Add all this to a massive backlog of gadget experiences that I’ve had over the last year and I truly hope to find time for this website again.

I’d tell you to stay tuned, but the last 3 posts have said the same thing…so I guess I’ll just have to actually write something this time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to fix all these broken links…

I’ve been able to successfully install Vista Home Premium Edition on my X41 Tablet, and am REALLY liking the experience so far. I’m writing an article to help people decide if they’re ready to take the plunge, but in the mean time, I’ve gotten a lot of hits on my other X41 Vista post, so I thought I’d point people to a very helpful post I found.

Give Our Abilities Time has a great article on a couple of the pitfalls of installing Vista on this machine. Most notably, the relatively hard to find ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software v5.6 which is required to get the fingerprint reader working.

All in all, things are working pretty well, and I’m very happy with the overall experience.

You can see the whole list of desktop, mobile, and enterprise requirements here.

Update: I’ve not installed Vista on my tablet, and it’s working great. I’m working on a full write up, but in the mean time, here’s a quick post on the subject.

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The inaugural Crashless Aspirations Podcast! More of an experiment than anything. After writing my latest article about my experiences trying to get rid of paper in my life, I realized there is so much more to talk about. Instead of writing a novel on the subject, I thought it would be fun to talk about it.

In this first show, I talk about the concepts surrounding digital notetaking; the current implementations, limitations, and considerations. If you’re after more of a ‘how-to’ or a review, check out the companion article here.

00:00 – Welcome

00:27 – Thanks to Great Glass Elevator for their song.

01:42 – Problems with paper.

03:28 – Issues with replacing ole’ faithful.

04:15 – Things OneNote does well.

05:50 – What Microsoft needs to do to get it mainstream.

07:27 – Who should take a look at Tablet PCs, and my conclusions.

09:11 – “Drugstore Cowboy” – by Great Glass Elevator.

For more specific details, read the accompanying article.

TRT: 10:27

Please let me know what you think of this first attempt. I’m looking forward to hearing what you all think of the format. If you have ideas for a future podcast and article, or questions, comments or whatever, please either post them, or email them and I’ll try and incorporate them into the next show.

Claiming feeds below, please ignore this:
My Odeo Channel (odeo/ec429ec0af23fac0)

I take the notes with the pen in this format while I talked with a client about the show. Then after they left, I would implement the changes and highlight them as I completed each point. When my page was neon I knew that I had completed everything, I could refer back to the notes in our next meeting and remind the client about each change that was made, and I could talk about how it was addressed. This system not only makes sure I don’t forget anything, but also helps the client feel like everything was covered in the follow up meeting. Sometimes it’s difficult for my clients to remember each and every mundane change they requested, so being able to read them their list back is extremely comforting to them – they know every detail has been attended to.

The biggest problem I’ve had with this system however, is organization. A spiral notebook or legal bad doesn’t exactly have easy access. It is difficult to find the exact page that I need to look at for each show I’m working on, and it’s hard to search back more than a couple of weeks of notes because all the show’s notes get jumbled together as there’s no way to expand a section mid-stride. I also feel like it’s never safe to throw things away, so I become surrounded by notes and papers.

Enter: The Tablet PC and Microsoft OneNote 2003.

Here’s my setup now. The tablet fits nicely between my trackball and keyboard, right where I need it. I keep it plugged in most of the time, but can quickly yank the power and spin around to face the client. The OneNote interface is extremely intuitive, and attempts to approximate a standard notebook metaphor. (I described the interface in detail in my post: “OneNote-First Impressions”) I am able to completely replicate the way I’m used to taking my notes within the OneNote environment.

The thing that makes OneNote and a Tablet PC so compelling is not only it’s ability to replicate a notepad so perfectly, but that it extends that metaphor to take advantage of some really cool new technology.

The most simple but also the most significant feature of OneNote is the ability to read and search your handwriting without converting it to text. For instance, if I know I’ve taken a note about a particular character, but can’t remember where I put it, I can simply put the name in the search bar and OneNote will search everything in my entire notebook (though it can be limited to that folder, section or page too) and using fuzzy logic, return a list of possible matches and allow me to either see a list, or page through the matches one at a time. [GN1]

Below is an example where I searched for the word “cut”, it recognized the handwriting as “cot”, but still returned a hit. Pretty cool huh?

Because OneNote is a digital system, it addresses my organizational problems and the constant fear of running out of room. I’m able to create separate spaces for separate parts of my life. I have a folder for personal items such as travel plans, shopping and a journal. I also have a folder for work that contains sections for each show I’m working on, and of course a folder for this blog with sections for each topic I talk about. All my notes are in one program, easily searchable, nothing ever has to be ripped out, and best of all – I’m getting rid of that mound of paper that is accumulating next to my keyboard.

Even though I’m able to exactly translate my previous paper note system to OneNote, there are still items that require additional attention and status tracking, but they aren’t quite important enough for me to clutter my Outlook task list. OneNote has a wonderful feature that directly addresses these situations in the form of Note Flags. Immediately after writing such an item, I can click on the Note Flag button. This flags that note and allows me to search separately for just these types of items.

There are a HUGE number of customizable flags, and it’s very easy to add and search all of them. Having a flag change the appearance of a note it’s applied to is very easy, and allows for a wide range of differentiation between your action items. If you do come across an item worthy of your Outlook To-Do list, you can simply highlight the text, and when coupled with Outlook 2003, OneNote can create a To-Do with one click.

Another feature I use on a daily basis is the ability to import and link other files to my OneNote notebook. First, if you don’t already have it, get the Microsoft Tablet PC Education Pack that includes Print to OneNote. Using this virtual printer, I’m able to print show scripts into One Note, and write all over them. I can also easily print my online order receipts to OneNote and file them away without having to deal with my paper filing system. I often use the Web Clipping tool included in the Tablet Experience Pack to quickly grab unique items I want to keep, but OneNote comes with a built-in screen capture utility that can be triggered by clicking the Tray Icon. All these different ways make it very convenient to use, which prevents things from becoming a chore to stick to. [GN2]

In addition to being able to print stuff to OneNote, it’s possible to drag and drop files to your notebook, and OneNote will create a hyperlink to open that file. So if you need to reference an item in your notes, but don’t want to copy or print it to the notes – you can keep that accessible right along with the notes that reference it.

Those of you who like to record meetings on those little micro recorders will absolutely love OneNote’s ability to record directly into your notes. By clicking a button, OneNote will start recording and begin linking any notes you write to the point of the recording when you took it. This is really cool because it allows you to click on a note and immediately hear that part of the recording. My favorite example of this feature is a story by James Kendrick (or was it Marc Orchant, I can’t remember), when a contractor tried to blame him for delivering an incorrect item. James calmly played the recording of the meeting in question and the contractor heard himself request the incorrect item. I would have loved to have seen the look on that guy’s face.

So now that I’ve given OneNote a glowing review, here’s the one thing I wish was easier: Dealing with old pages, and archiving. As you can see in the picture on the right, I like to keep my old blog posts together with my current work in progresses so I can refer to them easily. It’s fairly easy to move pages around but I haven’t found an easy way to keep my like items together without keeping them in the section, but it quickly is getting out of control again. I wish OneNote was able to hide old items, but keep them searchable, then after a certain age automatically compress and archive the pages like Outlook does for old items.

Right now, I’ve created a page in each section that designates where the ‘Old’ items are, so I can quickly discern which ones I’m still working on. It’s working fine for now, but I feel it could be streamlined a little.

I haven’t gone into all the features of OneNote by a long shot, but I hope that seeing how OneNote and my X41 have changed the way I work for the better will provoke more people to take a serious look at a Tablet PC for their next computer purchase.

If you’re interested in listening to me talk about some more concepts that have to do with Tablet PCs and note taking with OneNote, please check out the companion Podcast here.

As I posted a week or so ago, an errant uninstaller corrupted my new tablet’s registry. While this was extremely unfortunate for me, because I was forced to work the rest of the day with a pen and paper, I did have a fairly good experience with both IBM’s support, and the IBM Rescue and Recovery (RnR) Software.

First, the bad news: RnR was not able to recover my registry. This is not entirely the fault of the system however, as I had not yet created backup discs or created an image of the system to directly restore to – that was my fault. I ended up having to restore to the factory state of the system.

But, the good news: RnR allowed me to rescue ALL my documents to a USB stick, and I didn’t lose a single piece of work. After booting into the RnR interface by pressing the big blue button on my tablet, I was quickly greeted with an interface that presented me with lots of options.

Using the rescue portion, I was able to see the entire contents of my hard drive and copy any files I needed to a USB thumb drive I have. Lucky for me I knew what I wanted, because the software doesn’t have a list of common places for personal files, or anything that would lead an un-savvy user in the right direction. In any event, I saved everything I needed – not a moment lost.

[GN1]

After triggering the ‘restore to factory contents’ option of the recover menu [GN2]

the system went on autopilot for about half an hour, working hard and rebooting about 10-20 times. [GN3]

After the script was finished, the system rebooted once more, and I was greeted with the “Welcome to Windows XP TPC” setup screen, and was able to re-enter all my personal information to setup the tablet. After confirming the system was in fact working again, I reinstalled Office and OneNote, copied my documents back from my USB stick, and was back up and running within about 2 hours (which includes all of the recovery, Windows Update, and core apps installation). Not bad at all.

If I had the foresight to create a back image of my system, I’m sure the downtime would have been even shorter, but the fact that I was able to get from a dead machine to one that I was able to work on again in that short of time is simply amazing to me. I lost no work, and was only out about 3 hours of productivity (the extra hour it took me to translate my paper notes back to my system that night should be included here – I’m after a paperless work life, and keeping those notes around would be counterproductive).

While I am quite disappointed that I was not able to recover my system directly because I did not have access to a normal Windows XP installation disc, I do have to give Lenovo points for it’s amazing RnR software. As an ultra portable, the x41 tablet has no optical drive, and I’m sure most people do not carry their install discs on the road with them anyways, so the ability to recover from a software failure while on the road is invaluable. I do wish there was a way for me to slipstream my Office and OneNote installations into my ‘factory backup’ though. If I were able to do that, I would feel more confident that I could lose my Windows installation while on a trip and still be fine, but the RnR’s ability to rescue my files so that I didn’t lose a minute’s work was truly a life-saver.

One main gotcha that I discovered: Upon re-installing the IBM security software, I was locked out of a couple of my encrypted files. A set of AES encryption keys are written to the IBM security chip when it is initialized, and even though the chip survived the reinstall, the security software overwrote my previous security keys and in the process made it impossible to recover my encrypted files. Without installing that software again, I had no program with which to decrypt the files, a major catch-22. The RnR software doesn’t have the ability to decrypt files either, so I was sunk. I’ve now been told that if I had made a backup of the system after I had originally initialized the security software, I wouldn’t have had a problem.

Now, what have I learned? If your system comes with a great backup program like mine has, you should get off your butt and use it. Don’t wait until you’ve crashed once to make a backup image – do it right now. You can get an external USB HD for under $80 these days, well worth the piece of mind that comes with a way to restore your system to how you like it, not to how the factory gave it to you.

[GN4-More RnR options]

Those of you who read my GeekNotes may have noticed I’m testing in-line notes with this article. I can’t seem to keep WordPress from auto-fixing my code, so it messes up the line breaks. Hopefully I can work that out before the next article is ready. Please let me know if you hate it, love it, or whatever. Thanks.

I’ve found some intersting things about the IBM X41 Tablet’s Rescue and Recovery system though that have been fairly promising, and I’ll write up my experiences in full once I’m back up and running.

This is the part where I was going to tell you to go sign the petition on this subject, but it seems to have been pulled down. I might have to ressurrect it.

While I received my X41 Tablet (model 18666SU) a couple of weeks ago now, I’ve only had a couple of days to play with it. I’m currently filling the system with my primary programs, and things have been mostly enjoyable. I thought that now would be a good time to share my out of box experience with you all, along with some kinks that I’ve run into.

I’m also going to try out a new way to write my posts – the ‘Geek Note’, which will simply be a link in brackets like this: [GN1]. This will be an attempt to keep my articles more readable, while still providing my more technically inclined readers with the information they desire. So let me know what you all think about this, I hope it works.

First thing I was glad to notice as I pulled it out of the box was that it is pretty small. I carry my computer with me everyday, so any weight that I can shave off my bag is a welcome relief. This laptop will hopefully allow me to get rid of my Wacom Intuos graphics tablet, memory card reader, and paper notebook – so even with the extra extended battery I have, I’m guessing that I’ve shaved over a pound off my travel weight – I’m very excited.

On a whim, I just threw the battery in, opened the very sturdy lid, and hit power – it responded and started booting up. It’s nice of Lenovo to package a charged battery, makes things much smoother out of the box. [GN2]

I’ve never used an IBM laptop before, but I’ve always heard about their wonderful keyboards – I now understand why they get so much praise. It is completely solid, with no ‘give’ or ‘bouncing’, and has a pretty satisfying clicking noise that isn’t too loud, but exudes quality and durability. This is one ultra-portable keyboard that no one will complain about unless they use the Windows key a lot – which is strangely missing. In it’s place is the tablet’s function key that is used to directly activate things like brightness control and sleep state.

Then, after about 20 minutes of configuring windows, I was into my first session with the tablet. My first impression of the screen is: WOW! It has 8 brightness levels from VERY dim to VERY bright, has an exceptional viewing angle in both landscape and portrait modes (which was now activated). [GN3]

I highly recommend that you run Windows Update on this system as soon as you get it. (Dial-up users: be ready for a couple of hours of downloading – there’s a lot to fix, and it’s worth the wait for the protection you get.) My system ran into no problems during it’s updating. [GN4] Also be sure to run Microsoft Office’s update utility (Any Office program:Help Menu -> Check for Updates).

As I started fiddling around with the system, I realized that I was liking the track stick. The system does not come with a track pad, which I have mostly been accustomed to and never really liked track sticks, but this one is the best I’ve used. I had always found track sticks have a tendency to ‘drift’ after I want them to stay, but this one seems to correct itself quickly if it begins to drift a little – which is very nice. So the only thing I missed initially was the ability to tap to click that my last laptop had. After a few days now, I don’t miss that part either. (Edit: Reader Brandon has told me that it does in fact have ‘press-to-select’, and I found the setting hidden in the Mouse Control Panel. Imagine that, a setting for the mouse hidden in the mouse control panel. )

Bundled Programs

First up: Zinio. It is a program intended to replace paper magazines. Automatic digital delivery of my magazines without the weight is pretty enticing to me, so I thought I’d fire it up. After a software update, Zinio is pretty nice, and I’m going to try out a couple of months with their subscription. A full review of this software will be up after I can get some testing done. Coupled with this tablet, it’s a very usable alternative to paper magazines at hugely reduced prices. I subscribed to a year of Popular Mechanics for $4.99 – not a bad deal considering the cover price is $3.99. (There was one issue I found with this program, and two others:[GN5]

I took a look at the Microsoft Tablet Experience Pack which was already installed. This pack includes a Crosswords program, Web Clipping tool, Ink Art, and Ink Desktop. The Crosswords program is great! I haven’t purchased additional puzzles for it yet (which is an option) because I’m not very good at crossword puzzles and have only finished one, but it really is fun to use. It has normal and expert modes, the difference seems to be that the normal mode tells you if you’ve entered an incorrect letter, where the expert mode gives you as much help as a newspaper would – none.

The web clipping tool is very nice, it gives you the ability to circle interesting parts of your screen, annotate them, then copy that image to your clipboard to email, or do any number of things with. This program is more functional then the OneNote counterpart in that you use the stylus to circle what you want to clip, then gives you the ability to write a note on top of it, then export it to a file, clipboard, email or ‘editor window’. Very nice alternative to traditional screen captures, which often require additional work before sending to it’s destination.

Ink Art is a pretty nice sketchbook like program, that has all sorts of different artistic tools to draw with. I don’t have any experience with the programs it competes with, but it should provide satisfactory capabilities for everyone but true digital artists.

Ink Desktop was not my favorite add-on at first. It slows down the process of switching between laptop and tablet mode by a few seconds, and isn’t compatible with WallpaperGyro, a great program for switching the wallpaper automatically when you change from laptop to tablet mode. But as I gave it a try, it’s more convenient then the Sticky Notes program that also ships with the tablet. Just write right on your desktop in a variety of colors, and erase as you don’t need them. You can also export the image to a file and email it. It is definitly a crowd pleaser – a coworker witnessed my handwriting on the desktop and was in awe, “That’s the coolest thing ever!”. Well, I don’t know about ‘ever’, but it is both cool and useful.

Battery Life & General Thoughts

At this point, I had been working for 3 hours off the battery and thought it was time to check out the power settings. By default, a battery meter is displayed in the taskbar. Clicking it allows you to change power profiles on the fly, and it’s configuration program is pretty complete – giving you control over everything from how the processor is powered, to fan usage, to display brightness; with separate settings for plugged in versus battery usage. One issue I noticed was that if you turn off the battery meter display in the task bar, the tablet does not seem to automatically detect if it is plugged in or on battery power. This is frustrating because it takes up a fairly large portion of the display area, especially when in tablet mode, and doesn’t leave much room for processes to be displayed. Other then that small frustration, I’m pretty happy with the power settings, and have been getting between just under 4 hours and just over 6 hours of battery life (using the 8 cell battery) depending on usage.

The only real issue I’ve found with the IBM/Lenovo X41 tablet has been it’s wireless internet setup. By default, Windows’ wireless manager is enabled, and IBM’s Access Connect is running, resulting in a fight for your WiFi card. It took me 3 days to figure out why my tablet kept dropping connections, but after I disabled Windows’ control, things smoothed out considerably. (If you’re having connection issues see: [GN6]) IBM’s Access Connect is a full-featured program. Not only can you setup profiles for different locations’ wifi points, but it automatically detects which location you are at depending on what SSID it connects to, and sets up security levels, IE preferences, file sharing, default printers, firewall settings, wireless power settings, and proxy settings. Once working, it’s VERY NICE.

Lastly, the fingerprint reader was calling my name, so I activated the famed IBM security sub-system. After enrolling a number of fingers successfully, I activated fingerprint authentication for windows login. Once you get the hang of the motion, it is much faster than typing in my high-security password. There is a context menu available when browsing folders to encrypt files on the folder and file level – which uses 256bit AES encryption which was recently approved for TOP SECRET level communications by the NSA – so you can rest assured that files you encrypt will not be unlocked without a password (or TRANSLTR, for you Dan Brown fans).

Overall, things have been extremely smooth these past two weeks. I’m getting my main programs up and running without issue, and a few kinks aside, the user experience has been phenomenal. [GN7] I’m going to get more in depth into some of the other features and programs as I become more comfortable with them. All-in-all, I have to HIGHLY recommend this system to anyone that is looking for an ultra-portable laptop. Even if you’re not sure about the Tablet PC thing, it’s premium over the normal X41 is only about $100, and half a pound on the weight, but it’s built like a rock. Every part of the device is of very high quality and there is no rattling at all. I can’t wait to explore a little deeper into this tablet, it’s already exceeding my highest expectations.

Here’s the fun part – I’m not going to be here to recieve it. HA!

I’m getting married this Saturday, and we are immediately jetting off to Tahiti for two weeks. So needless to say I won’t be posting for a little while.

I’m not going to miss my tablet – but it better miss me. Serves it right for taking so long to get here.

Guess when my tablet is slated to ship…July 21st. What am I supposed to do with this? Lenovo has found a new way to torture people, they announce that they have created the best convertible sub-notebook Tablet PC ever, take orders, then ship the batteries a month ahead of the computer that uses them. Now I have to sit and stare at this brick and think about how cool it will be when it actually is useful. I CAN’T EVEN CHARGE IT!

Since all I have is the battery, here are my thoughts: It has a nice rubber grip on it, and I can tell it’s a good quality rubber, so it won’t be falling off over time (hopefully). As you can see from the picture, it’s pretty small. My Dell Latitude LS is a sub-notebook, and it appears that length-wise, the X41 Tablet will be the same width, which I’m very excited about. I take my computer with me virtually everywhere, so it’s nice to know that I won’t be adding any bulk to my gadget bag with my new tablet.

I’m disappointed to see that this battery doesn’t have any indicator lights on it. I will have two of these once my tablet arrives, so it would have been nice to be able to see charge status at a glance, but it seems that won’t be possible. Other then that, I can’t think of a single thing to say about it. It is after all, a battery…

But I’m over it, I don’t care, and I’m not going to do a thing about it. The X41 Tablet PC IS the best convertible Tablet PC ‘available’ (notice the quotes…), at least it is the best for my needs.