Tablet PC Thoughts

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Mobilized Software Blog

I just found another blog that I like for this business ... the Mobilized Software Blog. Good stuff ... I'll add it to my blogroll. Oh yeah ... I don't have one yet on this site ... I'll have to figure out how to do that on Blogger!

Intel and Mobilized Software

I've been reading through a ton of information from Intel on "Mobilized Software." I know that a lot of this documentation has existed for quite some time, however it is new to me in my role at Agilix. We are all about Mobilized Software ... and will be showing more about what we can do later this year.

While reviewing a presentation (get it here ... it's a big .pdf) that Will Swope gave at the Open Source Business Conference last year, I found that I had missed a site: http://www.mobilizedsoftware.com/ More info to read and digest.

I'm dying to get my Tablet PC ... it's on order ... I want to get going! Or get Mobilizing!

Saturday, February 19, 2005

More Tablet PC References

I'm already liking the Tablet PC world ... there are so many applications that are out there, and a lot of experienced users to learn from. I also like the similarity to the Wearable Computer market that I was doing research in. There area lot of products out there to assist with the gesturing, and I'm learning about more of them.

Richard Lawrence commented on my post about Maxthon, and provided some great information. First he commented on Avant Browser, which is an alternative to Maxthon, saying:
"Like Maxthon, it is tabbed and uses the IE browser control. Unlike Maxthon, it's stable for me and supports the Google toolbar."
I'm going to grab a copy of Avant Browser to play with. Another cool thing about it ... it's written right here in Utah! I'm going to look up the author and chat with him ...

The second thing that I got from Richard is StrokeIt. I was looking for an application like this when I was working with my wearable computers. I was using a touch-pad for data input, and wanted to be able to enter text using a "graffiti-like" set of gestures.

Thanks Richard ... this is a good set of references!

Friday, February 18, 2005

Mobilized Application Papers at Intel

I found this link at Intel today ... it has references to a lot of very good papers on Mobilized Software and Mobilized Applications. It is actually the Mobilized Software Developer Center. This is all good stuff that we are working on at Agilix.

I've got a lot of reading to do this weekend ...

Thursday, February 17, 2005

What? Scoble was in the house?

I can't believe it. I just found out from Lora Heiny that Scoble was at the VSLive! event last week. I had a number of interactions with Robert while he was at Userland, and then at NEC. I knew that he is a Tablet PC user, and when I joined Agilix I figured that at some point I'm going to thrill him with some new software for his Tablet.

Oh well ... there's lots of time. We'll be doing some fun stuff this summer with our new version of GoBinder, and the GoBinder SDK. I'm following the same software that Scoble does, and agree with his perspectives on what makes for good software. This is going to be fun.

Lists of Tablet PC Tools

Through Robert Scoble I found the following link that provides a good list of great Tablet PC Tools. I'm going to slowly get through this list and check them out. I found a number of others at the show last week ...

Too much to do!

Second week with Agilix

So this is my second week with Agilix, and I have to admit that I am enjoying it. What a great team, and a great product. I'm slammed playing catch-up ... learning the products, and assisting in some of the internal infrastructure. Start-ups ... what a blast!

I'll be posting more on our core product "GoBinder" and our overall strategy of "mobilized applications" ... this is all part of a "smart client" revolution.

Also ... I picked the first Tablet PC that I'm after ... it's the HP tc4200. I nice convertible, and one that is currently leading the merging world of laptop and slate. It's a tough choice to only pick one ... there are too many intersting products out there!

Using Maxthon with the Tablet PC

I happened to check into Maxthon again ... I haven't looked at it lately. I wonder if there are Tablet PC folks out there that are using the Maxthon browser? It seems that the "mouse gesture" feature might be a real interesting value to Tablet PC users ...

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Tablets at VSLive!

I'm at the VSLive! event in San Francisco, and participating in one of the "sub-conferences" called Microsoft Windows Anywhere. The Microsoft Windows Anywhere conference has a focus on the Tablet PC and Mobile PC platforms, and so there is a lot of information about Tablets. I've had the opportunity to see and learn more about the Tablet PC offerings by walking around the tradeshow floor, and I have to admit that I like the new HP "convertible" tc4200.

In learning about Tablet PCs, I have quickly found out there are two core designs - the "slate" and the "convertible". It's easier to describe the "convertible" since this is simply a laptop design where the LCD display can be turned around and "closed" with the display showing. This seems to be the most flexible model for many people who are used to a laptop, and continue to want to use a product in both the "laptop" and "slate". You can open it an use it as a laptop, and then you can rotate the display and use it as a slate.

The "slate" model, is like a slate, or clipboard, that you rest on your arm. The best features of the slate is that they can be used with a mouse and keyboard, however these are not necessarily attached to the "slate" ... so it is nice and lightweight.

So far I am thinking that I like the convertible design ... it gives me the best of both worlds, and although it might weigh a bit more, I can shift slowly into the Tablet PC world, without giving up my laptop habits.

I'm going to spend today looking at more of these products ... maybe I'll change my mind!

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Exploring the Tablet PC

Although I have heard about the Tablet PC for years, I haven't really experienced one hands-ons. I have worked with a number of different "wearable computers" from vendors like Xybernaut, Via (now InfoLogix), and even some of my own experimental models.

I'm now going to be spending a lot of time experimenting with the Tablet PC. I just joined a company - Agilix - that is a leading developer of software for the Tablet PC. Agilix has a number of developer tools for ink-enabling applications, and end-user products that focus on mobilizing data.

I'm sure that I'll get to play with several different manufacturers equipment, and I'll be using a Tablet PC daily. I'll get to see if I like it as much as Scoble does. And I know that I'm going to learn about the Tablet PC ... along with what I like, and what I don't.

So with all of this I figured that I would blog my thoughts ... my Tablet PC Thoughts.