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TabletPCBuzz.com Weekly Newsletter
For the week of July 20th, 2003

Outlook 2003: Designed with the Tablet PC in Mind
By Bill Mann

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 is the version of Outlook in the soon-to-be-released version of Microsoft Office. The new version of Office, formally known as Microsoft Office System 2003 (a.k.a. Office 11) includes many changes and enhancements to the other core Office applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), but none has been reworked as thoroughly as Outlook 2003. I've been working with Outlook 2003 betas for months now as I write my next book, "How to Do Everything with Outlook 2003" (Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Fall 2003) and I'm happy to say that many of the changes to Outlook 2003 are designed with Tablet PCs in mind.

I'm not going to give you the full story on Outlook 2003 here, but here are some of the new features that I've found to be particularly cool for Tablet PC users:

· Ink support. Outlook 2003 supports digital ink. You can use handwriting recognition with Outlook, enter annotations with ink, and send handwritten e-mail messages. To get the full power of ink in Outlook, you need to use Word as your e-mail editor, but even that isn't as big an issue as it was in the past. Microsoft has simplified the use of Word as your Outlook e-mail editor, and the two applications play together nicely.

· Pen-friendly Interface. Outlook 2003's Navigation pane includes large buttons (they look like bars across the bottom of the pane) for selecting Mail, Calendar, and other views. These big buttons are easy to tap with the pen. You can also select large, easily-tapped icons for your toolbars. These are nice touches that show the engineers developing Outlook had us pen-users in mind when they did their work.

· Here's something really slick. I don't know about you, but I tend to use my Tablet PC in portrait mode sometimes, and in landscape mode at other times. The new Outlook interface is designed for landscape mode displays, since the vast majority of computer displays are oriented that way. But Outlook recognizes when you change to a portrait mode screen orientation changes and automatically reconfigures itself to make the most efficient use of the tall thin screen.

· Better Connection Management. If you normally connect to a Microsoft Exchange server for your e-mail, you'll like this one. Remember the last time you lost the connection to Exchange while Outlook was up and running? If you were lucky, Outlook threw up some error messages then sat and waited until Exchange was available again. If you weren't lucky, Outlook went down and took your whole computer with it. No more. Outlook 2003 works in something called Cached Exchange Mode. In Cached Exchange Mode, Outlook recognizes the kind of connection you have to the Exchange server (even if that means no connection at all) and deals with it. When your machine is connected, Outlook pulls down information from the server and stores it on your hard drive. That way, you can always work from the latest version of your information that's stored on the hard drive, even if you have no connection at all. Further, Outlook automatically changes the way it works to match the bandwidth of the available connection. Cached Exchange Mode is perfect for Tablet PCs, since we tend to just grab them and go, moving from place to place with no warning, and needing to take advantage of whatever connection happens to be available at any time.

The addition of features like these to Outlook 2003 makes it clear to me that Microsoft plans to take care of us Tablet PC users.

A Request for Help:

In response to my story on using the Sound Recorder, one of our readers asked about sound recorders that can record more than the 30 seconds at a shot that the Sound Recorder does. He found one solution in an old copy of "Ahead Nero," a CD-ROM burning program that has a built-in audio recorder, which he says works great.

Does anyone else have a suggestion for a sound recorder that works well on a Tablet PC and can record long sound segments?

Want to know how to do everything with your Tablet PC? Here's the book that shows you how.

From: NEC Solutions America
World's thinnest, lightest Tablet PC from NEC

The Versa LitePad from NEC - See why the world's thinnest, lightest Tablet PC means serious business. At a feather-light 2.2 pounds and just .6-inches thick, the Versa LitePad is nearly a pound lighter than any other Tablet PC. Add in the pen-and-ink simplicity of Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Integrated wireless 802.11a/b, and a suite of productivity tools that dramatically simplifies business collaboration and remote communications, it's the ultimate "digital paper" experience! For more information, go to: http://www.necsam.com/VL29


Tablet PC Buzz Poll
Q: Do you use the Tablet PC built-in handwriting recognition (TIP), or a third party program?
A:
Built in recognition (TIP)
39%
Third party: ritePen
61%
Third party: PenOffice 1%
Third party: Other 3%
Total Votes: 156

This week's poll question:
Do you use MSN Messenger more now with the added ink support in MSN Messenger 6?
Vote now at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com!


Top News Story of the Week
Transmeta powers first sub-$800 Tablet PC
By Peter Rysavy
Dated July 16th, 2003

Great news for the fans of the TDV Vison tablet and budget buyers in general: the device has been released!

"Taiwanese monitor maker TDV Vision has announced what it claims are the first sub-$800 Tablet PC, the Visionary V800XPT."

The original claims were putting it at under $1,000, but this is even lower.

"The V800XPT sports 8.4in LCD panel, while its superiors sibling has a 14in display. There's a 30GB hard drive in there and 128MB of DDR SDRAM. The V800XPT also contains a 640x480 digicam and a four-in-one memory card reader, so it's clear TDV Vision is pitching the machine at consumers rather than the business audience Tablets are typically designed for.

The machine contains a 56Kbps modem and 10/100Mbps Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports and audio in/out jacks. Unlike most Tablets, there's no keyboard - instead TDV Vision is offering an external USB keyboard. There's also an external USB optical drive."

So a slate, thankfully with USB 2.0, and the media card reader and built-in camera make it quite unique among tablets available today.

TDV also released a larger sibling, the VS1200XP, which is not a true Tablet PC though. It sports a touch screen and Windows Home/Pro.

"It too contains 30GB of hard disk storage, but has 256MB of DDR SDRAM. It also has a built-in digicam - touted as a videoconferencing aid - and sports a built-in 85-key keyboard.

The larger machine weighs "just over" 1.8kg (4lbs) and contains a six-hour battery. The V800XPT weights 1.2kg (2.6lbs) but its (smaller) battery lasts just 2.5 hours."

The smaller device could have been lighter and we'll have to see how long the actual battery life is.

"The V800XPT and the VS1200XP will go on sale in the US in September for $799 and $999, respectively. They are expected to go on sale in Europe in the same timeframe, though European pricing has yet to be revealed."

The TDV press release is here. The V800XPT spec page is here. The VS1200XP spec page is here. (Link)


Weekly Tablet PC News Headlines
Jul 16 2003 - The Register: Transmeta powers first sub-$800 Tablet PC
Jul 15 2003 - Lycoris releases Linux... Tablet PC edition
Jul 15 2003 - InformationWeek: Tablet PCs On Parole
Jul 15 2003 - PC Magazine: Product Bulletin: The Cheapest Tablet PC Yet?
Jul 15 2003 - Des Moines Register: New PC just what the doctor ordered
Jul 14 2003 - CNet: Fujitsu Tablet PC video
Jul 14 2003 - BusinessWire: ScanSoft RealSpeak Selected as the Voice for Microsoft's Educational Initiative in Germany
Jul 14 2003 - Wired: The Year's Best Gear So Far
Jul 13 2003 - From the rumor mill: HP to drop Transmeta?
Jul 13 2003 - Fast Food Tablet PCs?
Jul 10 2003 - Computer World Singapore: Fujitsu's new Stylistic
Jul 10 2003 - Silicon Valley Biz Ink: Xplore Announces $3.0 Million in Further Orders from an OEM Customer for Its Rugged iX104(TM) Tablet PC
Jul 10 2003 - PC Pro UK: IBM and Toshiba may launch low-priced Tablet PCs
Jul 09 2003 - Federal Computer Week: Bostonians armed with Tablet PCs
Jul 08 2003 - Tablet PC Expert Zone chat today
Jul 08 2003 - The community voice is heard at Microsoft
Jul 07 2003 - TabletPCCorner: First Tablet PC with a 14.1 inch screen
Jul 07 2003 - BusinessWire: AuthenTec's TruePrint-Based Fingerprint Sensors Chosen to Secure Biometrically Enabled Tablet PC
Jul 07 2003 - TechRepublic releases a Tablet PC online resource guide
Jul 07 2003 - FOX News: Churches Worship in the High-Tech World
Jul 04 2003 - Happy Independence Day!
Jul 03 2003 - Ink AniEd and Magic-eye editor
Jul 03 2003 - Microsoft announces summer eBook promotion
Jul 02 2003 - Apple Tablet PC rumors... again
Jul 02 2003 - Inc.com: Things I can't live without
Jul 02 2003 - Microsoft releases Reader security update
Jul 02 2003 - TabletPCTalk: Tablet PC Summit 2003 Report
Jul 01 2003 - WhatIsNew.com: Setting up your Tablet PC
Jul 01 2003 - Sidebar ads
Jun 30 2003 - abletWordMgr release by abletFactory
Jun 30 2003 - San Angelo Standard Times: Tablet PCs chasing paper

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