Blog:: Craig Pringle

Thursday night saw the first Wellington Mobility User Group meeting of the year and it was a great night. 

First up we had Eric Ryda from Vantex come and talk about their range of UMPCs and where they see them fitting into the mobile market and contrasting this with other mobile device in their range.  It was interesting to hear someone who has been selling Mobile technology for a while share his thoughts.  Eric contrasted the UMPC against PDAs, EDA (Enterprise Digital Assistants - which are like PDAs but a bit more industrial) and Portable Data Terminals as a device for mobile users.  He also talked about Laptops and full size tablets as portable computers in that you tend to set up somewhere and use it for a while rather than use it while in motion - clearly he has not seen me using my tablet ;) - but I take his point.

Next up we had Liz Knight from Si Partners.  Liz demoed a bunch of cool technology including a wizzy digital pen that recorded what you wrote (on special paper - in her case a notebook) and then bluetoothed an image of the page to her Blackberry.  There is also a Windows Mobile version of the pen.  Other gadgets in the show included a gadget that you plug into the projector that allows you to wirelessly run the presentation with a Blackberry - cool.  Unfortunatly I missed much of Liz's talk as I was off ordering pizza at the time.  It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!

Liz's talk was an excellent example of why we merged the Windows Mobile User Group and the Tablet User Group into a single Mobility User Group.  By decopling from specific platforms and approaching the broader topic of mobility we have been able to deliver content that is of interest to both groups of members, but may not have seemed quite right under either of the old banners.  If anyone out there is going to be in Wellington and loves talking about mobile tech then feel free to drop me a line via the Contact button on my blog.  I'd love to hear from you.

The meeting concluded - as always - with a couple of drinks and some pizza to accompany some interesting conversations. 

We hope you had enjoyed your holiday break and are ready for another year… The WMUG starts the year with a couple of very interesting presentations:

• Origami anyone?  Eric Ryder from Vantex introduces the range of Tablet PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) that Vantex are now distributing in New Zealand.  The range includes the Tablet Kiosk range, the Samsung Q1 UMPC and the Raon UMPC.  Should be a great session with lots to of interesting things to look at and a first chance to have a look at these new products only now available in New Zealand.
• Si Partners will then talk about BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) installs with Microsoft Exchange Server, and demonstrate a few products, including the Impatica Showmate (http://www.impatica.com/showmate/) which has just been released for Windows Mobile as well as BlackBerry, a digital pen which uses OCR to convert handwriting and drawings to pdfs and MS Word documents (www.PaperIQ.com) and fieldforce automation.

When: 25 January 2007 6pm

Where: Gen-I (109 Featherston Street, Wellington)

Drinks and pizza available after the meeting.

Please RSVP to wmug@geekzone.co.nz and pass this forward to anyone you think may be interested.

The Tablet PC User Group and the Windows Mobile User Group have merged. See below for the invite to the first Meeting...

Yes, this is the time again... But now it’s different: this is the first Mobile Computing User Group Meeting, where we bring the Tablet PC and Windows Mobile communities together to talk about mobility.

 

The idea is to have a common interest group in mobile technologies (laptop, Tablet PC, UMPC, Pocket PC, Smartphone) instead of a platform-specific user group. This will allow us to bring a more diverse set of speakers that will interest to the group profile.

 

 

Mark in your calendars: 26 October, 6pm, Microsoft New Zealand(Lambton Quay, Midland Park, Wellington).

 

 

Dion Knill (Vodafone New Zealand) will take the audience through Vodafone New Zealand’s roadmap, showing some of the Windows Mobile devices coming to the market now, and some non-Windows Mobile devices that however include ActiveSync for Microsoft Exchange Server synchronisation.

 

Darryl Burling (Microsoft New Zealand) will show us a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) up close, and even better, running Windows Vista. Come along and hear Darryl Burling talk about his experiences with this new form factor and using Vista on a UMPC.

 

As usual after the sessions we will have some Q&A time, and beer and pizza.

 

Please confirm your presence by replying directly to me at wmug@geekzone.co.nz

 

Mauricio Freitas

www.geekzone.co.nz

www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm

Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices

OK. After much discussion Mauricio Freitas and I have decided to merge his Windows Mobile user Group with The Tablet PC User Group I run.
The resulting group will be called The Mobile Computing User Group!
As Mauricio says in his invite to the first combined meeting (see my next post):
"The idea is to have a common interest group in mobile technologies (laptop, Tablet PC, UMPC, Pocket PC, Smartphone) instead of a platform-specific user group. This will allow us to bring a more diverse set of speakers that will interest to the group profile."
I think that this is going to be great and it will open the door for all sorts of interests content. Hope to see you there!

The next meeting of the Tablet PC User Group will be held on August 3rd. This is a little later than it should be but we wanted to get the best speakers for the topics.
We are over half way through the year now and suddenly Office 2007 and Windows Vista are not very far away. Both the Office and the Windows Vista betas are public now so we thought it would be a good time to have a look at what is in the new Windows Platform and Office suite for the tablet user.
Microsoft is hosting the meeting and we are going to be treated to two top notch speakers. Windows Platform evangelist Nathan Mercer is going to give us the lowdown on Windows Vistas new features for the Tablet PC and for mobile computer users in general.
After that Ryan Duguid, Microsoft Technical Specialist, will brief us on the new Office suite.
We will as always wrap up the meeting with prizes and a chat over beer and pizza.
Where:
Microsoft New Zealand
Level 12, 157 Lambton Quay
Wellington
When:
6pm-8pm Thursday, August 3rd 2006.
RSVP:
TUGRSVP@pringle.net.nz
Look forward to seeing you there.

Well it was a small audience tonight - there were just 7 of us for most of the meeting (though an 8th did make it for the second half).

Still - the small size of the group did make for quite an interactive session.  It was also a bit of blessing as both Mauricio and I had a few technical issues with the projector.  I could not get my tablet into duplicate display mode of my video driver to work.  I was demonstrating inking into applications and you can't do that with extended desktop :)  As a result I did a couple of my demos on my tablet with people gathered around.

Links of note from the meeting - check out the Mi-Forms demo on available on the Mi-Corporation website.

Also refer to Mauricio's posts on Vista on the M205:

Running Microsoft Windows Vista (build 5381) on my Tablet PC

Windows Vista Defrag: dumbbed down interface

Managing Multi OS (Windows XP and Windows Vista) Boot: VistaBootPRO

Unfortunately Hugo Ortega has had to cancel - some unexpected developments require his attention. 

The show must go on, the revised agenda includes:

• Filling forms with a Tablet PC - Craig Pringle
• Vista on a Toshiba M205 - Mauricio Freitas
• Prizes
• Beer and Pizza

The venue remains the same - see the original post for more information.

Time for another Tablet PC User Group meeting – and another speaker coming from overseas!  This time around we are going to be joined by leading Aussie tablet blogger Hugo Ortega.  Hugo is a passionate tablet advocate, distributes TabletKiosk slates and has recently been appointed the official blogger for CeBit Austrialia – which is happening this week.

 

Should be an interesting session – not only will Hugo be able to give us an update on the happenings from CeBit but as if that is not enough he will have a TabletKiosk EO Ultra Mobile PC to show off as well.  The EO is one of the first UMPCs (aka Origami) devices to hit the market since the much hyped launch of the platform a couple of months ago.  To my knowledge this will be your first opportunity to see one up close in New Zealand.

 

Needless to say we will wrap up the meeting with some pizzas and a couple of beers – and a couple of prize draws. 

 

When:  6:00-8:00pm Thursday, May 18^th

 

Where: **Different Location**

Gen-i

L2, Gen-i Tower

109 Featherston Street

 

RSVP to TUGRSVP@pringle.net.nz

 

Look forward to seeing you there.

Last week we had the first Tablet PC User Group meeting of 2006.  The meeting was kindly hostted by Microsoft at their Wellington office. In attendence were about 20 hardy souls from all – some from as far away as Parlmerston North.  I was very pleased with the turnout because it was a truly rotten evening outside.   The group was also quite diverse and included people from the IT industry, education, health, the public sector and more.  We were also very lucky to have not one but two international speakers.

 

Soon Jinn – Heulab

Our first speaker of the evening was Soon Jinn from Heulab.  Soon Jinn is based in Singapore, where Heulab is headquartered.

Heulab has a really cool line of interactice software products designed to facilitate learning in the classroom.  I see a lot of technology and frankly the “Fun With” series is one of the coolest uses of technology I have seen in quite some time.

In his presentation Soon Jinn highlighted that students are changing.  They are becoming more technolgy saavy and teaching methods need to adapt too.

 

Tablet PCs are an enabler that – with the appropriate software – can enhance learning and improve outcomes for both the teacher and students.

 

However, when computers enter the classroom there is a risk that they will become a distraction rather than an enabler.  To mitigate this risk Heulab engaged with teachers in the development of the Fun With Virtual Classroom software package that is the core of the classrroom of the future.  The key features that teachers desired included:

·         Control

·         Communication and collaboration – but only when initiated and controlled by the teacher.

·         Feedback from students

·         Classroom management features including:

o    Attendance taking

o    Monitoring student activities

o    Assisting students (using colaboration features)

 

In his demo Soon Jiin showed:

·         Students signing in to the Fun With Virtual Classroom system – thereby taking the attendance.

·         The control the teacher has over the classroom

·         Collaboration

·         Students providing feedback to the teacher – e.g. to indicate that they don’t understand.

·         The teacher running a quiz

·         Students using Fun With Construction tools such as the virtual protractor and ruler to work through a problen.

·         Mindbook

·         Virtual Text Books – in Singapore Heulab is working with publishers to produce books in digital format.

 

Impromtu Demo of Jumping Minds Ink Gestures

After the first presentation we had a few minutes to fill in before the pizza arrived.  I jumped up and did a quick demo of Ink Gestures that showed the basics of the product and applying markup to the TUG Charter docment.  I think it is fair to say that several people were blown away (er – by the software, not my demo…)  I’ve promised to do a more detailed session in the future.

 

Brett Gross

After a brief break and some much needed pizza we were treated to the second international speaker of the night.  Brett Gross is Motion Computing’s newly appointed Country Manager for New Zealand and Australia.  Brett gave an overview of Motion and their philosophy on the slate tablet PC.

Next he gave us a view of some of the market verticals that Motion sees as important and talked about how Motion slates are being used in those segements.  I was interested to hear that there is some really cool stuff going on in the aviation sector.

Brett finished off by talking in some detail about the LE 1600 and the LS800 tablets and had several units and lots of accessories available for people to have a look at.  Very cool.

 

Looking Forward

Next session we look forward to hearing a bit more about what is coming in the Windows Vista for tablet users.  We will also be treated to another internation speaker – Hugo Ortega of Tegatech Australia. Hugo is a fanatical tablet blogger, has the rights to disttribute the Tablet Kiosk range of Sahara slates in New Zealand and Australia.  In addition Hugo has the rights to distribute the Tablet Kiosk UMPC (Origami) devices and may have some with him.  How cool would that be! 

If it seems like it has been a really long time between TUG meetings that’s because it has been.  But good news – it is almost time for the next one!

Details of the next meeting are…

When:   23rd March, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Where: Microsoft, L12 Mobil on the Park, 157 Lambton Quay, Wellington

We have some really interesting speakers this time around.  The speakers for this session include:

Soon Jinn of HeuLab (www.heulab.com).  Soon Jinn is the ROLE and is based in Singapore.  In the 2005 Microsoft Partner Awards HeuLab was named the Independent Software Vendor of the Year.  From the HeuLab website:

"Our mission at Heulab® is to enable the next generation of learning through the use of technology."

To this end HeuLab has developed several innovative and tablet aware software products aimed at facilitating learning and education.  These include:

         Heulab® Fun With Construction™ aimed at improving the learning experience by leveraging the power of modern technology. Learn More

         Heulab® Fun With Virtual Classroom™ A web based wireless solution to assist interaction among teachers and students and enable real time online communication in the class. Learn More

         Heulab® Fun With MindBook™ A note-taking and document manager incorporated with rich media library. New!

Brett Gross of Motion Computing (www.motioncomputing.com).  Brett is the newly appointed country manager for Motion Computing in Australia and New Zealand.  Brett is going to talk about the Motion range of slates and Motion’s plans for future in the region.

We’ll have some great prizes to give away including some copies of Windows Server 2003 and Virtual Server.

As always please feel free to forward this on to anyone you know who may be interested.

RSVP: For catering purposes we need to know how many people are coming.  Please send an email to: tugrsvp@pringle.net.nz

The Agenda:

• Welcome
• Tablets in a Digital Classroom (Soon Jinn)
• Motion Computing in NZ/Australia (Brett Gross)
• Prizes
• Beer & Pizza

Updates:

More prizes!

CA is providing copies of eTrust Pest Patrol, Home Edition to the first 30 attendees. Based on previous attendence that should be enough for a copy for everyone.

Also ActiveWords (www.activewords.com) have offered to sponsor 5 copies of ActiveWords - a MUST HAVE application for your tablet. I recorded a short screencast showing off ActiveWords - check it out here: http://www.pringle.net.nz/blog/PermaLink,guid,64786f3e-b861-4c64-b228-3be1a4ab2793.aspx

Here is a quick rundown on the TabletPC User Group meeting last night.

We had a bit of a smaller turn out (~13 people I think) this time around but I’m just putting that down to the fact that it is just a really busy time of year.  Those who did turn up were not disappointed for two reasons.  Firstly the sessions were great!  Secondly we had a couple of early departures (flights to catch and children to collect) so at the end of the night we had a perfect 1:1 ratio of prizes.

The first session was presented by Edward Robinson from Intergen. He covered off using OneNote in general and taking advantage of the tablet features specifically. Items demoed included:

·          Entering notes (typed and ink)

·          Organising notes

·          Search

·          Screen clippings

·          Drag and drop of content into OneNote

·          Recording Audio

·          And more….

Following on from Ed was Marcel Ollman from Waterman who provided a thought provoking demo of the Mimio digital capture bar.  These things are so cool! You stick one to the side of a flat surface like a wall, whiteboard, table or floor and it captures the motion of a special pen as digital in on your computer via a wireless link (a gross simplification – check out the Mimio website for more details).  It does not take much imagination to realise that combining a Mimio, a Tablet PC and a projector makes for a really great toolset if you are wanting to get a group of people into a room for a brainstorming session.

I brought up the rear and gave a very brief overview of a couple of pen-centric utilities that really enhance the usability of a Tablet PC in slate mode.  StrokeIT allows you to assign actions to gestures.  ActiveWords (with the free InkPad plugin) allows you to assign actions to words written on an ink enabled scratch pad.  Both are very powerful tools that enable you to become more productive in slate mode.  I’ve blogged about StrokeIt before.  I’ve just started using ActiveWordsand will be posting more on it in the coming days.

The meeting was wrapped up with some housekeeping.  The main points were:

·          If you want to be invited to the meetings in the future make sure you register on the TUG web site as we will be using that as the primary communications mechanism.

·          The discussion forums are more than a little bare at the moment (one category – no posts) so please provide feedback on what areas are of interest to you and we will make it so.

·          The holiday period.  December is a hectic month and in January many people are on holiday.  For this reason neither TUG nor our sister group, the Windows Mobile User Group, will be holding meetings in these two months.  The next WMUG meeting will be in February and the next TUG meeting will be in March.  Announcements will be via the TUG Category feed on my blog and by email to all registered users on the TUG web site.

Many thanks to Microsoft for hosting the event and to Motion, ActiveWords, Microsoft, Telecom and iStart for providing prizes.

I’ve had a couple of requests from people who live outside of Wellington (as far as the other side of the planet).  They are wanting me to record the TUG sessions and make them available.  Both traditional pod casts and video casts have been requested.

Given the interactive nature of the events I’m not sure that just audio would cut it, but let me ask the questions anyway.  (Asking the question in no way indicates that I will actually do this) :)

1.       If we created a podcast would you download it and listen to it?

2.       If we had an edited video of the session would you download it and watch it?

3.       What about a screencast?

4.     Of the options above, which is the best?

5.       Would you rather have:

a.       One file for the whole session.

b.       One file for each presentation at a given meeting.

6.       Preferred file format?

 

Why do I have the feeling I’m creating a whole bunch of extra work for myself…

 

Lastly – if I were to do this is anyone willing to host the files?

 

Respond via comments, trackback or email (click the envelope at the bottom of the screen).

If you have checked out the TabletPC User Group site you may have spotted our great logo.  If not here it is:

This little guy was kindly drawn for by the great tablet enabled artist Chad Essley (aka Cartoon Monkey).  If you have not done so already check out Chad's sketch blog. 

BTW - I added the text and that's about the limit of my artistic ability!

Update: Don't confuse this with the PDC tablet guy.  I've had this mascot for a while - Chad's artwork pre-dates the PDC tablet guy by a fair while.

Last week saw the launch of the long promised home-on-the-web of the TabletPC User Group (TUG).  You can check it out at http://www.tabletpc.co.nz

So far the site is pretty minimalist at the moment, but here is a run down of what is there now.  There is more to come.

The Front Page: The news on the front page is really displaying the RSS feed for the TUG category on my blog. 

Events: This is the seciton that will list upcoming events - though you do have to be registered to view events.  Members can also RSVP to an upcoming event to ensure that we buy enough beer and pizza!  Slight bug with the events system at the moment.  When I create an event I specify that it should be visable to all members, however when a new user joins after an event has already been created they can't see it.  There's a manual work around and I'm working on it.

Forum: The discussion forums.  This will be an area where we can all just post geek stuff.  Right now there is just a general forum, but I want to brainstorm categories at the next meeting.

Join Now: You can register yourself on pretty much any page of the site.  Site membership will be used to manage event invitations and user group newsletters going forward so if you are wanting to stay informed of what the group is doing make sure you register.