Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Maybe There Is Some Justice After All

Maybe justice isn't quite so blind on some days. Looks like the Department of Justice has cornered Spam King Alan Ralsky and he might be singing like a flock of canaries. Bet lots of other rats are looking for cover. Maybe it'll be one for the good guys.

New UMPC For French Market, It's Label

A new Ultra-Mobile PC for the French market, It's Label, was announced today. Check out more info and specs here on Navigadget.

Pictures Surface Of HP tc4400 Core Duo Tablet PC

Some pictures of HP's new Core Duo Tablet PC the tc4400 have surfaced on this site. With the exception of a finger print reader (and of course the dual processors) they don't look very different than the tc4200.

There are more pictures at this link and you'll need to use your favorite translator. They work so well. My favorite translation of the info in the caption of this picture was: "which applies the up-to-date wool one platform or the green onion of Intel."

Here's a link to the product page for the tc4400 but as you can see info that was previoulsy there has been pulled.

Toshiba M200 Tablet PC Review On the Gadgeteer

The Toshiba M200 Tablet PC has been a workhorse and a market favorite for quite some time (late 2003), as well as my Tablet PC of choice since it's intro. Even though it has been around for awhile it was intriguing to see a very thorough review of the M200 on The Gadgeteer.

Not only does Jay Z. Colond give a good look at the machine and a number of software packages, but you get to delve into the thought process behind which Tablet PC to choose. Always a tricky issue, and it is interesting to note how screen resolution played a key factor in the choice. Or perhaps I should say, how lack of hi-res screen options ruled out some very interesting Tablet PC options in this case.

I really hope as we are gearing up for new generation of Tablet PCs that can handle Vista, that the OEMs are paying attention to the number of folks (like me) who really have hi-res screen resolution as one of our key decision points.

All of that said, with the release of Toshiba's M400, I think this review is not only well written and informative but well timed. I suspect we will see quite a few folks looking at the M200s in the near future as prices inevitably drop and more and more become second hand options.

Here's a link to the review.

Cultural Events Worth Watching This Weekend

A couple of interesing cultural events going on over the weekend and into next week that will bear watching.

The opening of the new film United 93 has already garnered reams of publicity and is proving controversial in some quarters. Some are saying it is still too early, some are decrying some of the fictionalization of moments and dialogue that no one could really know. Regardless of how the film turns out, good or bad, I'm glad it was made. The ice is broken and the inevitable copycats and bandwagon jumpers will follow if the film makes numbers. More importantly, I hope it opens a window for some serious dramatic writing about this period in our history. I doubt we see any of that on film, but maybe we will on our stages someday.

The May Day rallies, protests, and boycotts over immigration are sure to ignite passions, anger, and debate. Who knows during all the gnashing of teeth it might actually encourage some thoughtful discussion, but I doubt it with politicians scrambling like cockroaches in a room where the light got turned on. My gut tells me this issue is going to become more contentious as our "leaders" continue to try to speak out of both sides of their mouths wihtout saying anything in abject fear of their own survival.

Wouldn't it be great if we could discuss issues as opposed to how those we disagree with choose to discuss issues. But then that means we'd actually have to face some possible outcomes.

John Tokash Ponders His UMPC Usage

John Tokash has a TabletKiosk eo on order and he's strategizing about how he's going to be using his new UMPC. He's examining issues and scenarios and asking some interesting questions and thinking about software. Here are a few:

• This will be the first Windows XP device I will own that has no bundled keyboard. I’m no stranger to keyboard-less devices, though. None of my phones or PDAs (except my Palm Tungsten C and my RIM 957) had keyboards.
• Does Windows XP for Tablets have a mini on-screen keyboard for the login prompt? I’ll be logging on to the Windows network at the office and hopefully it will be easy to enter my password every morning.
• Can Second Life be played on a slate tablet pc (with no keyboard)? Is the eo fast enough for Second Life?

John's not alone. I remember thinking about my first Tablet PC purchase and being concerened about similar issues (although I ordered a convertible which came with a keyboard.) I'm sure there are others out there with many of the same thoughts and questions. I wonder how many folks decide not to go for it because they don't have answers to their questions? Yet. Check out the rest of his thoughts and possible answers here.

Julia Lerman And The Killer Tablet PC App

Julia Lerman takes a look at the "holy grail/killer app" myth for the Tablet PC.

Not that anyone has been arguing with me, but I seem to just not believe in the killer app for the mass market that will make everyone jump to tablets. I think the evolution of computers to a point where the additional mobility features such as ink and speech are not "additional" but just there is how you will get the world using ink.

Can't say I disagree. Check out her full post here.

Google SketchUp and a Tablet PC

Google has released a free version of SketchUp, an excellent 3D modeling package they acquired in the @Last Software acquisition awhile back. While not really a drawing and inking tool, the program does work well in some early testing on a Tablet PC using the pen to manipulate the various functions and create objects.

"The new Google SketchUp is for the do-it-yourselfer, the hobbyist — really anyone who wants to build 3D models for use in Google Earth. Go ahead and model that new kitchen, or deck, landscape your virtual garden, or impress your teacher with a roller coaster or medieval castle. When you’re finished, place your model in Google Earth. There! The beginning of a virtual world. Warning: don’t start messing with this stuff after dinner because your first experience could be an all-nighter… making an idea come to life in 3D can be very addicting"

There is also a Pro version for sale.

Check out the info and the download here.

Loren Keeps Adding Ink Wherever He Can

For the sake of us all, Loren Heiny won't stop working to add Ink anywhere he can. Up until now it has only been possible to blog in ink on Tablet PC Blogs if you use IE. Well, not to leave the Firefoxers out in the cold, Loren has cooked up an add-in that will allow users of that browser to join in the Inking experience. It's not released yet, but, as always, Loren is giving us hints and teases of what's to come.

Check it out here.

A Look At Annotating Images

Do you need to annotate images that you've clipped, snipped, or snagged? Take a look at Jason's article on DorkoTech. He was searcing for a solution to insert annotated images in MindManager, but his article takes a look at several tools, focusing mostly on The Snipping Tool,  that are useful regardless of destination. Excellent post.

Since my adoption of MindManager I have been able to create some very nice notes. I can visually organize facts, create hyperlinks to web pages and make relationships and connections to assist in my learning. However there are still some features in OneNote that I really do miss. One of these features is the ability to directly mark up and annotate figures. Since I worked with E-Textbooks this semester many of the figures and images were easy to extract and insert into my notes. It is easy to insert an image in both OneNote and MindManager but where OneNote wins this battle is in its ability to interact and directly write on those inserted images. So I am partial to MindManager but still want to annotate and insert pictures! What’s a guy to do?