Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday morning reading and listening to share.

As we get closer to the release of the film, The Da Vinci Code, protests are heating up. The Vatican is jumping on the boycott bandwagon. Two points. If you fear something so much that you are afraid it will shake some folks' faith that you want to ban, boycott, or kill the creators, perhaps you need to reexamine the foundations behind that fear and that faith. Don't these folks realize they are just helping send more folks to the box office with all the sturm and drang they are creating? Maybe they've got a stake in the film somewhere and there is something to that conspiracy stuff. Ok, that's three points.

Microsoft and The New York Times have teamed up to create a new reader for The New York Times and other publications that will be included in the Vista operating system. Lots of commentary on this being a good thing for the consumer and the troubled print publishing industry. I think that is accurate on both counts. There's also commentary that this is not such a good move or not that innovative an evolution given other delivery methods out there. Those issues revolve around who will control content delivery and the advertising. Again, I think there is some accuracy there. Fighting the last war?

Are we having a flashback to 1968? We've got protests in the street (in this country and others) over the war, labor issues, and of course the immigration debacle. We've got funky, long bearded bad guys who keep getting referred to as living in the stone age. Neil Young is releasing a protest album. You can stream the album here prior to its release. Heck, I even heard that Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young are going on tour this summer. Why do I have a sinking feeling in my gut that instead of protesting students being shot on college campuses we are going to see some shooting at an immigration protest?

Speaking of the immigration issue, there was a big hullabaloo over singing the National Anthem in Spanish this week, with the President (between comedy stints) saying that he believes it should be sung in English. Why is this an issue when 60% of the country that speaks English can't even sing all the words correctly?

Stupid Celebrity Tricks: Keith Richards falls out of a tree and Rush Limbaugh avoids a fall by performing legal gymnastics to stay out of jail.

DualCor cPC Will Have Origami Option?

Rob Bushway has uncovered some interesting information on the DualCor cPC (we haven't heard much about that intriguing device in awhile.) Apparently there is new being released on their site and it looks like the cPC will have an Origami option.

 

Check it out here.

Dorko Tech Video Of MindManager As ActiveDesktop

Jason Dorko of DorkoTech has joined the video demo wave and put together quite a handy demo of how he uses MindManager as his Active Desktop. He calls his demo a Dorko Demo and he walks through the steps nicely. Well done and well worth watching. Check it out here.

Tableteers Cry Foul As NCAA Refuses To Sanction Penmen

Last year after the NCAA first announced the potential for sanctions on a number of schools using  mascots and nicknames that could be deemed "hostile and derisve," I penned a satrical post ascribing some reaction quotes to various members of the Tablet PC community, pointing out what I thought was a bonehead move on the NCAA's part. Now that the NCAA has further proved that they have neither spine nor collective wisdom, by passing down sanctions on a few universities, I'm republishing that post in honor of their blatant hypocrisy. I'm even adding some new comments from a few other voices in the Tabletscape.

Christian Falch Releases His Fan Control Utility

Christian Falch has released his fan control and screen brightness control utility for those Toshiba Tablet PC owners who want to try it out. According to his blog entry:

The program is supposed to replace the Toshiba Power Management software, and works great together with the Notebook Hardware Control.

I'm not sure which Toshiba Tablet PCs this will work or not work with, but Christian uses a Tecra M4. Read more about what the utility offers, known issues, or find the download here.

Craig Pringle Talks Tablet PCs And Vista

Craig Pringle has put together a nice little preview of what Tablet PC users can expect in Windows Vista including some changes to the Snipping Tool, the new Flicks feature, and the TIP.

Check it out here.

Good Reading On Tablet PCs and Education

Some interesting reading on Tablet PCs and Education.

(Via GottaBeMobile) Melissa Chotner contributes to a Blackboard blog and points to a number of interesting uses for the Tablet PC in education with some interesting statements from Brad Baldwin of Agilix and Tracy Hooten at The Student Tablet PC.

This may sound weird, but you kind-a forget you’re using a computer when you’re in tablet mode. Your face is closer to the screen and everything just feels more natural. This makes digital studying, which can be much more efficient than non-digital study, a better experience and lets you focus more on what you’re doing.

Judith Sotir writes about using the Tablet PC as a note-taking device with both voice and hand-writing recognition in the academic world and how re-training instructors can be an obstacle to adoption.

For students, taking notes is a snap. They can write directly on the Tab PC screen, and then organize and print the notes after class. Brainstorming and sharing as a group is easy, simply emailing their ideas to others.

I'm so used to taking notes on a Tablet PC that both articles are excellent reminders as to just how foreign the technology may seem to someone approaching it for the first time.

Hugh MacLeod On The Gillmor Gang Podcast

I'm a big fan of Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void blog and his wonderful cartoons which he now draws on a Tablet PC. Recently he appeared on the Gillmor Gang podcast and among many things discussed on that rambling show he talked a bit about using his Tablet PC to do his cartoons. (He now publishes more of them on his blog than he did before using the Tablet PC.)

The Tablet PC info is on the long podcast around the 16 minute mark. There's lots of other fun talk about the cartoons and blogging in general. Check it out here.

Personal Computer World Review Of Samsung Q1 UMPC

Personal Computer World has published a review of the Samsung Q1 UMPC. It is a pretty thorough review covering the hardware, software and performance issues. In their conclusion they raise some questions about who the device is targeted for that also includes the now obligatory boilerplate language about the Tablet PC and its problems with market acceptance.

Check out the review here.

Great Fun Quick Change Act

Just pure fun and entertainment here. David and Dania are a unique entertainment act. They do a number of circus and magic routines, but what caught my eye was their amazing quick change routines. Click on the link which takes you to their site. If you click on VIDEOS you'll see a shelf with what looks like videocassettes. (A series of promos and highlights from their acts.) Grab a cassette and stick it into the video player on the right side of the screen. My favorite is the video on the lower shelf on the right.

Our next show will be a quick change show, but nothing that quick. Amazing.