I think I was still in “micro”‘puter land at the time.
I bought a Sony UX50…
which was a cool little PC. Too small for everyday use however.
So I bought a Fujitsu p1610.
It has stood the test of time well. I still use it semi regularly for “inking”. That’s right,you can write on it just like a notebook. It works very well. “But didn’t you get the iPad? The greatest tablet since sliced bread?!”you ask. Yes,but inking on the iPad doesn’t work well. First of all,the screen type requires that the stylus point be a round 1/4″nub of “capacitive”foam. I’ve tried multiple versions. It’s like trying to write with a crayon. Not the little ones,mind you. The big,ham fisted ones. Second,I tried and bought pretty much every note taking (with writing recognition) program available. Don’t get me wrong,some excellent programs,but unilaterally one issue. A micro lag between the physical stylus movement and the screen draw of the movement. Maddening! Maybe the iPad 2 will perform better at the task. Personally,I don’t plan on finding out (Apple-bad….:D).
SO what makes the TC1100 desirable to me? Wacom digitizer…The screen does nothing unless you have the special stylus. No worries about “vectoring”caused by your palm resting on the screen. Pressure sensitivity in the pen tip. A great tablet PC with incredible peripherals and still an active modding community. Full fledged OS with Flash capability. Ability to run full Office programs (especially Onenote!).
Lots of technical reasons abound,but let us arrive at the REAL need for a bigger screened portable computer for ol’Phillip…..
Action cures fear. And growth equals change. To do anything worthwhile in life,you actually have to DO something. And not just anything. Like sitting on your ass all day every day wishing,hoping,praying,thinking,dreaming of that ‘big break,’ that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will just sweep you off your feet in its swooning and romanticized Prince Charming ways.
No real summation here. We move this coming weekend into a house again. A year. Possibly more. We keep the rolling home (someday I shall add content to that blog….). A good opportunity to weed out more “things”and challenge to not accumulate those very same “things”all anew. Mostly a challenge to myself for the long view.
Also. No iPad2. Meh….
Also-also. The Verizon/Alltel->ATT “transition”thingy approacheth. The Verizon phone I picked up for my current project (signal in the basement…) will “transition”sometime in May. Purportedly. Although there is some scuttlebutt that ATT has requested an extension from the FCC. Why does this matter? If I wait patiently,I can negate the contract with Verizon for the cost of a “restock fee”from ATT. $35 vs $350. See how that works? Plus I have a perfectly good older;ie,more internal memory Droid X to eBay for some cash. Winning!
I will be honest. I am somewhat tempted to pick up an iPhone 4. A refurb,on the cheap and stick with ATT for both my wife and I. With the new “any mobile2mobile for free”ATT option,I can rein our “communication”costs down to $120/mo. Not cheap. Not extravagant. Doable.
Quite a bit of blog prep. For some strange reason,I feel compelled (again) to widen my personal blogging stance.A restart on oneeyesquare.com and a new domain,rollingho.me. Both are still in the early stages of setup.
My plans are to use the oneeyesquare domain for life,politics and whatever smattering of business I might be engaged in. In the past,I had used the domain for all things carpentry;however,discovery of Chinese pron hackers necessitated a quick shut down. Subsequent attempts to restart it met with continued hacking attempts,so I gave up trying to keep the domain active online. Hopefully,like a phoenix,it rises from the ashes!
The rollingho.me will be a foray into blogging about our life as fulltime RV’ers. To share a little bit of our story,our travels (or lack thereof!) and to better document some of the logistics of living “Small space,Large yard”. Anybody want to guess the blog tagline?
In the past,with other since defunct blogs,I had always hoped to monetize them. Now I am much more interested in ‘using them to forward story,to share opinion and to distribute articles of interest. Please don’t misunderstand,there will be ads! subliminal insert>CLICK ON THEM…..<However,monetization not my primary goal. subliminal insert#2>CLICK ON THEM…..<
Nothing new hardware wise this week. Sans money. Actually rather late with ATT’s cut. Curious how that plays out in the near future. I have spent some time researching other providers. One of my goals is to be contract free. For whatever reason,the US cellphone contract model is not my cup of tea. Matter of fact,my initial move to ATT (then Cingular) was for the SIM card based phone and thus,the freedom to use the whatever phone I so desired. I had a lot of fun trying different phones and passing down the “old”ones to my wife. All sans corporate manipulation. No waiting for “upgrade eligibility”.
And then came the iPhone…Imminently more usable. Best screen available in 2007. Apps worked great. Jailbreaking! Official app store. It was an incredible experience. I could go down and upgrade to the iPhone 4,but find myself very reticent to add more “contract”time. I’ve run the numbers,the $325ish ETF (early termination fee) isn’t numerically significant if compare to the cost of purchasing an equivalent phone minus the carrier subsidization. Roughly $500 gets you anything you want in new and current hardware. It’s the idea of the carrier attempting to cudgel me into obeying by offering the tantalizing carrot. I can’t do it anymore…
Where to? Tmobile has Flex Pay. No contract,pay prior plans that are cheaper than my current ATT plans. They even offer a data only plan that intrigues me. Virgin Mobile has a new $40/mo unlimited broadband that is very tantalizing to me. Coupled with the new FringOut or Skype or Google Voice,I think it is fairly possible to completely escape cell based conversations and use only data driven (VOIP) communications,even when out and about. The caveat? Coverage will not be as good,the data quality will effect the voice quality and most certainly,a layer of complexity is added.
Regardless,of what shift I personally make with cell phone plans,I do think the coming trend will be the shifting from cell minutes to data driven voice. The big question for me,is the lesser cost and hardware freedom worth the price of being “on the cutting edge”,so to speak?
So.. No Captain Picard this week. I really want to,but scrolling down through my miserly postings leads me to one conclusion. “I am a Trekkie…”, no shame,I’ve said it. Judge me as you wish.
I’ve been messing around with visual notes on the iPad. This blog post by Ninmah Meets World has a nice video of her creating visual notes. I’m best at stick figures and occasionally smiley faces,but I’ve been practicing. Of the four programs Ninmah mentions, Sketchbook Pro has been my favorite,followed closely by Brushes. Neither have ALL the features I’d like,but slowly it has dawned on me that I can export back and forth ‘tween. From a productivity standpoint;not so much, I end up doodling more than creating awesome mindmaps or beautiful todo lists.
My quandary with the iPad;however,focuses on the limitations of the OS and to some extent the hardware. The lack of multi-tasking hinders productivity. Sketchbook Pro takes a good 5 seconds to start. I know I can use Backgrounder and Proswitcher to create a multi-task environment,but the extra added layer of complexity is not welcome. In addition,I find myself frustrated by the limitations of the capacitive screen. The need for a “dull”stylus to mimic the finger and the lack of good palm rejection is hard for me. I like to draw with my palm resting on the surface. Is thst bad for artistic endeavors? I have no idea…
No real summary for me or even a strong inclination to change to different hardware (not that I could anyway!). Practice,I guess…
Have you really read this whole iPad/drawing diatribe? If so,I reward you with…….
Did I mention I bought an iPad? No? Maybe because I neglect my little piece of tech blogdom?!
I did. I like it. It can be a pain to hold at times. Like,for instance,breakfast reading at the table is rather hard. I wish it had an EVO-ish kickstand. Or that I had the spare change to buy some of the cooler ones available.But I digress…
What (you may ask) has been my favoritist thing about the “magical”iPad experience? I love it for reading. Web,books,etc. Late night reading in bed is sooooo convenient!
What has been my biggest disappointment? Easy…inking. Quite frankly, I have as of yet to find a good note taking or mind mapping experience on the device. The stubby capacitive stylii,the frequent vectoring issues and frequent lagging as the iPad draws the stylus’stroke. I had a brief thought of selling it to fund the purchase of a HP TM2. Matter of fact,I plan on said device to replace my “borrowed”time on Mrs Technsquare’s laptop. but funds….
Having escaped this scenario,iPad rests securely in my tech bag. Whether off to the library for focused writing time (or blogging!),night-night-can’t-sleep book reading or on site assisting with those ever so infrequent contracting jobs,it has become a staple in my digital “tools”.
Nice post over on the Just Another iPad Blog. They are doing usage scenario posts for the iPad. This one regards using it for sheet music. Brilliant! I really do think the iPad will be a sea change in computing per se. Not that I’m the ultimate fan boy,but that as a platform and as a piece of hardware it can be leveraged into so many different things. I sincerely hope comparable Android tablets appear this year as well. From there? Computing becomes more organic. You are not limited to sitting at a desk staring at a screen or the uncomfortable bedtime balance risking “the burn”. More of an extension of the arm,like a book,but so much richer.
The iPhone. Sexy curves. Delicious feel in my hand. Except for that plastic back…. Miss the texture,weight and feel of the Gen 1 device. My boys use it now as their “play”phone. Was it slippery? Yes,but it felt so good in the hand!
Then comes this:Is it smooth? Nope. Ergonomic? Not really. Does it stir my inner Trekiness? Absolutely!!!
Interesting post by James Kendrick over at jkontherun regarding the Apple vs. HTC patent lawsuit. I find myself very disgusted by Apple’s moves as of late. As a company,they really have become merciless and dictatorial in how they deal with issues. The recent “porn”decision,though understandable and to some extent needed,was ill handled. Even more, Apple failed miserably in preventing this by not providing a clear cut path regarding such apps. The app store almost seems rudderless in it’s meandering. Will it be approved next week or not? Will my app be surreptitiously tanked without notice and no explanation? With that much control and no sense of leadership or definition,Apple evinces an arrogance in practice. Add to that the recent lawsuit,which seems little more than an attempt to bully HTC,tying up their resources and sullying their brand ,one begins to wonder just exactly how arrogant is Apple? The patents deal with trivialities (in detail here) and hardly seem worthwhile except as a way to strike back,ultimately,at Google. This is where I find Kendricks take interesting. So,is Apple afraid to compete? Or worse,are they truly so arrogant they “need not”compete (thus the lawsuit)? I do not now.
I do know this. I am working on iPhone development now,but I intend to port anything I release over to Android as well.
It has stood the test of time well. I still use it semi regularly for “inking”. That’s right,you can write on it just like a notebook. It works very well. “But didn’t you get the iPad? The greatest tablet since sliced bread?!”you ask. Yes,but inking on the iPad doesn’t work well. First of all,the screen type requires that the stylus point be a round 1/4″nub of “capacitive”foam. I’ve tried multiple versions. It’s like trying to write with a crayon. Not the little ones,mind you. The big,ham fisted ones. Second,I tried and bought pretty much every note taking (with writing recognition) program available. Don’t get me wrong,some excellent programs,but unilaterally one issue. A micro lag between the physical stylus movement and the screen draw of the movement. Maddening! Maybe the iPad 2 will perform better at the task. Personally,I don’t plan on finding out (Apple-bad….:D).
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