I still can't top what I wrote at the creation of the original Ink Blot Awards two years ago, so I'll repeat and then extend those remarks as we head into the Third Annual Life on the Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards.
I created The Life On The Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards as a celebration. Yes, it's a celebration of the 1 year anniversary of this blog. But it is more than that. It is a celebration of a community that I have come to know and admire. The Tableteers that make up the Tablet PC Community are an amazing collection of individuals who know and work with the Tablet PC platform. They are fiercely protective of it, insatiably curious about advancing it, very intelligent, often wickedly funny, at one time very forgiving and patient, and in the same breath, scathingly critical when the need arises. They are also exceedingly willing to evangelize the platform to anyone who will listen, and in my humble opinion, have helped keep the spotlight on The Tablet PC in ways that may, in the long run, prove to be responsible for keeping the platform thriving.
Most, if not all of that remains true here in Year 3. But like everything in life it is changing. The Tabletscape is now the Tablet/UMPC scape, although at times it tries unnecessarily to be two different scapes. We're about to add another scape with the advent of Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) just around the corner, and that promises to bring great changes. Touch has become king and I'm afraid Ink is drying up like an old maid in the desert. Multi-touch or Dual Touch Tablet PCs and UMPCs are now becoming the norm, but on the smaller devices the powers that be don't see the wisdom of Inking. Microsoft has more than let the ball drop. They've refused to take the field here lately, and Intel, HTC, Apple, and Nokia are defining what will be in the next phase of mobile computing. Microsoft may yet make a play, but the goal posts have shifted. Quite frankly, I'm not sure they will be able to field a response, although that could change.
But that doesn't stop Tablet PC, UMPC, and mobile computing enthusiasts one bit. Their passion keeps pumping with great vitality on the pages of blogs and forums. This year, in addition to honoring that passion for Tablet PCs and mobile computing, I'm adding some other categories to honor some other things and people that I find interesting or worth noting. As usual the rules for inclusion here are my own. Recognition here comes from things that strike my fancy or I think merit attention, praise, or ignominy. Some things are included just for the fun of it. Some are "best of breed." My good friend, Mark, "Sumocat" Sumimoto was the first to christen the Ink Blot Awards with the nickname, Blotties. I still can't afford to have a big celebration where we can all get blotto while celebrating the Blotties, but until then, have the beverage of your choice, kick back, and enjoy the Third Annual Life on the Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards.
Cue the dancing girls. Enjoy!
First for a few awards that need retiring. I don't see anyone topping these, but hey, if they do, then it'll be a news item and life will be grand. (For a list of awards retired last year see the end of this list.)
- Best Tablet PC Software Site: Tablet PC Post
- Most Consistent and Most Creative Ink Blogger: Mark Sumocat Sumimoto
- Best All Father of Tablet PCs: James Kendrick (What's an All Father anyway?)
- Best Annual Wish List For Santa That Makes All Geeks Think About Committing Crimes To Purchase All The Cool Gadgets: Linda Epstein of TabletPC2.com
And now here we go:
- The DualCor cPC Ink Blot Award for Vaporware: The Apple Modbook.
- Best We're Trying Really Hard To Get a Coffee Company To Sponsor Our Blog: Tie-jkOnTheRun for their Coffee Break posts, and Thoughtfix for Coffee Break with Thoughtfix.
- Best Unqualified Love for UMPCs: Frank "CTitanic" Garcia (wherever he is blogging.)
- Longest Vacation in the Blogosphere: Hugo Ortega.
- Best Hamlet Performance For Trying to Decide Whether To iPhone or Not To iPhone: Matt Miller
- Best We Missed The Damn Greatest Naming Opportunity For UMPC: Fujitsu for the U810/U1010 that should have been called The StormTrooper.
- Best Tablet PC Guy To The Rescue for Buying and Revitalizing Tablet PC Buzz: John Hill
- The Most Fun You Can Have In Vegas Hotel Room With A Bunch of Mobile Computing Guys-Wait That Didn't Come Out Right-Award: The GBM Team at CES 2007
- Best I May Have Moved From New Zealand To Australia But I'm Still Down Under: Craig Pringle
- Best Fancy Shirt in a Tablet PC Video: Dell
- Best Destruction of A Tablet PC With A Saw: Dell
- Best You've Raised Our Expectations Now You Better Deliver: Dell
- Best Wireless Docking Solution: Toshiba
- Best Wireless Docking Solution You Can't Use With Your Existing R400 Tablet PC: Toshiba
- Best Mobile Internet Device(MID) of 2007: The iPhone
- Best Mobile Tech Podcast: MobileTech Roundup
- Best Sharon Stone Crotch Shot in a GBM InkShow: Dennis Rice
- Best Glue Sniffing in a GBM InkShow: Rob Bushway
- Best Tablet PC/UMPC Fashion Policeman: Rob Bushway
- Best Tablet PC Software Released in 2007: Microsoft OneNote 2007
- Best Tablet PC Software That Is Such A Secret That Microsoft Doesn't Want To Tell Anyone: Microsoft OneNote 2007
- Best Tablet PC Released in 2007: HP 2710p
- Best Tablet PC Software That Microsoft Is Holding Hostage and Needs To Be Released Today: InkSeine
- Best New Mobile Computing Blogger: Daniel Gentleman aka Thoughtfix
- Best I'm So Damned Platform Agnostic I Started A Blog About It: Marc Orchant
- Best I Never Met A Warranty That I Wouldn't Violate To Upgrade My Mobile Gear: Kevin Tofel
- Best I Won't Give Up on Tablet PCs, UMPCs, and Ink No Matter What Award: Lora Heiny
- Best New Social Network Time Waster: Tie-Facebook and Twitter
- Best Cat Fight In the Blogosphere 2007: Jason Calacanis and Dave Winer
- Best Example Of Creating A Vacuum By Not Marketing So That Others Can Define Your Market For You: Microsoft
- Best Blog Post About Missing The "Wow": Rob Bushway
- Best Ok I Surrender and Won't Ink Blog Anymore: James Kendrick
- Best Tablet PC We Can't Ship To You On Time: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet PC with SXGA+ Screen
- Best Microsoft UMPC Blogger Who Seems To Have Disappeared Off The Face Of The Earth: Vikram Madan
- Most Talked About Tablet PC That Isn't Manufactured Anymore: HP tc1100
- Best New Business Venture in the Tabletscape: James Kendrick for Blame JK
- Best I Might Become A Tablet PC Evangelist Again Award: Robert Scoble
- Best Game Changers: Tie-iPhone and the Amazon Kindle
- Best I Can Find Any Picture or Any Video of A UMPC Anywhere: jkkmobile
- Best Proof That It Doesn't Have To Be Done To Release It: Tie-Microsoft Vista and Apple OSX Leopard
- Best I'm Doing Everything In My Power To Make Sure That People Hesitate and Wait Before Buying My Sexy New Products: Steve Jobs
- Best Windows Mobile Software For Taking Ink Notes: EverNote for Pocket PC Technical Preview
- Best I Take My Life Into My Hands While I'm Driving And Filming This InkShow and Using This Mobile Device: Hugo Ortega with the Raon Digital Everun InkShow
- Most Persistent Blogger About Vista Not Working On Mobile Devices: James Kendrick
- Best Fake Steve Jobs: Daniel Lyons
- Best Tablet PC Blogger Who Should Be A MVP: Mark "Sumocat" Sumimoto
- Best Solar Powered UMPC Blogger: Steve "Chippy" Paine
- Best New Ink Blogger in 2007: iDorkas
- Best UMPC Info: UMPC Portal
- Best The Potentially Most Exciting UMPC We've Ever Seen But The Excitement Is Fading With Each Passing Day That We Don't See Anything But Reviews of Pre-Production Units: HTC Shift
- Best Blogger To Get Me Excited When He Gets Excited and Blogs/Twitters About Something: Josh Bancroft
- Best Blogger I'd Like To Have A Beer With: Tie-Doc Searls and Hugh MacLeod
- Best We'll Define Unlimited To Mean Any Damn Thing We Want It To Be: Tie-Comcast and Verizon on redefining the word "Unlimited"
- Best Word To Be Redefined In The Next Period of Time: "Open" as in OpenSocial
- Best Brave Blogging: Loren Heiny
- Best You Want A Keyboard On A UMPC, We'll Give You a Keyboard Even Though It Is Useless: Samsung Q1 Ultra
- The Samuel Beckett Award For Most Waiting For Godot Like Video and Podcast: Steve Gillmor
- Best UMPC Powertoy That Proves We Goofed On the Whole Screen Resolution Thing To Begin With: UMPC Scroller Utility
- Best Holy Cow There Are A Lot of Tablet PC and UMPC Geeks Here Meetup: CES 2007 Meetup. Make sure you're there for 2008!
- Best Predicted Game Changers for 2008: Tie-Apple, Nokia, Google
And for Ink Blot Awards Retired Previously
- Most Obnoxious Tableteer Laugh: Tie-Robert Scoble and myself. (The only reason it is a tie is Scoble's laugh is heard more than mine.)
- Best and Most Frequent Use Of The Word "Cool" in a Tablet PC Blog Post or Podcast: James Kendrick
- Best First Family Of Tablet PCs: The Heiny's
- Best Tablet PC Batman Fan: Marc Orchant
