In its previous version, ritePen (http://www.ritescript.com/Products/ritePen.aspx) was a handy tool for Tablet PCs. It allowed you to write anywhere on the screen and have that writing be converted to text, as opposed to the Tablet Input Panel (TIP) which required writing in a given area. Useful, but it didn't offer much more value than the standard TIP. That has changed dramatically with version 3.0.
ritePen has upped the ante by adding macro functionality, allowing users to launch apps, open URLs, and insert pre-defined text by scribbling a command and circling it. Such functionality is not new (see: ActiveWords (http://www.activewords.com/)), but having it in conjunction with ritePen's "write anywhere" ability elevates the app to, in my opinion, "killer" status.
Just by scribbling [j in a circle] on the screen, I can launch Windows Journal. [ms in a circle] enters my email address as text. [jk in a circle] takes me to one of my top tech sites (guess which one (http://www.jkontherun.com/)). Better yet, I've taken advantage of shutdown.exe and rundll32.exe to enable restart, shutdown and hibernate as macros (I use the power button for standby). Here's my hibernate macro: [screenshot]
I've also established macros to various document templates, most interestingly, Outlook templates, allowing me to quickly open a new email, task, or contact (no good for appointments since the template keeps the original date). I hadn't created iconic shortcuts for these before because I didn't consider them worth the menu space, but that's not a concern with ritePen. I could add a hundred shortcuts without taking up a pixel.
And again, all this comes in addition to great handwriting-to-text conversion and a handwriting recognition engine that fuses with the Windows engine, improving both.
Launching applications and commands by scribbling anywhere is a long overdue addition to my tablet arsenal, and there are more options in development. Anyone using a Tablet PC needs to at least give it a go via the free trial. If you like it, a 50% discount (or even a freebie) is available via GottbaeMobile (http://www.gottabemobile.com/ritePen+Discount+Just+For+GBM+Readers.aspx). Disclosure: I did get a free license from GBM for discussing it in the forum, but only after I paid for the upgrade. ritePen 3.0 is well worth the price, and I'm eagerly looking forward to devising more ways to put it to work. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
At work, I had declared it "Susan-free week" because both Susans were on vacation. I was to end it with a visit from my friend Lawrence (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/12/hawaii-ink-who-named-sumocat-video.html). Everything in-between was to be uneventful. It was not.
Monday was mundane enough, until Rob announced his big giveaway at GottaBeMobile (http://www.gottabemobile.com/Ho+Ho+Ho+It+Is+Christmas+Time+At+GottaBeMobilecom.aspx), which led to him awarding me a big prize (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/06/gottabemobiles-givin-away-goods-to-me.html) on Tuesday. Great day and it got even better when I was contacted about selling ad space on the blog (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/06/sumocat-sells-out.html).
I put the idea of selling ad space on the table a couple years ago (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/11/sss-why-seek-sponsorship.html) as both a means to advance the ink blogging experiment and finance my gadget purchasing, which in turn leads to more blog content.
The amount I just made will in no way bankroll a gadget spending spree, but it's a nice subsidy. Furthermore, the dollar-for-content ratio puts to shame what got paid when I freelanced.
Going into Thursday, it looked like the gains I'd made through my blog were a big deal... but then my wife's company issued their second annual summer bonus to offset high fuel costs, which pretty much stole my thunder. Suffice to say, she got paid a prettier penny, but I'm not exactly crying over being handed a bag of money. And her bonus is extra sweet since we're already compensating for high gas prices (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-love-high-gas-prices.html), so it's just free money.
The week closed out with me hanging out with my friend Lawrence at the Maryland International Raceway, and that got even better when he learned he had all of Sunday free to do whatever. So instead of lingering with him while he works today, I'll be touring DC with him tomorrow. And it turns out he's staying in Chantilly, which is just fifteen minutes away.
Overall, what was expected to be a good week just kept getting better. Definitely can't question my karmic alignment (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/03/every-decision-today-has-been-wrong.html) this week. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I'm out the door soon to meet up with He-Who-Named-Me-Sumocat (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/12/hawaii-ink-who-named-sumocat-video.html), who is in the area for a race, but I wanted to let everyone know the ink blog experiment has officially made money.
I was contacted by an advertising agent this week with an offer to buy ad space on some established entries, which I accepted. I am quite pleased for obvious reasons, but primarily it's a step forward for the experiment, and there's no imposition on subscribers and regular visitors. Works all around.
Woo to the Hoo! As I mentioned last night, the infinitely wise Rob Bushway is giving away goodies to the deserving over at GottaBeMobile.com (http://www.gottabemobile.com/Ho+Ho+Ho+It+Is+Christmas+Time+At+GottaBeMobilecom.aspx), and today the deserving is me (http://www.gottabemobile.com/Congratulations+To+Sumocat.aspx)! Woot!
For spreading the word and eagerly testing a Windows processor boot thing, which doesn't work for me (and logically should not work for anyone), I've been awarded a Batterygeek.net Portable Power Station (http://www.batterygeek.net/), which is the one item on the list I could justify as needing. In case the name isn't clear enough, it's a battery pack that can fuel my tablet, but also other gadgets, such as an iPhone.
Presumably it's the one Rob got a couple years ago, so it's certainly not packing the same punch it once did, but even half power would double my run time. Also, it can be used in place of my AC adapter, which is useful no matter what. Only trick will be fitting it into my pack, but it should work.
Many thanks to Rob and the team at GottaBeMobile.com. They make it easy to contribute by keeping the conversation active and interesting. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Rob "Santa Claus" Bushway is cleaning house and giving away some long-lost treasures over at GottaBeMobile (http://www.gottabemobile.com/Ho+Ho+Ho+It+Is+Christmas+Time+At+GottaBeMobilecom.aspx). Best of all, his charity group consists of the contributors at GBM.
No contests involved. Just contribute to the forums or blog or spread the word about GBM and Rob might give you something. Could be a mouse, t-shirt, card reader, BatteryGeek.net Portable PowerStation (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2005/11/all-i-want-for-christmas.html), or an HP TC1100 Tablet PC (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-want-tc1100.html). Now those are some great prizes, and it doesn't even require me to do anything I don't do already. Sweet!
Also up for grabs is an autographed photo of Warner Crocker (http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/), which could look something like this. [photo] (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2005/10/best-looking-tableteers-in-northern.html) [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
After an arduous and drawn-out struggle to get LeafGuard out to install our new rain gutters, we finally got our rain collection system (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/05/gardens-and-rain-gutters.html) up and running Monday morning. Storm hit that afternoon to test it out, and I must admit, I grossly underestimated the amount of water we could collect.
Our front barrel holds 75 gallons while the one in the back holds 50. The front was filled a few weeks back for testing (it arrived dented). The back held rain that I collected in a big blue bucket. They'd been gradually emptied since then. Maybe 60- 70 gallon capacity remained between them. The storm hit at 4. I got home at 5. Both barrels were overflowing.
the really telling one is the smaller barrel. That one was at least 40 gallons empty in the morning. Not only was it overflowing when I got home, but I drained some of it back into the big blue bucket, which holds 18 gallons. Not only did I fill the bucket but the barrel was refilled by the end of the second, slower hour of rain. Assuming both sides of the roof are equal and the overflow started at least five minutes before I got home, it is reasonable to assume that storm exceeded our 125 gallon capacity. Pretty nice to see the system at peak capacity on day one. Now the question is whether to increase that capacity. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Been too long since my last poundcake (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/Poundcake) review, which is a darn shame since that means it's been that long since I ate blog-worthy poundcake.
This one is a locally-baked contender, which I picked up at the farmer's market, from Valentine's Country Bakery. It is a wonderfully dense cake that strikes the right balance of dryness and buttery moistness. It slices into firm pieces with none of the cornbread-like texture that I despise. Evenly brown perimeter. Overall, very worthy of being called a poundcake. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
The new iPhone 3G (http://www.apple.com/iphone/) service plans cost $10 more because of the faster connectivity. Good thing that "free" wifi hotspot service (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/05/free-wifi-with-paid-service-plan.html) is there to balance out the extra cost. Can't really complain about something costing more when you're getting stuff for "free", right? [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I've mentioned it before, and it's still true: Apple stirs up a lot of emotion. But alas, emotion is not intellect, which is why the Internets are abuzz with what the iPhone 3G (http://www.apple.com/iphone/) coulda, woulda, shoulda been. But for those of us who were paying attention, the new iPhone delivers exactly what was expected: 3G, GPS, and subsidized pricing. Sure, more is always nice, but expectations that line up with reality (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/04/hacking-price-of-iphone.html) are nice too. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I had previously disputed claims that the iPhone SDK (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/03/iphone-sdk-brutal-but-not-lethal.html) signaled a death blow to Apple's competitors. But after seeing the unveiling of new third-party apps for the iPhone, while I think the other guys can fight on, I admit it does look extremely grim for them.
The demo apps range from games that are controlled by tilting the phone to a viewer for PET/CT images that is manipulated via multi-touch control. That's quite exciting, at least for me since my job relies on people viewing nuclear medicine images, such as PET/CT. Looks like I can no longer claim the iPhone is not a business device. Who would have guessed there'd be a NM-related app on an iPhone? [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
With new mini-notebook computers being released what seems like every hour, each touting the simplicity of Windows XP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP), I have to ask: why aren't they running a basic version of Windows Vista (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista) instead?
Vista Home Basic was supposed to be the budget version of Vista, free of fancy visual effects, which should have been fine for low-cost, low-powered computers. For emerging markets, an even more streamlined version is available, called Vista Starter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_editions), which is designed for older systems. Neither looks ideal for the current wave of low-cost mini-notebooks, but couldn't Micosoft have trimmed Home Basic or beefed up Starter to fill this niche?
While I'm no fan of Vista, I find it bizarre that Vista, which supposedly could run on any modern computer (albeit in reduced form), is not running on these spanking new mini-notebooks. To me, this reveals an extreme failure by Microsoft to anticipate market demand, which is ironic given their push with handheld ultra-mobile PCs. Basically, they promoted small computers without building an operating system for them. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
ctitanic, that manic fan of UMPCs recently shared some of my ink on the ToDoUMPC forum (http://www.todoumpc.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5714&PN=1). Can't read his comment or the responses directly, but according to Babelfish (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.todoumpc.com%2Fforum%2Fforum_posts.asp%3FTID%3D5714%26PN%3D1&lp=es_en&btnTrUrl=Translate), he explained it was not a trick or font. One guy could not believe how straight my lines were. Another thought he was hallucinating (I don't think that one translated properly). Regardless, I appreciate him sharing the ink, and I do play one trick: I have the rules on when I write but switch to blank afterwards. Keeps the blog post clean and creates the illusion of really straight freehand writing. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Tanya happened to catch CBS Sunday Morning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_2UivtEhs) this week and learned the tale of Arnel Pineda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnel_Pineda), singer from the Philippines and new frontman for the band Journey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_%28band%29).
Basically, the band needed a new singer since they were not on speaking terms with former frontman Steve Perry. So they hit, get this, YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88nfiZ-yy5Q), and found Pineda belting out Journey classics with his cover band. They auditioned him and signed him for a new album.
It's an amazing story in part because it shows the potential of YouTube and the digital age, but also because of Pineda's personal story as a poor man from a poor country who is now touring the world and entertaining millions. And there's the small fact that the man can sing. The man is 40 and he sounds like Perry did back in the day. Simply incredible.
The new album is a 3-disc release with one CD of new tracks, one CD of classics re-recorded with Pineda, and a DVD. It's a Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.com/) exclusive, but if you're not interested in the DVD (or going into Wal-Mart), the music is available for download, Only $10.88 for all 22 songs. Totally worth it, and not just because there's no Wal-Mart in Reston. Been playing it in the background all day at work. Definitely keeping it in rotation. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
