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Newsletter Archive
TabletPCBuzz.com Newsletter - April 27th 2003
TabletPCBuzz.com
Weekly Newsletter
For the week of April 27th, 2003
Welcome to
the 4th issue of the new TabletPCBuzz newsletter, I hope you are enjoying
this resource. Bill is taking the week off this week due to professional
and family reasons. He will be back next week to announce our second winner
of a free copy his book, as well as to bring you part 2 of his Mind Mapping
and Tablet PCs article. Watch for that, it should be a good read.
In his absence,
I've written the following article on various electronic input methods.
Thanks for inviting us to your inbox, and see you around on the site!
A few years
ago the only consistently accurate method of data input consisted of a
mouse and a keyboard. The last few years have shown drastic changes in
that, and the Tablet PC has been placed on the cutting edge of data input
technology. In this article I'll cover several of these input methods,
their history, and where I think we are headed in the future.
Covering
the most basic method first… simple keyboard input. Ever since the very
first "computers", which took up whole rooms of space, keyboard type input
has been around. Modern keyboard design originated from typewriters, and
were later ported over to computers when the first word processing came
about. Now what about the future of keyboards? As other methods of input
become more and more mainstream, I think we will start to see the keyboard
fade out. They will still be around for a good many years yet, but faster
input methods like speech recognition will begin to start to put away
their usefulness. With slate only Tablet PCs that are out there now, we
are already starting to see this happen.
Moving on,
we come to handwriting recognition. Ever since the late 80s accurate handwriting
recognition has been one of the most sought after technologies in the
entire technology industry. Apple was the first to really take a good
strike at it, with the Newton PDA technology. While ahead of its time,
Newton proved that handwriting recognition could be used as a reliable
input technology. There were others before the Newton, but they had even
less success than the Newton did.
Other companies
have since poured millions of dollars into trying to perfect this technology,
with many different efforts and implementations. Now with the Tablet PC
Microsoft has achieved what is acclaimed at the best handwriting recognition
ever, with over 95% accuracy. I don't think handwriting recognition will
ever be "perfect", as there are too many possibilities and user errors.
I know I for one sometimes even have trouble reading my own handwriting.
A more accurate expectation for the future is that handwriting recognition
technology will be able to read handwriting much better than the average
person. While it won't still be our main input method a few years out,
it will remain a very useful technology and gain widespread use.
Now we come
to speech recognition, which is my favorite input method for the future.
The concept of speech recognition has been around even longer than keyboard
or handwriting recognition input. In the 1870's Alexander Graham Bell
had the idea and began work on a "phonoautograph", a machine which would
convert speech to written text. Bell was unsuccessful in building this
machine, but it was while working on this that he got the idea for what
we now know as the telephone.
So the idea
has been there for a very long time, and when computers came along it
was naturally one of the input methods that seemed perfect for them. After
all, there are not many things we do that are more natural than speaking.
Until just recently though, the processing power required for speech recognition
made it unpractical. Now days though, there are quite a few options for
speech recognition out there. Even the base Windows XP OS has started
to integrate it. In the future I think speech will become the mainstay
input method. What will this future recognition look like? I'll point
you to just about any episode of StarTrek, in which they talk to the computer
almost like it is a person and it has no trouble understanding and converting
to text. It won't matter how much other noise is in the room, the computer
will still be able to understand you. This is where we are headed, and
I'm pretty sure it won't take us till the 24th Century to get there. Already
many people have started choosing speech over keyboard input, and this
is a trend that I think will continue.
I hope this
article has helped you to understand these methods of electronic input
to a greater extent. If you are interested in more information about the
history of these different methods, visit your favorite search engine
(I like Google) and do a search for each one. There are many, many resources
out there that make for some interesting reading for those interested.
Anxious
to get the most out of your Tablet PC? Check out, How
to Do Everything with Your Tablet PC.
How
Do You Use Your Tablet PC?
This last
week we have been running a contest to give away a few TabletPCBuzz T-Shirts.
To enter people have been sharing the creative ways they use their Tablet
PC. Forum member Big Lar had this to say about using his Tablet PC in
amateur astronomy -
"One
of my hobbies is amateur astronomy. Believe it or not, this hobby requires
much more gear than just a telescope. When observing at a telescope you
normally have a sky atlas (basically a map of the sky), an observing plan
or schedule, a CD or MP3 player (Holst's "The Planets" of course) and
something to log your observations and sketches. Creative use of my Tablet
replaces all of these.
First,
the sky atlas. Many good atlas programs are available. SkyMap Pro is the
one I use. It has a nice "red" node that is easier on the night vision.
Red mode alone, even with the backlight turned all the way down is still
not quite dim enough to preserve dark adaptation, but applying some red
film to the screen solves that problem.
For observing
planning, I also turn to SkyMap. It helps me find the best times to observe
specific objects, but I usually complete my plan in Excel and print it
to Journal for ease in annotating it at the scope.
The 30
GB hard disk in my Tablet makes it easy to decide on what music to listen
to. A nice set of Sony wrap-a-round headphones plugged directly into my
TC1000 makes sure I don't wake the bears.
Logging
my observations is where the tablet really shines. Most of the stuff I've
mentioned so far can be accomplished with any good laptop. But my Journal
logbook is unbeatable. I have a custom Journal template that allows me
to log my observations exactly as I would on paper, only without them
blowing away. My template consists of data about the conditions, the location,
the time, the seeing (the stability of the atmosphere), instruments used
(scope, eyepieces, etc.), and my general observations including an eyepiece
sketch! I'm no artist, but basic sketches at the eyepiece really help
you after an observing session validate what you were seeing. For this
reason alone, before my Tablet, I never took notes at the telescope eletronically.
Now, it is the only way to go.
I know
it is a kind of "vertical" hobby, but the Tablet sure makes it much nicer
for me."
And that's
this week's story. We're looking for more brave volunteers to share their
experiences with the TabletPCBuzz community. Please email us at bill@techforyou.com
and share your experiences.
"Ask
the Buzz"
Here
is the question for this week's Ask the Buzz
Question:What is the easiest way to draw smooth shapes for diagrams in (Windows)
Journal?
TabletPCBuzz:
The easiest way is to draw the shape best you can, then highlight that
shape with the selection tool. Goto the "Actions" menu and choose
"Change Shape To...". From there you can choose for Journal
to turn your freehand shape into a smoother and even circle/oval, square/rectangle,
or a straight line. At the moment Journal can't recognize and change shapes
into any shapes other than those, so you'll have to rely on your artistry
skills for that.
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 are holding a contest on the site. We are giving
away a couple of TabletPCBuzz shirts from our logo store. This contest
will be over on Wednesday, so this is your last chance to enter! To enter
the contest or for more details, see this forum post - http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3394
Tip
of the Week
Windows
Journal: Converting Ink to Text
In Windows Journal you can convert your handwritten notes into typed text
for inclusion in e-mail, word documents, etc. To do this, use the selection
tool to highlight the text you want to convert. Tap on the Actions menu
then goto, "Convert Handwriting to Text". This bring up a confirmation
window which allows you make any necessary corrections to the text. After
this you can choose whether to copy the converted text to the clipboard,
or insert it as a text box back into the original journal document.
Tablet
PC Buzz Poll
Q:
Are you considering/waiting on the second generation Tablet PC devices?
A:
Yes,
waiting to purchase one:
51%
Yes,
considering upgrading from a first generation device:
12%
Maybe,
watching for more details:
13%
No,
plan to stick with first generation for a while:
13%
No,
buying a first generation device, can't wait:
8%
No,
not considering buying any Tablet PCs at the moment:
3%
Total
Votes: 209
This
week's poll question:
Are you considering/waiting on the second generation Tablet PC devices?
Vote now at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com!
Top
News Story of the Week
Worldwide PC shipments up 5.5%, Gartner says
By Spencer Goad
"Worldwide
PC shipments totalled 34.5 million units in the first quarter of 2003,
a 5.5 percent increase from the same period last year and a better start
overall for the year, according to preliminary results from Gartner."
Here is
a bit that interests me, and a good example as to why I see such a potential
in the Tablet PC market. Mobile computing is becoming more and more rampant,
and the Tablet PC is going to be right in the middle of that in the future
-
"Mobile
PC growth continued to outpace the desktop PC segment. Tablet PCs and
the launch of Intel's Centrino mobile platform continues to bring attention
to the mobile PC, but were not major factors in driving shipments.
"Centrino
is focused at the corporate market initially. In addition to budget issues,
it will take time for that community to qualify it within their IT environments,"
Smulders said. "The marketing campaign around Centrino, however, is raising
general awareness of the benefits of wireless mobile form factors."
More information
is available in the full article, click the link below.
http://www.dialelectronics.com.au/articles/c6/0c015fc6.asp
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