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CrunchPad Announcement Coming Soon

From The New York Times Bits Blog comes a report that Mike Arrington will soon spill the beans on his CrunchPad web tablet in late July or early August. They’re reporting a price point of less than $300 and that it will go on sale “as soon as possible”. I translate that as $299 and “don’t hold your breath,” but that’s just me turning on my marketing-speak translator.

No new details on the device itself (still a slate that boots straight to web browsing), but an earlier report from the San Fransisco Business Times states Arrington formed a company called CrunchPad Inc, obviously with the specific intent of building the device, and has been spending most of his time focused on the CP. And he mentions factories that can “churn stuff out,” so it sounds like he’s geared up to move some product. I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Via Gizmodo

One upgrade success, one failure

Been meaning to give Windows 7 a try on my Tablet PC, but aside from dragging my feet over the hassle of grabbing drivers, I was running short on drive space too. Seemed like a couple of good excuses to upgrade my hard drive.

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Still Lining Up for the iPhone 3GS

Dropped into the local Apple Store today while running other errands to see just how fast the iPhone 3GS really is. One word: blazing. The one I tried was on 3G, not wifi, and it displayed web pages faster than my iPhone 3G on my home wifi. Video recording was smoother than my digital camera too. Granted, my camera is a few years old, but it’s pretty snappy. I think I can still restrain myself from diving into an upgrade, but I understand the allure… to an extent.

What I don’t understand is these guys I saw from the upper level of the mall. I stood in line to get my iPhone ticket and then returned later to pick it up, but that was before you could order one online and receive it a few days later. When I do fall victim to the upgrade bug, that’s what I’m doing, not standing in line for hours. (And I’ll probably also be buying an iMac for my wife at the same time.)

Oh, one funny thing I saw: after I snapped the shot, I noticed a TV off to the left was playing a Microsoft PC ad. Didn’t stop folks from going into the store though.

How Do You Keep Track of The All Stuff You Have to Do?

These days most of the projects and stuff I’ve got swirling around my brain is being organized and stored in MindManager 8. I love the program because of the way I can creatively organize buckets of information around how I think and work, and how it lets others organize around how they think and work. Since they sell both PC and Mac version, I can keep working on the same map across both platforms.

Here is a sample of my current “Stuff” map. I normally operate in the “Now” bucket. The “Now” bucket are things of the highest priority or things I plan on accomplishing within the next day or two. When I’m finished, I’ll mark  them as done (normally by using the Strike Through font treatment), then move them to Finished. I’ll then drag things up from the “Next Up” bucket to the “Now” bucket in order of priority. Stuff in the “Later” bucket are several weeks to several months out.  I’ll do general brainstorming in the other categories and then move them around as I need to focus on them.

How do you keep on top of all the stuff floating around your head so you don’t lose track of all that you have / want to do?

Put Some 4th of July Fireworks on Your Cell Phone

Here in the USA we are getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July holiday (actually since the holiday  falls on a Saturday this year, many are already off for the beginning of a long weekend), and that holiday usually means fireworks.

Well, if you one of those who can’t attend the local fireworks show, or don’t shoot off your own at your barbecue, you can always enjoy some on your cell phone.  Handmarks Fireworks is a free application for your phone (iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Mobile) that will allow you to watch some fireworks in your hand without the risk of blowing off you hand. You also don’t have to worry about a rain date.

Handwriting Recognition for Stone Tablets

All Tableteers know about handwriting recognition, and many have at one time or the other made some sort of joke about using an ancient stone tablet as the Tablet PC’s precursor.

Well, how about using handwriting recognition to help determine the identity of the carver on those ancient stone tablets? Turns out some archeologists and computer scientists are doing just that.  Apparently, (and this makes a lot of sense) each carver of tablets had some distinctive aspects to their work, and by examining their work with this type of analysis, it can aid in pinpointing the date of when a tablet was created.

Interesting work and you can read much more about it here.

Via Engadget

Deal of the Day: $500 Coupon HP HDX16t w/HP Mini 110 for $979

HP’s offering $500 off a bundle that includes an HDX 16t notebook and a Mini 110 netbook. The 16-inch notebook includes a Blu-ray drive and 320GB hard drive. HP’s sweetening the deal with a free Deskjet printer. Visit LogicBuy for the coupon code and more great deals.

Viliv S5 with 3G Special Event at Dynamism

The Viliv UMPCs still attract a lot of attention (Xavier is loving using it with Dragon Naturally Speaking) and the good folks at Dynamism have been one of the key reasons why with their special ordering events and packages. For those who have been waiting to pick up the Viilv S5 with Integrated 3G and also an SSD, this next event might be your chance. Here’s a quote from Dynamism’s site:

The Viliv S5 special offer is back for one quick encore, but this time, it’s better because the latest Viliv S5 is better than ever.

+ Now with integrated solid state drive
+ Now with integrated 3G (HSPA) wireless broadband

Available only for the first 400 units ordered starting at 1 PM Eastern time on July 16th, customers will receive a free spare battery, car kit, and leather pouch. Please be sure to sign up for e-mail alerts (above) to stay informed of this special event as-it-happens.

Be sure to pick up one of these red hot devices to have the best summer toy around!

The S5’s size and build-quality are impressive, and so is its price: only $599 for one of the smallest uPCs on the market.

Testing iblogger for the iPhone

Nothing really to see here as I’m testing the iblogger app for the iPhone. Too bad it doesn’t take advantage of 3.0′ s landscape text entry mode.

MID + Dragon NaturallySpeaking= Great Mobile Writing Experience

I’ve been very pleased with my Viliv S5 so far, but it can be difficult to write anything of length with its on-screen keyboard. I installed Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 to see if the MID was powerful enough to turn my speech into text. I was very impressed with the results and shot this video after just a few minutes of training.

I’m starting to do more and more computing with my voice. I’ve also installed Dragon on my 2730p and MacSpeech on my MacBook Pro. I just started using voice commands with my iPhone 3GS to dial numbers and play songs. I also talk a lot to my car to find points of interest, change radio stations, navigate and more.

Nuance either sells or licenses the voice recognition software behind all of my voice-enabled devices. The company is behind the voice capabilities of an incredible number of devices, including the Amazon Kindle DX.

I shot this video demo of how I type with my voice on the Viliv S5 for MIDStories.com. After a few minutes of training I was able to start blogging with my voice. It’s not perfect, but typing with my voice sure gets a lot of words on the page quickly.

7% Off Everything at AllTP.com

Is a Tablet PC in your future? Then you need to head over to Allegiance Technology Partners where they are having a 7% off EVERYTHING for the next seven days.

Here is a bit of info from John Hill, the owner of Allegiance Technology Partners:

Wow, seven years in business - it’s hard to believe!  Of course, when I started this business on July 2nd, 2002 I was planning on being retired by now. :-)

Even though I’m still working for a living, I am enjoying it just as much as I did in the beginning.  The reason?  Our solutions help businesses become more successful.  It is fun to hear our clients tell us about all the money they saved because of what we delivered to them.

Enough reminiscing though.  I’ve been in business long enough to know that although past successes are important, we always have to answer the question “What have you done for me lately?”.  For the next 7 days, buy anything from our online store and a 7% discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

Archos 9PC Tablet and Blurring the Line Between Device Categories

We’ve seen this coming for quite some time. Archos, well know for their portable media players (PMP) has been slowly adding more and more features like WiFi and encroaching on the line that separates PMPs from Tablets, UMPCS, MIDs, Netbooks, etc… In fact they released a Netbook a short while ago.

Now, the Archos 9PCTablet continues the line blurring by looking and apparently being capable of acting like more than just a PMP. The slate form factor has a touch screen and optical mouse, is powered by an Intel Atom Z515 chipset it looks very much like a MID or the newer UMPC models out there (can you say Viliv?) Especially since the spec list says that it will be running Windows 7.

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Apple Issues Heat Warning for iPhone 3G and 3GS

Uh, oh. Looks like there is something to take seriously about the reports that some are experiencing heat issues with the iPhone 3GS and the earlier iPhone 3G running the 3.0 OS. Apple has issued an Heat Advisory warning users that they could experience problems in an environment where temperatures exceed 95 degrees Fahrenheit and depending on how heavy the tasks drive the processor. The article also talks about extreme cold as well. Coming as the users get ready to enjoy a forecast hot 4th of July weekend, this won’t sit well with many who want to video all those 4th of July barbecues and fireworks.

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Sprint and AT&T Promising Femtocells Late 2009

Both Sprint and AT&T are trying to carve out some new territory in your home or office by offering 3G Femtocells, presumably later this year. A Femtocell is a device that provides you with a mini-base station that basically route your calls and data, somewhat like a wireless router. The attraction here is for those folks who get a lousy signal inside their office or home. AT&T has said they will be ready by the end of 2009, and Sprint says that it will beat them to market.

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Will Microsoft Sell a Family Pack for Windows 7?

Ed Bott has been doing some digging in the deep dark caverns of license agreements based on a tip from a reader. And he’s discovered language that, if it remains in the final versions of Windows 7, seems to offer a hint that Microsoft might be finally wising up and offering a Family Pack license option.

Here’s the relevant section:

“If you are a ‘Qualified Family Pack User’, you may install one copy of the software marked as ‘Family Pack’ on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there.”

Apple has been doing this for some time and if this holds up it would not only a smart move on Microsoft’s part, but an almost necessary one given that many households now have multiple devices residing there. Ed says he’s going out on a limb and predicting a price point of $189 for a Family Pack. I think the limb he’s on is pretty solid.

This is only intended for home users, not businesses. So, keep your eyes peeled.