You also helped to design the tablet PC. The concept still has not won over the mass public. How do you see the trend likely playing out over the next five to 10 years? Well, it's actually interesting because when we actually built the tablet at DEC in 1993, we were fairly familiar with what the problems were going to be — and we knew they would be severe. The main one being battery life. The handwriting recognition had to work very well in order for it to be accepted without a keyboard, and I think we came very, very close. I think there's a lot more evolution that is possible there... So, in some ways, the tablet has been disappointing. But, on the other hand, I'm heartened by the fact that it is still a growing market. It just grows every year a little bit, and it's the only tablet-like computing product that it has ever lived in the market for as long as it has. It's now six years old. (Source: Charles Cooper CNet News, ZDNet)
Posted Friday, July 6, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 2.5Comments (0)
There has been a lot of discussion (123) on the impact of interactive whiteboards (IWB)in teaching and learning. Schools around the country (and world) are heavily investing in this technology as the newest tool for delivery of information. Many IWBs are rather fragile and while we would like to think that things are never thrown in a classroom, one errant missile can leave a "dead spot" on the surface of the IWB, reducing it's functionality. Some schools want to buy one per department or grade level, but as a former classroom teacher my experience with sharing a resource like this is usually not worth the effort.
I keep reading about all the great and wonderful things people are doing with IWBs, but I have not found one activity or learning experience that cannot be replicated completely, or perhaps even more completely then the original by using other technologies. Some people might say, "Brian, you must never have had the chance to teach with one". Not true, I have used IWBs to teach adult learners in evening classes and even had one in my high school science classroom during my last year in teaching. The entire time I possessed one, I experimented with it every day. My students also experimented. They learned things about its functionality and taught them to other students and even occasionally showed their teacher a trick or two. Without a doubt, IWBs are a great tool to place in the classroom, but are they cost efficient? (Source: Brian B, A Swiftly Tilting Planet Blog via GottaBeMobile)
Posted Friday, July 6, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 4Comments (0)
Researchers Evaluate Use of Equipment to Support Students with Hearing Loss
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, has received a three-year, $900,000 Steppingstones of Technology for Individuals with Disabilities program grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Grant monies will be used for the project, Evaluation of the Use of Tablet PCs and C-Print to Support Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, which will be led by Michael Stinson of NTID’s Department of Research and Teacher Education. Co-principal investigators are Lisa Elliot, Susan Foster, and Marc Marschark, all of the Department of Research and Teacher Education. Marschark also is affiliated with NTID’s Center for Educational Research Partnerships. (Source: RIT News)
For whatever reason, the majority of the laptops we get sent for review tend to be larger Desktop Replacement (DTR) models. While there is nothing inherently wrong with such a laptop, there are many people out there that are far more interested in portability and mobility. We have looked at 14", 15.4", and 17" notebooks in the recent past, but it's been some time since we last looked at anything that could truly be called "thin and light". Gateway answered our request for such a laptop by sending us their E-155-C, which also holds the distinction of being the first convertible laptop/tablet PC that we've had the opportunity to review.
The component selection for the E-155-C is clearly targeted at the thin-and-light crowd, focusing on lower power requirements rather than raw performance. The question of course is whether it still packs enough power to run all the day-to-day tasks that people use. Like most new laptops, Windows Vista is also an option for the E-155-C, which will certainly increase the demand on system resources. Windows XP Tablet Edition can also be selected in the online configurator, but we opted to test with Windows Vista. Not everyone is going to want to run Windows Vista, but we felt it was important to see how the laptop manages to run the new operating system; Windows XP certainly won't be any slower than Windows Vista. It's also worth nothing that all versions of Windows Vista now support tablet PCs - you don't need a special Tablet Edition any more. (Source: AnandTech)
Posted Thursday, July 5, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: n/aComments (0)
If the specs and leaked images from FCC website are any indication, the HP Compay 2710p looks a real competitor to Lenovo's Thinkpad X61. HP has been very patient with the development of the 2710p and the end product looks very appealing.
It's powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra-Low Voltage processor and based on Santa Rosa mobile platform. The display is a 12.1-inch diagonal Illumi-Lite WXGA UWVA anti-glare with Digitizer. Input devices include Pointstick, two pick buttons; Digital Eraser Pen with tether and clip. Contrary to most present generation notebooks, the HP Compaq 2710p features hard drives based on SMART PATA interface. Up to 100GB 4200rpm HDD and 2GB of DDR2 667MHz RAM can be configured. (Source: Laptop Logic, via Engadget)
Almost 9 in. long by about 4.7 in. wide and an inch thick, the Q1 Ultra is marginally smaller than the first version of the device. It weighs 1.5 lb.
The first thing noticed after switching it on is its 1024 x 600 7-in. display, which is sharp, bright and extremely viewable for basic tasks. Handily, you can switch the display from its default landscape mode to portrait mode by pressing a button on the device and, from the menu that appears, selecting the option to rotate the display.
A quick look around the Q1 Ultra found an impressive amount of storage and I/O capabilities. In particular, our $1,099 review unit had a 50GB hard drive, a SecureDisk memory card slot, two USB slots, an Ethernet slot and video input for standard monitors. The Q1 Ultra comes nicely loaded with other features, such as a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which connected quickly and without hassle. (Source: David Haskin, ComputerWorld)
I had a similar experience in 2002 with the first Tablet PCs developed by Microsoft. They had dramatically improved screen technology for recognizing handwriting, but it took time for users to train themselves to use the input system.
Five years later, Tablet PCs still haven't taken off, but the input system has improved. This year, Microsoft put the technology into its standard operating system, and PC makers are just starting to make mainstream systems with touch controls, like the Hewlett-Packard TouchSmart PC.
It really is transformative to use finger taps and flicks to control a computer, instead of reaching for a mouse, stylus or keyboard. After you figure it out, you wonder why they all aren't so easy to use. (Source: Brier Dudley, The Seattle Times)
The X61 is Lenovo's Santa Rosa update to their renowned ThinkPad X series of ultraportable laptops. The X series is synonymous with usability and toughness while on the go. There are two versions of the ThinkPad X61: the X61 and the X61s. The notebooks are almost the same, save for the CPUs. The X61 uses the full power Core 2 Duos while the X61s variant uses the low power versions of the Core 2 Duo. In general, the X61 will offer a bit better performance while the X61s will have better battery life. This review will focus on the low power X61s. (Source: Ted Lynch, NotebookReview.com)
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 4Comments (0)
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