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Newsletter Archive
Untitled Document
TabletPCBuzz.com
Weekly Newsletter
For
the week of April 13th, 2003
Welcome to
the second issue of the new TabletPCBuzz newsletter. I would like to welcome
all of you who have recently subscribed. As promised, we're giving away
copies of my new book, How to Do Everything with Your Tablet PC to newsletter
subscribers. We are in the process of contacting our first winner, and
will announce him/her next week.
The following
story is my view on one of the most important uses for Tablet PCs, as
a high-tech tool for taking notes.
Why It
Makes Sense to Take Notes with a Tablet PC By Bill Mann
Researchers
have reported that more than 90% of the population in developed countries
takes notes. We take notes at work. We take 'em in school, around the
house, while we're on the phone or in a store. We take notes to record
all those important bits of information that flow through our lives each
day, figuring that if we don't write this stuff down, we won't remember
it later.
So we record
all this important information in notebooks, scribble it on napkins, jot
it down on the palms of our hands, wherever. Then we lose it. We throw
away the napkin, wash our hands, misplace the notebooks.
Even if
we don't physically lose it, we can't efficiently access it. Over the
years I worked at my last job, I generated a stack on notebooks a foot
high. You can probably count the number of times I got useful information
out of that stack on the fingers of one hand. It was just too much work
to find anything in those thousands of pages of notes.
So I've given
up on notebooks and use a Tablet PC instead. While a Tablet PC costs a
bit more than a stack of paper notebooks (figure $2000 against 20 bucks),
it addresses the main problems of using paper notebooks. Using Windows
Journal, you can take as many notes as you wish and not have to worry
about losing them. And because the Tablet PC converts handwriting to text
in the background and uses that information to create an index of your
documents, you can actually search for information in your notes with
a reasonable chance of finding it.
It'll be
even easier to store and search your notes when Microsoft works all the
kinks out of OneNote, the new note management application that will ship
later this year. Whereas Windows Journal works like an infinite pad of
paper, OneNote works like an infinite notebook with an unlimited number
of sections and an unlimited number of pages in each section. OneNote
will be a great framework for storing all the kinds of information you
used to include in paper notes, as well as things like information from
web pages or snippets from other documents, things that were hard to deal
with using traditional handwritten notes.
While some
people will say that replacing a paper notebook with an expensive, heavy,
fragile, battery-powered Tablet PC is crazy, I think the benefits of doing
so will become clearer and clearer as time goes on. Within a few years,
as Tablet PCs become lighter, less expensive, sturdier, and able to run
all day on a charge, people will get used to the idea of taking their
notes on a computer screen instead of a piece of paper. Seeing someone
scribbling notes on a Tablet PC in a meeting or around town will no longer
be a novelty.
Get
the complete scoop on using Windows Journal in my book, How
to Do Everything with Your Tablet PC.
How
Do You Use Your Tablet PC?
Matthew Green
is a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. He
bravely volunteered to tell us a bit about how he uses his Tablet PC.
TPCBuzz:
What kind of Tablet PC do you use? Matthew:
The Compaq TC1000 TPCBuzz: Where do you use it? Matthew: I use it in all aspects of my work and personal life.
I give lectures and runs tutorial and computer laboratories on it, using
projection lecturns or portable projectors to make the information visible
to the entire class. I've just added a wireless network to my home so
I can sit outside in the sunshine and check my email and grade papers.
TPCBuzz: When working on emails and papers, do you use the pen
or the keyboard? Matthew: For marking papers, I like to use my own handwriting (pen)
as I like these to appear more personal. I then convert this to text to
store in my files. For emails I like to type. As I'm sure most frequent
users of computers would agree, my typing speed is faster than my handwriting
(most days!) TPCBuzz: How do the students react to your Tablet PC? Matthew: With interest, excitement, and maybe a little jealousy.
Most are intrigued. The general response is "wow." TPCBuzz: Did your TC1000 replace any PDAs or PCs in your life.
Matthew: It has replaced 3 of my computers - my PocketPC, one of
my home computers, and my work desktop PC. One of my challenges was remembering
which computer a document that I needed was on, and which version it was.
Now, all my documents are on the tablet - a one stop shop.
And there
you have it. One man's experiences with his Tablet PC. We're looking for
more brave volunteers to share their experiences with the TabletPCBuzz
community. Email me at bill@techforyou.com
and share your experiences.
"Ask
the Buzz"
Here
is the Question for this week's Ask the Buzz:
Bagguswest:Thinking
of buying the HP TC1000. Some reviews say its resolution is "stuck at
1024x768." What's that mean? You really can't change the resolution setting
like you can on any other Windows PC?
TabletPCBuzz:
You can adjust the resolution on the TC1000 from 800x600 to 1024x768,
but like most laptops and tablets 1024x768 is the highest resolution supported
by the display. If you hook up an external monitor to the TC1000, you
can go up to 1600x1200.
Got a question
about the Tablet PC OS? A specific Tablet PC? Wondering how to do something
with your Tablet PC? Whatever your question, send it to Ask the Buzz at
spg@tabletpcbuzz.com. Thanks!
TabletPCBuzz
Gear Contest
For all
TabletPCBuzz members, we will be holding a contest this next week on the
site. We will be giving away a couple of TabletPCBuzz shirts, and perhaps
some other TabletPCBuzz gear from our logo store. If you haven't already,
you can also check out our logo store at - http://www.cafeshops.com/tabletpc.
Watch the site for more on this contest coming up this week!
Tip
of the Week
How To
Download And Install PowerToys
Downloading and installing PowerToys on your Tablet PC is easy. But remember
that PowerToys aren't officially supported by Microsoft. If one doesn't
work for you, you won't get technical support on it. Here are the steps
to download and install Tablet PC PowerToys:
Go to
the Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition web page at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/downloads/powertoys.asp.
Find the
setup file for the PowerToy you wish to download.
Download
and run the setup program.
Once you
install a PowerToy, you can run it from the PowerToys for Tablet PC folder.
To reach this folder, tap Start | All Programs | PowerToys For Tablet
PC | and the name of the PowerToy you want to run.
Tablet
PC Buzz Poll
Q:
Which Tablet PC input method do you use the most?
A:
Handwriting
recognition:
44%
Speech
Recognition:
4%
Plain
Ink :
27%
On-screen
keyboard :
11%
Character
recognition (Graffiti):
3%
Third
party program (PenOffice, etc.):
2%
Other:
9%
Total
Votes: 173
This
week's poll question:
What stage of the "Tablet PC Experience" are you currently in? Vote now at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com!
Top
News Story of the Week
New
Tablet PC line announced, pricing under $1,000
By Spencer Goad
Here is
an interesting new entry into the Tablet PC arena:
"TDV Vison,
a new global power in LCD monitors, today announces the nVision 1000 and
nVision 1500, full-featured tablet PCs that will both be priced at $999.
These are believed to be the first tablet PCs on the market for under
$1,000. Both the TDV nVision 1000 and nVision 1500 are 12-inch LCD PCs
and notebooks in one product that can be used in landscape or portrait.
These products feature a wireless keyboard, a Transmeta 1Ghz processor,
a 20GB Fujitsu hard drive, an 8MB SiliconMotion VGA Lynx 721 graphics
card, and 256MB of SDRAM memory.
The nVision
1000 has an XGA TFT LCD touch screen allowing users to input data using
the wireless keyboard, the virtual on-screen keyboard, the stylus pen
or their finger. The nVision 1500 has an RF digitizer with active stylus
and features the Windows XP Tablet edition. Both contain ports for USB
1.1, PCMCIA 1X Type II, LAN RJ45, 56K fax modem, 1394 IEEE for DVD/CD
connection and audio connections for earphones and microphones." "The
nVision 1000 and 1500 tablet PCs come with a wireless keyboard and presentation
stand and features a 3600 Li-Ion battery that lasts up to 3 hours."
Looks like
no 802.11x features, but with the price it may not matter. This does appear
to be the first Tablet PC under $1,000, good news for those who have been
looking at Tablet PCs but are turned away by pricing. Hopefully this will
help bring this great technology to the masses.