Blog:: Craig Pringle

You would think that global IT companies would know that the world is in fact round.  It's the 30th of January in some parts of the world.  Were I so inclined I could walk down to Dick Smith's 300 meters down the road and buy Vista.  And yet several hardware manufacturers still don't have dirvers on thier sites.  For shame.

Toshiba and Lenovo both have some drivers available - both Asian companies I might point out.  Fujitsu - a Japanese company - lets the Asian side down though. 

HP and Motion, headquarted in the US, both have variation of a Coming Soon message.  Get it sorted.  IMO drivers should have been available since the end of November when Vista was released to Volume License customers.  Now that it is generally available there is no excuse.

If any OEMs think I am being unfair then by all means you have right of reply - use the comment feature.

Well the countdown is over - as of midnight last night Vista is shipping here in New Zealand.  That's right - due to it's proximity to the international date line New Zealand was the first country in the world where you coiuld buy Vista off the shelf or a machine with Vista pre-installed. 

Here's the countdown gadget from my SideBar this morning...

'nuff said.

When I first posted about the release of the new EVDO bump case for the LS800, Suzanne McClure from Elegant Packaging offered to send me one to review.  Naturally I jumped at the opportunity. 

The case came via Motion Computing's Australian office - so it took a while to get here, but it arrived this morning.

For evaluation I have borrowed a MiniMax USB EVDO modem, which is distributed by Telecom (my employer) here in New Zealand.

The case is an updated version of the standard bump case (which I also own so I have something to compare it to) that includes an elastic loop on the front and internal cable routing to support a USB EVDO modem.  Pictured below is the case with both the LS800 and the MiniMax fitted.

The elastic loop and the moulded padding around the modem hold the modem snugly in place.  It is certainly not going to dislodge easily.  Close up of the EVDO modem.

In fron of the elastic loop is a nylon flap that velcros down to secure any excess USB cable.  This flap also covers the slot that lets you take the cabling inside the case.

The cable can then be routed out the top left corner of the case for a straight drop down to the USB port.  This could be tidied up further by using a USB cable that has a right angle connector on this end of the cable, but I did not have one available.

This case shipped with an adjustable shoulder strap that attaches to two D-rings on either side of the carry handle.  Attaching the strap gives you perhaps one of the geekiest geek bags one can have :)

Like the original bump case the EVDO version includes an integrated wire stand that can be set at a fairly wide range of angles by adjusting a velcro strap.  The same velcro strap can be cinched tight to keep the stand tucked in place when it is not required.

Another nice improvment of the EVDO bump case over the original is that it will fit the LS800 with either the standard or extended battery fitted.  To be fair the extended battery didn't exist when I got my first bump case so I can't fault the old version too much.  This is achieved with the help of a removable insert that attaches to the inside of the top flap of the case via velcro.  The insert is simply removed when the LS800 is used with the extended battery.

Over all the case looks very well constructed.  My other case has held up very well over time and I have every reason to expect this one to do the same.  Like the original the EVDO case is well designed and provides complete access to almost all of the ports, buttons and inputs on the device.  My one compaint here is that one of the USB ports is covered and one is not.  I would prefer to have both ports uncovered as it would save me having to use a USB hub if I wanted to setup my mobile desktop and use both my BenQ mouse and the EVDO modem.

Finally, I have heard from a colleague that he recieved a case where the wire poked out of the piping on the edge of the case.  There is no evidence of that with the unit I recieved.  I suggested that he return the case and ask for a new one.  Based on my one I would think that his one was an annomolly.

Full disclosure - I do not have to return the case.  I use an LS800 as one of my main PCs so I will be keeping it.

The guys over at GBM pointed out that there were now drivers available for the Lenovo X60 tablet PC.  This is good news, but I suspect that this model is not nearly as widely distributed as its predecessor, the X41T Tablet PC.

I did a quick check and it looks like Lenovo have released drivers for quite a few models and the X41T is among them.

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. 

Yesterday I recieved a new addition to my mobile kit bag - a Think Outside StowAway Sierra BlueTooth Keyboard.  I'm already in love with it.  Used in conjunction with my BenQ Wireless Travel Mouse and my Motion Computing LS800 my new mobile desktop for trips away would look something like this.

The bump case for the LS800 includes a built in stand - this is what allows the LS800 to be easily propped up.

One of the key reasons I opted for the Sierra over other folding keyboards is the inclusion of the number keys.  This additional row, in conjunction with a Fn key that converts many of the keys to a secondary binding, give a full complement of keys including Funtion keys 1-12.  This is very useful on a keyboard that is going to be used in conjunction with a PC.  Many of the foldable keyboards on the market are designed primarily for use with PDAs such as Windows Mobile and Palm devices and for that reason do not include the full complement of keys.

Setup was very easy.  You press a button on the unit to make it discoverable and then tell your PC to search for devices.  Once the device is located you specify the pin on the tablet using the TIP and then type the same pin on the keyboard and press enter.  Done. 

Folded, the Sierra is about the size of a chunky PDA.

To use the keyboard you flick a latch on the right and unfold...

Then you push the red tabs towards the middle to join the three sections of keys together.  The Bluetooth is not enabled until the key sections are joined, so there is no risk of the Sierra transmitting keystrokes, and thus wasting battery, when it is folded up and put away.

On the subject of battery the entire unit runs of a single AAA battery, which works well with my mobilisation strategy of standardising on accessories that use a common battery type.  Several other device I own use AAA batteries, so a have a number of rechargable AAA batteries and a USB powered charger.  Currently I'm using the included alkaline battery but all I can tell you on battery life at this stage is that it is more than one day of light use.

I was on the Motion web site today looking for some pictures to plug into a presentation I'm putting together today for a customer.  I noticed that they had given their site a bit of a new look and included a tag that "Motion recommneds Vista Business" to several of the pages.  I thought it would be worth checking to see if they had released Vista drivers.

They haven't but they have added a place holder link to Vista drivers that goes to this page:

http://www.motioncomputing.com/support/driver_download_vista.asp

Great to see - this certainly adds weight to the rumour that Motion will be releasing drivers on the 30th of January to coincide with the Vista launch.

Alas they still have not added an RSS feed to their drivers pages, which I think would be of huge benefit.  This is something I wish all manufacturers would do.

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.

Early adopters of Vista will likely have a few issues locating drivers for their hardware as hardware vendors struggle to catch up.  The situation is worse for those with the 64-bit version of Vista installed for two reasons.

1. 64-bit drivers need to be signed, as Mauricio points out.
2. Because 64-bit machines are still a minority the 64-bit versions of the drivers may take a back seat until 32-bit version are released.

One of the Vista features I was planning to drill into with the Acer Ferrari 1000 that Microsoft and AMD sent me is Media Center.  However the fact that the laptop was shipped with the 64-bit version of the OS has caused me a bit of pain. 

Jay Templeton of Mabode (and currently contracting to MS) kindly loaned me a WinTV PVR USB2 external USB TV Tuner for my investigation of Vista's Media Center.  Unfortunately, while there is a driver on Windows Update, it is 32-bit only.  If you connect the device to a machine with the 32-bit version of Vista installed then it will pull down the driver and all is well.  However if you plug the unit into a 64-bit machine then no driver is found on Windows Update.  Here's the kicker - my 32-bit machines are all running the Business SKU and hence do not have Media Center.

I've found this USB TV Tuner from AVerMedia that has a beta 64-bit Vista driver available for download, so I may need to buy one of those if I am to look at Media Center.

Update: I had a brain fart when typing the name of the tablet I was using.  I can't even call it a typo, it was just a mistake.  The correct model is a Wacom Graphire 4.

In my review of the Acer Ferrari 1000 one of my criticisms of it was that it was not a tablet.  This was only partially tongue-in-cheek.  The fact is that I would not buy a pen and ink challenged computer as my main Mobile PC.  But since I have this one, lets see what we can do about ink enabling a Vista machine that does not have a digitizer.

Full Disclosure:  To do this I am using a Wacom Inspire Graphire 4 graphics tablet that was provided to me gratis by Wacom Australia. 

This graphics tablet is one of several that were provided to selected MVPs for the purpose of demostrating Windows Vista pen functionality to their respective communities.  I have a session prepared for my user group to be presented next time we have a speaker gap.

What you Need

On the computer side you need a Vista Machine that is running one of the following SKUs:

• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Ultimate

In other words, not Home Basic or Started as those SKUs don't have the tablet functionality such as the TIP and pen flicks.

In addition you need some hardware to replace the missing digitizer hardware.  This is where the Wacom graphics tablet comes in.

The Process

1. Connect the external tablet to the laptop.  In the case of the tablet I have this is via a USB cable.  At this point the pen will move the mouse pointer, but the position of the pen on the tablet will not relate to the position of the cursor on the screen.
2. Install the Wacom driver and software (Note: I am currently using pre-release software, but I would expect that Wacom will release the drivers in the very near future.)  At this point the position of  the cursor on the screen is relative to the position of the pen on the tablet, but it still acts like a mouse cursor. There is a restart required. 
3. As Vista restarts it must detect the new hardware and enable the Tablet functionality automatically.  You will see the TIP docked on the left.  Pen flicks will now work.  You will be able to use Jounal and if you have OneNote or any other ink enabled apps you will be able to ink directly into them.

If you want to turn it off again...

1. Go to the Control Panel and select the Programs group
2. Under the Programs and Features heading click on Turn Windows features on or off
3. Clear the checkbox for Tablet PC Optional Components and click OK.

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago I revealed that I was one of a select few bloggers and MVPs who had been selected to receive a review laptop from Microsoft and AMD. 

The review machine sent was a Acer Ferrari 1000 that arrived fully loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 Professional Plus.

In the interest of full disclosure the email offering me the review laptop gave me three options:

• Send the unit back to Microsoft
• Give the unit away
• Keep the unit.

I have opted to keep the unit for reasons that I outlined here.  Some have voiced concern that this will place undue bias on any review that I write of the hardware or software.  I don't feel any obligation to only say nice things about the device or the OS, but you be the judge.

I already blogged about my unboxing experience - check it out here.

Setting Up...

The first thing I needed to do was to get the machine into a state similar to how I would actually use it.  When I received it the machine was installed in a Workgroup (of course) and was configured to autologon as a user that was a member of the Administrators group.  Not how I would recommend running any OS on a daily basis.  On the plus side it was running CA Anti Virus software, which is a good thing.  I've unboxed review machines before to find them sans AV software and it is a pet peeve of mine.

To make it a more realistic review I renamed the machine and joined it to my domain.  I now log on as a standard, unprivileged user.

Lastly I installed some of the software I need to do my thing.  This included Windows Live Writer, which I am using to write this post, and TechSmith SnagIt, which I will use for all the screenshots.

A visual tour of the Laptop

As you can see in the photo below there was quite a bit in the box to get through.  Click on any of the photos in this post for a larger image.

Along the front edge of the laptop there is:

A - Multi card reader that supports SD, Memory Stick/Pro, MMC and XD.

B - Left and right speakers. 

C - Audio Line in.

D - Microphone in.

E - Headphones jack with SPDF optical output.  Great for connecting the laptop to your home theater system

F - Bluetooth enable/disable soft switch.

G - Wi-Fi enable/disable soft switch

The top of the front panel, in front of the keyboard, has some nice detail.

Notice that the speakers vented on the front are also vented above.  This make for reasonable listening when you are using the laptop.  The model name Ferrari 1000 is etched into the metal buttons in front of the touchpad.  I have never been a fan of touchpads because my thumbs drag on them as I type, which can cause ghost clicks.  I find this particular touchpad very touchy.  Fortunately it is easy to easy to disable with a function key.

In front of the touchpad buttons there is a recession into which the inbuilt web camera seats when you close the lid.

On the leading edge are a number of indicator lights including power state (i.e. on or off), Bluetooth state, Wi-Fi state and charge indicator. 

Above the keyboard the nice detail continues.  On the left is the power button.

And on the right there are a number programmable buttons across the top and three indicator lights down the side. 

Left to right the buttons (by default) launch email, the browser, the Acer Empowering Technology tool (which is not installed so it errors) and the Launch Manager. 

The Launch Manager can be used to reassign what these buttons do.  The indicator lights, top to bottom are Caps Lock, Num Lock and Hard Disk Activity.

The white power button, the yellow launch buttons and the indicator lights are backlit, which looks pretty cool.  Even better, whenever a button is pressed the red lines around the buttons also light up.  It looks good, especially if you are up late writing a lengthy blog post in a dimly lit room.

On the right side of the unit you will find two USB 2.0 ports, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, modem and VGA connectors.

I dislike the practice of putting VGA on the side.  I much prefer this on the back.  The reason - it makes for some really nasty cable twisting if you happen to want your monitor on the OTHER side.

The red trim on the side of the screen is recessed and this gives the side profile a nice look.

The back of the screen looks great, but it is hard to do it justice with a flash photo.

The bulk of the area is laminated carbon fiber and it give the unit quite a distinctive and striking look.  The dancing horse Ferrari logo does little for me and the Acer logo even less.  At the top of the screen in the middle there is a web camera that can be rotated to point towards the user or away from the user as if you are looking out from the back of the screen.

In the lower left of the photo above there is the docking station connector.  In the lower right is the power in socket.  Between these two connectors is all battery.

On the left side of the laptop there is the obligatory Kensington lock slot, a large vent, a IEEE 1394 FireWire port, a powered USB 2.0 port and a PCMCIA slot.

The PCMCIA slot includes a plastic blank that you can use to keep dust out when the slot is not populated.  The other strategy that hardware manufacturers use to keep PCMCIA slots dust free is an inbuilt flap that closes over the slot when the card is ejected.  I much prefer the second approach over the first.  With the first approach the blank is just another thing you have to carry around with you.  For most of the devices I've had with such a blank I have lost it in short order.  It may be a moot point in this case, though as the VoIP phone I'll be talking about later is designed to be popped into the slot for storage and charging.

The Accessories

The other bits in the box are quite interesting as well. 

First up is the Bluetooth mouse.  This mouse has a distinctly automotive style to it.  The wedge shape is distinctly sports car like.  The mouse wheel is black rubber and looks like a tire.  On the back there is even a tail light (yes, it does light up).

Also included was an external optical drive.  In this case the drive shipped was a DVD Multi-Writer.

The housing is a quite thin and this is achieved by using a slot loading drive.  It seems to me to be a little noisy, but my only real complaint with the drive is that the cable included to connect it to the PC is a tad short and this limits your choices when positioning the drive.

The best gizmo in the kit - IMO - is the way cool Bluetooth VoIP handset.  Once paired with the laptop this little device can be used either as a handpiece...

... or with a flip of the mouthpiece and the push of a button it can be come a handsfree speakerphone. 

This can be used with Skype and MSN (according to the documentation) but it just shows up as another audio input/output device so you could use it with any voice chat app.

The Acer Software

One of the things I was looking forward to in reviewing this laptop was giving Vista a fair thrash on a machine with all the vendor software in place and functional.  I was bitterly disappointed in this regard as two of the three bundled applications fail immediately after logon.  In fairness to Acer I will say at this point that to my knowledge this is not the Acer OEM build of Vista.  I believe that this laptop was sent to Microsoft, rebuilt there and then shipped to me.  The utilities that were on the Laptop when I received it were almost certainly not installed in the same manner as Acer will be installing them on machines they ship with Vista.  Furthermore, the versions on this laptop may or may not be the same versions that Acer will be using.

There were three Acer utilities installed.  These were:

• Acer OrbiCam - which is suppose to provide some functions around the web camera
• Acer VCM (Voice Communications Manager) is used to pair the VoIP phone and manage the settings.  Fortunately you can do this without VCM.
• Launch Manager

Of these three only Launch Manager seems to work. 

I also noted that all of three of the above apps pre installed on a 64-bit laptop were 32-bit applications.  Why not build the apps for the platform they will be running on?

Impressions...

The Good

There is much to like about this laptop.  The highlights for me are:

• The feel:  This laptop is light but feels anything but flimsy.  It appears to be well constructed and has a feel of quality about it.
• The styling: Initially I thought the styling was a bit OTT, but I have to say that it has grown on me.  I especially like the carbon fibre on the back of the screen and the detail around the buttons.
• The included accessories: The optical drive, mouse and VoIP phone are all well made and functional.  These are handy devices to have in your mobile kit bag and the ones that ship with the laptop are good enough that you would not feel a need to rush out and buy new ones.
• Performance: Yikes - it is fast!

The Bad

Bearing in mind that this laptop retails for US$2,200 I approached it with high expectations. In addition to the little things I mentioned earlier, there are a couple of points that could be improved upon.  Such as:

• Battery life is shocking.  No pun intended.  The small battery (which sits flush with the back of the laptop when fitted) gives just under an hour of running time.  The larger battery (which sticks out when fitted) gives a bit over 2 hours.  In my opinion a total running time of three hours for two batteries is just not long enough to be useful as a primary Mobile PC.
• Batteries not warm swappable.  On some devices you can swap out the batteries with the laptop in standby or sleep mode without losing your session (provided you can change a battery in less than a minute.)  On a device of this caliber that ships with two batteries I would expect it to support this feature.  It doesn't.  To swap out the battery you need to power off or hibernate.  This only compounds the battery life issue above.
• No latch on the lid.  You just close the lid.  There is no click.  There is no release to open it again.  It just does not seem right to me.
• Gets quite hot.  The heat radiated out the bottom is enough to be uncomfortable if you are using it in your lap.
• It's not a tablet.  I have to say I find the lack of a digitizer quite limiting.  Using this device quite heavily for the last week or two has re-enforced for me that I would not buy a device as my primary mobile PC that did not have pen and or touch support.

Still to come...

I'll be doing a drill down into a couple of areas that I have not previously had the hardware to explore.

 Rob Bushway has posted a fine round-up of all the tablet and UMPC devices he saw at CES and some tabletscape musings.  The short version of the list includes:

• The OQO Model 02  - a stunningly beautiful unit.

• The TabletKiosk Sahara i440 series - a very nice slate to hold and use.

• The Flybook V5i - If they featured palm rejection technology and I didn't already own the P1610, I could see myself owning one. The form factor is perfect and the keyboard is just the right size. Integrating 3G via a sim card is very, very smart.

• The Toshiba R400 - underpowered

• HP TX1000 - HP will sell a lot of these at $1299

• The TabletKiosk eo TuffTab v7112XT - I was surprised how comfortable the eo TuffTab felt to hold.

• The S-XGen - nice pocket pc with integrated keyboard and 8 hour battery life.

• Intel vs Via - Via is making huge strides in the UMPC arena.

• The Medion UMPC - finally a UMPC with a usable slide out keyboard.

• 3G - As Scott Eckert and I talked about in our interview, WWAN is becoming almost a necessity in mobile pc solutions.

• Vista - Needless to say, CES 2007 was mostly about Microsoft and Vista, and how all these new devices can talk to each other through Vista services.

• Motion Computing - a lot has been said about Motion not having any new products to announce at CES.

---

Check out Rob's post for the full list. On that last point - I agree that Motion is probably wise to wait, but don't make us wait too long!  Motion slates are one of my favorite ways to sake my ever present thirst for new tablets...  And it's a long time between drinks. 

 Just after posting my last bit on SideShow I see that fellow Tablet MVP Frank La Vigne has posted about Yahoo! Tech has a write up on Windows Vista SideShow gadgets

These include some nifty little gadgets like gaming keyboards and very smart smartphones. 

There is also talk of remote controls and there is this cool, stick-it-in-your-wallet sized device...

Can you say tip of the ice berg? 

Source: Windows SideShow Steals the Show
Originally published on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:49:00 GMT by Frank

Already from CES we have seen a couple of devices with secondary displays supporting Windows Vista SideShow. But not as many as I had hoped.

SideShow first appeared as secondary display on concept laptops and this is still how many people think of it. This week Toshiba announced the first Tablet to be released with an integrated SideShow display, the R400.

 But while that may have been the first we saw of SideShow it is only the tip of the iceberg.  Another concept that appeared this week was the very cool messenger bag from Eleksen.

Other devices are coming.  This article in CoDe magazine from 2005 introduces Windows SideShow and has pictures of concept devices for laptops, keyboards, remotes and more.  I really like the idea of a digital photo frame that connects to your PC via BlueTooth. 

I know there are more cool devices out there that have not yet been announced. I guess some are being held back for the official Vista launch.  I say bring it on and I can't wait to see what manufactures make of it. 

SideShow, in my opinion, may well turn out to be an enabling technology that becomes ubiquitous - much like the mouse wheel.  Before the mouse wheel came along everyone thought the mouse fine as it was.  Now if you you find yourself using a mouse without the wheel you may well find yourself stroking the seam between the buttons when you want to scroll. 

Lots of potential...

If you want to get started developing for SideShow then I previously blogged about an article by Daniel Moth that may be of interest.

Just plucked this cool article off the wire via  David Rasmussen's Blog.  David points out thatMindJet Labss have released a great little tool to provide some integration between OneNote 2007 and MindManager 6.

The OneNote 2007 + MindManager tool provides three functions:

• OneNote 2007 Send To MindManager
• OneNote Hyperlinks in MindManager
• OneNote Notebook Hierarchy Mapping

In their own words, you can:

• From MindManager, easily map out the OneNote Notebooks, Sections, and Pages, including hyperlinks to the notebooks, sections, and pages:
• From MindManager, send the current map to OneNote as an image that you can sketch on and annotate:
• From OneNote, send a page to MindManager as a hyperlinked topic

Grab the OneNote 2007 + MindManager download here.

Some of you may have noticed that this blog was offline for a while. The outage was caused by a corruption on the ISA server that caused the Firewall Service to poo its pants (that's a technical term).

The fault was easily rectified, but the length of the outage was due to the timing.  The firewall service seems to have stopped accepting connections around midnight, my time.  I did not notice until after I arrived at work and the nature of the fault meant that it could not be resolved remotely.

At any rate it is working again now.  Hope you didn't miss me too much!

I recently started a series of posts detailing what is in my geek bag.  In part 1 of the series I explored my "traveling light" load, which in fact does not include a bag at al per se.

CES is running this week and I really wish I was there.  So much so, in fact, that I am packing my geek bag (virtually, at least) with a different load - what I take for an overseas conference.

Here's the the gear I would be taking for this trip if I were going.

So what have we here?  Here's the rundown:

1. The Oakley Vertical Computer Bag 2.0 that AMD sent me for my trip to CES even though I'm not going.  If I were I would take the bag to give it a good test run.
2. 3 x AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries.  Through some prudent device selection I have several devices that take the same sized batteries.  Hence I just need to carry one sort and I can use them in whatever goes flat.  In this load the MP3 player, wireless mouse and noise canceling headphones all use the AAA batteries.
3. SD GPS Receiver and leather pouch.  I won this at a user group meeting I attended once.  Used in conjunction with an old PDA (7) with Pocket Streets and Trips installed I can find my way around strange cities with ease.
4. A pair of Panasonic RP-HS11 headphones.  These are my favorite headphones for everyday use and for use while exercising.  They are very light and have an over the ear hook that keeps them in place even if you jog with all the coordination of a computer geek :)  Another thing I like about them is that the pads are soft rubber rather than foam - nothing to absorb sweat.  Good sound, too.
5.   A pair of Jensen noise canceling headphones.  These fold up relatively small.  They are great for planes and trains (and include an adaptor that you can use to plug them into those weird airplane armrests) where the noise canceling feature is worth the extra weight.  Not great if you are moving around a lot though.
6. My Telecom HTC Apache (aka Sprint 6700) phone.  Not as much use in the States as it is here in NZ because the data does not roam, but I still like being contractible by phone.  Also included a spare battery and stylus for the phone that pretty much just live in my bag full time.
7. My old HP hx4700 PDA.  Great VGA screen that makes it a perfect partner for the SD GPS Receiver (3).
8. Minolta DiamgeX Digital camera.  This is actually our old camera, and is not as full featured as our new one, but it is so small and light that it is great for trips away where you are only doing point and shoot photography.  And besides, I was using the other one to take this photo!
9. Targus 4 port travel USB 2.0 hub.  I've got stacks of USB hubs but this is my favorite for traveling.  This also pretty much lives in my bag. 
10. Short USB Extension cable - always in my bag.  Useful if you need to connect a wide device to a USB port that would then obstruct the other port or to make travel USB hub sit on the desk.
11. Adaptor for my NZ power cables to make them fit into US plugs.  I actually have a couple of these, but I only included one in the photo.
12. Canary Wi-Fi detector.  I won this at a stand at TechEd Boston last year.  Actually I won an Xbox game that was no use to me because it was zoned for the US - so I negotiated and got this instead.  Press the button and it gives you the name of the best wi-fi network and tells you if it is open or secured and what channel it is on.  Keep pressing the button to cycle through available networks.  Great to see if it is worth getting the tablet out to try and sync your mail and feeds!
13. USB 2.0 SD card reader.  Unfortunately one of the things that does not work on my LS800 with Vista is the SD card slot.  I use this reader to get photos off my camera without carrying the cable. 
14. JNC MPio MP3 Player.  Great little device I've had since before iPods dominated the digital music world.  I've not felt the need to replace it because it works so well.  Runs off a single AAA battery and in addition to it's tiny 128MB internal flash (that was huge when I bought it of course) it has an SD card slot.  Naturally I just use the SD.  It also has a FM Receiver, which is handy.
15. A device that should need no introduction.  This is my Motion Computing LS800 slate in the bump case. 
16. Wacom Cross Executive stylus - a really nice tablet stylus that lives in my bag.  This one in particular was given to me by Dr. Neil Roodyn the first time I met him.
17. 80GB External USB HDD.  Used for on the road backup, mostly, but you never know what you might be able to grab a copy of from someone on a stand if you have one of these with you.  "I'd give you a copy, but we only have the one CD..."  Well...  Again, through some cunning device selection the cable that connects the drive to the PC can also be used to charge my phone (6)
18. A Targus keyboard.  I won this (along with (9) and some other bits and pieces I gave away) by dropping my card into a fishbowl at a trade show.  This is a USB keyboard that feels like a laptop keyboard and is only slightly bigger.  I'm one of those weird people who prefers a laptop keyboard when I have to suffer one.  While I would probably take this (in my checked luggage) I may well not use it at all and it would remain in the room of the Hotel the whole time.  Basically it is just there in case I feel the burning need to write up a really long blog post about the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.  I want to replace this with one of the ThinkOutside Bluetooth keyboards, but I have not had the toy money to spend on that yet.
19. SwissBit 512MB USB fob and trusty Swiss Army knife. Of course this would be in my checked baggage too.
20. BenQ Wireless mouse.  I love this little guy.  Great portable mouse.  The receiver slots into the body of the mouse when not in use, making it a nice compact unit.  Also it is automatically turned off when the receiver is in the body, so it does not waste battery power. And of course, because it is red it goes faster.
21. Extended battery for the LS800.  This gives me 5-6 hours and the standard battery gives me 2.5-3.  Between the two I get a whole day of Show Floor walking without running out of juice.
22. Half of the power cord for my LS800
23. The other half of the power cord for my LS800
24. Business card case.  You have to have business cards if you want to win anything good and network with people.  Why do we go to these shows anyway?

In addition to all this there are a couple of items that should be.  They are in at work and I would have to go and pick them up on the way in.  These are:

• Sync and charge cable for the hx4700.
• USB battery charger for the AAA batteries.

There are a couple of strategies I have employed to simplify things.  Look for synergies.  For example my MP3 player, phone, digital cameras, laptop and both my tablets have have SD Card slots. 

Similarly, selecting devices that all use AAA batteries, such as my mouse, MP3 player and noise canceling headphones allows me to buy a number of rechargeable batteries and share them among devices.

Lastly by using USB charging I don't have to carry lots of power adaptors.  I carry the power supply for my tablet and charge my phone, the PDA I use as a GPS and my battery charger off that.

I have unpacked the Acer Ferarri that I recieved from Microsoft and AMD.  There is quite a bit in the box to explore.

From left to right we have:

• Soft leather-like cases for the DVD drive and the laptop.
• The box it all came in (background)
• The external DVD writer (with a firewire cable behind it)
• The wireless VoIP phone (standing up next to the laptop)
• Soft leather-like case for the VoIP phone
• The Acer Ferarri 1000 notebook
• Hard plastic case with a polishing cloth inside it (in front of the laptop)
• Bluetooth mouse
• Boxed documentation
• Soft leather-like case for the mouse.
• Extended battery (not pictured)

I'll be doing a full review over the next few days in which I will explore each of these in more detail.  For now I will just provide a few first impressions.

What's on it?

The laptop came with the followign pre-installed.

• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Office 2007 Professional Plus
• Acer drivers and utilities
• CA Antivirus software (well done - I hate recieving review hardware without AV on it)

How's it run?

As you would expect from a 64-bit dual core machine with 2GB of RAM it is very snappy.  And drivers!  Yay!  This is the first mobile PC I've had with Vista on it that had drivers for all the devices in Device Manager.  The only device that did not have a driver pre-installed was the VoIP phone.  When I plugged this into the PCMCIA slot it pulled the driver down from Windows Update without issue.

Initial Impressions?

I have to be honest.  I am not a F1 fan, so the Ferarri logos all over the device and the accessories do nothing for me.  I do like the carbon fiber on the back of the lid though - that looks really cool in person, though it does not photograph well.  I'll try again in daylight without the flash tomorrow.  The unit appears to be well constructed.  It has a solid, well made feel too it without being bulky or heavy.  This is a nice surprise for me as past experience with Acers (and it has been very limited) has been that they either feel flimsy or are sturdy but tend toward the chunky side.  This one is sturdy and sleek.

Glaring Issues?

You mean appart from the complete lack of a digitizer? 

I had hoped that with this being a demo machine sent out to show off the new OS they would have made sure everything worked out of the box.  Unfortunatly not so.  There is one Acer utility configured to run at start-up that crashes almost at once.  The utility is called Voice Communications Manager (VCM).  Unfortunately application compatability will cause a few headaches, especially for the early adopters.  IMO OEMs need to get on the case and release new versions of their supporting software (and drivers) for any device they are badging as Vista Capable.  I'm sure they are waiting for the official launch at the end of this month, but given that Vista is available to volume license customers now I think that is a mistake.

The other day AMD sent me a bag for no apparant reason.  On inspecting the bag I realised it was not a cheap mass produced bag, rather it is a Vertical Computer Bag 2.0 manufactured by Oakley that has had the AMD logo printed on it. 

Even though I am a big fan of the Oakley brand (it has to do with my mountain biking roots) I did not even know that they made computer bags.  So, what's it like?

As the name suggests the Vertical Computer Bag 2.0 is, well, vertical.  Rather than looking like a traditional satchel type bag where the computer sits "landscape" in the bag it designed so that the device will sit vertically, or in "portrait".  Personally I think that this ia a great way to carry a slate.

There are a number of storage compartments.  I'm going to work back to front, where the front is the flap and the back is what will be againt your hip if you are carrying the bag with the shoulder strap.

Right at the back is a document pocket that is big enough to take paper up tp A4 (or letter).  There is also a webbing pocket in this that according to the pamphlet that came with the bag is for travel documents.  I'm not sold on this - while it is good to have your travel documents in a pocket opens against your body, the large document pocket is only sealed with velcro in the middle and the webbing pocket inside it does not seal at all.  I would not feel very comfortable storing my passport and paper tickets in a pocket without a zip.

The next compartment towards the front is the main compartment.  This is a very well padded pocket large enough to take a laptop or tablet with a screen up to 15".  The pocket is sealed with a zip and by the carry handles which are joined together with a canvas wrap that joins with two domes.  Unfortunately the zips do not allow you to fit a padlock on them.

The next compartment is accessible by lifting a flap and unzipping a large rectangular pocket on three sides.  The front of this pocket then folds (or flops due to gravity) down.  There are 4 pockets of assorted sizes on the inside of this flap.  (on the left of the picture below.

The bottom two are webbing.  The largest of the four is actually kind of interesting in a geeky way.  It is sheilded to prevent unautorised access to your bluetooth devices.  And it actually works.  I have my phone paired with my LS800 so I put the phone in the pocket and tried to connect to the internet using the phone as a bluetooth modem.  I tried 4 times from varing distances.  For the last attempt the tablet was sitting on top of the bag.  No connection.  I removed the phone from the pocket and tried again and it connected strait away.  Geek neat.  That said I like being able to connect to my phone without getting it out of my bag, so I configure security on my Bluetooth devices to prevent unauthorised access!

The remaining area exposed in the photo above has a number of pen loops, a key holding clip and three flat pockets.  This is where I would probably choose to store my travel documents - it is inside a zipped area.

On the front of the flap with the sheilded pocket is another unsealed document pocket.  The front flap of the bag drops down over this and is held in place by a bar that is on a bit of elastic.  For such a simple closure this gives a pretty good seal.  I don't think it will pop open on you.

There are three canvas loops on each side of the bag that you can slot a carabina through if you want to hang lots of stuff off the sides of your bag.  There are also two bungie cord enclosures you could put things in, but they are very narrow.  I'm not sure what you would put there.  A travel umbrella or your suglasses case may fit.

The last bit of storage space is a bit tricky.  There is a short zip on the right side of the bag.  If you unzip it there is a webbing bottle holder tucked away inside so you can store a water bottle on the outside of the bag and tuck the holder away when not in use.  Quite nice.

Overall I think the bag is very well constructed.  The body of the bag is a fairly rugged nylon canvas and the hardware - such as the strap fittings - are metal.  The stiching looks to be first rate and I think this bag will stay in one piece for a long time.  And so it should - the price of this bag on the Oakley webiste is US$90.

When unboxing the Acer Ferarri 1000 that Microsoft and AMD gave me for Christmas I noticed a distinct lack of recovery media in the box. There was not even XP media. So before I into installing apps and reviewing the Ferarri 1000 and generally breaking things I need to be sure I can get back to a good state.

To do this I am using the CompletePC Backup Feature in Vista. I blogged about how to use this back in August and recorded a video showing the procedure. Check it out here.

This is a handy feature. If you buy a Vista machine and it ships without recovery media, then I recommend creating a CompletePC Backup image before you go too far down the configuration path.

The Acer Ferarri that Microsoft and AMD have sent me has arrived at last after a lengthy delay in customs.

I've already lost it again, just after I closed the front door my daughter Sylvie rushed over and said "Man delivered my 'puter!" and then proceeded to attempted to horsey ride the box!

The first thing I noticed (because it is printed on the box) is that the unit shipped is the Ferarri 1000, not the Ferarri 5000 I was told was coming.  This is a little disappointing as I would have rather had the "desktop replacement" model than the "ultra-portable" model.  The 5000 also has an HDMI interface and an integrated HD-DVD optical drive, which makes it better for one of the things I was going to explore and blog about - Media Centre.

At any rate any exploration and blogging is going to have to wait.  My wife and I are taking Sylvie to Te Papa today so the (now unboxed) Ferarri gets plugged in to charge and gets put aside for later.

You might remember James Andrews, a couple days ago a former co-worker of mine now based in the UK, slapped me down for deciding to keep the Acer Ferrari 5000 that Microsoft and AMD are sending me.  He did this via a comment and my response to that comment is here.

James responded to me via email yesterday extending an olive branch in the form of an article he had written that he has nowhere to post.  (that's not to say he is conceding anything on the other subject, I think we are agreeing to differ...)

"Good point about the lack of blog... I did do a bunch of stuff for a blog a while back though and didn't post it. I have attached one of my gadget rants for you to use on your blog if you like."

I do like.  It is an interesting and contentious read.  There are several good points here - but I have to say that as a gadget freak I just can't bring myself to adhere to the fifth principle.

I'm stepping off my soapbox to give someone else a turn... What follows was written by James Andrews and is posted here with his permission.  I'll email any comments on this post through to James (I don't post email addresses) to be sure he sees them...

The Five Principles of Gadget Nirvana.

James Andrews

Ask any person-in-the-street in the city; apart from their mobile phone what gadget do they carry most often? The answer will be one of two things: an MP3 player or a BlackBerry (or both). Of those who carry an MP3 player, I’d be prepared to bet more than half have an iPod of some description.

There are a couple of reasons I know both answers to be true, one is a technology reason which applies to both devices and one is a fashion reason, that really only applies to the iPod.

Aside from your complete gadget nut, you are almost guaranteed to find a good portion of people on the go carrying an iPod or BlackBerry or both. Why not a PocketPC with an email client AND music capabilities or some other device? Why not just one of those brick like mobile phone handsets? It makes sense… One device instead of many?

Well lets tackle the less esoteric of the reasons for carrying an iPod first! Also probably the one I can probably relate to best, the technology reason. I should also probably focus on the iPod as I am one of the few people in my circle of friends and colleagues who has yet to have the need for a BlackBerry (or more appropriately, none of my employers have seen the need!).

The technology answer is simple. Both devices are fit-for-purpose devices that have one core function: music or email. Sure they both do quite a bit more these days, but none of the extra features get in the way of the core function. A core function that both Apple and RIM have executed very well and that hasn’t been messed with much at all. Pretty much every iPod in the product line still functions the same way as the first iPod that rolled off the production line.

Some would argue this doesn’t allow the product to evolve much or break new ground, but they are missing the point. You don’t need to mess with the fundamentals to evolve a product or idea. Once you have captured the audience, don’t lose them by pulling the rug from under their feet with whole new paradigms just to ram your innovations down their throat. This is sometimes the reason why some really good ideas never properly catch on. Companies innovate away from their base. Kind of like New Labour…

It’s also a comfort thing, in all walks of life people like the comfort of the familiar. If you achieve that in a tech product it’s like the Holy Grail. Don’t drop it down the closing chasm of feature bloat!

This is why keyboards are still used as a primary input device on computers (and why now most PDA’s come with keyboards), why video phones don’t work and why you should never change the rules of Rugby (especially before the world cup).

But I digress… Why do fit for purpose devices work where Swiss Army knifes don’t? Well I reckon people look at Swiss Army knives and can’t work out what bit does what so they chuck the whole thing away and buy a Philips head screwdriver instead despite it having quite a good Philips head screwdriver to start with! The principle is the same for tech gadgets. If you ever find yourself shouting “All I want to do is retrieve my voice mail” at your mobile phone, throw it away and get a new service provider. Because they have hidden the second most critical feature of the device. So unless you are an uber-gadget geek or actually in the Swiss Army, you probably find comfort in the fit-for-purpose gadgets that just do what it says on the box. Likewise unless you are an uber-gadget geek you are not likely to feel inclined to carry a utility belt load of fit-for-purpose devices so your phone and iPod are probably just fine in your jacket pocket or mugger friendly handbag. All gadget manufacturers should design more fit-for-purpose devices as there is a much bigger market for that stuff. And that’s just what companies like Sonos, RIM, Apple and Global Knives are doing!

So to the first two principles for my gadget nirvana:

1.) Gadgets must be fit for purpose. Avoid the Swiss Army knife approach which always includes the terribly sharp pointy thing that you cut yourself with getting to the useful tools. There is no harm in switching between gadgets to use the right one for the job.

… and …

2.) Always put the core function first. If you add a feature, no matter how cool it is, never ever put it in the way of the original function of the device.

On to the second reason why iPods are more popular than larger on a hot day: The cool factor! If feature comfort and familiarity is the Holy Grail, coolness is the youth providing elixir that comes out of it. Or the actual sought after element of any Grail quest. But unlike water from the grail, coolness doesn’t automatically come from having the feature comfort and familiarity factor, although it doesn’t hurt. Coolness is probably definable in some off the wall marketing sense, but since I am not trained in that black art I’ll try and waffle about it in my own terms.

The trick to attaining coolness is to not try. Huh? Well it’s like this… If you ever utter or hear the words “Hey wouldn’t it be cool if…”. Just don’t… Because in almost all cases it’s never “cool if”. Cool people have no idea how cool they are, as soon as they start realising it, they get less cool, it’s like quantum physics. Cool gadgets can’t be designed cool, they just attain it.

Like quantum physics though, you can sometimes control situations to a level where coolness has a higher probability of happening. That’s how Apple did it with their iPod. They had already attained coolness through other mystery methods with the design of the Mac and its siblings, such that they already had a cosmic background glow of coolness already. So they applied the same design principles to the iPod making it an attractive, aesthetically desirable object and clearly an Apple product with that slightly less edgy “made by the man” look. Good start, but not a coolness guarantee… You see people aren’t tricked into thinking something is cool just by a recognisable design and sparkly bits but it does arouse curiosity and stokes the fires of the all important familiarity. Apple slammed everyone with the new paradigm in their interface design for mobile devices, the Click Wheel! Simplicity in design at its finest and something that may quite possibly have not have worked on a device from another vendor in my opinion, purely because another device wouldn’t have been able to draw people in enough to accept it. At this point in proceedings you might hear the golden words: “Hey, this is cool!” That’s a tech cool as well as a style cool… You are well on the way to eternal youth or the unified theory of everything... or something.

By keeping the interface elegant, simple and almost instantly usable by anyone, Apple automatically broke down another barrier for tech adoption. Allow the gizmo to be used by people outside of the normal demographic. I have to admit, I never used to like the idea of totally stripped out featureless interfaces. In my former gadget freak life toys with lots of bells, whistles and things to tinker with appealed greatly. When I first got my iPod I also must admit, the shadow of my former self appeared when the first thought I had was: “Is that it? This thing does almost nothing!” but I was totally wrong. The iPod does exactly everything… everything it needs to. The reformed me finally realised the beauty of it and I moved another step toward nirvana.

So to the third and forth principle of Gadget nirvana:

3.) Brilliance is a thing that does exactly everything it needs to. This is similar to principle one except that the concept is that the gadget should not over extend within its core function. Just because you can make your music device vibrate to the bass notes doesn’t mean you should!

4.) Do everything to hide the complexity. Don’t be tempted to show off how clever a device is!

I yearn for a mobile phone like this. No phone on the market today does exactly everything it needs to. Every single horrible one of them does something it doesn’t need to do and invariably that something gets in the way of the core function. (Principle two) i.e. I can’t receive text messages because I have accidentally taken 100 photos of the inside of my pants pocket with the camera I don’t want! I am not asking for a dumbed down phone (in fact I _really_ want a _really_ smart phone), just one that puts the core function mostly first. Why do phone sales people try and sell me a phone based on its Mega Pixel rating and the amount of music it can store? (Principle one) I consider myself fairly technically competent, but choosing a mobile handset is one of the most trying technical challenges (well not that difficult, just annoying) I have had in recent months. The phone tech specs the operators put together are designed to confuse and the phone sales guys in the high street shops in London have barely the cogitative ability to tie their shoes let alone tell me about 3G networking options! I am digressing again… Perhaps this should be the basis of another rant!

Back to the iPod. The Coolness factor is the reason every current and future personal music device will struggle to get a real chunk of the market. You can’t fight cool with anything except more cool and you can’t manufacture cool. Vendors are tempted to fight cool with features, but this never works. People don’t care if Brand X music player can also browse the web or share music wirelessly, it aint gonna make them switch from their current iPod or even switch when it comes to upgrading time. Think of the embarrassment at your society dinner party when you have to pull your X brand music player out to switch it off. The host will swoon and faint on the spot! Sounds silly, but that is the cool factor. People will beat a path to the cool brand regardless of feature set. It’s really stating the obvious to point this fact out I am sure. Sorry Brand X you can’t win!

Unless… You create a whole new paradigm and become the cool brand. This can happen (think Tivo), however being the first in a new niche and breaking new ground more often than not is not the path to nirvana. The iPod certainly wasn’t the first portable MP3 player on the market, not by a long shot. Other companies broke that ground and Apple walked into a somewhat ripe market. This leads to the my fifth and final (in this iteration anyway) principle of gadget nirvana

5.) Don’t be the trail-blazer and don’t buy the trail-blazer devices. C’mon gadget freaks resist the urge to buy the latest and greatest.

It’s rough and tough here in gadget nirvana! Why shouldn’t we reward innovators and ground breakers? Well we should, I guess… but understand that the first gadget in a new market won’t be the best one. Again, somewhat stating the obvious but it’s a truism. Add to that the fact that the cost of breaking into a new market can often ruin or throttle the innovator and the sting in the tail is that the next guy has a much easier time and will probably make more money with a better product.

How can this be avoided? Well in a way there is already a model for this and it’s called Open Source. Huh? Ok, so it doesn’t as easily translate into gadgetry, but it probably could (and I am guessing someone has already done it, I am just to lazy to do the proper research!). This would work the way RedHat and the Fedora project work, in that the Fedora project breaks the new ground for RedHat. It also leverages the power of the open source community in that the product gets into the hands of the early adopters and innovators who have a vested interested in making the product better. Companies that embrace the and tame the power of the open source model in the future will avoid the innovators trap and find products evolve and get better much more quickly. Well that’s my theory anyway!

So if I had to choose one device that sums up gadget nirvana it would be the iPod. It is certainly the most used gadget I have ever owned. I never step outside my front door without it and not a single day goes by when it doesn’t get at least an hour worth of usage. It will be the bench mark by which I judge all gadget’s that I purchase in the future for sure. Its already saved me a fortune!

James

 This had me cracking up.  A very cool use of mobile tech that only a true geek would think of.  That's not an insult - I am safe in the knowledge that true geeks don't mind being called geeks.

...the problem: how the heck can I tell what eyeglass frames look good on me? Truth is: I can't because the frames have clear glass in them, which obviously does nothing for my eyesight. I usually bring someone with some fashion sense with me, but today I couldn't. What to do, what to do......

The answer hit me while I was waiting to be helped. I had my XV 6700 Windows Mobile phone with me and it has a 1.3 Megapixel camera in it, right? I decided to snap pics of myself in potential frames, and then put my glasses on to view the actual pics. Heck, if I wanted to, I could have do a whole little fashion show and recorded a video!

So that solved the majority of my dilemma. Using the camera, I could take pics and then review them with my corrected vision. The other issue I had was getting a second opinion on my choices. Barb couldn't join me at the store, but once I had the pics, it was a simple matter of sending her the pics in an e-mail via the EV-DO connection. Sure enough: I got the thumbs up in about 3 minutes.

Good to see that you also check with your fashon advisor

Source: Mobile tech just solved a 28 year old problem
Originally published on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 20:18:50 GMT by Kevin C. Tofel

 Just after I posted my last post about a MacTablet (though not from apple) I see this from Loren Heiny...

David Sobotta gives us several reasons why Apple is unlikely to launch a MacTablet...

Check out Loren's post for more.

Source: Will Apple announce a Tablet at MacWorld?
Originally published on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:59:03 GMT

If this is true it will be both cool and very interesing. 

Rob Bushway over at GBM writes:

"Looks like we might be getting a MacTablet soon. According to a press release from Axiotron, Other World Computing will be unveiling the ModBook, as designed by Axiotron, on January 9th during MacWorld."

I can't wait to see what a Mac tablet is like.  I'm full of anticipation - I want to read the reviews, especially those done by seasoned pen computing people.  Because Microsoft has been the sole player in the Tablet OS space for a couple of years there is a risk that a pro-MS bias may creep into the reviews.  This would be a shame and I hope anyone who gets the opportunity to review one of these keeps an open mind and gives it a fair chance.  My pick is that there will be some things that are better and some things that are worse.  the only question is what's the split.

With Colin Walker's open letter still fresh in my mind I can't help but wonder if a little competition is exactly what is needed to jar Microsoft into really promoting the Tablet PC form factor.  We live in hope.

Over at RandomElements Colin Walker has posted a great open letter to Microsoft.  I whole heartedly agree with this letter an it's intent and recommned reading the whole thing.

Let me pull out some highlights:

...I am still a very big supporter of, and believer in, the Tablet PC form factor but, as I have said many times in the past, it is so frustrating to see the lack of promotion in the UK.

Here here - and you can replace UK with World.  The situation is only marginally better in the US and Canada, but it is frustratingly underpromoted in New Zealand, Australia and, by the sound of it, the UK.

Why not get together with OEMs and make a concerted effort to really push the form factor. What about roadshows or getting together with retailers to show them how Tablets should be marketed? Why not get MVPs or enthusiasts along to perform demos?

I volunteer.  Anytime, anywhere.  Practically I mean anywhere in Wellington unless you want to get me there - but hey, let's talk.

Come on Microsoft. Get out there and get involved in the UK.

UK rest of the world

Well done Colin.

Check out this photo. 

I am just over 5kms from home at the top of a big hill.  I've been offroad for the last km.  Great day for a mountainbike ride!
I'm posting this from my Apache.  Just for the record I can bear to be seperated from mobile tech, but I'm riding alone today so I am carrying a phone for safety reasons...

Note: I emailed this while out Mountain Biking, but due to a typo in the email address I use to post to my blog it didn't work.  I had to copy it from my sent items and post it manually when I got home.

A courier arrived today with a large box, but alas it was not my Ferrari. In fact it was another present from AMD - though I have to admit I'm at a bit of a loss as to why.

Inside was a really cool Oakley Vertical 2.0 computer bag and a postcard that read:

Happy Holidays from AMD and safe travels to CES 2007! Well see you there.

Er, no you won't! This is the confusing bit. I'm not going to CES. I've never said I was, either. I'd like to but it's not going to happen this year.

Oh well - as I said it looks like a good bag. I didn't even know Oakley made computer bags. I'll write up a review of the bag when I get a minute. Ore thing that looks quite interesting is this, from the Oakley site:

... and the shielded accessory pocket blocks Radio Frequency (RF) waves to help protect your BLUETOOTH® enabled PDA or mobile phone from unwanted access.

This I will have to test. Of course properly configuring Bluetooth on your phone or PDA will also prevent unwanted access.

James Andrews - who use to work at Gen-i and is now contracting in the UK - left a lengthy comment offering some feedback on my decision to keep the Ferrari and my blog in general.  I don't agree with all of it so I'm going to re-post it here and add my commnets.  James' coment is in blue - my comments are in black.  I have not edited Jame's post save adding a link to the other post he refers to and interspersing his original text with my comments in black.

<--Snip-->

Bit disappointed in this to be honest...

Sorry to hear that.

No offense Craig, but seems to me that Joel has a point when it comes to blogs like this one. I Have read your stuff on and off for a while now and while I do find it very informative and a good source of tablet and mobility goss I also notice you do tend to litter your posts with comments about free trips here and there, free kit you have had "donated" etc. And whether you keep stuff or not is often not clear.

I'm not offended - in fact I agree.  In reviewing some of my old posts recently I drew the same conclusion.  I have been learning as I go and have not always been as clear as would be now.  Most stuff is either sent to me to review and return or is passing though my hands for work so I review it while I have it.

Most of the tech you talk about and review already reads like you have been lead there by a 3rd party and taking such high value gifts does nothing for the credibility of your site. The Acer Laptop is not even anything that special, its not a tablet so it wont even really appeal to your demographic, in fact from what I have read it is almost counter to your entire ethos! Sure it has Vista on it, but your site appears very much dedicated to the tablet aspects of Vista.

My blog is a product of my experience.  If a company sends me something to review, thereby creating the opporunity for me to experince it and blog about it then that is fine by me.  I don't promise to only say nice things about it.  If I slam something and it means that I never get anything else from that company, so be it.  I may not get anything from HP again after this review of the TC4400. :)

I might be totally wrong but your blog sometimes reads like so many others dedicated to the cause of maintaining MVP status and garnering junkets and toys from the vendors. If this is the case then fair play, I suggest you make that clear. Otherwise I think your position on accepting such "generous" freebies is morally wrong and a poisoned chalice for tech blogs.

As a simple example, the companies most IT pro's work for (mine does and I know yours does) have strict policies of not accepting junkets and freebies from vendors to prevent an "overt" bias being shown in product selection and tender processes. My opinion is that tech. blogs and other publications should follow the same rules otherwise they aren't worth the paper (or electrons) they are printed on. You will end up turning yourself into a low information content web based infomercial, rather than a trusted adviser.

An overly simple example.  While some bloggers do earn their crust from their blog the vast majority (mine included) are labours of love by people who are passionalte about a topic.  The majority of bloggers by far are not paid a salary to write content as authors in "legitimate publications" are.  Journalists and IT Pros are compensated financially for not being able to accept gifts.  You can't apply the same rules to blogs.  The things that make blogs valuable is not that they are always 100% unbiased - they are not.  The thing that makes them valuable is that they are written by people who really know and are truley passionate about a topic - even though that passion will certainly introduce some degree of bias.  My advice to people reading my blog and any other information you are reading for free on the internet is to apply a great big BS filter to everything you read and make up your own mind. 

And that is Joel's point. Its an easy beat for people wanting to influence the output of blogs and tech publications if all they have to do is woo them with "beads and blankets" and it brings down the credibility of the whole medium.

Except that it is not.  Blogs are extremely self regulating.  A BS post will get slammed by other bloggers.  If someone searching for information they may find the BS post in the results but if they are applying the aforementioned BS filter and doing a thourough search they will find the posts bagging it as well.  There are also comments.  I don't delete any comments except ones that are clearly comment spam (gambling sites and Russian brides) so if anyone disagree's with something in a post they can comment here or - even better - start their own blog and bitch about me there (Where did your blog go James?)

While there is no harm in using resources provided for free by whatever party, when you are in a position of power or influence (and you may argue you are not) there is a duty of ethics and responsibility when accepting "gifts" in the course of wielding your "influence" (just ask Juan Samaranch!). Whether you like it or not, putting up a public blog that attracts hits comes with some influence and therefore responsibility.

I disagree.  I do try to be fair and balanced and to keep an open mind, but even with the best intentions I am still biased towards that which I have more experince with.  You would be a mug to expect blogs to hold the same ethical standards as legitimate press just because it is public.  There is no disclaimer on the Internet that everything posted here must be unbiased.  Nor should there be.  I don't try to mislead, nor do I pertend to be right all the time.  That is why I don't delete comments.  The burden of validating data still lies with the reader. 

What's with this assumption that because journalists are forbidden to accept gifts that their content is somehow more valuable?  If I got a dollar for every tima a misguided member of the legitmate press wrote something along the lines of "I played with a Tablet PC for 10 minutes and didn't get it therefore they won't work for anyone and it is a dying platform" I'd be a rich man. 

Journalist or no, you put a stuff in the public domain for a reason. And that reason is probably why you got offered the laptop in the first place. But you must decide how you conduct yourself in that public domain and be prepared to be judged by your actions. I commend you for stating your position, but I think you are wrong. You should review the laptop and give it away... Otherwise you set a bad precedent.

I blog because I love mobile tech.  The more I blog the more passionate I get about mobility.  I have decided how I will conduct myself and I am comfortable with it.

I think you should take the MS employee's advice and give the Laptop away on your blog once you have reviewed it. To be honest that is a much better way to serve MS and further their Vista marketing campaign.

Firstly, you're assuming that I got the same email - which I didn't.  Some of the Acers were allocate directly to MVPs.  Mine was one of those and the communications were different.  However I don't post emails as they are private communications - this is another thing I learned after getting it wrong.

Secondly, I don't mind serving Microsoft's marketing campaign, but it is not a priority.  I'd rather serve my community.

Thirdly, If I were to give it away it would not be via my blog.   Most of my readership is overseas and I would not want to do a contest that excluded them.  However shipping costs and legal issues means that giving away a big ticket item via my blog is just too hard.

Lastly, my community is tablet focused - had they given me a free tablet with the same conditions I would have felt more complled to give it away.

I hope you take this criticism in the constructive manner it was intended!

Hope you had a good Xmas and New Year!

James

I appreciate you taking the time to post such a lengthy comment, even though I don't agree with all of it.  I will certainly try to be clearer about what given or loaned as I think that is an area I could improve upon.  Have a good 2007.

A couple posts recently, including this one from Marc Orchant and this one from Rob Bushway have asked readers to delve into their gadget bags and reveal what is inside.  I try to always walk the line of taking everything I need and nothing extra.  As such I have a couple of different setups that I use, depending on where I am going and what I am doing.

This post is the first in a series exploring my mobile setups that I use.  Today I am looking at my lightest mobile computing load.

My Lite Load is what I take with me when I'm popping out of the office for up to 2 hours.  I use this when I am going out to client meetings, meeting colleagues for coffee or lunch and scooting around the office.

The surprising thing about my Lite Load gadget bag is that there is not actually a bag - here's what I take with me as a bare minimum.

That's it.  There is the LS800 in it's bump case and my Telecom HTC Apache (which is the NZ version of the Sprint PPC 6700).

The Apache is used as a Bluetooth modem if connectivity is required and there is no wi-fi coverage handy.  Because this burns battery, especially on the phone, I tend to work offline and only connect if I need to get something or feel like synchronizing.  The main application I use that needs to sync is of course Outlook.  I always work in cached Exchange mode, so working offline is completely seamless.  As soon as I go on line or dock the tablet any emails I have composed offline are sent and calendar or contacts added are synchronized with the server.

Actually to be fair there is also usually a 512MB Swissbit Victorinox in my pocket as well, but that is more habit than planning!

I've just gotten an email from Microsoft telling me that I have been reawarded my MVP Award for 2007.  I am tremendously pleased and honoured to be reawarded.

I was first awarded in January last year and the renewal has led me to reflect on my year as an MVP.

2006 was an amazing step forward for me.  The access to information and expertise as an MVP is positively taggering.  My brain hurt for the first couple of months. 

Being an MVP has opened other doors as well and through these opportunites I have met some fantastic people and made some great new friends.

In March Toshiba sponsored me to attend their MobileXchange event in Sydney.  While I was in town Hugo Ortega (who has since been awarded as an MVP as well) invited me to join him at the Sydney Windows Mobile User Group (SWMUG).  On the flight over there I had one of those chatty little old ladies who was amazed that I was being pick up at the airport by someone I had never met in person before.  I'm sure she was expecting to read in the Sydney Morning Herald the next day that I had been brutally murdered!

In the car on the way to the User Group meeting Hugo informed me that he had arranged for me to "talk tablet" for 10 or 15 minutes.  I mind mapped out some things to talk about in the car on the way over!

At the meeting I also met Dr. Neil for the first time.  Hugo, Neil and I also recorded this hilarious podcast sitting in the corner - you even hear the pizza arrive!

Later on in May I was offered the chance to attend some Vista Readiness Training in Singapore.  The training was great and I also met several Asia pacific MVPs and Microsoft employees while I was there. 

Also while in town I hooked up with Soon Jinn of local ISV Heulab who gave me an unforgettable tour of their "Classroom of the future".  Truely remarkable.  Unfortuantly the link seems to be broken - I'll investigate.

June saw me taking advantage of the MVP discount for TechEd Boston and putting together a proposal for myself and Active Directory MVP Tony Murray (who also worked at Gen-i) to attend the US event.  In a brain crushingly stupid move managment decided to only send one of us.  I was the lucky one and Tony no longer works for Gen-i.  What a waste - people like Tony are impossible to replace.

However I had an amazing time in Boston and met with the tablet team, the exchange team (Exchange being a strong side interest) and lots of other MVPs and Microsofters.  Three MVPs in particular that took an interest in looking out for me were three of the four Mobility Guys: Steven Hughes, Jack Cook and Don Sorcinelli and I had a great time with them.

In August I spoke at TechEd New Zealand.  I had some issues with the then current build of Vista and the KVMs that were being used (as did everyone else) but I still delivered two sessions which were both well revieced.  My lunchtime session allowed me to talk about what is new in Vista for Mobile and Tablet users (lots) and on the final day I delivered a session on getting started with Tablet Development.

Thanks to all the people who have made it such a memorable year.  My MVP friends I look forward to meeting more of you in person at the Summit in March.  2007 looks to be just as good.

Quickly getting to the explorer view of a drive in Vista can be a bit of a pain on a slate. To make it easier configure the computer item to show as a menu in the start menu.

Once this is done you can expand computer within the start menu and click a drive, which will take you straight to the explorer view for that drive.

To do this:

Right click the start button (the pearl) and click properties.

On the Start Menu tab click the Customize button next to the Start Menu item

Then for the computer item

And click ok a couple of times to close the properties dialogs.

For a bit of fun I took the superhero quiz after Batman and Spidey both took it.

I'm Iornman.

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Rather disturbingly the superhero next on my list was Catwoman but I'm not rushing out to buy a PVC suit just yet.

If you would like to know which super hero you are most like then take the quiz!

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...