- Rob Bushway

Any aspiring writers out there in GottaBeMobile land? DailyWritingTips, a blog I thoroughly enjoy, has some really good tips for keeping a writers notebook, which is an essential tool for collecting thoughts on that budding article, story, or novel. Of course, we highly recommend using Tablet PC tools like InkSeine, OneNote, Evernote, and others for keeping the notebook. Any way you choose to do it, though, is up to you. The important thing is that you write - frequently. Personally speaking, I always try to carry a small Moleskine with me for those times when an idea suddenly comes to mind and I don't have my Tablet PC handy or fumbling around with stand-by and starting the app would be too slow.

Writing every day

One of the best uses for your notebook is to get into the habit of writing every single day. There are lots of different ways to approach this; some which have worked for me (not all at once) are:

• Write first thing in the morning
• Spend five minutes writing at some point in the morning, and five minutes in the afternoon
• Write just before going to bed
• Jot down some notes before starting on your “proper” writing session of the day

Of course there’ll be days when you feel uninspired, when you have nothing you want to write about, or when you’re hectically busy. But if you’re going to stick with writing fiction long-term, it needs to become part of your daily life.

- Rob Bushway

Ken Hinckley just let us know that version 1.1.425 of InkSeine has been released. Ken has all the details on the new release, but I've listed them here as a summary. Because AutoUpdate is now live in InkSeine, you should be able to get this new build by simply starting and then exiting InkSeine. If you have trouble, just head over to grab the new build. Be sure to visit our InkSeine forum to discuss this new build!

In addition, Office Labs just launched. This is a new website featuring some of the latest prototypes being developed by Microsoft interns and employees. Office Labs is a site you'll want to visit often to try out some of the latest ideas being floated about Microsoft.

New InkSeine features and bug fixes :

• Rotation and Reflection: InkSeine now supports rotation of any lasso selection.
• Antialiased Page Thumbnails: It's now much easier to recognize pages from their thumbnails.
• Search for & Open OneNote sections. Previous builds of InkSeine only handled OneNote pages that were saved into individual .one files. InkSeine now returns OneNote sections with its search results, and you can open them and insert hyperlinks to them in your InkSeine notes.
• File association fixed: The association for InkSeine files (.iks extension) now installs correctly.
• Saves the last Pen and Highlighter: InkSeine remembers which pen and highlighter you were using so they are ready to go when you next launch InkSeine, or open another note.
• Performance improvements, particularly while dragging selections.
• Improved Stroke Eraser: It no longer leaves "debris" on the screen on occasion
• Tool Ring bug fix: The Tool Ring will no longer activate the camera or the close icon if you happen to end your pen stroke over them while circling-to-scroll or while using the tool ring as a flickpad on Vista.
• AutoUpdate server is online! With the launch of the Microsoft Office Labs site, the Office Labs AutoUpdate server is also now online.
• To get updates, your computer must be on the internet. Start InkSeine and make sure that it has been running for a few minutes. When you exit, you will be prompted to install the update (build 1.1.425.0). Note: Make sure that "Automatically check for updates" is checked in the upper-right corner of the InkSeine options dialog. You can open the options from the question-mark menu. You may disable checks for automatic updates by unchecking this option, or by opting out during your initial installation of InkSeine.
  

- Warner Crocker

It is an Inking morning it seems. Brian_FS has posted up an image of his Desktop using a combination of the Ink Desktop from Microsoft and the Scroll Control from InkSeine. Very interesting.

 

 

- Warner Crocker

I guess this is called putting your best Ink forward. Ken Hinckley of InkSeine fame points us to a review of InkSeine done in InkSeine by Anthony Chan on his blog. You can check out the original here and Ken has also linked and posted the review on his blog as well. Wonder if we should start doing some of our reviews in InkSeine?

- Warner Crocker

The GBM Forums are a hot bed of activity these days, especially when it comes to continuing to find cool ways to use the pen and InkSeine. Forum member moneyburninhole discovered a way to use the Floating Tool Ring to execute Pen Flicks in places where they may not otherwise be available. InkSeine guru, Ken Hinckley, loved this undocumented usage so much he’s created a post on his blog showing some examples of how to make this happen. And remember, the Floating Tool Ring from InkSeine can run separately from InkSeine itself.

 

- Matt Faulkner

Ken has put up some Notebook templates for InkSeine over on his site.  This will be a great addition to the 'grid' background.

There are even instructions on how to create your own!  I think a thread in the forums for everyone to share their work might be in order.

Get your creative juices flowing!!

- Warner Crocker

This will be cool. Ken Hinckley blogs that they are working on adding rotation to InkSeine, the best Tablet PC Inking application we’ve seen in some time. I say bring it on, Ken! Check out what Ken has to say here.

 

 

- Warner Crocker

If you’re like me (and a number of InkSeine users) one of my favorite  features of this great pen enabled application is the Floating Tool Ring. It allows you to scroll easily with the pen, or grab a snapshot of information. Well, guess what? Apparently you don’t need to have InkSeine running to take advantage of the Floating Tool Ring.

Ken Hinckley picked up a tip from a user and has published the quick how-to on his blog, The AlpineInker. Because the application that controls the Floating Tool Ring is separate from InkSeine, you can add it to your Start Up menu or QuickLaunch, or just as a shortcut on your desktop.

Check out the how-to here.

- Matt Faulkner

The updated version of InkSeine that I posted about last week is now live.  The main reason for the update was because of a localization issue:

The worst symptom of this bug is that some users who use non-American ways to write decimal numbers or dates are unable to load InkSeine notes that they have saved. The fix does NOT make it possible to load any files that this bug caused to be saved in the "bad" format, but any new ones that you create going forward will not have this problem. The other symptoms of this bug are that Copy/Paste, Undo/Redo, and a few other features will not work. Please accept our sincerest apologies if you have been stricken by this bug. 

Even if the localization issue doesn't effect you, there are still a few fixes included as well:

• Fix for number formatting problem that causes loading saved files, Copy/Paste, and Undo/Redo to all fail for some users outside the US.
• Fix for unexpected date format causing the Tutorial to not load.
• Fix for "The requested recognizer is not available with the current setup or configuration" error dialog appearing. InkSeine should no longer require any multi-lingual recognizer packs to be installed.
• Installer correctly creates file association for .iks files (InkSeine notes). 
• Additional file extensions added to notes filter (OneNote icon in search panel), including .onecache, Geometer's Sketchpad (.GSP), Jackson GradeQuick (.GBK), Google Sketchup (.SKP), and SMART Technologies slide collections (.XBK).
• The .TXT file extension has been removed from the PDF filter. This was causing confusion.
• Icons dragged out from search results now drop where you lift the pen. 
• Option to skip auto-update checking added to the installer. 
• Checkbox for auto-update feature added to the Options panel.

Hit up the download and give the new version a try - ALSO - As mentioned in the forums - this was a quick fix mainly for the localization issue - if your bug isn't squashed or suggestion isn't in this update don't worry that wasn't part of this update!!

- Matt Faulkner

For those of you that are out of the US and having some localization problems in InkSeine...  The fix is on it's way.  The main symptoms of this bug are that Copy/Paste, Undo/Redo, loading the tutorial, and loading files that had been saved will not work.  Also, there are some other fixes that were smashed already as well. 

From the blog of Ken Hinckley:

• Fix for broken InkSeine file association. If you double-click on an InkSeine (.IKS) file, it will open up inside of InkSeine without forcing you to manually perform the association to InkSeine. Fixed!
• Fix for "The requested recognizer is not available with the current setup or configuration" error dialog that some international users have encountered when doing a search. This can be worked-around now by installing a language pack, but we believe our localization fixes will remove the need to install any language packs. Fixed!
• Option to disable automatic checking for updates has been added to the installer and to the InkSeine Options panel. We hope you'll take advantage of this great feature to get future updates & bug fixes, but we understand that some people don't like to be prompted for automatic updates, so now you can turn that off if you like. Fixed!
• Missing Notes file types added to the notes filter (looks like the OneNote icon). New extension supported: .onecache (shared OneNote notebooks are cached in these; you also may need to add this extension to Vista Search / Windows Desktop Search for the indexer to pick it up), Geometer's Sketchpad (.GSP), Jackson GradeQuick (.GBK), Google Sketchup (.SKP), and SMART Technologies slide collections (.XBK). Fixed!
• .TXT file extension removed from the PDF filter. This was causing confusion for some people. Fixed!
• Probably also a fix for the annoyance where icons that you drag out from the search results list don't drop directly under the location where you lift the pen, and maybe a couple of other little things.

Thanks for the quick fixes!!

- Rob Bushway

InkSeine is starting to pick up some good press around the internets, this article from Datamation being a good example. The author, Mike Elgan, sees InkSeine as good possibility to spur some Tablet PC sales, and for replacing Journal.

Also, check out this feature story from Research.Microsoft.com

By the way, be sure to head over to the InkSeine install page around 10:00 am PST to download and install your copy. Report back in our forums on how you like it, bugs you find, how you would like to see it improved, etc. Ken and his team at Microsoft Research are really looking for good, honest feedback.

UPDATE: The download link is now active. Happy Inking!

Watch our InkShow on InkSeine here.

- Rob Bushway

Microsoft Research is sending us all some good Tablet PC lovin', releasing InkSeine a day early on February 14.

Head over to http://research.microsoft.com/InkSeine tomorrow morning to download InkSeine. I understand the download link will be active sometime between 8:00 am and 10:00 am PST.

- Rob Bushway

Many folks are anxiously awaiting InkSeine's public release on Friday, February 15th. Although InkSeine is a fantastic ink note-taking application, it's worth noting that InkSeine is not perfect and does have its limitations.

I tried pointing out several of these during my InkShow, but Ken Hinckley has posted a great article pointing out where InkSeine might fall short. By the way, it is worth noting that since my InkShow, ink integration between OneNote and InkSeine is now supported.

- Rob Bushway

Microsoft Research's Ken Hinckley is continuing his 12 Days of InkSeine series, moving on to day #7. If you have not followed his entire series, be sure to track back through his posts to read them all. Whether you choose to use InkSeine or not for your notetaking, they are good idea generators for implementing digital ink to your daily routine using a Tablet PC.

In day #7,  he talks about using InkSeine as a presentation tool instead of PowerPoint, concentrating on the value ink adds to brainstorming, inviting comments / suggestions from the audience. Great idea, Ken. Another tool I've used is Mindjet's MindManager.

Be sure to watch our InkShow on InkSeine here.  In addition, be sure to follow this form thread where Ken is actively engaged with GBM forum members discussing InkSeine, Journal, and OneNote. It is a fascinating discussion.

InkSeine is set to debut for public download on February 15

 

- Rob Bushway

In my InkShow video review of InkSeine, I showed how ink copied and pasted between InkSeine and OneNote resulted in images, and not ink. Word from Ken Hinckley tonight indicates he might have that issue licked in time for the public release. Great work, Ken!

Follow the InkSeine / OneNote discussion in our forums.

 

 

 

 

- Rob Bushway

"To seine is to fish with a net. To fish for results from ink is not insane, but rather InkSeine!" What a great definition for this prototype note-taking application being released by Microsoft Research.

InkSeine is a Tablet PC note-taking application designed and built from ground up around the pen, with the ability to easily search the web or your local computer directly from your ink. The search interface is unlike anything I've ever worked with in the past, with the ability to narrow or expand the results based on file type or date with a simple flick of the pen. It is such a joy to use an application where the box was built around the pen rather than making the pen fit the box.  As such, InkSeine is quickly becoming my go-to application for ink note-taking.

InkSeine will be free and will be released to the general public on February 15th. It is not a supported Microsoft product. The  best way to get support for InkSeine will be through the product page, Ken's blog, and through our GBM forums where Ken frequently visits and comments. There is extensive help and plenty of video tutorials on the product page and in the application itself, as well.

• Download the InkShow Video Review ( right click and save ) or watch the embedded version below.
• Learn more about InkSeine
• Follow Ken Hinckley's blog - the developer behind InkSeine, and be sure to read his new series "The Twelve Days of InkSeine", a 12-part series of how Ken uses InkSeine on a daily basis
• Participate in Ken's "Are you an inveterate doodler contest"

 

 

Click To Play

- Rob Bushway

If you are like a lot of people, when you get stuck in a meeting, your hand begins drawing all sorts of doodles instead of actual notes. I know I do it, and Microsoft Research's Ken Hinckley does it, too. Personally, I think it is a sign of great intelligence

Ken's even come up with a unique way of titling his doodles by letting the recognizer title it, something he calls a "Tablet PC-hallucinated title". What a great idea!

Knowing there are a lot of other "inveterate doodler's" out there, Ken is running a special contest on his blog, soliciting doodles for his website, otherwise known as the "Museum of Modern Doodles". You gotta love this guy!

Submit your entry by following these tips as supplied by Ken:

• I sketched the two pieces above with InkSeine. With InkSeine I can easily translate my handwriting-or doodles- to text by lassoing some strokes, picking the search command, and then taking a snapshot of the resulting query. InkSeine will be available for external release soon. If you are reading this blog post then you know that is February 15, 2008.
• If you use Windows Journal, you can do the same by lassoing some strokes, and then from the Actions menu, choose Convert Handwriting to Text.
• If you're using OneNote, the game is a bit harder to play because it's clever enough to realize that the strokes are probably a drawing. So you'll have to force OneNote to treat it as text. To do this, lasso-select your doodle and then go to the Tools menu. Pick the Treat Selected Ink As command and choose the Handwriting option. Then open the Tools menu again and choose Convert Handwriting to Text. This will replace your doodle with the text equivalent, but you can just copy the text and hit Undo to get your doodle back.
• Then just snip or snag the entry and save it as an image.

Join Ken's blog and submit your entry as a comment ( with a hyperlink to the picture) to this post. Feel free to post the images on the Gottabemobile forums and link to that if you don't have a way to host the image yourself. The winning entry will get the above official Microsoft cup signed by Ken Hinckley himself, the man behind InkSeine!

Let's see how many great doodles we can come up with!

 

- Matt Faulkner

We've been using InkSeine for a while now and I can tell you that I still get the "WOW" factor every time I start using it!! The time has almost arrived for the general public to start using InkSeine - Readers Rejoice!!  Check out the post over on Ken's blog and you will see that the release for PUBLIC Beta is February 15th as a download from Microsoft Research.

If you're a fan of inking on your Tablet PC or UMPC, you better really treat your significant other to a great date on Valentine's day, because you'll be spending Feb. 15^th with your tablet.

I'm happy to announce that Microsoft InkSeine will be available as a research prototype, courtesy of Microsoft Research, that you can download via research.microsoft.com on February 15^th, 2008.

Read more about what has changes over on his blog!!

Thanks Willy

 

- Matt Faulkner

All I can say is that using this program has been some of best times I have had on my Tablet PC in a long time... 

We have all been waiting to get our hands on this program for a while and it has now been released to Tablet PC MVP's for testing - the install is currently not available to the general public.  I have a quick screen capture that was made as a top level overview of InkSeine.  There will be a full InkShow done in the near future, but we wanted to bring you some footage of it in action right away. 

In this GBM ShortCut I take you over a quick look at using Ink and some of the radial menus with the pen.  I also have a very quick example of using the linking and then on to the searching capabilities of the InkSeine.  If there are any question about the application please feel free to ask, and also remember that there will be a more in depth look at this cool program here on GottaBeMobile soon!!

Download the video or Watch Below

Click To Play

- Rob Bushway

Microsoft Research's Ken Hinckley is looking for some help from the UMPC community. He's posted a request in our GottaBeMobile.com forum's, looking for help in designing InkSeine to work with typical UMPC screen resolutions.

He's on a tight deadline, so head over to our forums to post your comments and help impact the design of this upcoming release.

I'm trying to do some work to adapt the UI for InkSeine to handle UMPC devices a little better than it currently does, and I know a lot of people on this site follow this market segment closely (I currently don't).

I do have access to an older one that has a 640x480 res display on it. I am wondering if I really need to kill myself to make some of our UI usable at that resolution (we have a few dialogs, help tips for our gestures, etc. that are larger than that right now) or if the market has moved on and most people have a larger resolution (and if so, what dimensions?).

So, if anyone knows typical UMPC screen pixel dimensions that are supported, please do fill me in - I'm hoping to get a quick answer here rather than researching this for real and I'm under a bit of time pressure since we are trying to get our next release wrapped up Real Soon Now.

Bonus points: do people typically use these devices in Portrait or Landscape orientation? Or both? The one I have only seems to work in Landscape but I wouldn't be surprised if something has gotten messed up with its config to result in that limitation.