Tablet PC Buzz

BargainPDA: Sony U750 reviewed

BargainPDA.com has a really good review of the Sony Vaio U750 Ultra Portable.

"The Sony Vaio U750 is the American release of the handtop Vaio U series that became an overnight technological sensation in Japan and it's very easy to see why. I've been reading about this device ever since the U50/U70 were released in Japan during the middle of 2004 and have been eying it for quite some time. Weighing 1.2lbs, this is the smallest device to ever run Windows XP in the US market as of today and it does so very well. However, there are a handful of simple design and interface flaws that keep this from being a great technological innovation, but it's still a great device nonetheless. "

url: http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2389

Engadget: Texas brings WiFi to rest stops

Thought this might appeal to the Chaimberbell's of our site. Saw this over at Engadget:

"We�re tempted to make some lame joke having to do with cowboys, laptops and horses (or some bad pun like �WiFi Noon�), but we have to admit we�re a little impressed that the Texas Department of Transportation is bringing WiFi to 102 highway rest stops across the state. Service is being provided by Coach Connect, an Austin company (figures) that provides hotspots for RV parks and campgrounds, which we�re all about. Who wants to get away and commune with nature without being able to check email or download some tunes?"

url: http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000767025377/

Tom's Hardware Guide: 9 Laptop Hardrives Reviewed

A nice semi-on-topic post here. Forum member "Hmmmm" posted a link to this in the HP forum. Tom's Hardware reviews 9 new laptop/tablet hard drives -

"The first 100 GB notebook hard drives are now becoming available. The problem is that most of the current 100 GB drives a slow 4,200 RPM; only Seagate is starting to produce the big drives at 5,400 RPM. Once again, we face the question of which spindle speed to choose, in the form of a trade-off between speed and capacity. We picked out a representative set of nine different hard drives to help you get an idea of what drive options you have."[/i]

There is some interesting information in this article, if you have some interest in laptop hard drive technology. Like one member in the HP forum pointed out though, it would have been nice for them to cover some other points such as drive noise, instead of just drive speed.

URL: http://www20.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041213/index.html

Picking up where Apple leaves off " The i-Tablet "
I would usually relegate something like this to the General Discussion category, but the more I thought about it, I decided this was too good to hide down there.

Here's a post from Joseph DeRuvo, a guy that has modified his own i-Book to create the first i-Tablet. He went to considerable lengths to do this. It really is fascinating to see the lengths one would go to to make an i-Tablet.

"Close to 12 years ago I caught wind of an Operating System called PenPoint. This was one of the first pen driven operating systems out there. I had contacted them and spoke of how so many people had been left out of the technological revolution and I had thought it was due to the awkwardness of the current state of hardware and software design. At that time I would have hoped Apple would have risen to the challenge to develop a Tablet but as it turned out it was Microsoft who took the chance.

As a Photographer and a Dyslexic the idea of being able to use a Tablet as a platform for showing photographs, editing, and an extension of my badly organized memory is very appealing. I had purchased an early QBE, which I was happy with, except for the problem of going between the QBE and all my other desktops which are Apples, it was always the odd man out, in addition to the frustration of finding cross platform software. So taking matters into my own hands I cut into a Dual USB iBook and didn't look back."

url: http://www.macmod.com/content/view/166/2/

Researchers create tool to automatically search handwritten historical documents
This article has tremendous implications for the tablet pc, as well as other platforms where you scan in alot of handwritten document. Thanks to Chris Coulter for sending this in. I see alot of potential in the legal, medical, and education areas.

Historians and researchers searching through handwritten documents, such as the 140,000 pages that make up George Washington�s personal papers in the Library of Congress, now have a new powerful tool to aid their work � a first-of-its kind manuscript retrieval system developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The search tool has been developed by the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval in the computer science department at UMass Amherst.

R. Manmatha, research assistant professor of computer science, along with graduate students Toni Rath and Victor Lavrenko, have created a demonstration of their search tool using 1,000 scanned pages of Washington�s manuscripts. Manmatha says the computer interface is similar to the popular computer search engine Google.

Manmatha says, �Right now, searching a scanned handwritten document is very hard to do. Scanned historical documents are basically images, or pictures, and currently can only be searched if someone manually transcribes the documents or creates and index of their contents. This is time consuming and expensive to do. Given the cost, most handwritten documents are never transcribed or indexed,� Manmatha says. �But there is an enormous amount of handwritten, historical material.

url: http://www.umass.edu/umhome/news/articles/7683.php

CES Information
Lora from WhatIsNew.com has compiled some really good Tablet PC info for CES. If you want to checkout some tablets, get a glimpse of what is coming, talk to some OEM's, this is the place to be.

I'm planning on attending. Anybody else?

url: http://www.whatisnew.com/dailynews/showthread.php?t=2300

TabletPC2.com: Accessory / Product of the year
The 256 MB Oakley Thump

From the lifeguard towers of Malibu to the snow covered slopes of Mammoth, The Thump has the highest "WOW" factor we have seen to date.

I admit, it looks cool, and I would love to have one (if it were not $495!). However, does it say something of our industry that TabletPC2.com's Accessory / Product of the Year has nothing to do with Tablet PC's? Click Read More to view the entire review.

url: http://www.tabletpc2.com/Product-of-The-Year.htm

jkOnTheRun: Windows XP Recovery Console
Ever been on the road and had a major problem with your tablet? Normally you might go into the Windows XP Recovery Console, but of course you didn't bring your CD drive with you. This could be a major problem for computers like Tablet PCs that don't have internal optical drives. Forum member jkendrick has posted an item on his blog about how to make the recovery console bootable with a cd-rom drive -

"The developers of Windows XP included a mechanism to help the distressed user diagnose and possibly repair some nasty problems, even if there is no CD drive to boot from. Unfortunately, the Windows Recovery Console is not installed by default when you install Windows XP and unless you manually install it you won't have it when you most need it. You can run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP CD but installing it to the hard drive insures you always have it with you when you are mobile and you might not have the CD drive for troubleshooting."

URL: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2004/10/windows_xp_reco.html

MSNBC: Mini WiFi locator locks in on networks
This not a tablet pc specific newstory, but those of us with tablet pc's who are frequently mobile, I thought you might find this interesting. The article is by Gary Krakow.

When I travel I love to find WiFi wireless networks I can use in a pinch. It�s become easy to find WiFi in hotels. But, in airports, train stations and even outdoors in parks I�m sometimes forced to open my laptop or PDA, and log-in to see if I can find an open network where I can check my e-mail.

My search has been made a whole lot easier. I now have one of Mobile Edge�s WiFi Signal Locators. It is a small keychain/fob type of device which is a lot more sophisticated than it looks -� and to me it looks like one of those wireless, remote car door openers.

Cost: around $30.00

url: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6072905/

TabletPCBuzz Fantasy Football league
I have created a fantasy football league on Yahoo for members of TabletPCBuzz.com. The cost is free, unless you sign up for StatTracker. The league is initially set for 10 teams. However, if there is more interest, I'll open it up for more.

If you are interested in joining, email me through the forum and I'll send you the password. The league name is TabletPCBuzz and the id is 324829. Go to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and choose Join a Custom League

url: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/