Nontrivial Exercises

I’m A Mac Switcher … Almost

I really do like my Tablet PC. It has truly revolutionized the way I think about my computer and how use my computer in meetings. It has been a significant productivity gain to me in both my work and personal activities that I conduct on my PC.

However, I’ve reached my tipping point with the Microsoft Windows platform. My online life has been slowed down too much, my frustration level has been elevated too high, my twiddling of thumbs while the crazy disk just churns away has become too frequent. I’ve had it. I’m ready to switch to a Mac.

I have been an Apple fan for several years – back from the original Apple II, watching from the sidelines as they developed user-friendly and appealingly-designed computers. I always knew I could use Macs – who can’t? – but when it came to purchasing my own personal computers, a few things have always held me back:

• Availability of useful, quality, equivalent software apps between Mac and Windows
• Price-to-performance ratio was way too high on the Mac. Let’s face it, the overall speed experience even on a Power PC G4 Mac compared to a Windows P4 2 GHz PC was inferior at worst and only close at best, but significant price premium.
• Widespread innovative development took place on the Windows platform, not the Mac. If you wanted to find a freeware or shareware app that did something useful, chances are you could find something on download.com or other sites for Windows, but very few of these existed for the Mac. Freelance developers were writing for the mass market, which was Windows. Also, the cost of entry to be a Mac developer was pretty high compared to Windows, so most beginning developers would take the path of least resistance and most gain and go with Windows.

I could always get more performance for my limited dollars with a Windows box, so my money has always gone to buy Intel machines running Windows. I spent a couple of years running Linux at home, but found it was too tricky to meet the needs of the rest of the family that wanted to use the PC.

But today, when I went to pair my Bluetooth headset with my PC so I could use my VOIP client, I received the all-too-familiar blank windows with an hourglass. Not quite the blue screen of death, but just as frustrating. Some process had simply gone awry and taken over the all-too-precious memory and CPU resources and had effectively crashed my machine.

I’m tired of having to wait 3–5 seconds every time a new window opens on the screen before the cursor is completely responsive. I’m tired of pressing a button to start an app and just waiting. I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of hacking the registry when I need to clean up after old software.

Today my overall Windows OS experience has reached the tipping point of turning negative. There are always checks and balances, good and bad, pros and cons to any platform. For me up to today, Windows has always come out on the positive side - the benefits have outweighed the detriments.

I know that I’m running some beta software – Flock and Office 2007 beta. I know these things can have a negative impact on performance and stability. I know I push my PC to the limit, with some UI enhancement - and CPU resource draining – apps like Object Dock and TopDesk. Sure, if I took off all the software, the machine would be lightening fast.

The bottom line for me right now is that it doesn’t do what I need it to do. It doesn’t keep up with me. It doesn’t offer me a useful and robust interface and a solid platform on which to run my apps. I wouldn’t have to use the Office 2007 beta (Outlook mainly) if I had the UI and functionality in an existing app.

I can get this on a Mac. With the new Intel Core Duo platform, the Macs now have a viable price-to-performance ratio. The UI of OSX is of course an order of magnitude better than anything else anywhere. The stability is very solid, by all accounts I can find. The app development is booming, and there are so many innovative apps developed just with the Mac in mind: SubEthaEdit, MemoryMiner, DeliciousLibrary, OmniGraffle, FrontRow to name just a few. And now, my favorite PC app, the one that would keep me from switching, MindManager, has a beta for Mac.

Yes, I am willing to give up the productivity of a pen and ink on my computer, the great functionality of OneNote 2007 and the promises that Outlook 2007 brings – to trade them in for a Mac.

There’s now just one reason that I haven’t acquired a new MacBook Pro and officially made the switch – a simple matter of $2,500. I just can’t afford it. Apple makes a nice margin on their computers, which they’re certainly entitled to, but it keeps me out of the Mac game. Yes, you get what you pay for; the problem is, I just can’t pay for it.

So, I’ve already switched on the inside, I just have to wait for the finances to catch up. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to make extra money while I wait for my apps to open…

Technorati Tags: mac, windows, mac+switchers, macbookpro, 2500+dollars+is+a+lot+of+money

Using a Bluetooth Headset on my Toshiba M200 - Final Update

In my two previous posts about this topic, I described my efforts to use a Bluetooth headset (a Motorola HS850 in my case) with my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC. I have resolved the issues I noted previously and this is now fully working. Here’s a summary of what you need to do, since it is a bit confusing if you use the US Toshiba support website:

1. Use the latest Toshiba Bluetooth driver that supports the headset service. You cannot find this driver on the US Toshiba support website, so go to the European site. At the time of writing this, the latest version is 4.00.30.
2. Install the driver, but DO NOT set-up or discover any Bluetooth devices (i.e. your headset) until you reboot. This was my problem – my impatience got the best of me and I configured and discovered my headset before I rebooted, which messed up the configuration such that I had to uninstall the driver and reinstall it to get it to work.
3. After rebooting, open the Bluetooth utility (double click on the Bluetooth icon in the system tray) and configure your headset. You’ll then get a shortcut on your desktop for your headset – just open the shortcut whenever you want to connect to your headset.

I called Toshiba technical support to ask them about the Bluetooth driver. They confirmed that the Bluetooth drivers will work with any Toshiba laptop – i.e. there is no difference between the Bluetooth hardware on their laptops. This is despite what the US support site suggests, since they have different downloads of the V2 drivers for each different laptop model.

Then, when I asked them why you have to go to the European support site to obtain the latest Bluetooth driver, the support rep told me that they were “not allowed” to put the driver on the US site, though he didn’t know why.

Perhaps Toshiba wants to deliberately confuse US customers who want to use Bluetooth headsets – it sure feels that way. At least you can get it to work, though you have to dig a little bit to find the right driver.

Again, here is the link to download the latest Bluetooth driver that will support the headset profile on any Toshiba laptop:

http://aps.toshiba-tro.de/bluetooth/directlink.php?snr=2

Technorati Tags: bluetooth, m200, laptop, toshiba, hs850, support

Using a Bluetooth Headset on my Toshiba M200 Update

After declaring victory in my effort to use a Bluetooth headset with my M200, I must now retreat. It seems that the Toshiba Bluetooth stack version 4.00.23(T) does indeed work, but only for a while. Usually, after rebooting, it then fails to connect to the Bluetooth radio and renders the whole thing useless.

If you have tried this and it works, or if you have another workaround, please let me know! I’m going to try to open a support ticket with Toshiba to get their official response on this. Pretty frustrating.

Here are some screenshots of what happens when I try to reconnect after rebooting.

Continue reading ‘Using a Bluetooth Headset on my Toshiba M200 Update’

I Won!

The OnTheRun with Tablet PCs podcast is a favorite of mine, which I’ve mentioned before. Two weeks ago James and Marc interviewed Michael Linenberger, author of Seize the Work Day, the de facto standard for learning how to productively use a Tablet PC. Michael has just released a new book, Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook, in which he discusses some very specific workflow concepts and customizations for Outlook to make it a more useful productivity tool.

I was one of the winners of the Total Workday Control books that Michael gave away on the podcast, and I’ve received my new book! I am excited to read through it, and will write about what I learn and how Michael approaches this subject. I literally use Outlook all day, and have dealt with both its power and its shortcomings since it was first released, so I am passionate about how to make it better.

Watch for updates soon!

Technorati Tags: linenberger, tabletpc, tablet+pc, podcast, outlook, email

Using a Bluetooth Headset on my Toshiba M200

To use a Bluetooth headset on a Toshiba M200, you will need to install the latest Toshiba Bluetooth driver, but it isn’t listed on the U.S. Toshiba support site as applicable to the M200. In stead, the latest version shown as compatible with the M200 is 3.00.32, dated 9/2/2004. This version does not support the Bluetooth Headset service, however.

After a lot of digging around, I found that the European Toshiba support site lists Bluetooth driver version 4.00.23(T), dated 1/12/2006, as applicable to all Toshiba laptops that support Bluetooth. This driver supports the Bluetooth Headset service, and allows you to successfully pair and use a Bluetooth headset with a Toshiba M200.

You can download this latest driver on the U.S. Toshiba support site, but it does not explicitly say that this version is applicable to the M200. You can also see and download the driver from the European Toshiba website. I have successfully installed and am using this version of the driver on my M200.

I’m using a Motorola HS850 Bluetooth headset, and when I connect it, the driver automatically makes the headset the default audio device for both speaker and microphone. It’s a great way to have the benefits of a decent headset (which I already carry with me for my mobile phone) on my laptop.

For a step-by-step explanation of how to pair a Bluetooth headset with a laptop, see the BluetoothPCHeadsets webpage.

UPDATE: I have found some problems with this driver on my machine. I have a more recent post about the specifics.

UPDATE2: I have resolved the issues and this now does indeed work. See my final update for details.

Technorati Tags: bluetooth, m200, laptop, headset, hs850, toshiba, support

See Some Tablet PCs In Action

Want to see some real-world applications demonstrated on a real person’s Tablet PC?

James Kendrick, of JKOnTheRun has created a video demo of several Tablet PC-enabled applications, including Sticky Notes, OneNote, inking an email in Outlook, ActiveWords Inkpad, and a great section on my favorite, MindManager. Check out the video in his JKOnTheRun podcast.

Also, Rob Bushway, another Tablet PC MVP, has a short video on his CutMeLoose blog demonstrating the Tablet Enhancements for Outlook (TEO) application and the ActiveWords InkPad. It shows the power of combining these two amazing apps to integrate ink in more of what you do on a computer.

Both James and Rob used TechSmith’s Camtasia app to create these videos. Camtasia appears to be a very powerful and useful tool; however, it is also priced powerfully, so it will be a while before I produce any demos of my Tablet PC usage with it.

Technorati Tags: video, tabletpc, mindmanager, activewords

On the Run with Tablet PCs - Podcast #11

I haven’t mentioned this before, but an excellent source of information about Tablet PCs and how to use them effectively is the podcast that James Kendrick and Marc Orchant produce. The current version of this podcast is called OnTheRun with Tablet PCs, and is a weekly discussion about news, applications, tips and tricks for Tablet PCs.

I owe James and Marc a tremendous amount of thanks for this show, as it has been one of the biggest contributors to my Tablet PC learning.

The latest edition of the show includes an interview with Michael Linenberger, author of Seize the Work Day (Using the Tablet PC to Take Total Control of Your Work and Meeting Day), to talk about his latest book, Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook. It’s a very engaging conversation and a great discussion about different uses of the Tablet PC. I continue to learn a lot from these shows – thanks James and Marc.

Check out show #11 here

Also, listen for a special offer from Michael in the podcast.

Forum for Medical Use of Tablet PCs

The medical profession is one of the most promising vertical markets for the Tablet PC. Many hospitals and doctors offices are experimenting with tablets already, and their popularity is growing.

For a great site that tracks the latest news, discussions and articles about using portable tablet tablet-like devices in the medical profession, see the MedicalTabletPC.com site.

Hat tip to James Kendrick for noticing this.

My Quest for Electronic Magazine Reading - Part 1

One very natural use of tablet PC’s is the way you can read traditionally paper media in a comfortable format of a slate tablet, or a convertible in slate mode. eBooks are growing in popularity, with several selections on Amazon available for download in electronic format. There are still not enough books in ebook format for me, though, as I did a quick search through my Amazon wish list and found only a couple of the titles available electronically.

Magazines are also exploring electronic delivery, though in various formats. Reading magazines electronically is much more productive for me, as it allows me to more quickly get to where I want to go, and to capture any articles or sections that I want to keep – either via printing to a PDF or capturing to OneNote.

What appears to me to be the de facto and near-ubiquitous standard application for reading magazines in electronic format is Zinio Reader. The application is free, available for Windows and OSX, and the latest version has some added interface elements tailored for the tablet pc. You download the reader and then create an account that you can then link to electronic subscriptions to several top publications. [Note: Zinio offers some titles that are not exactly family friendly, and the Zinio home page displays the covers of these, though they don’t appear to be as explicit as they could be, just suggestive.]

Continue reading ‘My Quest for Electronic Magazine Reading - Part 1′

T.C. Doyle Re-Thinks Tablet PC’s

T.C. Doyle, a contributor to VarBusiness magazine, writes an interesting editorial in this month’s edition of the magazine. I always enjoy reading Doyle’s thoughtful and witty back page commentaries, but this month he writes about how he has recently been confronted with some new thoughts and data that have changed his mind about a couple of IT-related points.

The first of those things he mentions is the market for the Tablet PC. After talking with Mark Simons, general manager of Toshiba America Information Systems, and with Brian Russell, VP of sales at Central Telecom, a solutions provider that sells Toshiba notebooks, he no longer thinks “that the tablet PC is an innovation in search of a purpose.”

Russell tells Doyle that 40% of his sales today come from tablet PC’s, and that could reach 70% next year. Another proof point:

After all, I’ve never see executives from the companies that make tablets actually using them themselves. And, as you know in IT, you can never fully trust a guy who won’t eat his own dog food. Turns out, Simons and his team at Toshiba are chowing down.

My Decent Tablet PC Customer Service Experience with Toshiba

Three months into my tablet PC experience, just as I have become attached to – even dependent upon – my Toshiba M200 tablet, it has happened. The screen on my M200 broke.

After following Tracy Hooten’s terrible experience with Toshiba (see here, here, and here; you can keep reading previous posts for the complete history of her issue) when her new M200’s screen cracked, I was anticipating a horrible time dealing with customer service issues and long delays in getting everything fixed. However, my experience has been much more positive than Tracy’s, though not perfect.

It started last Wednesday night. Everything on the tablet was working fine during the day at work. Then, when I turned it on that evening, the screen images were distorted, had shadows and there were some vertical lines, even when the screen was black. I found out that my company had purchased on-site support for the few M200’s that they bought, so I called up Toshiba the next day. My tablet is now fixed, one week later, though not without some bumps in the road. I’ll chronicle the experience with a time line below:

Continue reading ‘My Decent Tablet PC Customer Service Experience with Toshiba’

My Tablet PC Experience - Updates To Come

After getting off to a good start in writing about my experience with my nice Toshiba M200 Tablet PC, I haven’t posted anything about it for a while. I actually haven’t posted much of anything for the past few months. It’s certainly not because I haven’t found the tablet useful – it’s revolutionized the way I think about using a computer. I will attempt to elaborate on some of my experiences and be more consistent in blogging about the tablet in the near future.

When Will Yahoo Messenger Support Ink?

Since I’ve been using a Tablet PC for the past couple of months, I’ve become quite dependent upon using ink in various applications. The Tablet PC has become an integral part of the way I work, think, plan and communicate. In my opinion, the Tablet PC helps take the computer to the next level of usefulness and value.

I’ve been using Yahoo Messenger right from the beginning, and it was my only IM client I used until about a year and a half ago. That’s when I started working with a group of people that used MSN Messenger primarily. After using MSN Messenger for a while, I began to enjoy the cleaner user interface and easy file transfer capabilities it offered. Before I started using my Tablet PC, I noticed the support for ink in the latest version of MSN Messenger. I was intrigued by this, but found no use for it without a tablet.

Then, there were several outbreaks of viruses and malware that were being spread via MSN Messenger, and our company’s IS team made the decision to block all MSN Messenger traffic in and through our network. We’ve been unable to use MSN Messenger for several months now, so I’ve once again come to rely on Yahoo Messenger.

However, YM does not support ink, and I can’t find any information about whether they’re even considering it as a feature. In fact, I can’t even find a clear way to submit feedback or request a feature for Yahoo Messenger.

Ink would be such a great way to use IM – if only we could. Yahoo, please add ink support for YM. Does anyone else know any info about whether this is even on the roadmap for Yahoo? Feel free to leave comments if you have any info – or better yet, send me an IM!

My Tablet PC Experience: Day 1

It’s been just over one week since I began using the Toshiba M200 Tablet PC, and I have some initial observations, evaluations and successes. I will first chronicle the first week with some daily experiences and thoughts as I had them.

Day 1

I transferred all my data from my previous laptop to the Toshiba. I used the Microsoft Settings and Files Transfer wizzard for the first time, and it worked quite well. It essentially creates one large archive file – 2G in my case – that you then copy over to your new PC. It then transfers all your color, font, sound schemes, desktop settings, printer and network shares to your new machine.

I downloaded the Orange Guava desktop after hearing and reading so much about it. I installed the 60 day (yes, very generous) trial version.

I downloaded and installed the Microsoft Tablet PC Experience Pack that they recently released.

I downloaded my other software tools (Copernic Desktop Search, EverNote, etc. – I’ll write more later about the productivity tools that I’ve found and use).

I figured out the basics of how to use the pen and tablet to move the mouse around and click (this is the first time I’ve ever actually used a Tablet PC, though I’ve read quite a bit about them).

Continue reading ‘My Tablet PC Experience: Day 1′

A Tablet PC Exploration Begins

I’ve started reading about Tablet PC’s for a few months now, after being generally curious about the technology, and then having my interest piqued by Michael Hyatt writing about his Tablet PC experience. I’ve since combed through many other resources and blogs devoted to the Tablet PC and have learned quite a bit. My interest has only grown and I really wanted to experience for myself what productivity and effectiveness benefits or impediments this technology would offer.

My company has standardized their computing platforms on just 4 or 5 Dell PC’s – 2 laptops, and 3 desktops to meet the various needs of R&D folks and other, more mobile folks. For the past 3 years I’ve been using a Dell Latitude C610, which has performed its job very well. However, we do not have any flexibility to introduce new computing platforms – i.e. a Tablet PC – to our hardware baseline … or so I thought.

After communicating with a couple of the leaders in our IS organization, I discovered that we actually were beginning a small trial of Tablet PC’s. They graciously allowed me to be part of an upcoming portion of that trial, and it turns out that upcoming portion is starting now!

Continue reading ‘A Tablet PC Exploration Begins’