Blog:: Craig Pringle

 Kevin Tofel points to TabletPCReview, who have the low down on a great travel accessory from Belkin.

On the run in your car with mobile devices all the live-long day? Belkin's Travel Power Adapter might be the best friend your glovebox every had based on this overview at TabletPCReview. For around $100, you get the adapter that fits in your vehicle's cigarette lighter and 11 interchangeable tips. Simply plug in your notebook or other device while you're driving and you'll be charging up your laptop on the go.

What a great accessory for the mobile geek.  I could of used this for a few long road trips in the past!

I've been out of the look for a few weeks.  I had a couple of exams to sit before the end of the month to renew one of my technical certifications. 

I even had my hands on some cool tablet gear last week and was too busy to do a review - how unfair is that.  I'll have to arrange a second sitting.

I passed both of them and now I can return to having some semblance of a life again.

After discovering that I could configure OneNote to stay on top of other windows I found it was a really great way to take notes on a document.  The problem I next encountered was that for the type of note taking I was doing I would prefer to use Mind Manager 7.

Unfortunately, MindManager does not appear to offer this functionality.  However - a quick Google revealed a great little free utility that will let you keep one or more windows on top.  The application is called XNeat Window Manager - here is an out take from the site:

XNeat Windows Manager adds additional features to the Windows taskbar and system tray, that enables you to minimize any window to an icon in the system tray (instead of the taskbar), keep any window on top, set a custom transparency level, and also hide any window or tray icon, furthermore the program allows you to re-arrange the order of the taskbar buttons by simply dragging them around. XNeat Windows Manager integrates into the right-click menu of the taskbar and system tray. It also allows you to change the taskbar appearance by hiding the Start button, system clock and other elements.

For want of a better term - Neat!  Works exactly as it says and I was soon note taking in Mind Manager while reading a document in another window behind it.

I stumbled across a handy feature in OneNote today.  If you are reading a document and taking notes (I was studying for an exam) then switching between windows will soon become tedious.  But - you don't need to switch back and forth between windows at all.  In the Window menu there is an option to keep OneNote on top of other windows.

Doing this I found that I could work quite effectively with the X60 in slate mode on the train.  I full screened the PDF I was reading and then put arranged OneNote over the top of the bottom third of the screen and configured the window to stay on top.  I also found that using the panning hand in the PDF was the most effective way to re-position the content in the PDF - both pen flicks and the scroll bar had a tendency to scroll too far.