CutMeLoose.com

Got an idea for a new business? Does it involve Tablet PCs? Want $100,000? Checkout this contest from Gateway, Microsoft, Intel, and Forbes:

Gateway $100,000 Edge Contest

1.) Describe your idea in one sentence.
2.) Describe the expected Return on Investment and impact in one sentence.
3.) Describe your customers and why they would buy your product or service in one sentence.
4.) Describe how the new Gateway Convertible Notebook will give your idea the edge.

Limit your entire entry to 200 words

Judging criteria:

i. Overall quality, creativity, & originality of idea submitted
ii. How much difference winning the $100,000 would make to fulfilling the idea
iii. Potential return on investment – how quickly would the $100,000 prize make a difference
iv. How would winning the Gateway Convertible Notebook computer give the winner an edge

Via Loren

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:51 AM 0 comments

Eric has created a great mind map on the challenges and potential solutions to his paperless challenge. If anyone is considering this type of endeavor, I’d encourage you to check out his map. You will be prompted to install the mindmanager viewer.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:26 AM 0 comments

Olga of Tabletology.com points us to new a Gecko TIP extension  which provides Tablet PC input support for Firefox and Thunderbird

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:19 AM 0 comments

The Student Tablet PC has gotten some new digs. Update your RSS feeds with this new address – www.studenttabletpc.com

Congratulations, Tracy.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 7:24 AM 0 comments

Loren wishes that Tablet PCs were even more paper like. I agree.

As I’ve been trying to catch up with 4 weeks of work the past week, I’ve been doing a lot of notetaking on paper. Why? Several reasons:

• I sold my LE1600 for funding reasons and the Gateway M280 I’ve been using has had pre-production pen issues, thus I’ve not been able to use tablet pc functionality for several weeks. As a result, I’ve pretty much been using a laptop and a notepad.
• I’ve had to whittle things down to the bear necessities the past month. Living in the hospital for 3 weeks had a lot to do with that.
• While working, I’ve found it easier to look down at my notes on paper while glancing back up to my computer . Going back to paper, I’ve found several things that I’ve really missed about the simplicity of regular pen and paper notetaking.

Once I’m able to get full pen functionality going on a tablet pc, I have no doubt that I’ll be back full force with digital ink notetaking. However, I’m beginning to grasp the simplicity of keeping some things seperated and not being totally digitally oriented. Tablet PCs are making a lot of headway, but we still have a long way to go to keeping it simple and effortless.

One of the lessons that going slate taught me: it complicated my life. Too much to worry about. I needed guarantees and no worries, especially with the constant back and forth in the hospital. Although convertibles are a little heavier, there is less worry about what you have and don’t have to be productive.

Just a couple of late night thoughts from someone who has had too much coffee on a Sunday.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:51 AM 0 comments

I was pleased to find out tonight that www.SermonAudio.com, has activated a feature to allow podcast subscriptions to the sermons that it hosts. My church has been using their services for quite a while, so having access to our sermons via podcasts will be very beneficial. In addition to subscribing to them via iTunes, I have added the RSS feed to my RSS Reader, Onfolio.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:28 PM 0 comments

Tracy , StudentTabletPC.com offers a solution to Eric Mack’s highlight summary application that he posted about last month.

Very good work, Tracy. I honestly didn’t know that Acrobat had that built in. Now, if Acrobat would offer true inking support….

Oliver – any chance of building the commenting and highlighting in to PDF Annotator?

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

I’ll be honest: Fujitsu has never risen to the top of the systems I consider when recommending Tablet PCs to customers and community folks. The thing is, I don’t really know why it doesn’t rise above the TC4200, M200, or Thinkpad X41. Their convertible tablets have a fantastic round up of features and are the only ones I know of that offer a 12”, sxga, extended battery support, and built-in CD / dvd support,. They also offer the xga with wide viewing angles. Bottom line: they offer a great deal of configuration options to get where you need to go – almost to the point of taking the best of all the other OEMs and making those options available in a single T4000 convertible.

Plus, they are the only OEM (that I’m aware of) that offer both convertibles and slates. Their slates are very well  balanced, wide screen, and also offer extended  battery.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 7:51 PM 1 comments

James from JKOnTheRun posts a ‘reprint” of an article in which he reviews the types of tablet pcs out there and then walks you through how to find the right type of tablet pc to fit your work style.

Where the decision now gets difficult is the wonderful mix of convertibles out there: high res / xga, extended battery / regular battery only, 14” / 12” …..the good thing is that we have much more choices available to us now. Typically, if you want a CD ROM, you’ll be getting a 14”.

The closest that gets to meeting a combination of high res, 12”, CD ROM, and extended battery is the Fujitsu T4000 Tablet PC. The only thing I don’t like about the Fujitsu is that it doesn’t have a Track Stick.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 6:59 PM 0 comments

I have not listened to the podcast yet, but when I saw that Warner Crocker was the special guest, I quickly started the download. Looking forward to this relaunch and Warner’s interview.

jkOnTheRun: OnTheRun with Tablet PCs #1- Warner Crocker interview

OnTheRun with Tablet PCs is the podcast all about ink and slate and show #1 is the inaugural effort of James Kendrick and Marc Orchant. This show features a special guest- the newest Tablet PC MVP Warner Crocker and covers a range of topics about the Tablet PC. Marc fills us in on his decision to order the new Gateway Tablet PC and Warner discusses how he uses his Tablet PC in his job at the Wayside Theatre. It is a great show and we hope you enjoy OnTheRun with Tablet PCs.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:14 PM 0 comments

I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday with the kids – we love to go there and browse the books. We usually walk out with at least one “good” book each. No “twaddle” allowed.

Anyway, I was browsing the journal area and ran across this quote:

I am a galley slave to pen and ink.

Honore de Balzac
French realist novelist (1799 - 1850)

What a great quote, especially for us Tablet PC enthusiasts!

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:31 AM 0 comments

My wife just got through using the Gateway M280 Tablet PC – mainly for web browsing and shopping.

Her comment to me when she handed it back: “That is a heavy computer”.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 6:46 PM 0 comments

Dave Taylor has some interesting thoughts on Tablet PC OS and the X41 Thinkpad Tablet PC. I’ve had the pleasure of using a Thinkpad T42 for the past several months and really like the laptop. Consequently, I found Dave’s article very interesting. (Via Warner Crocker).

I've been evaluating a Lenovo IBM X41 Tablet PC for about a month now and while I still have concerns about performance and occasionally am baffled by the subtleties of Windows for the Tablet PC, I'm finding that it integrates nicely into my workflow.

This morning when someone commented on my X41 Tablet PC entry with the question:

"Dave, interested to know whether you think its the hardware or the OS that is letting you down. Seems like its mostly the OS. Let me know please as I am looking at the x41 vs other Tablet PCs."

I thought it would be useful to move the answer into its own weblog entry, as a logical followup to my two previous articles on the X41 and Windows for Tablet PC: Lenovo IBM X41 Tablet PC: I'm Not Impressed and, a few days later, Windows for Tablet PC Handwriting Recognition is Superb.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:07 PM 0 comments

Shawn van Ness talks about Snipping Tool 2.0 supporting international languages in November. That is very good news!

Tablet PC Team Blog : Strumento di Cattura... Coming Soon!

On my personal blog, I get a lot of requests from international fans of Snipping Tool v2.0 (part of the Experience Pack for Tablet PC). "When will a version be available that works on my Tablet?"
Rest assured, the team that's producing these packs has been getting those requests too. And, real soon now (November) we should have versions of Snipping Tool available in over half a dozen new languages... French and German first, followed shortly behind by Japanese, Korean, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese.
Watch this space... as the download links become available, I'll update this blog entry and post them here!

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:23 AM 0 comments

Marc Orchant has just ordered a Gateway S7200 Tablet PC. I’ve got the M280 model (almost the same machine), and its’ just too heavy for me to use on a consistent basis. I have not been able to use it as a Tablet PC much because the pre-production pen I have has some issues.

The extended battery hump makes it nice for writing in landscape (almost like a bookstand), but its pretty bad when writing in portrait with the tablet sitting on a desk.

When I get my replacement pen, I plan to really put it through its paces.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:52 AM 1 comments

James Kendrick offers some great advice on those that wish to pursue the papeless route:

jkOnTheRun: Eric and Tracy go paperless

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:45 AM 0 comments

Eric Mack is taking on the ultimate Tablet PC Challenge – seeing if he can effectively use the Tablet PC as a total replacement for pen, paper, and books. This will be a challenge you will want to follow.

I’m very interested in seeing the lessons we will all learn through Eric’s expedition:

Inspired by this post, I've decided to challenge myself to see if I can effectively use my Tablet PC as a total replacement for pen, paper, and books. Next week, I start an intense 8-week business law course and I've decided to use this course as the subject of my next Tablet PC challenge. My objective is to determine what the benefits/drawbacks of using a TabletPC as my sole tool (to replace pen, paper, and yes, even Post-Its) for the next 10 weeks. I've previously blogged about scanning and annotation tools. Now, I'm going to see if I can live with all of these tools in an intense way for the next two months. I figure this will be the tipping point for my use of a Tablet PC. Through this experiment, I'm certain to find things that I like, things that I dislike, and hopefully, a suitable collection of tools and best practices to help me use the Tablet in the most efficient way possible.

Eric Mack On-Line - www.EricMackOnline.com

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 7:30 PM 0 comments

For those who are in the academic field, you might find this workshop at Purdue University beneficial:

The First Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education will be held on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana on April 6 and 7, 2006. WIPTE is open to anyone with an interest in instructional technology. A wide variety of disciplines are embracing Tablet PC's and similar pen-based devices as tools for the radical enhancement of teaching and learning. This conference is intended to leverage this shared passion and to identify best practices in the educational use of pen-based computing so that all educators may benefit from this next generation of technology.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:14 AM 0 comments

How Einstein managed his inbox - LiveScience - MSNBC.com

If you're like Einstein, you respond to some e-mails immediately and let others wait. And, of course, some you never answer.

And every now and then, you find an old one in your inbox that you didn't even realize you had, and you reply.

A new study finds that the correspondence of Albert Einstein, as well as that of Charles Darwin, followed patterns similar to modern e-mail communication.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:36 PM 0 comments

Who is beta testing GoBinder 2006 and what do you think so far? If you have not downloaded  the public beta, I’d encourage you to do so.

GoBinder 2006 Public Beta Discussions - Forums @ Agilix Labs

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

Chris Pratley posted on the Buzz that he is looking for a few good beta testers. Anyone interested? I've got my request in.

Tablet PC Buzz.com - Forum

I know many of you here are looking forward to the next release of OneNote (which we codenamed "OneNote 12"). Since you're so committed, I thought I would offer you folks here in the Buzz a special chance to take part in the upcoming technical beta.

If you are interested in participating in the beta please let me know. Send mail to chrispr(at)microsoft.com with the mail address you would like us to use when contacting you, and use the subject line "OneNote beta signup". I can accept entrants for the next week or so, so please don't delay.

Note: the tech beta is going to be a little nasty so if you are not into trying out software that has a lot of problems you should wait for the "preview" which is coming in the spring. Also, if you don't feel you have time or inclination to really try this out and give us feedback, please consider waiting for preview since we really need committed testers for the tech beta.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:14 PM 0 comments

Follow Tom Bishop’s journey with Sahara’s i215 Tablet PC. He is one of the few people I know that actually own one. It will be interesting to follow his experiences. BTW: He is coming off of a Motion M1300VA and was about to purchase an LE1600 until he handled the i215.

Tablet PC Buzz.com - Forum

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:49 PM 0 comments

Nominate your favorite Tech blog:

TechWeb: The Business Technology Network

Do you read tech blogs? We're looking for you to tell us which are the best of the best. Right now, it's your chance to nominate your favorite independent tech blogs.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

I’m having a very bad season this year. Right now I’m 2 – 5, about to move into last place. 

I’ve got Peyton Manning as a quarterback – he’s just not having a very good TD throwing year, even though his team as a whole is doing very well (undefeated). The colts seem to be a more balanced team this year – good for them – bad for me.

oh well.. Its’ still a fun escape.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:01 PM 0 comments

Anybody out there using the MindManager add-in ResultsManager?

I’m curious about what it provides beyond what I’m already doing with MindManager and projects – creating maps for each project and then subtopics and tasks.

I’d love to hear from some folks who use ResultsManager day-to-day. I’m downloading the trial to check it out.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:36 PM 4 comments

I found this to be an interesting new ergnomonic issue: Blackberry thumb

Tapping away at tiny keyboards takes its toll - Technology & Science - MSNBC.com

Chris Claypool was addicted to his BlackBerry wireless handheld. Like many users, he never thought twice about pecking away at lightning speed, replying to a wave of e-mails from clients around the globe.

Last year, the 37-year-old agricultural sales director from Post Falls, Idaho, noticed a throbbing sensation in this thumbs whenever he typed. He switched to tapping with his index finger, then his middle digit and finally his pinky. But his thumbs pained him to the point where he can't even press the buttons on his TV remote control.

After months of aching, Claypool took a break. Now he only uses his BlackBerry to send short messages — typing with the tip of a pencil eraser whenever his thumbs get sore. "It affects business because I can't whack away on my BlackBerry like I used to," he said. "It's just too painful."

Repetitive motion injuries, which have long afflicted desktop and laptop computer users, are invading the mobile handheld world.

There's even an informal name for the malady — "BlackBerry Thumb" — a catch-all phrase that describes a repetitive stress injury of the thumb as a result of overusing small gadget keypads.

Business executives and tech-savvy consumers are increasingly using BlackBerries, Treos, Sidekicks and other devices with miniature keyboards designed for thumb-tapping to stay connected while on the go.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

Finally!!!!

CNN.com - Southwest Airlines expanding to Denver - Oct 21, 2005

Southwest Airlines Co. will resume service in Denver next year after a 20-year absence, likely triggering lower fares yet posing fresh problems for airlines already struggling with higher fuel prices.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 3:43 PM 1 comments

If you are a student, Microsoft is offering a 180 Day trial of its’ notetaking software, OneNote.

In addition to the 180 trial, you will be entered to win either a Toyota Prius, a Tablet PC, xBox, or MP3 player.

Office OneNote® 2003 180-Day Downloadable Trial

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 3:42 PM 0 comments

The following is a very good review of the LS800 Tablet PC by a recent Macintosh switcher.

TabletSwitcher : A Few Months with the LS800

This tablet is the perfect size for my needs, or as near as I've ever seen. It's heavier than it looks -- a number of people have commented on that -- but not heavy; it's very comfortable to hold for long periods of time. It has a very sturdy build; it is solid.

Performance is what you would expect with this processor. I have the 512MB model; Motion now offers 1GB. They've made very clear that the RAM is not intended to be user upgradeable, and that you will void your warranty by opening the case. That hasn't stopped some adventurers. I can live with it for now; when my warranty expires, I'll probably do some surgery.

Thanks for the link, Warner.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 3:43 AM 0 comments

After using my le1600 tablet pc, my thinkpad, and the gateway m280 – all with extended batteries, I can’t imagine not using another computer without an extended battery. No more worries with bringing an ac adapter or the extra battery (that you may not have recharged) Being able to get close to a whole day out of battery without second thought cannot be beat.

The ls800 tablet pc would do much to improve itself by having extended battery support. A device that small and portable, and able to run all day would be very enticing – throw in pc card support for  broadband connectivity and you would have a real contender.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 6:46 PM 0 comments

Thought everyone might like this piece from HappyNews.com

Wishes from around the world

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:46 PM 1 comments

Engadget reporting on some hands-on time with Intel’s Ruby:

Hands-on with Intel’s Ruby handheld PC - Engadget - www.engadget.com

We kicked it at Intel’s Destination Innovation event yesterday afternoon, and while most of what we saw there wasn’t Engadget material — we couldn’t care less about yet another way to sort through our digital photos — getting our hands on the Ruby, a concept design for a PDA-sized PC that can run Windows XP (or Vista…), made it all worth while.

The one we played with was a little scuffed up (not by us, we swear), but James Song from Intel’s Systems Technology Lab schooled us on some of the Ruby’s features, like 8 hours of battery life, built-in wireless, a QWERTY keyboard, a low-voltage Pentium processor, the ability to automatically change screen orientation when you rotate the device (not sure how well that’d work in practice, but it’s an interesting prospect), and an active digitizer display so you can run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition on it (or whatever the Vista equivalent will be). They’re also thinking about developing a stripped down Linux-based OS to run on Ruby, but it wasn’t clear how far along they might be on that.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:08 AM 0 comments

I’ve noticed over the past year that a lot of people are starting to begin their sentences with “So…” when asked a direct question.

For example, when meeting with the doctors last week, I would ask them a question and they would start out “So, “ pause “ Maggie…..”

I’ve watched a couple of channel 9 videos where they were asked to introduce themselves “So, “ pause “I’m John Doe and I’m the head of….”

I’ve asked some sales people a question about their product
“So, “ pause “We have this tablet pc….”

Is it just me? When folks do that, it almost feels as though they are not “talking” to me directly, but reaching back pulling something out and spitting out a piece of knowledge. Has the feeling of being a less personable way of conversing with someone.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:58 AM 3 comments

Warner was kind enough to remind me (and others) of a thread I wrote a while back about how to conserve battery power by programmatically turning on / off your screen. Here is the post from TabletPCBuzz.com that I wrote. I hope you find it useful.

I was reading Robert Williams blog, Director of Business Development and Partner Engineering for the Mobile Platforms Division at MS, regarding power management. He had a good tip about turning the monitor off when not using it to conserve battery and assigning that utility to a button on the tablet.

I looked for a utility or exe on my computer that would automatically turn my monitor off and couldn't find one. After googling high and low, I finally found one at http://www.fixup.net/tips/saver/ : monsus.exe and it works like a charm. With a tap of the pen, you can turn your monitor off. Then with a tap on the screen, the monitor comes back to life. Great way to save some battery life and easy to do with your pen.

I also have a hibernate.exe and suspend.exe that can be mapped to one of your tablet buttons. I've been using these for a while and found them at http://www.tc-one-thousand.com

I've wrapped all three programs into zip file for those of you might want to use them: http://www.zoeinc.com/monitor.zip They certainly make it easier to initiate the utilities by simply using your pen.

Enjoy

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:32 PM 2 comments

Some more photos of Tablet Guy and Loren’s Tablet PC – kind of reminds of the stolen Gnome and his many travels – Incremental Blogger: Tablet Guy

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 7:53 PM 0 comments

Lora has a photo of the new Tablet Guy, as well as a good round up some Tablet info.

Pretty cute, huh?

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:54 AM 0 comments

Hilarious satire by Warner on George W. Bush’s pick for the Supreme Court. I can always count on Warner for a fresh satirical look at today’s news.

Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2: White House Releases Harriet Miers SP1

The forecasts for a continued boom/bubble in the age of Bush 2.0 came to a halt recently with news of the buggy release of Harriet Miers, Supreme Court Nominee 1.0. The White House has hurriedly released Harriet Miers, Supreme Court Nominee SP1 this week in order to quell the growing unrest among customers dissatisfied with the earlier buggy release.
In a statement about the Service Pack release, a White House Spokesperson said, "After the successful launch of John Roberts, Chief Justice Of The Supreme Court 1.0, we obviously were caught unaware with some of the problems in the launch of this new offering. We don't care that this makes our competitors unhappy but when our installed base is this riled up we need to pay attention. Our difficulties stem from several causes:

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:14 PM 0 comments

Michael Linenberger, the author of the “must have” tablet pc productivity book Seize The Work Day, has just released a new book: Total Workday Control, Using Microsoft Outlook. I’ve not read it yet, but from what Michael has told me and what I’ve read on his website, it won’t be long before I start devouring it. Its’ not available from Amazon until January, but you can order it directly from the link above.

Like most of you, I live most of my day in Outlook. I could use all the help I could get! Based on my experience with his first book, I’d strongly encourage you to check this one out.

From the website:

A Solution to the Blur of the Workday
Regain up to 25% of your day and week
The Total Workday Control system will get you ahead of the blur of the workday. Imagine if you could have 25% of your workweek back; that's like gaining an entire day each week! The system that makes this possible is explained fully in this ground-breaking, easy-to-read, book. In it you will learn everything you need to know in order to achieve workday control:

This in not your typical Time Management book, nor your typical Outlook book

Most time management books focus on trying to eliminate waste in your day: eliminating interruptions, reducing meetings, improving poor schedules. This book includes those best practices but goes way beyond. It teaches a system utilizing eight secrets of task and e-mail management to optimize the time you have, and to accomplish your most important tasks, so you can leave work guilt-free at the end of the day.

And unlike Outlook books that read like technical reference manuals, this book is a get-down-to-business book, directly helping you to achieve your business goals. It shows you just enough Outlook technical configuration secrets to get you ahead of your day and your peers.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:44 PM 0 comments

Agilix has launched their GoBinder 2006 Beta request .

Request Form

Here is the link to the forum discussion area:

http://forums.agilix.com/forums/34/ShowForum.aspx

First disappointment: no way to import GB 2005 data for this initial public release.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:08 PM 0 comments

Loren pointed to this CNet article with a good collection of the new Tablet PC’s. Now that I’m a new owner of an M280 Gateway tablet pc, I immediately saw the problem with the below picture – there is no way you can write at that angle. The battery has a large grip that creates an angle that makes writing like that very difficult. Now, turn the tablet around and you have a really good writing angle – almost like a small book stand.

Now, I could be totally wrong with this if the gateway pictured below actually has a flat battery.

Gateway's new CX2600 notebook family, starting at $1,349, has a 14-inch widescreen that swivels around on a titanium frame. The 6-pound tablet comes with a flash card reader, wireless networking and slots for batteries that last for up to nine hours.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:54 PM 3 comments

I love reading Mike’s articles. I appreciate them because he doesn’t pull any punches. In this article, he again touts the benefits of the Tablet PC,especially when using OneNote. He also talks about how his use of the Tablet PC is getting him noticed by Bill Gates.

MIKE WENDLAND: Microsoft has a winner with Tablet PC operating system

Not to be a name dropper, but when Bill Gates spotted me last week at a news conference in Ann Arbor his face broke into a big grin and he greeted me with something to the effect of "Hey, Mike, my favorite reporter!"

Alas, it wasn't my journalistic skills that brought the compliment. It was the machine I was using to ply my trade: a small, slate-like computer using the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC operating system.

Gates absolutely loves the Tablet PC system. He thinks it's one of the most innovative and useful things Microsoft has ever invented, even though it's been slow in taking off.
It was the second time this year that Gates and I had a face-to-face and the second time he noticed me using a Tablet. The last time we met, back in April during a visit to Dearborn, he was so taken by my use of the Tablet that he mentioned me by name a few days later during a speech in Seattle. So when Gates saw me last week again using a Tablet, he once again beamed approval and later, when I asked him about technology that personally excites him, he mentioned the Tablet PC.

"I'm staking my reputation on it in a very big way," he said.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 1:09 PM 0 comments

I found this to be a very interesting article on the issues facing mobile workers – maintaining barriers between work and play.

CNN.com - Wireless technology changing work and play - Oct 18, 2005

Geoffrey Bowker, executive director of a research institute at Santa Clara University, remembers a time when going to academic conferences meant leaving office concerns behind, hearing provocative lectures and getting to experience a new city. He especially liked visiting art galleries.

No longer.

Now, wherever Bowker goes, his office goes with him. E-mails, phone calls and office documents float into his hands, demanding his attention at all hours of the day. Through a cell phone and his laptop computer, Bowker is as connected to his office at conferences as when he is there in person.

It's made him more productive, but he's not entirely satisfied.
"A huge difference for many is that we find it much more difficult to maintain barriers between work and play," said Bowker, executive director of Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society, which studies technology's impact on culture.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:25 AM 0 comments

Angel has a good list of hardware and software that help make a tablet pc more usable

Most than any other laptop, a Tablet PC is designed to be a mobile tool. This is a list of all the stuff you need to make it more “usable”.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:46 PM 0 comments

Here is a blog you might want to subscribe to: The Paperless Student. In this entry, he talks about OneNote vs GoBinder – good observations from a student in Seattle.

The Paperless Student » Blog Archive » GoBinder vs. OneNote

Last year when I started school, I did some research on alternatives to Journal, the Microsoft note-taking software included with every Windows XP Tablet PC. I’m not sure why, but I wanted to go with a non-Microsoft product for a change. Sure, Microsoft is big, but are they always the best? Living in Seattle, I have the privilege of hanging out with some of the folks who work on products like Word and XP Tablet Edition. You’d be surprised at how many Microsoft employees hate Outlook but have to use it.
I already owned a copy of OneNote. I got it free at an Office 2003 launch event. There were a few flaws with the program that made me look to other solutions.
1. The product appeared to be designed for business professinals and possibly teachers. They were not marketing to students.
2. Switching between handwritten notes and text notes was cumbersome.
3. It was a Microsoft product. I wanted to think outside the box.
After reading around, I found GoBinder. GoBinder was geared directly towards students. It even had a “Course wizard” that started upon installation to assist with setting up the electonic binder, calendar, and assignment lists. I downloaded the trial. When the trial expired, I purchasede the product.

…

So I’m saying all of this to say what? I’m going to have to try out OneNote again. Over the last few months I’ve watched Microsoft shift their marketing angle towards students. That’s good because the two most common things I hear when people see my Tablet PC are, “That’s cool. I need that,” and “Wow, I’ve never seen that!” Something’s wrong there.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:39 PM 0 comments

TabletPCbuzz.com member Gromet on why you need a bump case when you own a slate tablet pc, especially with something  as light as an LS800.

Tablet PC Buzz.com - Forum

So i've had my LS800 for about a week now. This little sucker rocks. OK so i'm getting out of my truck today and I grab my backpack out of the backseat of my H2. Didn't realize my LS was where it was and it flew over my shoulder slamming into my driveway from about seven feet up. It was moving pretty fast too. It was in it's bump case thank god! She than slid about ten feet. Ithought the worst as I picked it up.

To my supprise, not a scratch, crack or anything. I was so relieved.

So anyway good news. She can take a hit!

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

Picked this up from Tracy at StudentTabletPC.com. I’ve been testing the GoBinder 2006 for a while now and I have been very impressed with this new version. You can look at it as a total rewrite based on their new GoBinder SDK.

GoBinder 2006 is in Public Beta! - Forums @ Agilix Labs

After a lot of hard work, and contributions from a lot of people, GoBinder 2006 is about to become a Public Beta! Within the next 48 hours, we will be releasing the first Public Beta of GoBinder 2006. If you want to test, please keep your eyes on this forum as we will post a link where you can download the latest build and begin to test.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:08 PM 0 comments

jkOnTheRun: Major Intel news- new cache technology reduces startup times

Intel announced today a new cache technology that "significantly reduces the time it takes for a notebook PC to power up or access programs". The new Robson cache technology showed an almost immediate startup of a Centrino-based notebook during a live demonstration in Taipei. This new technology also improves battery life making it a great solution for the two things that are the bane of mobile users. The new cache utilizes NAND flash memory and boots from that instead of the hard drive. The Robson cache uses conventional NAND flash memory in capacities from 64MB to 4GB. This is huge news for mobile users.

From ComputerWorld

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:05 PM 0 comments

Channel 9: Meet the new Mobile PC Team (new Tablet PC features too!)

Meet a large portion of the teams that make the Tablet PC and laptop/notebook features. We have a wide-ranging discussion from how to make battery life better (developers take note!) to new handwriting recognition features coming in Windows Vista.

We start out the meeting "is this the team that's about to get fired?" Hey, the Tablet PC team has its naysayers. :-)

If you look behind Frank, you'll see Lora Heiny. Most of the tablets folks on the team are using in the video are convertibles.

Thanks for the link, Loren.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 1:33 PM 0 comments

Like Warner, I’m really enjoying these great photos by tabletology.com. Very unique shots, showing the TC1100 tablet pc in personable settings as they travel through Europe.

My favorite is the shot of the tc1100 in a crab cage.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 1:30 PM 0 comments

Palm, RIM, team up on e-mail - Yahoo! News

Palm Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM - news) and Research In Motion Ltd. (Toronto:RIM.TO - news) have set aside their fierce rivalry with a deal to offer RIM's BlackBerry wireless e-mail service over Palm's Treo 650 smartphone, the two firms said on Monday.

Palm and RIM, whose BlackBerry handset competes with the Treo, said they expect U.S. and international phone companies to begin offering the combined product starting in early 2006.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:14 PM 0 comments

We are finally home, although extremely tired. Maggie is doing well – today. Its’ wonderful to be with the kids.

Since we are at home, there is no need to send anymore e-cards – I’m sure the ladies at the front desk at the hospital will appreciate that!

You can continue to check out Maggie’s blog for more info:

http://www.zoeinc.com/forums

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:22 AM 0 comments

Minimage on the P1510D convertible touch screen notebook / now tablet pc. I’d love to get my hands on one, just to play with it.

Thanks for the link, Warner

I spent three weeks getting to know the deliciously tiny Fujitsu P1510d, a convertible touch screen notebook. Here, then, are the observations of a mobile tech addict who has been spoiled by working on an active digitizer tablet for over a year.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:51 PM 0 comments

PC Pro: Product Reviews: ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC

Not the unequivocal thumbs-up ThinkPads habitually earn. The X41 tablet is solid but lacks the flair we've come to expect from this product line, and comes at an embarrassing price.

After Chinese giant Lenovo's takeover of IBM's ThinkPad division, all ThinkPads are set to lose their IBM badge. But the ThinkPad range remains and will continue to be developed: the X41 Tablet PC is the convertible tablet version of the standard X41 ultraportable released last month, and comes with Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:46 PM 2 comments

Meet the Life Hackers - New York Times

Thanks, Michael, for the link.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:43 PM 0 comments

'God Bloggers' Head to National Conference - Yahoo! News

What would Jesus blog? That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:33 PM 0 comments

Josh Einstein on slowly building Buzz about TEO 3.0:

TEO 3.0 screen shots and spent the day with Buzz

Okay so early this morning I posted a couple screen shots of the task form in TEO 3.0 just to kinda give some insight into the improvements I've made over TEO 2.x in overall usability and eye candy. So far the reactions have been good but the reason I try to avoid giving info like this away in increments is because it actually makes the product less interesting when it finally is released because you've gradually grown accustomed to things. Take for example the release of the Whidbey family of developer technologies next month. I should be ecstatic because it's a huge upgrade over VS.NET 2003. But I've been using Whidbey in beta form for months now and in fact I've been developing exclusively in Whidbey for months too. So to me, Whidbey was released 6 months ago. And don't get me wrong, it is totally awesome. Well I guess there is something to be said about the fine balance between gradually building buzz about a new product and giving it away all at once.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:49 AM 0 comments

Picked this up from Josh Einstein, of TEO. This great news..:

Tablet PC components fixed to support .NET Framework 2.0

Microsoft has quietly released a fix for the Tablet PC managed ink components when running under the .NET Framework 2.0 which will be released very shortly. I encourage all Tablet PC users (especially TEO users) to install the fix below which I am linking to. Hopefully there will be a redistributable version soon. You should install this component now, even though .NET Framework 2.0 is not out yet. This will ensure that your apps (and TEO) continue to work properly when the framework is released.

This is very very good news because this enables Agilix to release Infinotes 2.0 which is dependent upon these fixes and corrects the problems that Infinotes currently has under .NET 2.0 beta. Agilix has said that they will release Infinotes 2.0 on or before November 7th. I want to thank everyone at Microsoft and Agilix who tolerated my bitching and got these fixes implemented.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=84bbefa4-7047-41df-8583-e3bdbf9d805f&DisplayLang=en

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:18 PM 0 comments

Great news from Tracy on her M200 trials. Great to see somebody step in and do the “right thing”.

Again – the power of blogs and connections at play.

The Student Tablet PC: Replacement on the way!

All that hard work paid off! A replacement computer is soon to be on its way. How fast, I'm not sure, but things have been speedy so far.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:12 PM 0 comments

I want to thank you, the tablet pc and blogging community, for making my daughter’s stay at this hospital so special. You took a small request and went above and beyond. That’s community, and I’ll be forever in your debt. 

I’ve been overwhelmed with the generous outpouring of support – just from the tablet pc and blogging community. You know who you are – Thank you……

I plan on getting back to regular blogging of tablet pc issues – it might take me a couple of weeks or so to regroup, though.

Rob Bushway

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:37 PM 1 comments

Here is the link and article that Channel 5 in St. Louis ran tonight:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=86220

At the time of this posted, the video had not been activated on their site.

They also left off the St. Louis Children's website:

http://www.stlouischildrens.org

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:32 PM 1 comments

The Channel 5 (NBC) news crew came by Maggie’s room today to interview her and us about her story and these tremendous web cards.

If you are in St. Louis or you can pickup the Channel 5 NBC station from St. Louis via satellite, be sure to check it out at 10pm CT. Its’ a great testimony of the tremendous love people have for her and God’s wonderful Grace.

I’ll post some screen captures when they get me a copy of the piece and photos in the next day or so.

Rob

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:25 PM 4 comments

From James Kendrick:

jkOnTheRun

A lot of people have been asking me "when are you going to do the next Tablet PC Show?". The simple answer is- never. Now, don't get all excited, this is a good thing for listeners of the show. Marc Orchant and I have decided it is a good time to take the show off The Podcast Network and produce it independently. Don't ask me the reasons because I won't tell you, it just seemed the right thing for us to do at this time. We wish The Podcast Network continued success and growth.
So what does this mean? Marc and I are hard at work on the first "OnTheRun with Tablet PCs Podcast"

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 2:12 PM 0 comments

Maggie will have her second surgery sometime in the afternoon on Wednesday. Its’ not clear about the start time as the surgeon’s plane got canceled out of Boston today. He’ll be flying in tomorrow morning and then come straight in for her surgery.

A couple of other items have changed: As of 3:30 this afternoon, the surgeon does not feel inclined to core out the tumor bed. The risks of going in there are simply too high – stroke and paralysis. They are not seeing any electrical activity coming from the tumor bed area, so that adds to the case of not doing anything with there. The tumor bed has been an area of concern and the decision on whether to do it or not has gone back and forth for the past week. He wants to remove the rest of her temporal lobe and then see what we have after things settle down post-surgically.

Maggie is also having seizure activity that is not showing up on the monitors – they can’t track them. They feel it’s coming from some deep brain area that is going to be removed anyway, but they won’t know until we can see how she is post-surgically, which will take 2 weeks to a couple of months.

As has been the case since all the started over two years ago, we won’t be leaving here with the certainty that we hoped we would leave here with. Without a doubt, though, this next step has to occur, as the area being removed is showing definite seizures.

Thanks for everything!

Rob Bushway

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 3:49 PM 0 comments

I’ve posted some pictures of the wiring that the doctors are using to gauge Maggie’s surgery. Don’t view them if you are uncomfortable seeing some wires coming out of someone’s head.

http://www.zoeinc.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=290

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 2:42 PM 0 comments

I recently acquired a Gateway M280 Tablet PC ( don’t ask ). In light of recent events, I can’t justify the expense of having two tablet PCs – one I paid for (le1600) and one I didn’t (M280).

As much as I hate to do it, I’m going to sell my LE1600. What I’m selling:

LE1600 View Anywhere Tablet PC
1.5 ghz, 1.5gb ram
60gb hd
Extended battery
Convertible keyboard
USB keyboard
Docking station
OneNote
Maps and Streets
Bump Case
Executive carrying case
2 ac adapters

There are minor scratches on the face of the tablet. I’ve seen no side effects of my coffee spill. I’ve had it since June I think.

$1750 + shipping

email me at rob at zoeinc.com if you are interested

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:19 AM 0 comments

Thought everyone would like to see their cards hanging on Maggie’s hospital room wall.

http://www.zoeinc.com/forums/categories.cfm?catid=22

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:13 PM 0 comments

I’ve been hearing all the talk about Tablet PC’s in the medical field. and how it is THE vertical market for Tablet PCs. This place is swarming with medical students – Washington University Medical School in St. Louis is here, Barnes – Jewish Hospital, The Center for Advanced Medicne, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

I’ve walked around outside during the day while students were bouncing back and forth, been in countless elevators, went to the bookstore / coffee shotp, met with a lot of doctors in Maggie’s room, etc and I’ve seen ONE Tablet PC. It was a Toshiba M200 and it was being used by a secretary, mostly in laptop mode.

I was really expecting a greater presence on a campus like this – a medical college campus.

HasMotion been here yet?

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:03 PM 0 comments

I’m quickly finding out that St. Louis is a true baseball city. While the Cardinals were playing the Padres this week, almost all of the staff were wearing something red or t shirts with Cardinals on them. Various floors on the hospital have Mark McGuire posters, etc.

Seeing as how our beloved Colorado Rockies have pretty much stunk over the past several years, it feels pretty cool to actually be in a town that is alive with excitement over their team.

Houston will be playing in St. Louis this week for the NLCS. I’ve never been to a playoff game before – I’d love to catch a game; but given the circumstances, I just don’t see it happening while we are here. Maybe the next time we’ll actually plan a vacation to come to St. Louis and be able to really enjoy the city. An who knows, maybe we’ll even catch a game in a true baseball city.

For right now, I’ll enjoy it from the hospital room and join the rest of the staff as a newly adopted cardinals fan.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:40 PM 0 comments

I did a little demoing of ActiveWords to Dennis while he was visiting with us in the hospital.

The biggest wow: I went to the Desktop, then I typed “den” and space space and it addressed an email to Dennis ( I had previously set-up Dennis with an activword for sending him emails.

ActiveWords should look at integrating the adding activewords email portion with Outlook’s Address Book. It would streamline the process of adding a new entry as an activeword.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:27 PM 0 comments

I’ve finally been able to get broadband speed on my EVDO card. I’ve been using my card for CDMA speeds when at home in Colorado Springs.Its’ been great to experience EVDO while in St. Louis.

I am getting various connectivity issues, though, but I think it has more to do wth the hospital setting than with Verizon. I’m also dropping calls at various points in the hospital, even though I have full strength signals.

One intermittment problem I’ve had with my card is browsing the web. On several occassions after starting up a connection, I can get my email, but I’m not able to connect to any websites. I’ll try again a few hours later and it works just fine. I’m not sure if it is an aircard issue, verizon issues, or what.

Right before I left for St. Louis, I had to reimage my LE1600 Tablet PC due to a faulty Vista upgrade, so I’ve not been able to install all of my work applications back to my tablet. My main workhouse has been my laptop. For me, I could never survive with just one computer. I almost always need a backup computer. My Thinkpad T42 has served me very well in that regard (almost too well :-)

By the time Maggie gets to sleep at night, I’ve been too whipped to do much of anything having to do with work. That’s got to change this coming week as I’ve got some major work to do during the day.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:06 PM 0 comments

I’m loving Owen’s blogs on linking in OneNote. I don’t use OneNote on my tablet pc right now, but I’m going to take a hard look at it when the beta comes out.

I’m also beta testing GoBinder 2006 – can’t wait to take them on a head to head comparison. OneNote would have to be downright awesome for me to switch from GoBinder – I’ve got a ton of notes archived in GoBinder, not to mention all of my bible stuff.

Owen Braun: OneNote 12 : Linking related notes together (really)

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:43 PM 0 comments

Moleskine journals were all the rage a few months ago but I dont see as much on the Web as I used to.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:23 PM 0 comments

Thank you to everyone who has sent in the cards for Maggie. Her walls are just about covered with about 400 total cards so far. She has got cards from all over the world: the u.s., korea, China, kosovo, Turkey, England, Australia, and other places. She misses home so much and these are next best thing to actually seeing people’s faces.

The messages are such strength to her and to us – they are fuel. We read them all to her and then reread them we are all hitting lows.

The seizure monitoring is going along well and the doctors continue to get some good data – her case just remains very complicated to them (as it has to everyone the past two years). It is taking them a while to really understand her history and nature of her seizures. Her medical care here has simply been wonderful.

So far: almost two straight weeks in the hospital, with one of those weeks here in St. Louis. At least more week yet to go.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 8:38 PM 0 comments

Maggie had some rough seizures through the night. Maggie's neurologist, Dr. Ess, came in this morning and said they are getting some really good seizure data and are very pleased with what they are seeing. They need some more, though.

The monitoring surgery from Thursday is proving to be extremely fruitful. We couldn't be in a better place for Maggie's issues. Maggie's doctors are simply the best at what they do, and they are very approachable. The nursing staff is excellent as well.

On another note: Maggie's doctors continue to be amazed by all the web cards in her room. One of the doctors issued a challenge to Maggie: if all of your walls get covered by Wednesday, I'll go out and buy you a very special gift! So...keep them coming.

Maggie and I were looking at all the cards this morning and I told her to imagine that the cards were people's faces "Look, there is Aunt Bernice talking to you, look there's all the people from Korea, there is all the people from the church in South Carolina."

We had a great visit from Fred and Bonnie Correll's daughter and son-in-law, Will and Carmen, earlier this week. Then a wonderful friend, Dennis Rice, flew in and Maggie stole his heart. He hung most of the cards on the walls.

Today, our friends from Tupelo, Mississippi , Mark and Christy Watson, are coming in for a few days. They are bringing their newly adopted baby, Owen.

next week, Angela Thompson and Camille will be coming by for a several days.  Maggie can't wait to see Camille. They are the same age. Brad Miller, another good friend of mine from Colorado, will be coming by while in St. Louis on business.

These visits are priceless, especially being so far from home.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:53 AM 0 comments

I’ve blogged about my wonderful experience with PDF Annotator in the past. PDF Annotator is a must have app for the tablet pc, especially those who work with PDF’s and need to sign documents, annotate them, etc.

Version 1.2 has now  been officially released. I highly recommend you download it.

Thanks, James.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:35 PM 0 comments

Major kudos to fellow Tablet PC MVP, James Kendrick, on being listed on CNET’s Top 100 Blog listing. A much deserved award:

From CNET:

Details mobile devices and gadgets, with a spark of personality and smart analyses.

CNET News.com's Blog 100

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:30 PM 0 comments

Congratulations to Warner Crocker, a good friend, and now a fellow Microsoft Tablet PC MVP! They couldn’t have awarded a better and more deserving person.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 11:08 PM 1 comments

The doctors came in for a visit today and said that they are already seeing some very good results from the invasive monitoring – they just need more of it.

I’ve posted pictures from St. Louis on Maggie’s website at http://www.zoeinc.com/forums

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for continuing to pray for Maggie.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 2:45 PM 0 comments

For those you who might be interested, I’ve uploaded some pictures from St. Louis on http://www.zoeinc.com/forums/categories.cfm?catid=22

You’ll get to see just how beautiful God made Maggie and why she captures the heart of everyone she meets.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 12:08 AM 1 comments

I’m reviewing this Gateway M280. As I indicated in my previous post, its’ a very nice machine.

I ran into an interesting issue tonight. Gateway has their user manual and recovery manual formatted as a PDF. The problem is that Acrobat Reader does not come preinstalled on the system in order to read the files. not only does it not come pre-installed, it doesn’t prompt you to install it when you launch the PDF’s. I only get an option to locate the program or web service to open file.

Now – I can get acrobat loaded on the computer even if I’m not on-line – but the typical user who is having connectivity issues won’t be able to read the manual for help solving the connectivity issues because they can’t get on-line to download the program needed to read the documentation.

Bad move, Gateway.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 10:16 PM 0 comments

I had the opportunity to play with a Gateway M280 Tablet PC today. Its’ not light for sure (and not meant to be), but that wide screen for notetaking purposes is so very nice. Very smooth notetaking surface, which is flush with the casing. When using it in portrait mode, the long screen provides a very long piece of paper.

The unit I played with had some definite pen issues, which should be resolved soon. This unit also featured an extended battery which provided a very nice gripping handle.

When you get this Tablet PC, be sure to create the recovery disks right away – you can only create the recovery disks one time. You can burn the recovery disk using the built in dvd burner.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 4:43 AM 1 comments

We are flying out this Sunday morning at 9:45, with an arrival at 3:45 in St. Louis.

If Maggie has a rough day, her doctors at St. Louis Children’s Hospital have told us to go ahead and admit her tonight.

I’ll post frequent updates to her website at http://www.zoeinc.com/forums, and send out email updates whenever something significant happens at the hospital.

Her schedule as we know it right now:
Testing from Monday – Wednesday
Resection or invasive monitoring surgery – Thursday
2nd surgery for resection – next week

We’ll be staying at the Parkway Hotel (www.theparkwayhotel.com ) until we can get a room at the Ronald McDonald House. The Parkway Hotel has also given us a good rate for Children’s Hospital parents. We may opt just to stay at the hotel if the accomodations there are much nicer, including free wireless access for me to at least try to keep up with work.

My prayer before we head out is that God will protect Maggie during her 1 to 2 additional brain surgeries, protect our kids while we are away from them, for Kathi’s parents who will be watching the kids, and that God will allow us to return home with Maggie alive and with full health – seizure free and cancer free.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 6:12 AM 1 comments

Have you upgraded your tablet pc to a 7200rpm harddrive and are now experiencing some interference with your digital pen? Might want to purchase some magnetic shielding from these folks:

Amuneal - Provider of magnetic shielding materials and solutions.

I’ve used their shielding in the past and it fixed my interferance issues with the harddrive. This is mostly a problem for slate users where the hardrive sits underneath the screen.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 5:46 AM 0 comments

I picked this up from TabletPCBuzz.com, where Chris Pratley had posted about Office 12 supporting Native PDF in Office “12”

Brian Jones: Office XML Formats : Native PDF support in Office "12"

Today's another exciting day as we move closer to Beta 1. We are just wrapping up the MVP summit here in Redmond and we've finally announced another piece of functionality I've wanted to talk about for a long time now. This afternoon Steven Sinofsky announced to our MVPs that we will build in native support for the PDF format in Office "12". I constantly get asked by customers if we can build in this support for publishing documents as PDF files, and now I can thankfully say "yes!" It's something we've been hearing about for years, and earlier in this project we decided that while there were already existing third party tools for doing this, we should do the work to build the functionality natively into the product.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 9:25 PM 0 comments

Josh has passed along the upgrade pricing for TEO 2.x to 3.0

Upgrade price: $24.99
Full price: $49.99
Purchased 2.x after 10/1/2005 gets free upgrade to 3.0

 Estimated release date: December 2005

Improvements
- Larger, more comfortable input controls with visible rule lines, focus indication, full keyboard support, and improved recognition.
- Much better correction interface with ability to correct recognition while preserving ink.
- Background incremental recognition and Outlook data binding for much faster saving.
- Full featured note taking with support for mixes of ink, text, shapes, images, and flags.
- Windows Journal import capability.
- Outlook attachments and contact links supported from within the TEO window.
- Many more Outlook fields supported. Almost all fields supported.
- Durations and abbreviations supported in ink. Writing things like "1 d" or "2 hours" supported in duration fields.
- Tab position can be top, bottom, left, or right.
- Notes bug fixed!
- Appointment label supported.

New Features
- Information bar allows special messages and context sensitive tips to be shown at the top of the window.
- Integration with Virtual Earth for mapping support without MapPoint.
- Integrated telephony features such as click to call and auto call journaling and conference calling.
- Integrated voice recording and playback.
- Background lookups in Wikipedia and other reference databases.
- Improved reminders dialog with ink support and text to speech option.
- Recurring appointments and tasks supported.
- Ability to choose the handwriting recognizer language on a per item basis.
- Option to warn when saving an item without a category.
- Contact images and business card images (from a CardScan device) displayed in the form.
- Layout manager provides optimized layouts for various resolutions and orientations.

.

# posted by Rob Bushway @ 3:11 PM 4 comments