Yes, this newsletter is just a little late coming out. My apologies for any inconvience it may have caused as I have had some trouble getting it out this week. We will be back on schedule come this next week though, so watch for another newsletter in your inbox on Sunday. Below is an article by Bill about a new handwriting recognition software from Pen & Internet, enjoy this issue! ~Spencer

Pen & Internet's ritePen
By Bill Mann

The Tablet PC Input Panel isn't the only way to use handwriting recognition on your Tablet PC. Pen & Internet has just released ritePen, a product that enhances and extends the handwriting recognition built into your Tablet PC.

With ritePen, switching between writing on the screen and manipulating buttons, windows, and other interface elements, is much smoother than with the Input Panel. The program lets you write anywhere on the screen and have the results appear at the location of the cursor in the active window. It is much more natural than the Input Panel's Write Anywhere feature.

Even better, ritePen can tell when you're trying to manipulate windows or use the pen to navigate instead of to write. So you don't lose the ability to use your pen like a mouse while the handwriting recognition is active.

ritePen also includes a set of sensible and easy-to-learn editing gestures, so you can do basic editing operations on the fly. These gestures include one that pops up a punctuation pane with 36 common punctuation marks, and another that pops up an answer list containing alternatives for every word in the most recently recognized phrase.

Most important, ritePen's handwriting recognition engine works well. I've only had a couple of days to play with the final release, and can't give you anything more than anecdotal evidence, but in my experience, it does a noticeably better job for me than the Tablet PC's built-in recognizer. The recognizer seemed to work particularly well when I wrote BIG, much larger than I could in the Input Panel's Writing Pad.

For the latest information on ritePen, or to download a 30-day trial version, visit the Pen&Internet; web site at http://www.penandinternet.com.

In keeping with the topic of handwriting recognition, let me tell you about David Parody. David is the Head of Banking Supervision for the Financial Services Committee of the UK Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.

TPCBuzz: David, what kind of Tablet PC do you use?
DP: I use the Toshiba Protégé 3500.

TPCBuzz: How do you use your Tablet PC?
DP: I use it for handwriting recognition on the fly, directly into Word. The Tablet format is much more user friendly and has, at least for me, higher accuracy than keyboard input and my speed doesn't suffer. However, I find that handwriting recognition is not very good for inputting numbers into Excel.

TPCBuzz: Anything else you particularly like about your Tablet PC?
DP: I find that there is less resistance from people I'm interviewing when I take down notes on the Tablet than there would be from tapping away at a keyboard. It's very noticeable in meetings.

TPCBuzz: Thanks.

We're looking for more brave volunteers to share their experiences with the TabletPCBuzz community. Please email me at bill@techforyou.com and share your experiences.

Add your handwritten signature to your TPC Buzz forum signature:
Last week we told you how to add your handwritten signature to Microsoft Outlook. This week we tell you how to add it your TabletPCBuzz forum signature. Check this tip out at - http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/about/buzzsig.asp

This week's poll question:
Which first generation Tablet PC model do you like best? (Continued)
Vote now at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com!

Pen & Internet, makers of the riteMail ink e-mail software, released a new handwriting recognition application today. ritePen is designed to supplement the already built-in Tablet PC handwriting recognition, providing for more accurate recognition. Here are a few of the features of ritePen, as listed in the press release -

• Transparent text input: Instantly converts English language handwriting into text for input into any Windows application.
• Seamless stylus navigation and manipulation: Allows seamless pen navigation and manipulation of application windows and their on-screen tools, including pull-down menus and scroll bars.
• Intelligent identification of protected input areas: Automatic identification of toolbars, navigation bars, control elements and input areas.
• Full screen writing: Writing can be done anywhere on the screen.
• Natural editing gestures: ritePen comes with intuitive, easy-to-learn and reliably recognized gestures for basic editing operations.
• Alternative answers listed: Pop-up lists of handwriting recognition alternatives are instantly available for every word in a phrase, further improving handwriting recognition accuracy.

ritePen is based off of Pen & Internet's riteScript handwriting recognition, and is now commercially available for $19.99. More information, as well as a side by side screen shot comparison with the Tablet PC's built-in recognition, can be found on Pen & Internet's web-site. (http://penandinternet.com/piweb/products/ritePen/ritepen_prodinfo.asp).