So Samsung thinks pen input will be the killer feature that sells their Galaxy Note (http://www.gottabemobile.com/tag/galaxy-note/) tablets. Yeah, good luck with that. Worked wonders for tablets so far.
But if they do manage to gain any traction, I hope they can bring me some company in ink blogging. I'm not just talking handwritten entries either. They need to deliver searchability and Links in InkTM too. No excuses. I've had both for six years (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/07/build-52-is-go.html). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Bing for iPad lasso tool is a rectangle selection tool in disguise
Iwas momentarily incensed at Microsoft when I learned they released a lasso tool. for Bing for iPad (http://itunes.apple.com/app/bing-for-ipad/id418435837?mt=8) that enabled "Circle to Search". Why should that innovation, which existed in the Microsoft Research Project InkSeine (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/inkseine/), be released for the iPad but not Tablet PCs? My rage subsided when I tried this on my wife's iPad and learned it was less than advertised.
No, "circle to search" is actually a rectangle selection tool with a circular facade. Worse yet, the "circle" is drawn by dragging from one corner to another, exactly how you'd draw a circle on a mouse-based interface. The only innovation here is disguising a cursor-based tool as a touch-based one. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Dear iPad competitors: You know what doesn't sell too well? Stuff that no one can buy. Announcing products without launch dates is the dumbest thing you can do. Second dumbest is launching a product prematurely in order to beat a polished, finished product to market (don't think you got off scott free, Motorola). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
That was posted in 2006, five years ago to this day, four years before Apple announced the iPad. Pretty amazing, right? Sure, Wired coined the name "iPad" (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/wired_predicted_the_ipad11_years_ago_picture.php) even earlier, but not only did I call it a tablet, I also predicted it would "grow from the iPod" and not be a Mac turned into a tablet. Keep in mind, the iPhone did not debut until the following year. I called name, form factor and product direction before I'd even seen the "little slate" iPhone.
And lest anyone suspects this is a hoax, not only are you welcome to do whatever digital analysis you can find, but I invite you to analyze my handwriting as well. Maybe I can fake metadata or feed false into to Google, but can I fake five and a half years of handwriting style evolution too? Sounds less likely than me accurately predicting the iPpt ad five years ago. The line to worship your new prophet forms on the right. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Was only a little after 9 when I lost AT&T at the Rally to Restore sanity. Verizon seems to be the only network prepared for the crush, as demonstrated by the vans and trucks we passed on the way in. Should have sprung for a Verizon Mifi mobile hotspot. Scratch that. Folks next to us were holding up their Verizon phones trying and failing to get a signal too. 200k connected users in one spot will overload any network. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
When one thinks of rugged Tablet PCs, one envisions guys in hard hats taking meter readings, looking at design plans, or otherwise getting their hands dirty. But since I don't do those things, what you get instead is me ink blogging from my front yard bench.
Currently, I'm in the shade, relaxing with a root beer. Screen brightness is notched down to 60%, but it's still perfectly legible. I took some video earlier of it in direct sun, complete with glaring reflection, still quite readable at full brightness. Bezel button backlight control makes for an excellent daylight experience.
As you can see, the pen input is smooth, more so than I expected. The Wacom Penabled digitizer offers its usual accuracy and pressure sensitivity. That's paired with low-sensitivity resistive touch, which eliminates stray screen triggering. Perfect palm rejection. Pen experience is wonderful.
Despite the weight of the device, its ruggedness makes it easy to handle. The carry handle is very convenient, and I've enjoyed being able to carry a Tablet PC around without a case or bag.
I'm taking notes as I go along, monitoring battery life, judging the responsiveness of the Intel SSD, and noting the heat output from its fanless design. Very impressive so far. I especially like that it can stand upright on its own. More to come. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Finally someone got a clue and figured out the only way to steal customers from a competitor is to reach out to the competition's customers. After hearing AT&T ads telling me how I can listen to Pandora on my iPhone (while listening to Pandora on my iPhone), I welcome the attempt by Sprint to lure me away to their the EVO. Won't happen but I appreciate the attempt. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Thanks to my new iPhone 4, I can now post video on the go with relative ease. Having done two (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSEUOCGsmwk&feature=youtube_gdata)already (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSvW3empzw0&feature=youtube_gdata) and posting them in tiny form in my sideblog, I decided it would be best to make them a separate channel that feeds into my main lifestream. I'll try not to fill it with too many cat videos, but it's not like people don't like watching cats do crazy s--. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Looks like Apple is taking advantage of a slow shipping day to hand our iPhone 4 pre-orders over to FedEx. Going to be a long four days. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
As I teased earlier (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2010/05/ink-blogging-from-phl-parking-lot.html), I'm currently evaluating a Fujitsu Lifebook T900 Tablet PC (http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=T900) on loan from Fujitsu. I'll be shooting some video of the pen + multi-touch system in action as well as of the general hardware. But since I have some quiet time now, I thought I'd spill some thoughts about the inking.
I'm writing this in Windows Journal on a desk surface using a page template similar to my usual one. Still tweaking The width a little bit. The screen resolution and dimensions are lower than my Toshiba. 1280x800 on 13.3" vs. 1440×900 on 14.1" respectively.
You may notice the ink is a bit sloppier than it normally is. While I am trying to maintain my usual pace, I find that the slicker screen makes the pen guide faster. Also, the cursor does not align with the pen tip in the same way as on my usual tablet. There's always a bit of parallax but I'm not adjusted to the angle on this one yet. There's also noticeable wobbling along the edges of the screen. Doesn't impede my inking too much except for the left edges on these pages.
Palm rejection on this touch screen is better than I've experienced on others but still not perfect. In the course of normal inking, lines and dots will appear on the bottom half of the page. Currently I am testing a SmudgeGuard (http://www.smudgeguard.com/) glove to avoid that. I'll post separate thoughts on that product later, but suffice to say, it's keeping the page clean.
The inking feature that's really hooked me, however, is the two-finger scrolling. Pen or single touch on the screen only activates inking. Two fingers allow the screen to be pushed up and down. Such a convenience compared to using the scrollbars. I only wish I didn't still need that tiny button in the corner to add a new page.
Hey people! I'm in the cell phone waiting lot at Philadelphia International Airport waiting for my friend to arrive. Thought I'd spill some ink and share the tools I'll be testing while here: the T-Mobile Web Connect Rocket USB modem (http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=T-Mobile-webConnect-Rocket-USB-Laptop-Stick) and the Fujitsu Lifebook T900 Tablet PC (http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=T900).
Already ran some download tests and checked my friend's flight info. Should be meeting him shortly. Both items are on loan. Just coincidence that they arrived simultaneously, just in time for my trip to Philly. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
At a time when smartphones are easily identified by one name, such as Droid or iPhone, Microsoft chose to change the name of their mobile OS to Windows Phone 7 Series. They later chopped off the last part. Better yet still tragically flawed. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Figured the end result is the same regardless of the specs so I might as well just update the old comic strip (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/03/3p-about-latest-apple-tablet-rumors.html). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I almost regret not buying an iPad now, if only to make this classic "everyone and his brother" joke work. Turns out I don't have one but my brother does. Hopefully it'll be too big to lose, unlike his iPhones. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Been using RedLaser (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/10/24/iphone-app-redlaser-cuts-my-clutter), a barcode scanner for the iPhone, to catalogue books at work. Makes me think about different ways to use codes. This one is a QR code (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code), which is very popular in Japan. It carries alphanumeric data, anything from one word to a URL. Easy to generate via online services (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/). Easily read by my iPhone via a reader like i-nigma (http://www.i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html). There's some use here for me. I'm just not sure what that is yet. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
So one of the things occupying my brain lately is the possibility that the iPad could turn out to be a decent ink blogging tool (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/02/04/fastfinga-breaks-my-resolve-ink-blogging-for-iphone-and-ipad). One of my ink blogging proteges Jezlyn dug up an iPhone app (http://jezlyn.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/fastfinga-iphone-app-iphone-ink-blogging/) called FastFinga (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fastfinga/id320090110?mt=8) that does a good job turning handwriting to image. Well, not for my handwriting but Jezlyn's looks great, almost as good as when she uses an active digitizer.
I've been practicing a bit, but my style is so dependent on a pressure sensitive active digitizer, large screen, line smoothing, and resting my palm on the screen that I'm unable to ink very well on the small iPhone. Might be able to do it on the larger iPad though.
With a full-sized stylus like the Pogo Sketch (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/b8dd/) and a glove like SmudgeGuard (http://www.smudgeguard.com/) to block contact with the side of my hand, I might be able to squeeze a decent inking experience on the iPad. More importantly, folks without my limitations might find it an easy way to get into ink blogging. Thus, I'm left with a dilemma: get an iPad and try to promote this avenue to ink blogging, or stick to my guns and risk being left behind if it catches on.
Granted, it's highly doubtful people will suddenly start ink blogging just because they have iPads, but if it's possible, well, shouldn't I be at the forefront in making it happen? And how sad would it be if ink blogging did finally leave the station and I wasn't on the same train as everyone else? I may be facing evolution or extinction. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
