All Entries Tagged With: "Sierra Modro"

My HP Repair: End of the Saga

And it’s finally over. I have a fully functional HP Compaq 2710p back in my greedy hands. Life is good. I’d nearly forgotten how much I like this system.

3/18 Day 47: After I posted the article on March 13th going over my repair story in detail, I didn’t hear anything for a few days, then I got contacted by HP Executive Customer Relations. This was obviously in response to my post here on GBM since they used my GBM email address, not the one on file with my system case. The manager requested that I work with them. Since I was frankly tired of being without my system, I agreed. I got assigned a Customer Relations specialist, Byron.

3/19 Day 48: Byron called me at about 10am. He had also been unsuccessful in getting a decent status update on my system, so at least the problem is fully systemic. ;-) He really wanted to offer me a new system. The problem was that I had the top-of-the-line model and they were on backorder until 3/22, so none were available. He said he was going to do some checking and call me later. (They didn’t have an option to upgrade me to a better model since I already had the top model.)
Later that same day, Byron called back. He didn’t really have any new information, but at least he did call as promised.

3/20 - 3/21: I called and left messages asking for status, but no return calls.

3/24 Day 53: Byron called and had good news. He had a new system allocated for me, the same model I had before. He double checked the address and Fedexed it to me, Next Day Before 10:30am.

3/25 Day 54: I picked up my new system at Fedex. Hurray! It took one week after Customer Relations got involved for me to get a brand new system.

In the end, HP was able to make me a relatively satisfied customer, but I’m pretty easy to please for the most part. However, it did take 54 days from start to finish. I’m sure if I’d been more insistent or annoyed or rude that I could have gotten more traction on the case, but I was riding it out until I got Customer Relations involved.

After I got home with my new system I got to relive the incredibly unfriendly out-of-box experience that the 2710p has. As much as I really like this system, it has an awful first experience when you unbox it. Since I’d done it before I knew what to expect, so I just plugged it in and let it spend the next 2 hours installing the OS and getting itself set up. Then it started installing the 42 updates off of Windows Update. But that’s another story.

My HP Repair: The Saga Continues

Okay, a great big update on the whole saga so far. Note that I do NOT have my HP Compaq 2710p back from the repair facility yet.

1/25: Called HP. Very nice person, very helpful. Sent me a box for shipping the system to HP for repair.

2/1: Day 1: Shipped to HP in the provided box. I photocopied everything, that goodness.

2/8: Day 8: First call for status. In repair, case escalated. Corrected spelling of my last name.

2/14: Day 14: HP rep unable to get a status update; the call center was experiencing “system issues” After about 25 minutes on the line, I was given an email address to get a status update. I emailed the address and never got a response. Ever.

2/22: Day 22: Claimed that I had been sent status emails on 2/19 and 2/21. I never received the emails. Offered to send me another email. Um, why, if the first two were never received, would anyone think that sending another is going to help? I suggest we verify my email address. It was wrong - same misspelling of my last name that was corrected on 2/8. Said the unit status was “being evaluated”.

3/3: Day 32: Day Status was “new system board needed” waiting on parts. Notice that it has taken more than 30 days for them to determine the problem, let alone fix it.  ETA 3-5 business days.

3/10: Day 39: New system board was installed on 3/8. Should ship within 2 days. Provided another, different, email address for status.

3/11: Day 40: If this were the Bible, at least the torment would be over. Alas, no. Receive an email update. (Wow!) Email says that I need a new system board and that they’re waiting on parts. Um, okay, there’s a conflict…

3/13: Day 42: System on hold waiting for a part. When I mention the status update from 3/10, I got put on hold while the person investigated the issue. When he came back, I was told that they installed a new keyboard (?!), and that they have received the new LCD (?!) and it should be ready in a couple of days and ship next week.

HP has had my system for nearly as long as I did before I had to send it in for repair. Overall, I’m pretty nervous about what I’m going to be getting back. I have no idea why they would replace the keyboard or LCD - both were functioning fine when I sent it in. Why would they need replacing now?

I’ve been running this as rather an experiment. Since I didn’t desperately need my system right now, I wanted to see exactly how long it would take for an average repair. This was a pretty simple problem, too. Given that I have a 3 year, business grade warranty on this system, I’m appalled at how long it has taken to have a simple repair done. I am equally, if not more, appalled at how badly HP has communicated the status updates on my system. That is not business grade service.

Check out the thread 2710p Repair Story in the Forums.

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Finally Found a Flaw with my iPhone

When I bought my new iPhone on Sunday, I was very excited. I have used it quite a bit over the last couple of days and the overall user experience has been excellent.

Then I tried to send an email on my Yahoo! Small Business email account.

Now, to be fair, the problem has nothing to do with my iPhone exactly. It’s a Yahoo! issue, but given the outstanding integration that Apple has managed in so many areas, this is a glaring hole.

Yahoo! supports a kind of push email specifically for the iPhone. It’s an advertised service and one that works quite well. I have a free Yahoo! email account and it works just great with the push email. This is (very!) loosely based on IMAP and some backend magic from Apple, but from the user perspective, it’s seamless.

I also have a Yahoo! Small Business account. This is a paid service. I get my own domain name, some server storage space, and web hosting stuff. It’s not a great value anymore; I got it nearly 5 years ago and have just kept giving them money to maintain it. When I set up my spandy new iPhone, I selected the Yahoo! account set up because, well, it’s a Yahoo! account and I want push mail. I started reading mail and it worked great. IMAP is so much nicer than POP mail - faster and I know exactly what email I need to read. 

Then I tried to send an email. No go. “Cannot Send Mail. The connection to the outgoing server “(null)” failed. “  With the special push mail setup, I have no way to change my outgoing mail server or change the settings, so I can’t actually fix this with push mail.

I have a workaround - the kind that makes every techie cringe. I have set up my push mail and I will read mail there. I have also set up a POP version of my Yahoo! Small Business account. From the POP version I can set up the outgoing mail server properly and get the capability to send mail. This takes memory (of which I have plenty - I love having 16GB on my phone!) and it’s tedious, but it should work.

I have also complained bitterly to Yahoo! Small Business. I should be able to have all of the features on my paid account that I have on my free account. That’s just plain silly.

90 Million MIDs in 2012?

One Voice Technologies president and CEO Dean Weber slipped a nice little gem into the press release on voice control for MIDs.

“MIDs are expected to begin shipping this year in 2008 and ABI Research predicts that by 2012, 90 million MIDs will ship (see http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/MID). Voice control will be the standard for these devices and One Voice is positioned as the premier provider of this technology.”

Unfortunately, the research that he mentions is not freely available, so I can’t tell if it’s 90 million will ship over the 5 years, or they’re predicting 90 million will ship in 2012. Either way, that’s a huge number of MIDs, particularly when you compare that number to the shipped Tablet PCs. Of course, analyst predictions back in 2004 also called for 5 million Tablet PCs to ship this year (in 2008), with a total of around 10-11 million sold in the 4 year period. That obviously hasn’t happen.

Do you think that the world wants 90 million MIDs by 2012? What effect will that have on mobile computing in general? Although that is no where near the number of cell phones deployed throughout the world, that’s still one MID for every 73 people in the world. That’s a pretty aggressive growth rate. There must be a pretty strong pent-up demand to sell that many that quickly.

My Beloved 2710p is Broken

It appears that my lucky streak with computers has finally been broken. My last experience with having to send a system in for repair was in about 1996 when my IBM ThinkPad 701C had to go in for repairs on its famous butterfly keyboard. After a mere 12 years, I have to send in another system.

My HP Compaq 2710p is broken. However, it is one of those random problems that can strike anyone at about the 4-6 month stage of ownership and I don’t blame HP. The motherboard appears to have a problem, probably as a result of the natural burn in process, where the second memory slot causes random memory errors. I determined this after some testing using a handy BIOS utility that tests the memory outside of the OS. With 2 sticks in place, it errored almost immediately. With either stick in (but no second stick) each memory stick tested out just fine. That unfortunately points to a motherboard issue, probably with a loose connection on the secondary memory slot. :-(

I could see this coming. I’d been having unusual blue screens, all of which were memory management errors, for several weeks, getting progressively worse over time. I finally gave in and ran the Vista memory diagnostic which indicated a problem with the memory. No surprise, but a depressing validation. Upon finding the BIOS memory checker, I ran that, which also failed, and started checking the sticks individually. It was around this time that Vista started acting REALLY weird and bluescreening very often, like about once an hour or so. Finally, it just crashed. No reboot. When I did the repair option, it couldn’t repair. I tried repairing from a Vista disk. No go. Uh oh. Just like most people, I don’t back up that often (bad idea) and there was some vital stuff on there, like my term paper due in 2 days.

So I got out my bootable Knoppix Linux DVD. It wouldn’t boot. I tried 5 different Linux distros and none would boot, until I had the brilliant idea to remove the second stick of memory. Booted fine! Hurray! I copied off all of the important data, plus some unimportant data, and shut it down for the last time.

I delayed calling HP Support for a couple of weeks. I just couldn’t accept that I couldn’t fix this system. In the end, though, I gave in and called. A very nice man appropriately name Raj took my call. Although I was fully prepared to be treated like an idiot while the tech support person followed his script, such was not the case. I was treated respectfully and listened to (!!) while I outlined the problem. He walked me through a couple of things attempting to see if the problem was possibly a corrupt BIOS (admittedly a possibility) or a hardware failure. However, the BIOS suddenly developed a password when none had ever been set before and I was unable to continue debugging. At that point we both gave up and he wrapped up the call. Including waiting time, I was on the phone for about 45 minutes.

HP shipped me a box in which to send off my 2710p to a place in New Jersey. The box included everything I needed for shipping - packing material, the pre-paid return shipping label, even tape to close the box. So this afternoon I will drop it off and wait to see how long it takes before she comes home to me again.

CES 2008: Sierra’s Final Impressions

This was my fourth or fifth CES, but my first CES as a press attendee, so I got a totally different view of the show this year than I have in year’s past. As an exhibitor, you spend a lot of time trying to be polite to people and make sure that they correctly understand the message you’re trying to convey. At the end of a 5 hour shift, my feet hurt a lot, but in a totally different way than walking for 5 hours. Rob, Warner and Matt have all given some excellent overviews of their CES experiences, but here’s my take on it.

The Good

• This is geek heaven. If it plugs in, you can probably find it at CES.
• Pepcom Digital Experience - Since this was my first year as press, this was my first Digital Experience as well. Fabulous! It was some of the best parts of CES all in one, manageably sized room. I made some significant contacts and new product discoveries there that I followed up on at CES the next day.
• BlogHaus!! One of my favorite parts of CES was getting to meet all of the people I know and put faces to names. :-)
  • On a related note - meeting Warner and Matt! Although I had met Rob a few times in the past at events, I’d never met Warner or Matt. And I’d even done a couple of podcasts with Warner before I met him!
• OQO Model 02 - I was very happy to get my hands on an OQO Model 02 for a couple of days. Unfortunately, Warner took it back and I never saw it again. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) This has been somewhat of a dream system for me for a while now, so it was great to get to give it a hands-on trial.
• Tablet PC Meetup! Wow!! The readers, the users, the Tablet PC manufacturers, the other bloggers - it was overwhelmingly great to get to see 102 Tablet PC enthusiasts in one place. Even Warner couldn’t get us all to sit down and eat the food.
• Getting to ferret out the unknown systems and unknown devices. I loved stumbling on the Viliv system over in the car section.
• Interviews with Microsoft, Intel, Toshiba, HP, TabletKiosk, EPOS, InPlay Technologies, DeviceVM…. and many others. It was amazing to get to talk to so many of the primary players in the Tablet PC/UMPC/MID space all in one place.

The Bad

• My feet still hurt. :-)  I walked for miles and miles, every day.
• The show is just so big that you can’t see everything you want to see, let alone the folly of trying to see everything.
• What you want to do next is never in the same building that you are currently in. Taxis, monorail, or more walking…
• Never enough time to post interesting stuff. I found stuff and tried to get it posted, but I could never say anything meaningful because I was so rushed to see something else. There’s always a fine line between posting quantity and quality.
• I need to work on my mobile kit. This was my first attempt and I need some upgrades, starting with my camera. I kept trying to take pictures and most of them were pretty yucky.
• I need a broadband solution. There were far too many times when I didn’t have reliable WiFi connectivity and I just needed to get online. The problem is, what kind and from what provider. I lean towards a USB based solution so that I can have it portable from system to system.

And The Ugly

• The thought of Rob in a pink blankie. :-)  (At least I had my own room and didn’t have to share with those three.)

I’m already planning next year. Viva CES 2009, apparently Jan 8-11.

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Sierra’s 2008 Predictions

Okay, so I’m just a touch late with my predictions, but I’ll still throw in my opinions!

• Standard Windows based Tablet PCs will start evolving. Microsoft has been going after the "pen/touch as a feature" kind of thinking for a while, and I think as Vista inevitably gets adopted, that the feature mind set will start to prevail. I have really mixed opinions about whether this is a good thing, because I also predict that it will lead to…
• Less diversity in Tablet PC form factors. We’re seeing this already with the number of relatively ho-hum swivel convertibles that are coming out with few slates and no new hybrids. In 2008, more systems will just include a touch screen because they can, and because more people will want them due to the number of iPhone users out there. However, few people will use the ineffective touch screens well, which will cause
• Frustration with Windows Tablet PC features. And I think this is a Really Good Thing. Because if people get upset, then Microsoft will do something about it. Right now, we’re merely a vocal minority. As more systems with touchscreens get in the hands of real users, frustration with the shortcomings will be inevitable and the outcry will finally reach Microsoft.
• More PowerToys for Tablet PCs. Instead of addressing the requirements in the OS, Microsoft will release at least 6 new Power Toys in 2008 geared directly for ink and touch input. These will attempt to appease the masses while Microsoft works on Vista Service Pack 2.
• Intel’s vision of Mobile Internet Devices will release and people will get really excited and really disappointed. There will be a big bang at CES with lots of buzz. Once the systems start getting into reviewers hands, a couple models will get good reviews, but all will complain that the devices
• Don’t run Windows
• Aren’t fast enough
• Aren’t compatible enough
• Don’t take the place of my desktop system
• That said however, small, inexpensive ASUS Eee PC type systems will start getting really really popular. However, these aren’t MIDs (according to Intel) and whether they’re UMPCs or not is an open question. People will start to understand that "Anytime/Anywhere" connectivity can be a really good thing.
• HTC will FINALLY launch the Shift, and by the time it is released, it will be obsolete.
• Wacom will finally get some serious competition in the Tablet PC space, from newcomer N-Trig. N-Trig’s digitizer will get some great reviews and people will start having a good option beyond Wacom. It will get adopted as an option for some of the upcoming Tablet PC releases.
• Multi touch will not happen in 2008, at least commercially. There will be talk and there will be lots of demos, but no real uses until the software catches up in 2009.
• WiMAX will lose even more momentum. I want WiMAX to succeed, but I just don’t see it happening, at least not for yet another year. I actually really hope I’m wrong on this one.
• Wireless USB devices will start popping up here and there and people will start to get interested, but interoperability fears and high prices will stall the adoption.

I’m going to dub 2008 as the Year of the Tweener. I think the big stories in 2008 will all circle around those "in-between" devices - bigger than a cell phone, smaller than a Tablet PC, trying to be multi-functional and sometimes succeeding. The release of the MIDs will whet people’s appetites for Internet access, and as these converged devices start to get in the hands of consumers, frustration will set in as the devices fail to live up to our hopes. And the computer manufacturers will listen to us all…

Sierra and Splotch on Vacation

Splotch and I just got back from a lovely time in Mexico. That little guy really gets down with the traveling! We had a lovely time traipsing around Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas together.

Aas for the gear I took, on this trip I stuck with what are, for me, necessities and left some gear at home. Here’s what I had in my gear bag:

• Fujitsu P1610: The P1610 is a great little traveling computer, but I’m still longing for my own OQO. Even smaller and more portable and easier to pack. Given the fact that I’ll never go on vacation without a computer, even for a weekend, the OQO seems like a good safety net.
• AT&T 8525 cell phone syncing email from GottaBeMobile, personal, and work. My 8525 phone is the "old reliable". Sure, I’d love to upgrade to the Tilt, but work is providing this, so I use what they give me. As sexy as the iPhone is, that won’t work for me. I’ve tried to shoe-horn my usage models into its available capabilities, and I just want more than it offers, mostly for advanced email. And it has to be a global phone, which knocks off anything non-UMTS.
• Amazon Kindle: I’m still deciding if Rob gets it back. :-)  And just wait until he sees how his Kindle spent Christmas Day.
• Sony Reader - first generation model I’ve owned for a while, to compare to the Kindle. I still like this reader.
• Apple iPod Nano - in Hot Pink of course. Gotta have my tunes. The new Touch does look interesting…
• My old and trusty Casio Exilim Ex-Z4 camera. This needs replaced. Badly. I’m eying the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX55P. My husband has a Lumix that he loves. He’s an optical engineer, so he’s fussy about having a good lens and the Leica lenses they use in the Lumix line are quite good.
• plus the power cables / docks for all of the above, of course

So was I happy with what I took? Moderately, yes, but I still need (expensive) improvements. In addition to the OQO, new camera, new phone, and the Kindle, I need a better power supply situation. The iGo everywhere85 looks like a good possibility for me, particularly if I combine it with the Monster Outlets to Go portable power strip. If I get the power cable tangle under control, it will help a bunch, but then I’ll start noticing that I really need a 3G connection for my computer, probably through USB since I swap around a lot. I spent far too long in the lobby of a hotel in San Diego trying to get the free wireless to connect properly. It never did, so I’m grateful I had iPass to allow me to connect for free through the coffee shop.

I leave for CES on Saturday morning.  As Rob mentioned earlier, OQO is sponsoring us for CES, so I know I’ll have access to an OQO Model 2 with EV-DO during the event and I’m THRILLED with that opportunity to try out what I think may be my next computer purchase. Unfortunately, little else will probably improve in my gear bag until then, but I’m hoping to find lots of new goodies at CES to fill up my bag for the next trip!

GBM 5 Years of Tablet PC: Operating Systems

Five years ago, on November 7 2002, Microsoft launched Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Bill Gates himself was on-hand to launch the new platform at a large press event.

“The launch of the Tablet PC marks an exciting new era of mobile computing that is limited only by the imagination of its users,” Gates said. “The Tablet PC is a great example of how computers are adapting to how people really work, whether they’re taking notes in a meeting, collaborating wirelessly with colleagues or reading on screen. We’re just scratching the surface of what is possible.”

As it comes time to celebrate the 5 Year Anniversary of Tablet PCs, it’s only natural to look at how far we’ve come since that first operating system release. So let’s take a brief walk down the dusty paths of Tablet PC history and look at how far the OS has evolved in five short years.

pre-2002: Although many systems had tried to implement a natural pen-based input system, overall they had met limited success. Noteworthy early pen-based computers included the GO Tablet Computer running GO’s PenPoint OS, Apple Newton and the original IBM ThinkPad 730T. (Yes, the original IBM ThinkPad 730 was, in fact, a pad, not a clamshell notebook computer. That came later, then it rolled back into a convertible Tablet PC. What goes around comes around…)

November 7, 2002: Microsoft launches Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (TPE). I still remember seeing the first Acer TravelMate C100 at WinHEC in 2002. I loved it! The pen seemed so effortless and it recognized my handwriting so well. I started to learn about such features as a Tablet Input Panel - floating, docked at the top of the screen or docked at the bottom of the screen - and Windows Journal. The confusion abounded, though, among most people. The general public didn’t know what to do with it. Does it run regular programs? Is it a computer? How do I use it? Despite some interesting advertising from Acer and other manufacturers who were on the leading edge of Tablet PC production, many consumers were just confused by the simplicity of the new interface. 

Almost immediately, additions to the features of TPE started creeping out of Microsoft in the form of PowerToys. Many of the first Power Toys were merely features that didn’t quite make the cut for inclusion in the main OS release. The first PowerToy I ever installed was the Dictionary Tool. In the early days of TPE, when the handwriting recognition was less robust, the ability to add new words to the custom recognizer dictionary was absolutely imperative. Even now, all of my XP TPE systems have the Dictionary Tool installed. Other popular PowerToys included the Ink Desktop, the Crossword Puzzles, and the Handwriting games. I remember fondly creating my first custom font using My Font Tool. That certainly surprised non-Tablet PC users!

August 25, 2004: Microsoft releases Windows XP Service Pack 2, which includes Tablet PC Edition 2005, originally codenamed Lonestar. Although SP2 included an impressive list of fixes to the original TPE, the biggest feature was the least advertised. With SP2, Microsoft made the fundamental change to view Tablet PC OS as merely a feature of the operating system. This quiet change paved the way for a host of minor differences in the Tabletscape. Tablet PCs began to be marketed as notebooks, with a twist. The changes in the mindset around Tablet PCs certainly changed the subsequent Tablet PCs that were released. Fewer slates, bigger systems, more convertibles.

For me, the change that effected me most was actually a removal. I installed SP2 and… where is my WriteAnywhere?!?! There was a collective outcry as the small community of Tablet PC lovers realized that one of the popular features of TPE was suddenly gone. Many people actually uninstalled SP2 because the couldn’t face not having the WriteAnywhere feature. I bought a copy of ritePen, an excellent inking program by EverNote that also allows one to write anywhere on the screen. It took me two more Tablet PCs and a good year before I finally got used to using the floating TIP. One of the biggest questions of the day was whether the next version of TPE, would bring back WriteAnywhere. Obviously it didn’t.

What definitely did improve with SP2 was handwriting recognition. There were major changes to the actual recognition engine with SP2 and many people, including me, experienced much better handwriting recognition.

The PowerToys got their own updates, including some packaging improvements. US residents got the Experience Pack and the Education Pack, but international residents only got the Enhancement Pack, a sub-set of PowerToys from the Experience and Education Packs that had been internationalized. The biggest change within these packs was to the Snipping Tool which got a new interface.

March 11, 2006: Origami launches and the Ultra-Mobile PC UMPC is born. With the birth of the UMPC, Microsoft made another fundamental change in the Tabletscape with the addition of touchscreen support. In a very short time, larger Tablet PCs with touchscreens began appearing. Systems began getting both bigger and smaller. The UMPC also introduced a new touch based interface that provided some inspirations of the release of Windows Vista.

January 30, 2007: Microsoft releases Windows Vista (finally!) and there is much rejoicing by Tablet PC folk. Another major improvement to the handwriting recognition engine, and finally, I can train the Tablet PC to learn my handwriting! I had received several years of “instruction” from my Tablet PC on how to write in the way that would be recognized best, but now I can train the system. With Vista, Microsoft completed the change to Tablet PC features being “just another feature. Vista enables the Tablet PC features whenever it senses the presence of a supported digitizer. Any system can be a Tablet PC - just add digitizer.

There were many new features in Vista for Tablet PCs, including pen flicks, checkboxes, panning, snipping pen. TIP improvements, and others. For me, the new features have improved the pen experience yet again. When combined with a good Vista capable Tablet PC, Vista provides a strong pen-based experience.

November 2007: The 5 Year Anniversary of the Tablet PC. It’s been a bumpy road at times, but overall the use experience on Tablet PCs has been steadily improving over the five years. Vista Service Pack 1 is on the horizon, currently scheduled for February 2008, and with it, I expect even more improvements to the overall inking experience.

Looking ahead: With the release of the iPhone, Apple has managed to bring the touch experience to a broader audience than had experienced the Tablet PC. I hope that the popularity of the iPhone translates into a broader interest in touch and pen computing in general. Whether Apple decides to release an Apple Tablet PC or not, the iPhone will drive an interest in touch that can only help the Tablet PC and UMPC markets. In other areas, the Linux-based Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) are also challenging Microsoft’s hold on the pen computing market. This broadening of the operating system marketplace should help to drive a greater availability and market for Tablet PCs, UMPCs, and pen-based computing.

Overall, I’m impressed with the changes that have been wrought in only five years on the market. I can only hope the next five years are as exciting!