What Is New

Let’s count the functions that a Windows XP Tablet PC Edition based Mobile PC performs that a traditional notebook can’t. I’ll start the list:

1. Ink annotations
2. Ink erasing
3. Ink diagrams
4. Ink symbols
5. Handwriting recognition
6. Gesture recognition
7. Symbol recognition
8. Shape recognition
9. Your turn to add more functions, features, and other tasks.

You might enjoy reading about Haiku. Haiku is a code name for a project at Microsoft to make the ultra moblile PCs even smaller, longer battery life, etc.

Haiku was announced a few weeks ago at WinHEC. It's a longterm project, post-Longhorn time frame, but similar to what you describe. There are several articles about it. (Google: Microsoft Haiku)

This article demonstrates an additional way to redisplay ink images drawn on ASP.NET pages as regular GIF images, without having to waste unnecessary resources. It also addresses the need to do so in a way that is consistent with a professionally designed Web site. (6 printed pages) (MSDN Tablet PC Developer Center Library)

I’ll compromise for Instant On, but I really want Always On and Always Connected, don’t you?

Media Center PCs shipping with Instant On. When for Tablet PCs too? Let’s get cracking!

When the Norristown Area (Penn.) School District put wireless in its high school, three middle schools and one elementary school in 2003, it saw potential for the technology beyond giving students ubiquitous access, says Mark Long, IT director. This year, the district began running a program with its school board, aiming for a paperless board meeting. All school board members were given wireless laptops to use during the school term, and Long went to each member’s house to set up wireless access.

The effect has been astounding, Long says. “In only a couple of months, we began to see an amazing difference in how the board operated.” Instead of shuffling through papers during meetings, board members access agenda items on their laptops, and can search archived notes through the school’s intranet system. Now getting minutes and other information is only a few clicks away, saving the district money and allowing the board to do more extensive work with better information. (http://www.schwoebel.biz/wordpress/...in-the-schools/)

Currently, people are gathered in Orlando for Academic TechEd. Did any of you attend? Did you like the new format?