the development of our next generation of the product. GoBinder is going to end up being a very fun project. With our next gen product, it will become a fully open and dynamic platform for education and work. Our SDK will open up GoBinder to allow for the addition of custom pages and capabilities. I can't wait for the next builds to come together.




(Via Tablet PC Thoughts.)



# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:18 PM 0 comments

We are off to see Lionel Richie and Chris Isaak in concert tomorrow for the Concerts For Kids concert in Denver. All proceeds from these concerts go to benefit various childrens charities like Make A Wish Colorado. Maggie is the Make A Wish representative for Colorado to the concert. She'll get to meet Lionel Richie and Chris Isaak before the concert.

I purchased all of Lionel's greatest hits via iTunes today so all of the kids know what his music sounds like. While I've been listening to them, I've been having 80's flashbacks.

Should be a great time...have a wonderful weekend.

ok....I could really get into having one of these knives:

The swissmemory 1GB knife contains the usual knife blade, screwdriver, nail file and scissors – but also has a mini LED flashlight, a retractable ball-point pen and a 1GB USB memory device. There’s even Swiss Army’s Secure-LOCK software to keep your portable data safe. Once again, you pay for your thrills — swissmemory 1GB retails for $197.

Lora has posted pictures of the Thinkpad Tablet PC from Tech Ed. She's also going to post new pics of the LE1600 Tablet PC docking station.

Check them out for upclose and personal shots! Great job, Lora.

TechEd05 day 2: You've got questions...:

From Hilton Locke. Check his blog for the typical questions / answers:

"

I worked the exhibit booth today, and got a bit better sense of the questions people are asking about Tablets.

(Via TabBlogger.)



# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:12 PM 0 comments

Do you have a website where you have your email address listed? Consider using this site to generate JavaScript code to hide your email address from the robot spam crawlers that sour the internet.

First day at TechEd:
Looks like Loren is working on something that a lot developers will find really useful.

"

I'm at TechEd this week. Arrived here in humid Orlando late afternoon and scuttled over to the convention center and dropped by the Tablet booth where I met Julia Lerman (Tablet speaker and blogger) and Arin Goldberg (from the Microsoft Tablet PC team). After a bit of catching up on things, I described the ink integration I've been working on with Visual Studio and Arin said I had to go talk with Douglas Hodges, architect of the Visual Studio integration services. I was game so we went over to the Visual Studio booth where Douglas was working and for the next two hours he gave me a hands on tour Visual Studio 2005 integration. It made the whole trip worthwhile.

(Via Incremental Blogger.)

I've been programming websites in ColdFusion since 1998. I love the server platform. Its' fast and easy to learn. I also know ASP, but not to the extent that I know ColdFusion.

For a couple of reasons, I've been pondering PHP. 1) Its' free. 2) Some of my customers are thinking of moving their websites from ColdFusion based hosting providers to hosting providers that provide PHP hosting for free. If I want to keep my job, I need to pickup that language.

Have any of you ColdFusion programmers made the switch?

I've spent the last month to two months writing a lot of proposals. These proposals take a lot of work - usually 1 - 3 hours depending on the website. Alot of preliminary requirements gathering, understanding their business needs, and coming up with proposed solutions.

One of my pet peeves is when I don't get a response. Its' a clue to me on how future project work and vendor relations will go.

Do your consultants and vendors a favor and give them the same respect they are giving you by submitting a proposal - respond to it.

Kudos to Teresa and the folks at xThink for a great product and the writeup at Laptop Magazine. Be sure to read this article if you are interested in handwriting math equations and having your Tablet PC solve them for you!

Here is a link to the Thinkpad Tablet PC webcast

Hilton Locke, a member of the Tablet PC team, shares his experience of working with the Thinkpad Tablet PC at Tech Ed.

TechEd05 day 1: Learn-Solve-Grow: "

What a day!

First, we get to see the new IBM Thinkpad Tablet PC (woohoo!) at the keynote. Then, I amble on down to the pavilion booth, only to hear 'We have Thinkpads for the labs!' Using the Thinkpads is pretty cool. They're light, and the keyboard is fantastic (I'm writing this entry on one right now). The screen is bright, but seems to be a little small. It is a 12' screen though, so I am not sure why I'm suffering this optical 'illusion'.

Read more:

(Via TabBlogger.)

Developer Transition Kit: "Apple Developer Connection:

The Developer Transition Kit brings together all the components you need to create Universal Binaries that run on Macintosh computers using Intel microprocessors. The Kit contains the information, sample code, software, and hardware you'll need to develop a Universal Binary.

The development system has the preview release of Mac OS X Tiger on Intel pre-installed, allowing you to run, verify, and debug your Universal Binary application.

The development system comes pre-loaded with Xcode 2.1. Xcode 2.1 is the development environment for creating Universal Binaries. Updates and additional downloads of Xcode 2.1 will be made available as needed for Transition Kit developers.

You must be an ADC Select or Premier Member to purchase the Developer Transition Kit.

Is anyone else surprised that this isn't bigger news on Apple's front page, which is curiously still talking up 'Amazing Dashboard Widgets' for some reason?"

(Via Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus.)

Apple throws the switch, aligns with Intel: "News.com:

After Jobs' presentation, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. 'That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will,' he said. 'We won't do anything to preclude that.'

However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. 'We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac,' he said.

"

(Via Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus.)

Read their update here

10:22 am Next OS X release (10.5) to be called "Leopard" and is coming in 2006 or 2007.
10:25 am Apple is going to Intel chips officially. "We've been through many transistions. 680x0 to PowerPC, Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X. Today we begin a third transition. It's true; We are switching to Intel."
10:27 am Why are we switching to Intel? Intel offers great performance. Intel offers great power consumption. The transition will take a few years, but it will be worth it. We want to be making the best computer for the customer going forward.
10:29 am June 2006 Macs will ship with Intel processors. By 2007, the transition will almost be complete.
10:31 am We face two challenges. The first, is Mac OS X on Intel. We've been maintaining Mac OS X on Intel AND PPC, secretly, for the past 5 years, just in case.
10:32 am This entire last half hour the keynote has been running on an Intel box running Mac OS X.

Gotta check this out for a funny take on the Apple / Intel talk.

Looking for some of the best pictures of the Thinkpad Tablet PC? Checkout PC Magazine. They also have a review and have designated it their Editors Choice.

When you are looking at the pictures, be sure to checkout the new case!

Checkout www.TabletPCBuzz.com for the article on the new Thinkpad Tablet PC

Take a look at what Om Malk believes will happen on Monday. He seems to lend some credence to my earlier reporting on the Apple Tablet PC. Here is an excerpt:

Steve Jobs, like Howard Hughes, Mystifies

So how do I see this playing out?



First, this deal is going to be all about the laptops, especially those which can handle OS-X nicely, are light weight and consume less power. Because if that was not so, then Apple could as easily have signed a deal with AMD, which makes better x86 chips for the desktop. IBM has failed to deliver the low power consuming yet muscular versions of its G5 chips fine tuned for Powerbooks. Secondly, I think Apple will exploit Intel’s chips for often rumored Tablet PC, that could have features in common with Nokia 770 tablet. I would not be surprised that Monday morning, the announcement circles around XScale, or low powered Centrino chips.

(Via Om Malik's Broadband Blog.)

Todd Bishop of SeattlePI has already published an article with quotes from Microsoft and Lenovo on its' new Thinkpad Tablet PC.

Here are a few:

"Everybody has been waiting for IBM, and now Lenovo, to bring out a ThinkPad Tablet to provide credibility," said analyst Leslie Fiering, Gartner mobile computing vice president.

Lenovo's move is "a signal to the market," said Susan Cameron, Microsoft Tablet PC group product manager. "There are a lot of loyal customers of the ThinkPad brand, and it will certainly push people who have been considering the Tablet to purchase."

The move to expand the ThinkPad line with a Tablet PC version began prior to the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC business by Lenovo, based in China, executives said. That deal was completed last month.

"It took us a while to really figure out that this thing is bigger than that vertical market and that the investment here is worth the payoff down the road," said Rob Herman, Lenovo's program director for worldwide ThinkPad marketing, explaining why the company didn't align itself with Microsoft's Tablet PC initiative sooner. "We think that the Tablet will transcend beyond verticals."

The companies will offer a first look at the ThinkPad Tablet PC and discuss it this week at Microsoft's TechEd Conference in Orlando.

Microsoft says the ThinkPad Tablets will cost only about $100 more than comparable, standard ThinkPad laptops. Lenovo said prices for different varieties of the ThinkPad X41 Tablet PCs will range from $1,899 to $2,599.

But Gartner's Fiering said the difference between Tablet PCs and standard mobile computers is generally still large enough to deter price-sensitive consumers and companies buying in bulk.

On the other hand, she said, the ThinkPad Tablet PCs are noticeably well designed, overcoming what has been another challenge for tablet computing. Among other things, she said, the machine is well balanced and light -- about 3.5 pounds -- and doesn't force a compromise in areas such as keyboard or screen quality.

Analyst Tim Bajarin, Creative Strategies Inc. president, called the ThinkPad Tablet PC the best convertible he has seen yet. The ThinkPad's emergence in the segment "puts serious muscle" behind the Tablet PC initiative, he said"

Here' the link to the full article

From the Podcast Network:

The Tablet PC Show #11: "

The Tablet PC Show #11 (MP3 - 19.5MB - 56min 42sec)

LISTEN HERE

Marc Orchant is traveling this week and couldn’t do the show with me but have no fear he will be back soon. Today’s show is a special one as I welcome two attorneys who are successful using Tablet PCs in their law practices. Joining me on the show are Matthew Buchanan and Douglas Sorocco who practice Intellectual Property and Patent law in Toledo, Ohio and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, respectively. Matt and Doug have incorporated the Tablet PC into successful use in their daily routines and we spend a lot of time discussing their usage of the Tablet. We have a great conversation that covers the software tools they use and how they leverage the Tablet to maximize productivity in their work. We had such a good conversation that I am happy to invite you to listen in and I am sure you will find good stuff to take away with you. If you listen carefully you will hear the first known instance of me losing my voice during a podcast, but Doug and Matt covered for me very nicely. :)

Matt tells us how they use Dragon NaturallySpeaking in their office in addition to making audio recordings with OneNote which I found very interesting, and the discussion of using MindManager for brainstorming sessions is very good. Doug discusses the new ActiveWords InkPad beta for the Tablet PC which has just been released and can’t say enough good things about the combo on the Tablet. Enjoy the show and don’t miss what I think is a great message to Tablet OEMs- Doug points out he decided a Tablet PC would be beneficial when he attended a tech show for lawyers earlier this year and HP had provided tc1100 Tablet PCs for the attendees to use. Great marketing tool that apparently works so lets see more of it. Thanks Matt and Doug for spending time with me for the show. Visit their blogs, Promote the Progress and phosita, where you’ll find interesting information about IP law and also Tablet PC information.

"

(Via ThePodcastNetwork :: The TabletPC Show.)

From Tracy Hooten:

I'll be selling my Acer 302: "

"

(Via The Student Tablet PC.)

I really enjoyed this post from WNewquay:

Sending a Student to College or University this Fall? Part II - a longer answer: "

I'm sending a student to College/University in the fall...

Q: Should I spend the extra money it takes to get a Tablet PC instead of a more traditional Notebook PC?
Q: Why?

Yesterday I gave you the short answer. Today we explore a longer answer.

Link: Sending a Student to College or University this Fall? Part II

"

(Via Tablet PC - Thoughts and Ideas.)

Check out this article at MSNBC.com about Skype and its' founder Niklas Zennstrom. Niklas was also the founder of Kazaa.

Buzz Bruggerman has released the beta version of ActiveWords InkPad 1.5 for the Tablet PC. Download it and provide feedback.

ActiveWords InkPad works much like ActiveWords ActionPad, providing a context for entering and triggering ActiveWords. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition does not contain (published) tools necessary for ActiveWords to globally observe and act on text entered or selected with the stylus. As such, use of ActiveWords in the "pen" mode on a Tablet PC requires entry within ActiveWords InkPad. ActiveWords InkPad is not required when using a physical keyboard and pointing device connected or built into a Tablet PC.

ActiveWords InkPad Version 1.5 now triggers ActiveWords that generate text substitutions. A text substitution will be sent to the text entry location active (blinking cursor) immediately before the InkPad is displayed.

"Apple Computer plans to announce Monday that it's scrapping its partnership with IBM and switching its computers to Intel's microprocessors, CNET News.com has learned.

Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said.

The announcement is expected Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, at which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is giving the keynote speech. The conference would be an appropriate venue: Changing the chips would require programmers to rewrite their software to take full advantage of the new processor.

IBM, Intel and Apple declined to comment for this story.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Apple was considering switching to Intel, but many analysts were skeptical citing the difficulty and risk to Apple."

Thanks for the link, Chris.

Slowly but surely, the Thinkpad Tablet PC info is coming out. Lenovo UK it listed on their Thinkpad comparision chart. Its' got some good details available. Thanks for the tip, OneMoon256.

Spencer finally got the server backup after two harddrive crashes...

HPClean is reporting on TabletPCCorner.net that the rumored Averatec C3600 is actually the FIC SlateVision T2300 Tablet PC. It'll be rebranded as an Averatec C3600. His article has pictures from the FIC site.

The site is in French. Here is the translated link.

Anybody notice the apple desktop wallpaper on the FIC Tablet PC?

This is major news from Channel 9. Here is a brief. Go to Channel 9
for all of the discussion.

Jean Paoli was bouncing around the offices here in building 18 today. Who's he? One of the co-creators of XML. Why was he happy?

Because Office just announced their new file formats all built in XML.

"We just turned on 400 million new people to XML," he told us.

I sold my TC1100 several weeks ago to pay for my new Motion LE1600 Tablet PC ( which I still have not received yet). I've been using my Powerbook full time for the past two weeks and it has been great - not perfect mind you, but I've really enjoyed it. Its' been very stable.

I moved my 21" monitor off my desk and just use the 15" lcd on the Powerbook. The keyboard is awesome - a joy to type on. In many ways, it feels like a step-up as far as the operating system is concerned. I miss the inking and the portability of the tablet, but the powerbook really isn't that heavy of a unit.

I'm definitely not as productive with the keyboard as I am on Windows. I don't like how the standard keyboard shortcuts are different across applications (ctrl-end, ctrl-home, for example). In one app, ctrl-home takes me to the beginning of the line, while in another app its fn-home.

Still, I'm looking forward to getting my new tablet pc.

Thanks to Eric Mack and to the folks at DavidCo.com, I was able to locate an electronic version of David Allen's book "Getting Things Done".

The eReader software that the book is formatted for is not tablet pc enabled, so you can't use your pen to take notes, highlight, etc. I've got an inquiry into the folks at eReader.com about supporting that functionality in future releases.

Robert Scoble reports this from his blog:

Microsoft Office news coming tomorrow: "

Speaking of news, tomorrow the Microsoft Office team will announce something pretty important tomorrow. It'll be up on Slashdot for sure. Come over to Channel 9 after 9 p.m. pacific time tonight. We have an interview with the team about the news being announced. Whoever submits the news to Slashdot, can you add a link to http://channel9.msdn.com too?

"

(Via Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger.)

Well, I'm taking the Gettting Things Done (David Allen) plunge. I've listened to the audio book once over the past week, and am about to start my second helping. Once I finish the book for the second time, I'll begin the process. I'll likely end up purchasing the physical book so I can use it for reference purposes.

If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

For those of you interested, here is the offiicial definition of "Gettting Things Done"