TeacherTabletPC

Keenan Dungey, Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, has presented on his use of the Tablet PC in class (PowerPoint slides, Google HTML conversion). Among the advantages he lists:

• PowerPoint can save the notes I made during the lecture, which I can then post to BlackBoard
• I can switch from PowerPoint to other computer applications for projecting during the lecture (animations, LoggerPro data collection, Web resources…)
• I can sit down with the students in a discussion circle instead of standing at the whiteboard
• I can switch to other computer applications for projecting during the lecture (animations, Web resources…)
• I can quickly evaluate how well the computer is capturing my notes and make corrections

At about 46:50 into the nearly 51-minute Tablet PC Show #57, Perry Reed mentions my post on Windows Messenger Inking to communicate math, along with several other real-world uses of Tablet PCs.  There’s also a ton of info on various hardware and software, including the Motion LE1700.

GottaBeMobile.com video review of the LE1700 Tablet PC

We are very pleased to bring everyone this first look at Motion Computing’s newest Tablet PC, the LE1700, in this special launch day video review. It has been about two years since the release of the LE1600, and many people were wondering if this day would ever come. It has!

TabletPC2.com: Motion LE1700 Tablet PC Leaves the Competition playing Catch Up

Motion Computing®, a leader in ultramobile computing and wireless communications, today unveiled the LE1700, the company’s latest flagship slate tablet PC. The most feature-rich tablet PC on the market, the LE1700 integrates the latest technologies aimed at enhancing productivity of mobile professionals in healthcare, field sales and service, government and hospitality, among others. New technologies available on the LE1700 include Motion’s exclusive WriteTouch display option for dual-mode writing and touch-screen input; Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) integration; the Microsoft® Windows Vista™ operating system; and Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile technology.

PC Magazine: Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet PC

Bottom Line: If working while standing is in your job description, this slate tablet is the best in the business. For all else, look for a convertible tablet that has a built-in keyboard.

Pros: Digitizer pen has no equal. Lightweight. Well connected with a variety of wireless options. Good amount of RAM to run Windows Vista Business.

Cons: Can get warm at times. Geared toward vertical markets. Add-on features can easily put this system above $3,000.

And some more:

• MobileWhack: Motion LE1700 Integrates Compelling Features, Ultimate Slate Mobility
• Mobile Magazine: Motion LE1700 Slate Tablet PC Boasts a Number of Firsts
• iTWire: Motion LE1700 tablet features inbuilt EV-DO or 3G connectivity
• MobileTechReview.com Forum: Motion Computing Announces their new LE1700 Vista Tablet
• TabletPCReview.com Forum: Hands On – Motion LE1700 Tablet PC

From GottaBeMobile.com:

Josh Einstein, the developer of TEO 3.0, has created a nifty new application for OneNote. The OneNote Calendar gives you a calendar view of all of your notes, allowing you to view them by when they were created or modified. There is a preview pane that allows you to view your notes. More good news. It is free.

A note for those of us that use Firefox—the install page just doesn’t seem to work in Firefox, so you may want to try IEtab or (ugh) MSIE.

Since I did that HP tx1000 post two weeks ago and the Lenovo X60 post yesterday, I figured I should go ahead and do a Toshiba Portege R400 post (and like with Lenovo, I wouldn’t mind a free one, but I doubt that’ll happen).

TabletPC2.com: Toshiba adds “WOW” Factor to their R400 Tablet PC

When you take the R400 out of the box and feel it in your hand for the first time, a audible *WOW* is likely to escape from your lips. The simple elegance of the high gloss piano white finish combined with high gloss Piano black trim of the R400 makes a for a great first impression. This is without question the most elegant computer design I’ve seen.

GottaBeMobile.com – CES Report: Two part demo of the new Toshiba R400 Tablet PC – Your Tablet PC and Ultra-Mobile PC news source

One of the main things we wanted to see at CES this year was the new Toshiba R400 Tablet PC. Today we got that chance in multiples! In this two part GottaBeMobile InkShow, we were able to get our hands on this new piece of hardware for a quick on the floor look and walkaround, plus got a full demonstration by Kevin Roberts, the product manager at Toshiba responsible for this machine.

Toshiba’s Not-So-Potent Portege

The Good: Nice design; e-mail and battery alerts even when computer is closed; bright display; elegant hingeThe Bad: Expensive; short battery life; lacks internal CD drive

The Bottom Line: Buyers on a budget may want to look elsewhere

Toshiba Breaks New Tablet PC Ground

With Apple MacBook-like looks, a fantastic widescreen display and the kind of portability usually found in Lenovo ThinkPads, Toshiba’s Portégé R400 is the most groundbreaking Tablet PC eWEEK Labs has tested. Unfortunately, users will pay for the innovation—in terms of both price and performance.

Toshiba Portégé R400 Tablet Laptop: Gadget of the Week – Popular Mechanics

Which brings is to the option-wealthy Toshiba Portégé R400, which has a touchscreen display, allowing it to be used as a tablet, as well as a tiny OLED screen that’s visible when the computer is closed. This Personal Information Assistant can only display one line of text and a few icons, but it lets you scroll through e-mail headers when new messages hit your Outlook inbox. No one, not even James Bond or Jason Bourne, needs this sort of preview feature, but it’s certainly cool.

Mostly because I think it’s a good machine, but partly because I like my X41 so much and want an X60 and partly for the oh-so-slim chance that someone at Lenovo might decide to send me a free one (like that’d ever happen), here’s some recent stuff on the X60.

ForbesOnTech: Convertible Computing–What Works and What’s Needed

First, an observation: if you need an example of an ironclad bond between a user and their machine, look closely at tablet computer users. In my case, along with true persistent wireless connectivity it’s literally changed how I view personal computing. My tablet, a Lenovo X60 convertible notebook, is the first thing I pack when I leave my house. Leave my shaving gear at home? It happens. Forget to pack enough undershirts? JC Penney’s is a nationwide chain, so that’s not a problem either. Leave my power supply in my car? Well, I regularly get six hours of battery life out of my beloved X60, so I’ll get by until a kinsmen can overnight the power supply to me.

TabletPC2.com: New 2007 Editors Choice Tablet PC

Filled with exciting new features that include a touch screen, that can be viewed indoors or out and built in EDVO, The new Lenovo X60 has convinced this die hard slate style Tablet PC user that it was time to switch to a convertible. (Which for the record was no easy task) Before my first week with a pre production X60 Tablet PC was over, I knew that if the production unit of the X60 was everything the pre production unit was, there was going to be a new Editors Choice Tablet PC at TabletPc2.com.

First impressions: Lenovo X60 Tablet PC | Office Evolution | ZDNet.com

I’ve had the Lenovo X60 Tablet PC for about a week now and the system is configured for my trip to Seattle for the Microsoft Global MVP Summit next week (after a quick weekend in Phoenix to see some spring training baseball and an Eric Clapton show). I’m happy to report that my first impressions are almost universally positive.

WIRED Blogs: Gadget Lab

Even though Lenovo’s latest feels like it packs a lot of yesterday’s tech, it’s still a capable machine, at least for business users. The ThinkPad X60 doesn’t truck with such trappings as a touchpad or a widescreen LCD. This is strictly old-school: Its charms displayed on a 12.1-inch TFT and powered by a 1.83GHz Core Duo (and our test unit even ran XP instead of Vista). A few newish frills await the patient: Integrated WAN from Verizon, a touchscreen that works with pen or fingertip, and a surprisingly low 4.6-pound weight. With a battery life of more than four hours (thanks to a giant Frankenbattery), it easily trumps most notebooks in longevity.

Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet 6366 (Core Duo 1.66 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD) Reviews. Laptops Reviews by CNET.

The good: Lightweight, portable design; comfortable stylus and keyboard; screen automatically rotates when you adjust tablet position; touch screen is usable in direct sunlight.The bad: Expensive; lacks S-Video port; price does not include an optical drive.

The bottom line: The Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet strikes the best compromise between a ultraportable tablet and a full-featured laptop.

The Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL is hosting Tablet PC Institute 2007, April 18-20, 2007. Though it appears that the registration deadline has passed, the site does have a number of examples of Tablet PC use in the classroom:

Faculty Tablet PC Program All of our 150 faculty members have been using the Toshiba Tablet PC in their classrooms. Click here to download a journal viewer and then pick any of the following examples to see what they’ve done. Journal Viewer download Since most of our Tablet software is Microsoft based the examples may not view properly in Netscape. Please switch to Internet Explorer if you find that problem.
What the teachers are saying	Lower School English Review
Document Mark-up	4th grade fractions
Note: The links below are quite large and may take some time to download
Lower School Tablet Movie	Tablet PC in Action
Tablet Case Study	Take a look at the Tablet Features

(as seen in The Tablet PC Education Blog)

Next week in the HP Online Speaker Series: “Using Tablet PCs and Pen-based Technologies for Mapping; Teaching Earth Science applications throughout an undergraduate curriculum”

I am pleased to announce our next online webinar!

Please join us on Wednesday, 28 March, 10:00am – 11:00am Pacific Daylight Savings Time for a live presentation and discussion featuring Mark Manone, HP Technology for Teaching grant recipient and Research Associate/Instructor at the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Geospatial Research and Information Laboratory, Northern Arizona University.

(Another quick post, this time at the last second—trying to maintain my promise to post every day despite this weekend’s marathon of grading.)

Both Robert Heiny and Lora Heiny mentioned America’s Digital Schools: A Five Year Forecast – Mobilizing the Curriculum (ADS 2006), in which a 78% growth of Tablet PC use in schools is projected.  It’s an interesting read.

As I’ve been getting more into podcasts (especially things like KQED’s “Writer’s Block”, which has nothing to do with tablets…), I stumbled into The TabletPC Show. Here’s their run-down on Tablet PC Show #56:

Welcome to episode 56 of the Tablet PC Show! Like the last episode, I don’t waste any time jumping into…

News Updates:

• Tim Heuer’s Foxit PDF Previewer lets you preview PDF files from within Outlook 2007 or Windows Vista Explorer. But it works only on Vista.
• The Canovo Dual-touch “Superslate” puts two screens on a clamshell device. No real keyboard, but a very cool idea.
• There’s yet another OneNote PowerToy, and this one lets you sort your notebook sections alphabetically.
• Amtek’s new UMPC is being called the “Vistagami” with good reason.
• Vulcan has finally released the FlipStart. But is it really a UMPC?
• Samsung’s is showing off the very slick Q1 Ultra (aka Q2). I want one!
• Samsung is also shipping ReadyDrive hybrid hard drives to OEMs. Just what every tablet needs.
• Bluetooth 2.1 will include an optional “near-field communications” feature.
• Another OneNote PowerToy: This one lets you set sections of your notebook as read-only.
• GottaBeMobile is giving away a DocuPen Scanner Executive Kit. I tell you how to win it.
• Engadget writes about EyePoint eye-tracking software which supposedly greatly improves on previous attempts at vision input, that is, controlling a computer with your eyes. Would this be a good input method for tablets?

San Jose Sharks assistant coach Tim Hunter uses a Tablet PC during each Sharks hockey game. I talk about how he uses it.