Blog:: Craig Pringle

I stumbled across this today via technorati.

Thousand Sketches is a project to post 1000 digital sketches created on a Tablet PC in one calender year.

The artist, Walter Logeman, lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Walter has been working on the project for a couple of months already so check out thousandsketches.com for some cool tablet art.

I just posted about using RSS to track a package and it begs the question.  Where else should organisations be offering RSS feeds that they are not now?

A couple spring to mind for me.

Firstly I have not found a really good RSS enable local (NZ) news site.  This irks me.  Stuff.co.nz is a really good news site, but it lacks feeds and consequently I never visit it.  I am often better informed on world events than local events.

Shipping companies should also be offering their own tracking feeds so that we don't have to use 3rd party ones.

What about online retailers?  They could (and some do) be offering RSS feeds for new items, specials and the like.

Lastly, one that I have blogged about before - hardware drivers!  If I have a Motion Computing LS800 (which I do) I should be able to go to the Motion site and subscribe to the LS800 drivers feed.  Every time there is a new driver I would see it in my feeds and make an informed choice about installing it.  There is a win-win here for the vendor if you assume that their new drivers resolve more issue than they create.  Allowing your clients to easily stay up to date will reduce the support calls related to driver issues.

Any more?

I know I am not going to recieve my Acer Ferrari until at least Thursday NZ time as there are no deliveries on weekends, Monday and Tuesday are public holidays and DHL Express are not doing any deliveries Wednesday due to "lack of demand". 

However I was thinking about the mechanisims available to track packages with DHL (from experience UPS and FedEx are similar).  The most common method is to visit the webiste and enter in you tracking number and you get a summary of where the package is now and all the points it has passed through on the way.  I might just be getting picky, but to me that just seems sooooo 2002.  I mean having to visit a website and enter a code every time I want an update?  DHL offer email tracking and you would think that this would update you when the package status changes, but it does not.  You send an email and you get an email back with it's current status.  You want an update you have to send another email.

I would much rather "Subscribe" to a package and be notified each time the status changes.  And what is the perfect technology to facilitate this? RSS feeds.

So I did a little googling and guess what...  I'm not the first person to think of this.  In fact I found several people who had already coded up web services to generate a feed based on a tracking number.  I tried several, but finally settled on isnoop.net's rather cool Package Tracking With Google Maps and RSS

Basically you enter in a UPS, FedEx, USPS or DHL tracking number and you will get the same summary you get via the vendor's site, the path and location of the package shown on a map and an RSS feed to track the continued journey of the package.  Very cool.

As previously blogged I am one of the lucky few who is recieving a shiney new Acer Ferrari 5000 from Microsoft and AMD.  What am I planning to do with it after the review?  Well the options included in the email offering it to me were:

1. Send it back to Microsoft
2. Keep it
3. Give it away

Of these three it was instantly down to options 2 and 3.  The idea of sending it back - to paraphrase Douglas Adams - never even began to speculate about the merest possibilty of crossing my mind.  In the end I have decided at this stage to keep it.  For what it is worth, here are my reasons.

Reason One - I have a need...

• I have a need for another computer in the house.  What use to be the family desktop computer was pressed into service as a server to keep my blog on air when the PC it was running on began showing signs of an imminant drive failure.  We have been wanting a shared computer but financial circumstances at the moment do not permit purchasing another computer at this time.
• I also need a development machine.  Since the loss of my desktop the only machine I have for development is my work provided M400 (the Motion Computing LS800 I use as my main machine if fine for normal use but struggles with Visual Studio).  Developing on a work provided machine is suboptimal because according to the terms of my contract that means that work technically owns the IP, even if I do it in my own time!  This has not been an issue so far as I have not been trying to sell anything I have developed, but I still don't like it.

Reason Two - It creates opportunity...

• I use Vista Business on my LS800.  This is the free copy I was given for participating in the beta program and filing more than one bug.  My work computer also has Vista Business on it.  Being provided with a machine with Vista Ultimate allows me to explore the features that are not in the Business SKU and that gives me more to blog about.  I am interested in exploring Media Centre, for instance, and blogging about integrating that into my mobile life.

Reason Three - I am a gadget geek...

• I have to be honest about it - the Acer looks like a really cool machine "on paper".  It has some nifty features that I can't wait to check out. 

I have no great moral dilemma about keeping this machine.  I will review it, providing a fair and honest review of the hardware and the bits of the OS I am exploring.  I feel no need to only say nice things about either the machine or the OS - that does no favours for anyone.  I will provide feedback and I will - as always - try to provide it in a constructive manner.

I do want to clear up some misconceptions.

• Some of the Acers were sent to selected MVPs.  I'm one of those.  I am not an A-List blogger (my list may be a bit further down the alphabet ;) ).  I am an MVP that happens to blog. 
• I do not make my living (or any significant money for that matter) from my blog.  Every now and then my Google Adsense money lets me buy a new gadget, but by that I mean the headphones, not the iPod!
• I do not consider myself to be a journalist.  I blog my opinion.  Everything on my blog is editorial at best.

I have been chatting to a couple of people about how they use MindManager of late and have found quite a bit of variance. 

For instance as much as I love it for structuring my thoughts and planning things out I have never had much success with Mind Mapping as a note taking technique.

The key activities I use it for are:

• Mapping out tasks and activities in large projects
• Presentations - I love it for this!!!  Both creating the content and then exporting to PowerPoint or presenting using MindManager's presentation mode are awesome.
• Quickly structuring large document outlines - these are then exported to Word and the content filled in.
• Showing off the Tablet PC :)

How do you use MindManager?

As I was Googling around for something I came across this post from Warner Crocker in which he explores the question:  Will Windows Vista ReadyBoost work with SD Cards (and other Flash media) or not?

(He posted this at the beginning of the month - don't know how I missed it then!)

Well the definative answer from one who has tried it with multiple Tablet models is... *drumroll*

Maybe.

In fact it aboslutely will work provided the OS can read from the card fast enough to support ReadyBoost.  Whether or not it can depends on two factors:

1. The speed of the flash reader.
2. The random read speed of the media.

The Reader

I know from experince that all card readers are not created equally.  I have not been able to get any SD Cards to work in a Lenovo X41T - including the ones that work in my Toshiba M400.

The Media

The speed of the media is the other critical factor.  The sad news is those speed ratings on the card don't actually provide a meaningful indicator of wheter they will  work or not.  I have a 120x card that works and my colleague has a 133x that does not - in the same tablet.  The reason for this is the cards are rated using a process that writes a file to the card and then reads it off again - which is of course a sequential read.  When Vista tests the card to see if it is fast enough it performs a random read. ReadyBoost is trying to boost system performance in part by servicing random read requests off the flash card rather than from the page file on disk - so the random read speed is what is important. 

Why the difference you ask?  When I was chatting to a MS guy at TechEd in Boston he told me that some cards have a chunk on "good" flash up the front and cheper, slower flash providing the bulk of the storage.  As such the perform well for the sequential rating test but still are not fast enough to pass the random read test performed by ReadyBoost.

Figuring out what will work

It is hard to know which media is going to work and which isn't - and this will no doubt add to the confusion.  The best advice I can give you is to take your device into the shop and insist you can try before you buy.

To know if your Reader is going to be fast enough you will either need to find a card that you know works in other devices or try to find reference to someone who has made it work.  Here's my results so far with a known good SD Card:

Motion Computing LE1600 - Worked

Lenovo X41T - Too slow

Toshiba M400 - Worked

Motion Computing LS800 - Have not been able to make the SD Card reader work in Vista as of yet :(

The last point I'll add is that it is so worth the effort.  Even on a well speced machine (my M400 has 2GB of RAM) it still makes a noticable difference to the performance of the machine.  Hopefully this post helps clear some confusion instead of adding to it...

This is post number 2 in my "things I should of blogged about ages ago" series. Post number one in the series was my review of the Motion LS800 Mobile Dock.

I purchased the extended battery for the LS800 shortly before Tech-Ed New Zealand this year. I was going to be at a conference, wandering around all day and I wanted to have a ready supply of power for my LS800 because that is the best device ever for carrying around all day without a laptop bag and taking notes in sessions.

Pictured below is the LS800 with the extended battery fitted. The standard battery is alongside for size comparison.

Like the standard battery the extended battery has a push button charge level indicator. I love this feature, but my only gripe is that the button and the indicator LEDs are on the part of the battery that gets inserted into the tablet and is hence covered up when it is in the tablet. I wish the indicator was accessible when the battery is in the tablet. It is nice to be able pull a device out of your bag and check the charge without removing the battery.

The on the standard battery I get about 2:45 – 3:00 hours depending on what I am doing, but in addition to that I can get 5:30-6:00 hours from the extended battery – a bit more if I get brutal with the power settings.

However that is not what has impressed me about the LS800 extended battery. Frankly I would expect an extended battery to extend your battery life – hence the name. I have used extended batteries with a number of devices and most (not all) are clunky, unwieldy things that seem to have been tacked on as an aftermarket afterthought. The frequently make the device not only heavy but awkward to use. This is particularly true on convertible tablets with a "Wedge" style extended battery such as the Toshiba M400.

The LS800 with the extended battery fitted is – by contrast – still very well balanced and easy to use. In some cases the extra width between the edge of the screen and the edge of the battery is a bit of a boon.

If there is one thing Motion do really well it is practical product design. This battery is another example of that.

If you have been using Windows Vista and you have set up a connection to a wireless network you may have noticed – as I did – the text at the bottom that reads "If you have a USB Flash drive with Network Settings for XXXXXX, insert it now."

This caught my attention the first time I saw it and I had even made a couple of cursory attempts to figure out how to save settings onto a USB key – to no avail. Today I decided to try and figure it out once and for all.

I started out by searching Google and found nothing of much use – though it did lead me to the Windows Vista online help. I searched through the online help and that was not much help at all. So I decided to do it the old fashioned way and have a good hunt around... and I figured it out! Here's how you save Wireless network settings onto a USB Flash drive in Windows Vista. (If you already have the network configured on your Vista machine – delete it before you begin.)

1. Start by right clicking the network icon in the System tray and selecting Connect to a network.
2. In the Connect to a network dialog click on the link down the bottom that reads "Set up a connection or network"
   
3. On the Choose a connection option page click on Set up a wireless router or access point and click Next.
   
4. You then get this welcome screen that tells you what the Wizard is going to do – click Next
   
5. After a short detection process (which for me did not detect anything – YMMV) you are presented with an option to Create wireless network settings and save to a USB Flash drive – click on that and click Next.
   
6. On the network name dialog you need to enter the SSID of you wireless network. Unless you have not yet configured you wireless access point do not just accept the default here – the SSID must match what is configured on your AP.
   
7. After that you need to enter the network pass phrase. Again – the settings entered here need to match those configured on you AP. Enter the key and click next.
   
8. You then get an option to configure sharing – or you can choose not to enable sharing for this connection – you can always change it on the client later.
   
9. You then get a save settings dialog that will allow you to save to a USB key. Insert a USB key and make sure it is selected in the dropdown, then click next.

   

10. On the final screen you get instructions on how to transfer these settings to other machines.

Basically you just insert the USB key into a Windows XP or Windows Vista client machine and – assuming auto run is enabled - you will be prompted to run the Wireless Network Setup Wizard.

The setup Wizard is so easy I did not even bother to screen shot it. There are two dialogs. The first one asks if you want to setup XYZ network. The second confirms that is succeeded. Too easy.

I first reviewed the Motion Computing LS800 in August 2005 and I’ve been using the one for about 6 months now and I am a big fan of it.

I’ve purchased some accessories for it – though I realise I never reviewed those.  So I’m going to start putting that right with this review of the Motion Computing LS800 Mobile docking station.

From the Motion Computing Website:

Key Features:

• Three piece design to accommodate different usage models:
  - Docking Cradle/Port Replication
  - Desktop Dock Base/Port Replicator
  - Notepad Travel Stand
  - Wall/Arm/Cart Mount
• When docked, will convert LS800’s 10/100 Ethernet to Gigabit* Ethernet automatically
• Replicates and expands ports
  - VGA
  - 2 USB
  - 10/100/1000 Ethernet
  - Microphone/Headphone
  - Headphone/Speaker
  - Motion Accessory Port
  - Power
• Lightweight and compact
• Dock Base includes VESA compatible holes for wall or arm mounting
• “Grab and Go” design
• Supports landscape viewing

The back of the port replicator looks like this:

Like the LS800 itself the docking station has been designed to provide incredible flexibility and with mobility in mind.  The package includes (Top to bottom):

·         The port replicator

·         A travel stand

·         A desktop/wall mount stand

·         A right-angle VGA connector and various screws etc. (for use when wall mounting the port replicator) (Not Pictured)

This gives you a number of options for how you use the docking station.  I’ve snipped some of the photos from the product pictures PDF as they looked heaps better than my photos.

Firstly you can mount the port replicator vertically in the desktop stand like this:

Alternatively you can mount the tablet in note taking mode like this.

In note taking mode you can still make use of an external monitor by using the supplied right-angle VGA adaptor.  The other ports on the back of the port replicator are accessible, if a little cramped.

Likewise you can wall-mount the docking station and rotate the port replicator 90 degrees so the tablet screen is vertical.  Again you need to make use of the VGA adaptor to connect a monitor and the access to the other ports is a little cramped.

My preferred modus operandi, however, is to use the travel kickstand.

The replicator and the kickstand together are eminently portable.  Because of the modular design the kickstand can be easily removed from the port replicator for transport.  Together the port replicator and the stand are about the size of a chunky remote control and are very light.  They easily slip into a standard laptop bag with the tablet, a USB hard drive, lunch and space to spare J

If you are going to use a very small tablet such as the Motion LS800 as you primary machine then you will probably be using it in conjunction with external accessories such as a full-size keyboard, external monitor and mouse at some point.  The Mobile Dock is a well thought out docking solution and is a worthwhile addition if  you are an LS800 owner.   

Chuck Frey, of the Mind Mapping Software Weblog, recently interviewed Eric Mack about how and when he uses Mind Mapping and how he leverages the Tablet PC to do this. Eric provides some great insight into how the Tablet adds value to this process.

Check out the interview here.

Over on jkontherun Kevin Tofel has put together a very detailed review of the Fujitsu Stylistic ST5112 Tablet PC

“So after using the Fujitsu for a few days in my daily grind, what can say? With the limited usage, the overall experience is very positive; there's not much to dislike here.”

Now to be clear about my bias here I’ve always been a slate kind of guy. Core Duo in what looks and sounds like a sweet little slate?  Yes please!

I twins review is a good read and been are heaps of great photos. Check it out.

A couple of days ago Kevin Tofel posted about how you can use the CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER keyboard shortcut to launch an app (in this case the command prompt) as an administrator in Windows Vista.

If you are using a slate or you are in Tablet Mode on your convertible you can still elevate quite easily. Simply right click on the program you want to run and select "Run as administrator"

This is a test of posting to DasBlog from Office 2007 (RTM) I initiated the post in OneNote 2007 and it kicked it off to Word to be published.

If your are reading this it worked!

Update: Wahoo!

A while ago I blogged that Toshiba had made available Beta Vista drivers on their website.  I just got a tip from a colleage that the drivers have been updated again.  For the M400 there is a new BIOS and updated version of the modem, display and bluetooth drivers.  There are beta Vista drivers available on Toshiba's beta driver website for the following models:

Portege M400

Qosmio G35
G35-AV600, G35-AV610, G35-AV650, G35-AV660

Satellite R15

Satellite U200

Tecra A8 (PTA82U)

Tecra A8 (PTA83U)

Tecra M4

Tecra M5 (PTM50U)

Tecra M5 (PTM51U)

Tecra M6

Tecra M7

Tecra S3

Thanks for the update Toshiba - I wish more vendors were following your lead.

Warner Crocker has released his list of "Blotties" for 2006 (a.k.a. Life on the Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards).  For the second year Warner has compiled a great list of great of some of the best tablet and technology bloggers, podcasters and enthusiasts.

I’m honoured to have made the list at all, let alone tied with Kevin Tofel for the Best Tablet and UMPC Blogger for 2006.

Great effort Warner.  Can I add one?  Best distillation of the last year in the tabletscape – Warner Crocker.

The legal profession seems to be a group for whom Tablet PCs would work well. If this interests you then Law & Tablets, The Blog is a blog you will want to check out.

Warner Crocker has this to say about the new blog:

"Tom Bishop has created a new blog, Law & Tablets, The Blog. His aim is to provide a place to discuss the use of Tablet PCs and Ultra-Mobile PCs in the legal profession. He is the Vice President and Associate General Counsel for one of America's largest investor-owned utilities."

Check it out.