So if you have an army and use robots to head into dangerous ground you might want to take a look at this. iRobot’s Sentinel is an applied research project that allows multiple robots to be controlled by a touchscreen Tablet PC. 

The iRobot PackBot Tactical Mobile Robot has been effectively used in both Afghanistan and Iraq to perform reconnaissance and bomb disposal missions.  These PackBot robots posses little or no on-board autonomy and are directly controlled by a remote human operator.  The operator continuously monitors a live video and telemetry stream from the robot and continuously issues drive commands to the robot, much like a remote-controlled car.  This is the standard mode of operation for today’s fielded mobile robots.  Future generations of mobile robot systems will include multiple, coordinated mobile robots-- each with increased on-board autonomy --enabling them to operate for extended periods of time outofcontact with any human operator.

The folks behind iRobot are the same folks behind the Roomba vacumn cleaner robots. I guess whether you’re cleaning up a living room or a bomb site, the principal is the same.

Thanks to GBM Forum user Pro-Crastinator who provided the Gizmodo link. CrunchGear also has more.

So, this is turning into a Where’s Waldo kind of thing. The rest of the GBMTeam has been wondering where Matt is with his new Asus R2H Ultra-Mobile PC. He’s sent a couple of e-mails with simple statments like “wow,” “cool,” and “you won’t believe this.” I’ve been ribbing him in posts and on our last Audio Inkshow. But we haven’t heard hide nor hair from the boy. Well with an email with the subject line “Look at me go” he sent this picture:

So, I guess Matt is off and running with his new Asus. If anyone sees him, please let us know.

GottaBeMobile.com forum member SteveNYC got his hands on a pre-production Fujitsu P11610 Tablet PC and has posted his thoughts in the GBM forums.

Expect MSRP pricing on November 1 and the official announcement on November 7.

Here is a quick snippet - click here for the whole thing:

As for the hardware itself, the single most important thing to me was the passive digitizer.  I really wanted to see if they had improved the palm rejection technology that they hyped.  Well, I was in a quandry, none of the handwriting software had been installed on the unit in hand.  How do I test it?  So we opened up MS Paint.  In truth, handwriting is nothing more than drawing.  If the digitizer isn't accurate in one app, in won't be accurate in any app.  End result....  I could not get that digitizer to screw up no matter how sloppy I wrote.  That thing was fantastic.  I don't know what they did, but they made a big improvement in the passive digitizer.  Keep in mind that this was not a very elaborate test.  But had I written on the P1510D like I wrote on the P1610, it would have been all over the place.

Here’s a trick and a treat for you on Halloween. Dennis Rice and I get together once again for another Audio InkShow (and this time he wasn’t wearing that Bill Clinton costume) and talk about what’s happening in the Tabletscape and what’s going on in the GottaBeMobile.com forums. We also wax rhapsodic about Vista and some things to look forward to and some things to be aware of. Here’s a list of the news items we hit, followed by a list of the forum threads we highlight.

Download the Audio Inkshow Here (58.0mb, 50:45, mp3 format) or you can subscribe to our Audio Inkshows in iTunes.

• Ghost in the machine! Matt Faulkner has a new Asus R2F Ultra-Mobile PC and we’re waiting for video any second now!
• Vista’s User Account Control: Is the cure as bad as the disease?
• No trick here: Firefox 2.0 is released and we highlight some Tablet PC/UMPC treats.
• Sign the Save the HP TC1100 Petition
• Ghoulish rumor or ghostly speculation: Will Dell debut a Tablet PC this spring?

GBM Forum threads of note

• Ink and Professionalism.
• Naked Asus R2H photos. Is this a scary theme started by Kevin Tofel?
• How to Talk Tablet to Users 
• Make Me Mobile With Motion Contest Winner Announced (Congrats KathieEM22!)

Leave us comments and let us know what you think!

 Thanks to Aubergine for the rocking intro music, Pursuit.

All GottaBeMobile.com InkShows are sponsored by:

One of the good things about being 4 years out from the Tablet PC launch is that there are  plenty of choices in regards to sizes and form factors. For those who desire a large screen Tablet PC, one of the choices that should to be on your short list is the Toshiba Tecra M7 Tablet PC. At 14", Core Duo, and sporting a widescreen display, it offers a lot of punch and plenty of writing space. We take a look at the M7 in this Hardware InkShow to help you along in the decision process. We even answer that often asked question: "What is that silver ring that comes in the pen box?"

Special thanks to Allegiance Technology Partners for supplying us this review unit. If you would like to review the M7 for yourself or purchase one, contact John Hill at Allegiance Technology Partners.

• Watch the InkShow (direct download: 18:50, 102MB-WMV format) .

• Visit Allegiance Technology Partners

• Learn more at ToshbiaDirect, pricing starts at $1519

• Buy your GottaBeMobile.com coffee mug here!

All GottaBeMobile.com InkShows are sponsored by:

Oh my goodness. Techmeme is alive with news that Microsoft has released some pictures of… wait for it…. the packaging of Vista and Office 2007. Everyone is excited. Everyone is posting. Everyone is….. hang on. I know things are heating up with RTM presumably just around the corner, but getting this excited about a product box just seems a little silly, don’t cha think? I’d rather know what is in the box.

It’s starting. A bevy of new devices are showing up in the hands of geeks. Which promises lots of interesting info, video, photos, and vicarious viewing. Hugo Ortega got his hands on both an Asus R2h Ultra-Mobile PC and an Asus R1 Tablet PC. He’s drooling a bit, but I’m sure he’ll calm down to give us all some interesting reports. And over at Propstm.Net, Matt has gotten hands on the Samsung Q1B UMPC.

Of course all of those in GBM land are anxiously awaiting Matt Faulkner’s reports on his new Asus R2h UMPC that ust arrived yesterday. Keep your eyes peeled here, for I have a feeling the cameras are rolling and we’ll see some interesting Inkshow video very soon. Right, Matt? Matt? Matt? Are you there? Matt? He must be too busy with his new toy.

Ouch.

Both GBM’s own Rob Bushway and Judie at Gear Diary have published interviews with DualCor cPC CEO Rob Howe asking questions about the delay(s) and false starts of this intriguing device. Through the CEO speak you can ascertain that there is still no solid info to relate, and of course that raises a few eyebrows. This morning Mobile Tech Maven James Kendrick came out with a blog post awarding DualCor the dubious distinction of Vaporware of the Year. Given that jk was one of the first, if not the first, to break news about this device, his thoughts carry some significant weight here. Wonder if we will hear more from DualCor in response.

Ouch.

PC Magazine's Cisco Cheng continues to highlight Tablet PCs, this time examining Toshiba's M400 Core Duo Tablet PC, with integrated Verizon EV-DO.

I believe that convertible tablets, with their hybrid capabilities, will continue to saturate the market. The Toshiba Portégé M400-S4032 not only addresses the demand for wider network coverage with its integration of Verizon EV-DO wireless, but thanks to its new Intel Core Duo processor, it can also hold its own in the Tablet PC arena.

I'm using a Toshiba M400 Core Duo right now and it is indeed a nice machine - integrated CD / DVD, 1400 x 1050 resolution, Core Duo, etc. That said, I'm becoming less enthralled with Toshiba units as time goes on, especially when I begin to use other Tablet PCs with much better screens. Every Toshiba I've owned has had a grainy screen, and it is becoming quite bothersome to my eyes. At least with the M200, you could remove the grainy coating. You can't remove the grainy coating on the M400.

By the way, keep on the look-out in the next week for a Hardware InkShow on Toshiba's Tecra M7.

Well, the Tablet PC giveaways just keep coming.

This time, PalmAddict is giving away an HP TC1100 and it is a breeze to enter. I just found out about it 5 minutes ago and I've already entered! Better hurry up - this contest ends in a day or so.

Simple to win all I need you guys to do is let me know how you are using your Palm / Treo / PDA device, give me a line or two or indeed a paragraph. Important, give your blurb a title, this is important NO TITLE NO ENTRY INTO THE CONTEST and send into us with TABLETPC in the subject line [again, very important because it ensures your email does not fall into my spam folder] and send to - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com. Lindsey will choose a winner by random later this week.

Thanks to JkOnTheRun for the tip!

I’ve been a fan of Scott Adams’ wonderful cartoon series Dilbert and also a follower of his blog, The Dilbert Blog. since its inception. The Dilbert Blog is about as wacky and irreverent as you could imagine and is one of my must reads each day. Several days ago, on the blog, Scott Adams posted about some good news. He has been suffering from Spasmodic Dysphonia for awhile. Spasmodic Dysphonia is a condition that causes those it afflicts to loose their voice. Intriguingly SD sufferers can in fact speak in some circumstances, like after sneezing or laughing, or in an exaggereated falsetto or baritone, or while reciting poety. (read much more about that on Scott’s blog here.) Show Biz is rife with legends of singers who can’t speak due to an illness but can sing and I’ve seen that phenomenon happen myself.

The good news is this case was that Scott sort of forced himself back to speaking again by speaking in rhyme. Yeah, I know it sounds a little silly. But apparently it is working.

Well today, (and this is where the Tablet PC part of this story comes into play,) Mark “Sumocat” Sumimoto sent me a link to this article. Here’s a snippet:

SD may be caused by a chromosomal abnormality that results in spasms of the vocal chords. It may cause spasms in the eyes, arms, legs and mouth. Many victims suffer multiple dystonias, or movement disorders.

Nearly three years ago, Adams developed a tremor in his right pinky whenever he tried to put pen to paper. He turned to a digital drawing tablet and stylus, and the spasms disappeared. Dilbert has been computer-generated ever since.

I’m always on the lookout for stories where folks with disabilities or afflictions use Tablet technology (I don’t know if Scott Adams uses a Tablet PC or another digital ink technology) because I believe that they can indeed offer a different path. (Remember Jim Forbes and Dave the LifeKludger?) I’ve emailed Scott Adams and hope he responds. I’d love to discuss more about this with him.

Well, this might make your ears perk up a bit. It seems that a California man has filed a class action lawsuit against Motorola, Inc, in Cook County United States District Court. His claim is that Motorola, makers of popular bluetooth headsets, has failed to adequately warn consumers of potential hearing loss from using the headsets.

From the press release:

“The Bluetooth headsets are silent killers in the most literal sense,” says Melissa Harnett of Wasserman, Comden & Casselman, LLP. “They can destroy your ability to hear without you knowing it is happening.”

Sound pressure is measured in decibels (dB). The average person can hear sounds at about 0 dB, the level of rustling leaves. A conversation between two people is typically 60 dB. According to Dangerous Decibels, a nonprofit public health partnership for the prevention of NIHL, a dangerous sound is 85 dB and above.

“The American Speech-Hearing-Language Association recently included the Motorola’s H700 Bluetooth in a safety test, comparing it to federal standards for controlling occupational noise exposure,” says Harnett. “At full volume the headset tested from 82 - 106 dB. Can you imagine what that can do to the hearing of the average Bluetooth user who is using his headset for an extended period of time every day and has no clue that he is ‘poisoning’ his hearing with lethal doses of sound?”

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), says that exposure to sound averaging 85 dB for more than eight hours a day by itself presents a risk of hearing loss. According to NIOSH, each three decibel volume increase reduces the safety exposure time by half, which reflects the logarithmic nature of the decibel scale. For example, if a headset is set to provide a sound of 91 dB, noise induced hearing loss statistically develops if the headset is used for more than two hours a day. At 94 dB, NIHL statistically develops if the headset is used for more than one hour a day. At 102 dB, irreversible damage statistically develops if the headset is used for more than seven-and-a-half MINUTES per day.

Apparently answering to similar complaints, Apple and Sony have taken some measures to provide consumers with methods of monitoring the decibel levels.

Here is a link to the complaint and here is a link to more information from one of the law firms working the suit.

The past 4 years, my web programming career has basically been on "auto-pilot" mode. Because of some medical issues with my daughter, I lacked the mental capacity to soak in a new framework, architecture, etc. So, I kept programming with the languages I was comfortable with: Visual Basic, ColdFusion, Flash, and ASP. You do what you have to do, but I can already tell that the programming world has quickly left me behind. Well, with things settling in to a nice groove at home and my daughter on the upswing, it is time to wake up and get my behind in gear!

So, with DevConnections and Mobile Connections coming up next week, I'm planning on making the transition to ASP.NET,  VB.NET, and C#. I've got some good projects coming up that make it a good opportunity to dive in. I'm really looking forward to getting in to some of the client side / Tablet PC programming in the Mobile Connections classes, and catching up with the rest of web programming community by getting up to speed with ASP.NET and VB.NET first, and then C# later on down the road. Josh Einstein gave me some good advice in this regard and I'm very appreciative to have a good friend like him who has kept current.

Any developers out there in the same boat? Are you behind the times and needing to jumpstart your programming base again? Where are you at right now and where are you headed? Do you find an upcoming project the best way to jump in?

If you are going to the DevConnections conference, let me know. I'd love to hook up with some folks while in Vegas next week.

Congratulations are in order big time. First, a hearty and heartfelt round of bravos to KathieEM22 for her winning entry. Her delightfully illustrated poem captured not only the spirit of the contest, but the hearts of the judges, and also GBM forum members who voted for her entry. KathieEM22 is now the proud owner of a brand new Motion LS800 Tablet PC valued at almost $2,200. Here are the specs of this beauty.

Genuine Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition

8.4" SVGA TFT display

KathieEM22’s new Motion LS800 will be on her way to her shortly, (if we can pry it out of Dennis’ hands.)

But KathieEM22 is not the only one to be congratulated. TeamGBM also sends out major kudos to the other finalists, SimsHsia, Tableteer, PalmSolo, and 64Pilot. And in addition to major kudos, we are also sending these four finalists a license to MindJet’s MindManager. (Valued at $300.) Mindjet is another company whose support for GBM and our efforts here is always appreciated. Congrats. The finalists’ entries can be viewed here. And we’d also like to give a big thank you to all those who entered the contest for their efforts. The creativity was really flowing and certainly made it a difficult job for us to pick the final five. All of the contest entries can be viewed here.

TeamGBM would also, of course, like to extend thanks to Motion Computing for their generous sponsorship of the contest, making it possible in the first place. We’d also like to thank the good folks from Motion Computing who served as judges for their time and efforts in helping make this contest a success. 

What a fun time this contest has been and thanks to all for participating!

TeamGBM

• Dennis Rice
• Rob Bushway
• Warner Crocker
• Matt Faulkner

Bluetooth and USB keyboards have been in the news lately. There has been a lot of talk about the incredible pricing of the Think Outside Bluetooth Stowaway Keyboard, which was at one point on sale at Amazon for $64. (It is now at $76, still a good deal.) In fact, I’ve picked one up and will be posting an Inkshow about it soon. But there are some other mobile and portable keyboards making news as well.

jkOnTheRun is showing off some photos from Pocket PC Solutions about Eleksen’s Fabric Keyboard. Engadget also has some info. This keyboard also doubles as a carrying case for a UMPC or other device. Interesting.

And JKK is posting info in the Origami Project forums that about a new bluetooth keyboard from Nokia that works well with the TabletKiosk UMPCs. (I’m guessing it does with others as well.)  The Nokia SU-8W Wireless Keyboard.

So, it looks like there are several highly mobile options out there for those thinking about a Ultra-Mobile PC, who might have been scared off by all the talk about UMPCs not having a keyboard.

Those Tablet PC Guys, James Kendrick and Marc Orchant are back with another episode of OnTheRun with Tablet PCs. I haven’t listened to the show yet, but from the show notes it looks like they cover quite a bit of Tablet PC and UMPC goodness, including a few Vista “gotchas” to be on the lookout for. Check out the show notes, subscribe, or download here.

And if you’re in the podcatching mood, check out the latest MobileTech Roundup podcast, (#75) with Matt Miller, Kevin Tofel, and podcasting impressario James Kendrick here. You can find out who one the name Matt Miller’s UMPC contest on this episode.

GottaBeMobile.com reader Kevin Bals was in attendance at a large school conference on Thursday and got to speaking to his regional Dell reps about the possibilities of a Dell Tablet PC and has some fascinating information to pass along.

 I was at a large school convention on Thursday and ran into the Dell Reps for my area. I was telling them about how we use the Toshiba Tablets and wireless Epson Projectors in our classrooms. I asked them if Dell was coming out with a Tablet anytime soon and they said to look for a late spring release of a Dell Tablet. They said Michael Dell was very much against the tablet. Over time though he realized the tablet was a gateway into the school for other vendors. For example since the school had to go elsewhere for the tablets they ended up buying printers, desktops or projectors from the other vendor as well.

They also said that Dell usually waits for a particular product to become mainstream and then they look to develop a product and own the market. Dell feels that since Vista will have the tablet features built right into the OS that the corporate world will embrace the tablet on a large scale. The reps said this will be especially true once service pack 1 is out for Vista. They plan on releasing their tablet to coincide with the release of service pack 1 for Vista.

In the same way that the Lenovo Tablet PC broke down some walls for the corporate and education environment, a Dell Tablet PC would do the same thing, but in a much bigger way. I suspect that we will see Dell come out with only one Tablet PC and it will probably look like their Latitude line, although that is pure speculation and not based upon any inside information.

Parody alert. Parody alert. This will shake up a few folks if they just catch it in a feedreader. Very funny parody of what the marketing of Microsoft Firefox 2007 would look like. I like this one:

Stay Secure on the Web

      Firefox 2007's new TakeOver(TM) technology protects the Windows Kernel by automatically recognizing all McAfee and Symantec programs as viruses. Downloading has never been safer

Check out more of the fun here.

Via Steve Bass’s Tips & Tweaks

UPDATE: Even funnier, the picture is not displaying correctly in IE7 but does in Firefox. Go figure.

Turn any screen (17” and up) into a touch screen? It can be done with EZ-Canvas by NAVIsis. We’ve heard about this before, but Gizmodo is linking to some new Aving photos of the device that look pretty amazing. The addition has two sensors that pick up pen or touch movment and translate that to ink or input. I can see some real practical applications for this in presentations and also in design environments.

There have been reports of difficulties with IE7 and inking on a Ultra-Mobile PC. Some folks see issues, and some don’t, which always make for an interesting time tracking down bugs. But, this one, is apparently reproducible by the folks in Redmond. The first I saw of this was in this thread on The Orgiami Project. The difficulty emerges when a user has difficulty using the TIP to ink in IE7, with the ink not transferring from the TIP to the intended target.

Microsoft has acknowledged the difficulty, with Adrian Garside stating:

We were able to reproduce this problem. Our initial investigation indicates that something is misconfiguring the Tablet OS by turning off support for advanced text insertion into all applications. This is completely unsupported on a Tablet PC and we're working to track down how this setting got turned off. In the meantime, I'd like to confirm that this is the entire cause of the problem you are seeing.

Please can you check this setting:

Control Panel -> Regional and Languages Options -> Languages -> Details -> Advanced -> "Extend support of advanced text services to all programs"

This checkbox should always be checked on a Tablet PC. If it's not, please try checking it, rebooting and then see if the problem in IE7 evaporates.

Thanks to CTitanic for the heads up.

Hugo Ortega and Dr. Neil Roodyn keep on keeping on with the podcasting thing with their fourth episode. This time they take on Windows Mobile vs. The Ultra-Mobile PC. Well worth a listen, if nothing else for the fun these two gentelmen have. Check it out here.

Okay – round one voting is now over in the "Make me Mobile with Motion" contest!!  Before long someone is going to win a brand new Motion Computing LS800 Ultra Mobile Tablet PC!

Our FINAL FIVE GottaBeMobile forums contestants are (in random order)….

SimsHsia

KathieEM22

Tableteer

PalmSolo

64Pilot

 

There were some awesome entries folks, and this judging was a very tough process for us all.  We really appreciate all the entries, and hope you will find that these five were indeed the best of the best that qualified for the judging process.  The people at Motion Computing are quite excited at what was written.

 

So…., we are ready to go to the final judging stage, and now it is YOUR turn to cast your vote!  Here is what you do:

 

Login to the GottaBeMobile forums and read through the final five entries (the entries appear as 5 posts at the top of this topic in no particular order).  Then post a reply with the member name you are voting for as the TOP LINE OF YOUR POST! You must be a registered member with a valid member name to vote and include the forum member name that you are voting for at the TOP of the post.  Remember that you may only vote once (any duplicates will be deleted, and in the event of an attempted dupe vote, the person voting more than once will have all their entries removed from the voting)!  PLEASE do not try and stuff the ballot box.  We also will be monitoring the IP addresses of the votes to prevent you from using multiple member names, so please respect the one vote per household, member, and IP address rule.  Please note that we will be evaluating each response for eligibility, so the final count will not be officially tallied after close of contest on October 29th.  In the event of a tie, the winner will be decided by applying the number of votes from round one.

We will accept votes until October 29^th, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  Absolutely no votes will be accepted after that time!  We will tally the official votes and make the final announcement in a GottaBeMobile.com InkShow on Monday October 30^th, where we will have the Grand Prize winner on the show as a Special Guest!

 

Lets get your votes in folks and may the best entry win!!

 

Here is the link one more time!

Ok, this is just too funny. Sean ordered an iPod. The package was delivered. When he opened the box, instead of a shiny new fresh iPod, he found two bars of Irish Spring soap and a package of cheap batteries. The good news is that Smalldog.com, the source he ordered from, made good right away. But you have to admit that this sounds a bit like leprechaun mischief somewhere along the line. Maybe this is just Apple’s way of cleaning out those Windows viruses that shipped with some iPods.

Via The Consumerist

With the advent of Vista, and Tablet PC functionality rolled into most of the Vista editons, will that translate into an upsurge in the use of graphic tablets? We’re about to find out. Down Under Tableteer and Microsoft MVP Hugo Ortega just received a Wacom Graphire4 Pen Tablet and there is a review of the same graphic tablet in the GeekZone forums, replete with pictures. Interesting that these Graphire4 Tablets are branded with a Windows Vista logo. The cool thing is that the joys of inking will be available to many more. 

The team over at Only UMPC has just opened up a box with a new toy inside. It’s the Asus R2H Ultra Mobile PC and he has posted a whole bunch of nice looking pictures on his blog.  Included in the pictures are some great shots of everything that comes in box and some great pictures from just about every angle you can think.

Can you take a guess as to who else might be getting one of these?  Who ordered one on Wednesday? Who ordered one when they told him they had 3 in stock?  Hummmm

OnlyUMPC Asus R2H pictures

This looks more than ijust a little nteresting if you have a Ultra-Mobile PC and want to go crusing in your car. StreetDeck is heralded as the “first all-in-one mobile electronics package” that will deliver all the extras you need in your car. Here’s a list of the features:

• Touch Screen Control
• Navigation & Mapping
• Bluetooth Phone Integration
• Satellite Radio
• Vehicle Diagnostics
• Rear-view Camera Support
• CD player/MP3 Extraction
• MP3 Player
• FM Radio
• DVD/Video Player
• Picture Viewer
• WiFi Sync Support

It was demoed recently at the Intel Developers Conference (check this press release) and after watching the video demo, I have to say it looks to be quite an impressive package that could possibly be a killer UMPC app. All those folks just getting their hands on the new Asus UMPC should load up the demo and report back. Any takers? Matt?

Thanks to GBM Forum member Blowfish for the tip!

Perry Reed has released show #48 of the Tablet PC Show Podcast. He covers quite a bit of Tablet PC and UMPC ground and even gives a nice shoutout to the good folks at GottaBeMobile.com, whoever they are. Check out the show notes, download, or subscribe here.

Josh Bancroft, a blogger I've been following for a few months, wants to start a conversation. Big deal, you say. Well, he works for Intel and is opening up the mic to talk about anything you want to know about Intel. The title of his post says it all " Ask me anything about Intel, and I’ll blog the answer "

My one question: I want to know when Intel is going to release a decent video card and driver for Tablet PCs that let me control the rotation on external and internal displays seperately, like NVidia allows me to do. Doing so addresses so many presentation and docking scenarios for Tablet PC and Ultra-Mobile PC users. As most of the tablet pcs on the market use the Intel graphics subsystem, our hopes for a solution rely on Intel to address this area.

It is great to see Josh opening up the floor this way and I hope it encourages other bloggers from Intel to do the same.

So, head over to Josh's blog and post your questions.

UPDATE: Brian, a good friend of Josh's, just posted an answer to my question over on his blog. According to Brian, the latest Intel Drivers address this very issue. I'll be trying this out once I get back to my office and plug in my Tablet PC. The last time I tried this, the functionality wasn't there, but I'll give it another whirl. Thanks for following up, Brian.

With the release of FireFox 2.0, it is a good time to point to the Tablet PC friendly extention goodness out there.

I'm using both browsers, but FireFox is currently set as my default

If you use FireFox 2.0 and a Tablet PC, there are several exentions that should be on your short list:

• GeckoTip - enables the TIP to display when inking URLs and offers left handed scrollbars
• Grab and Drag - offers gesturing, dragging, and much more. Really enhances the browsing experience for Tablet PC users
• Mouse Gestures - Allows you to execute common commands (like page forward/backward, close tab, new tab) by mouse gestures drawn over the current webpage, without reaching for the toolbar or the keyboard.
  You can also use click-only "rocker" gestures which are even faster than drawn gestures.
• Super Drag and Go - It allows you to:
  1) Drag a link (e.g. google ), text-link (e.g. http://www.google.com ), text-uri (e.g. abc.com ), image , or bookmark quicklink from bookmarks toolbar folder and throw it anywehere on your webpage (content area) to open it on a new tab.
  2) Drag a word or phrase and throw it anywhere on your webpage (content area) to search it through whatever search engine installed/selected in your search bar.
  3) Drag an image and throw it anywhere to start downloading it.
• Tab Catalog - Shows thumbnail-style catalog of tabs just by hovering your pen over the Tab Catalog button, then it displays large thumbnails that are pen friendly. Thanks to Sumocat for the link

Anybody else got some good Tablet PC / Pen friendly FireFox 2.0 extentions? I'm particularly looking for some that ink-enable Thunderbird, FireFox's email client.

GottaBeMobile.com forum member Pyxus just purchased an Asus R1F Tablet PC and has been chatting it up in the forums. One of the most interesting topics he has started is the comparsion shots he has of the R1F, Toshiba M200, and a TC1100.

Well worth checking it if you want to see just how close in size the R1F is in relation to other Tablet PCs.

It is a breath of fresh air to see another vendor enter the U.S. space for Tablet PCs.

Ok, so I blame Kevin Tofel. This meme in the Tabletscape featuring “naked pictures” of hardware is becoming more than a trend. In the GBM Forums, forum member Blowfish, links to a thread on Laptop Review that features a series of photos of the Asus R2H in the raw. Follow the link trail and you end up at PROPortable which is a reseller that is not only carrying the Asus R2H, but posts news that the models available in the US “will ship with the optional double capacity 686mAh 48W/hr polymer battery instead of the the slightly lighter battery” that is being shipped as standard in other parts of the world. That translates into longer battery life (about 4 hours), so that is interesting news.