Einstein Technologies is now offering TEO 3.0 for free download. TEO is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 that turns Outlook into a fully pen-enabled app. You can use it on your Tablet PC or UMPC running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2 or Windows Vista.
Thanks for the update, Josh.
Update: The TEO listing on TabletPCPost.com has been updated to reflect the change from 15-day trial to Free.
Last week Panasonic released its new UMPC, Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1, in Canada. Rugged, of course. (Available in the US since June.) In the photo the Panasonic rep is pouring water on the PC to show it continue working in harsh environments. This announcement is a good reminder how Tablet PC form factors have continued to diversify. Think about how many different types of Tablet PCs are available today.
Tablet taxonomy may have changed over the years, but fundamentally two familiar categories are the pillars: 1) Slate and 2) Convertible.
Slate form factors have all the PC components centralized behind the display. Several companies offer slates: Motion, TabletKiosk, Electrovaya, HTC, OQO, Samsung, Fujitsu, Avantech, DRS, General Dynamics, Everex, Getac, MobileDemand, Panasonic, Roper Mobile, and others. The simple design where the display is always exposed makes it easy to use in medical environments, manufacturing, military, and other mobile work place environments.
Convertibles are traditional clamshell notebooks with a swivel or sliding hinge. All of the major OEMs offer convertible Tablet PCs, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, MPC, Fujitsu, and ASUS. The attached keyboard and choice to use a pen when needed appeals to general business users, students, and a growing number of consumers.
There have been attempts to segment the categories by type of digitizer too, with EM and resistive. But then along came dual EM + resistive digitizers and today dual EM + capacitive are available. Too complicated.
Screen size was another marketing distinction. Tablet PCs with 8.9" display and larger and UMPCs with 7" and lower. Then came MID, still a PC, but even smaller display than UMPCs. Of course, individual companies started calling things whatever they needed to so they could appeal to their specific customer base.
There are rugged, semi-rugged, commercial, and even consumer Tablet PCs. Some are called UMPCs, others MIDs, and I'm sure we'll see some Netbooks with digitizers eventually.
At the core, if these units have digitizers, then they are Tablet PCs. But Tablet PC may not apply as this category of multi-functions, multi-features, multi-shapes continues. What do you think the next generation will be called?
This is a nice problem for the software to have -- many different types of form factors on which it can be used and used in many different ways. I'm glad there are creative people helping to move these various form factors forward. I look forward to seeing what's next.
On Friendfeed, Robert Scoble and Layne exchanged comments about A list bloggers and Robert replied, "You're on the 'T list' for 'Tablet PC freaks.' I'm on that list too." How true! lol I am also. You're welcome to join this list also! I'd love to see the search results for "Tablet PC" grow even faster on Friendfeed, Twitter, blogs, or your social media of choice.
Being labeled as a "Tablet Freak" has been a theme this week. OK, so it's a fairly common theme in my life. :) For example, the other day I shook hands with someone to whom I was being introduced and the person got a fuzzy look on her face. One of those, "Are you...? No... I think I know who you are," comments and then that sudden recognition of, "Oh yeah, I know you," with the eventual, you talk [way too much] about Tablet technology smile.
Do all roads in my life lead to Tablet PCs? I admit that even the other week when I was out in fields with a friend and niece putting Audubon Society number bands on kestrel chicks that I was thinking about how an ultra-thin slate (1/4" thick, all day battery life, stylus, and OneNote) would have been great to use as a field notebook. Let's settle on that I'm passionate about natural interaction and always looking for opportunities to advance it. Agreed? :)
So, yes, even if efforts like the TechCrunch Web Tablet need help, I'm willing to help. I love seeing the enthusiasm exuded by people as they learn about this concept, with a good dose of skepticism and reality. In particular, I enjoy seeing the expansion and evolution of concepts that originated from past Tablet PCs, such as with UMPCs and Netbooks, or the tremendous growth in slate form factor devices.
I'm far from alone in being a "Tablet Freak." If you want to know something about the current state of Tablet PCs, there are certain people to go to first. The "A List" of Tablet PC community experts, of sorts. From Chris Hassler helping people in the Microsoft.public.windows.tabletpc discussion group to Chris Wilkerson focusing on uses in the healthcare vertical MedicalTabletPC.com there are people who spend hours helping others solve technical issues, consult on product development, inform before purchase, test and review, and fully understand ongoing development efforts.
Here's a short list of these phenomenal people:
This list can go on and on with community members, let alone the many people at Microsoft, OEMs, IHVs, and ISVs who are beyond passionate about natural input and dedicate time to the community. Thank you for all your help. It's an absolute pleasure interacting with people who are so interested in seeing technology move forward.
"Tablet Freaks" -- or Tableteers -- is not an exclusive list and you're always welcome to join in this conversation too. ;)
Here is an updated list of case studies about mobile PCs with Tablet or Touch technology used in education.
Blackboard & Tegrity
Colorado Technical University - Sioux Falls
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
Tablet PCs in schools: Case Study Report
Tablet PCs in schools: A review of literature and selected projects
DyKnow
Auburn City Schools – Auburn, AL
Bishop Hartley High School – Columbus, OH
King’s Ridge Christian School – Atlanta, GA
North Daviess Elementary School – Elnora, IN
Park Tudor School – Indianapolis, IN
St Ursula Academy – Cincinnati, OH
DePauw University – Green Castle, IN
Joliet Junior College – Joliet, IL
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology – Terre Haute, IN
University of Richmond – Richmond, VA
Fujitsu
DePaul Catholic High School & update – Wayne, NJ
Virginia Tech College of Engineering – Blacksburg, VA
MPC Corporation (previously Gateway)
Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School (KOAM) – Joplin, MO
U.S. Airforce Academy – Colorado Springs, CO
Winona State University - Winona, Minnesota
HP
Brookfield High School – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Canutillo Middle School - Canutillo, TX
Culver Elementary School – Culver, OR
Denver School of Science and Technology – Denver, CO
Dunbar Primary School – Lufkin, TX
Grand Manan Community School – New Brunswick, Canada
International School of Brussels – Brussels, Belgium
J.A. Hughes Elementary School – Red Lake Falls, MN
Monte Cassino School – Tulsa, OK
Trinity School – Atlanta, GA
Grove City College – Grove City, PA
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College – Green Bay, WI
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology – Terre Haute, IN
Universidad Technologica Nacional- Argentina
Lanway Corporate Business Systems
The Islay High School - Scottland
Microsoft
Arino-Alloza Rural School – Aragon, Spain
Bishop Hartley High School – Columbus, OH
Brookfield Zoo - Chicago, IL
Cincinnati Country Day School – Cincinnati, OH
Cornwallis School – Maidstone, Kent, UK
Crescent Girls’ School – Singapore
Frankston High School – Melbourne, Australia
Hoover City Schools – AL
Jefferson County Public Schools – Louisville, KY
Mulgrave School – West Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Northern Lights Public School – Aurora, Ontario, Canada
Ritsumeikan Primary School – Kyoto City, Japan
Torrey Pines High School – San Diego, CA
York Region District School Board – York Region, Ontario, Canada
Kansas State University – Manhattan, KS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 4/2/2003 and 1/29/2005 - Cambridge, MA
Northeastern University College of Business Administration -
Politecnico Innovazione – Italy
Purdue University - IN
Republic Polytechnic of Singapore – Singapore
Rochester Institute of Technology - Rochester, NY
University of Iowa – Iowa City, IA
University of Toronto Medical School – Toronto, Canada
University of Vermont School of Business Administration – Burlington, VT
Winona State University - Winona, Minnesota
Motion Computing
Celebration High School - Austin, TX
National University of Ireland
Using Tablet PC for Electronic Mark-up of Assessments
RM
Cornwallis School - Kent, UK
Invicta Girls Grammar School - Kent, UK
St. Bartholomew’s School – Newbury, UK
Samsung
The Deans Primary School – Swinton, Salford, UK
TechLearning
Case Study: Learning with Tablet PCs, Bishop Hartley
Toshiba
Brophy College Prep - Phoenix, AZ - Video: 300K 110K
Greendale High School - Wisconsin
Purdue University – IN
Are you ready to let your fingers dance across your computer monitor, display, or interactive whiteboard? When Microsoft announced that it is including multi-touch support in Windows 7, there was plenty of groaning about dirty fingers.
"...I really don't want users pinching and dragging their dirty mits around the new LCD monitors," writes Slashdot user binaryspiral.
"I know I'm not the most tolerant person in the world, but when someone comes to my desk, points at something on the screen and leaves a big smeary finger print, violent thoughts flash through my mind," comments TheTruthIsOutThere on ZDnet.
Channel9 user, YearOfTheLinuxDesktop, expresses, "look: I can fill my display with dirty fingerprints!"
Do you agree with these folks? Is touching something bad? Or is it a fear you can get over?
Perhaps you are hyper-clean. Nothing wrong with that. If that's the case, when you scrub your desk and keyboard each day - before and after you snack - just take a quick wipe of the display too.
Perhaps you are a free spirit who rarely cleans and are slightly worried that this is one more place that people will notice you haven't cleaned. Trust me, they know it already. If salt from potato chips scratching your display worries you, then there are great inventions like hand-towels and napkins to help you out.
Purdue University is hosting this year's Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education (WIPTE). Submissions for papers, videos and posters are now being accepted.
Conference Dates: October 15 - 16, 2008
Conference Schedule future location
Here are some of the details for the Call for Papers:
Submissions Due: June 16, 2008.
Objectives: A wide variety of disciplines are embracing Tablet PC's and similar pen-based devices as tools for the radical enhancement of teaching and learning. Deployments of Tablet PCs have spanned the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels and have dealt with an amazingly diverse range of subject areas including nursing, veterinary science, geology, ethno-musicology, anthropology, landscape architecture, writing, mathematics, computer science, Japanese language, physics, engineering, art, economics, as well as others. Despite the diversity of content areas, many deployments have been similar in terms of the passion they have generated among students and teachers. The Third Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education (WIPTE) is intended to leverage this shared passion and to identify best practices in the educational use of pen-based computing so that all educators may benefit from this next generation of technology.
Whether you refer to small PCs with batteries Ultra-mobile PCs, ultramobile PCs, mini tablets, or UMPC, this category packs innovation into a little bundle that you can carry with you. Between Intel and VIA designing special chipsets and processors with better power management, rotational hard drives dropping in price, and the popularity of small display sizes in consumer products we've seen the sub 2lb PC market start to expand. The innovation doesn't stop with chipsets and processors though. We're seeing touch screens on more PCs. You can tap your way around web pages with your finger or a stylus. When you're using a full Windows OS with browser, you can run Flash and Silverlight based web apps, read and write PDFs, and even use a full productivity application suite. You can use these little PCs as a companion or as a simple PC system.
Is a product still in the UMPC category when a rotational hard drive is replaced with solid state drive? What about when the screen is just a regular display and doesn't have touch? Or how about when the operating system is mobile or limited? Why or why not?
CES has been a great place for resellers, retailers, and partners to get product roadmaps, not to mention a good place for press and general audience to get a peek at future products. Though the target audience for these products is consumers, there really is a variety of product types on the show floor.
The CES 2008 Tablet PC & UMPC is underway. jkOnTheRun suggests over 100 people have already arrived. Joan Heiny says several people have been coming in and out of the rooms. More were arriving as we were talking on the phone. She also reported 5 manufacturers may be giving away Tablet PCs and several other manufacturers are present. The excitement and laughter from the crowd was obvious.
www.akihabaranews.com reports a new UMPC from LG (name yet to come) will be displayed at CES 2008.
Specifications include:
