Tablet PC & Mobile PC News & Video Reviews, and Tablet PC Forums

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

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GBM Podcast #32: So What's In Your Tablet PC Toolbox?

Steel_Tool_Box We’re busy getting ready for the GBM Meetup in Colorado Springs on Saturday, September 8, but Rob Bushway and I found time to do another GBM podcast this week, and of course GBM Podcast #32 contains lots of info about the Meetup. In addition we also talk about the new Fujitsu T2010 Tablet PC that has everyone talking. It will be making its GBM debut at the Meetup, along with more Tablet PCs and UMPCs than you can cut through with a power saw. We also discuss some changes happening at GBM and look forward to Terry Bradley’s new reporting on Mobile Security.

But the heart of this week’s podcast has to do with Tablet PC applications, or the lack thereof in some cases. We talk about InkSeine, and practically beg Microsoft to release this amazing looking Ink Search tool to users. Rob and Warner also pull out their toolboxes and talk about their favorites applications and must haves, but unfortunately the list doesn’t change all that much, and their are too few tools in the box. You can check out Warner’s list of Must Have Tablet PC Apps here, and I’m not sure Rob has ever done a post about what he carries in his toolkit, but if you listen to the show, you'll find out all about it.

Here’s the notes for show #32:

The GBM Meetup Colorado: Bring your ~~power tools~~ Tablet PCs and UMPCs
Changes at GBM: Dennis Rice makes a tough decision and Terry Bradley joins the GBM Team to discuss mobile security.
The Fujitsu T2010 Tablet PC: This Tablet PC is generating lots of talk.
InkSeine: Microsoft: Get this in the hands of users now!

Check out this video of InkSeine and you’ll join the chorus of users asking Microsoft to release this now.

Tablet PC Applications: What we use, what we’d like to see, and why aren’t there more Ink-enabled applications out there?

Download or listen to this GBM Podcast here (41.3mb, 45:10minutes, mp3 format) or you can subscribe to our GBM Podcasts in iTunes or via your favorite podcatcher at this link.

And don’t forget to leave any comments, thoughts, or suggestions. We’re working to improve what we do and need to hear from you. (Note: We had some very bizarre Skype echoes on this podcast. Apologies.)

Tags: podcast, Tablet+PC, UMPC, Fujitsu, GBM+Meetup, InkSeine

9/5/2007 9:13 AM MST

GBM Podcast #32: So What's In Your Tablet PC Toolbox? Comments [3] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 10:18:37 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I use Quick Buttons for some of the programs I use.
It works pretty well, but it does take 32mb memeory for each bar you have open.

Haven't found a program that emulates SHIFT + hold(mouse button) or SHIFT + click(mouse button)
(one time use, wtihout going back and un-holding as in MiniScroller)

Photoshop and CorelDraw aren't "keyboard-less" friendly for some of the porgram's funtions.

Is there a program that you can record keyboard stroke marcos(?) and them send this to a button ala. Quick buttons to simply press a button when needed.

Some of the programs I've looked at seem to be somekind of Spyware recorder software rather than tablet type software, so I haven't been brave enough to try them.

SAM

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 4:53:25 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

This is a wonderful topic, Warner; I learned about a lot of cool apps from your original post. I'm hoping for similar treasures in the comments this time around.

I wish to second something mentioned in another post by a Sam: it would be sweet to find an emulator for CTRL + hold. Doing multiple file selection on a TabletPC running XP isn't as easy as Microsoft makes it in Vista - with the tick-box option. (Why they chose not to extend this functionality from Windows Explorer to Outlook 2007 is another one of those exasperating Microsoft mysteries). I secretly hoped TEO 3 would provide the functionality - I should have requested it rather than just hoped!

Perhaps the easiest solution is to configure one of my Motion LE1600's programmable buttons to provide the service.

Many thanks for the useful article!

Peter Norman

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:08:41 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement about InkSeine. We're working hard on improving it and figuring out the best way to eventually get some of this technology into people's hands.

One app you didn't mention that I think has a fantastic pen experience is Alias Sketchbook. If you're at all artistically inclined then this is the pen sketching and drawing app for you. The brush technology is incredible with pencils, markers, airbrushes, etc. that all look fantastic and are super responsive to pen pressure and the dynamics of how you oversketch with the pen. This is an app that was originally designed by some research guys at Alias who really know what they are doing (Bill Buxton, Gord Kurtenbach, George Fitzmaurice). For example Bill was doing fantastic stuff for pen & tablet input, including music notation and editing, back in the late 70's and early 80's. Check out http://www.billbuxton.com for a wealth of really cool stuff he's done over the years. And Gord Kurtenbach is the progenitor of marking menus (a.k.a. "radial menus") that appear in Sketchbook, and InkSeine, and pretty much any other research project worth it's salt these days :-)

KenHinckley

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