At CeBIT 2007 in Germany Sharp had a large booth dedicated to showing off their business machines (think copiers) and Aquos flat panel LCD displays. But coolest of all was their larger than life touchscreen display that could pass as a gigantic, and very unportable, Tablet PC.
The two Sharp reps demoing this display had been there all day but were still quite obviously getting a huge kick out of using it. Google maps proved especially fun to play with as you can see in this video:
While the wow factor is pretty cool with this thing, once you get over that the question becomes, okay so what's this good for if it's not portable? Sharp believes that it'd be a killer presentation tool for business meetings. Instead of brainstoming and having people write their ideas on paper the team could write on the display and make it more collaborative and visual. Doctors could present images of X-rays and CAT scans to collaborate and circle stuff they see in the images. (Source: Andrew, TabletPCReview.com)
The 701 starts up for the first time with its 7in screen set to a resolution of 800 x 600. It doesn't look right, since it's clearly not the panel's native resolution. A trip to the display properties panel provides two other choices: 1024 x 600 and 1024 x 768. Again, neither are native resolutions. But there's another way of changing the screen size on a UMPC: the pop-up settings bezel, and its screen sizes options are 1024 x 600, 800 x 600 and 800 x 480. Selecting the latter finally presented me with the screen's native resolution.
When I tried Samsung's UMPC, the Q1, last year, I found its 800 x 480 display severely limited: dialog boxes disappeared off the upper and lower edges of the screen to the extent that you can't see their buttons. You can switch to a larger, non-native resolution and view them complete, but they lack the sharpness of the true screen size.
The 701 beats the Q1 one important respect: its mouse control. The Q1 forces you to use either your finger or the stylus. The 701, however, has a button to the right of the screen that works just like the tiny joysticks you see on some laptop keyboards. It'll steer the cursors all around the screen, and you can tap it to click. (Source: Tony Smith, RegHardware)
Asus may be slow on the Vista driver delivery, but they look to be cranking out new entries in the mobile field. at CeBit they are introducing two new devices.
First up is a ruggedized Tablet PC, codenamed the Rugged Military NB (catchy?) that contains a 13.3 inch widescreen. The rugged device conforms to the IP 54 Standard for sand and water protection. (Source: Warner Crocker, GottaBeMobile.com)
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 2Comments (0)
Weighing in at 690 grams, the Q1 Ultra is 12 percent lighter than the original Q1, which weighs 780 grams. It's also slightly smaller. The Q1 Ultra measures 228 millimeters by 124mm by 24 mm, compared to the Q1, which measures 228 mm by 140mm by 27mm. The improvements will make the device easier to carry around.
Other changes include a sleeker overall look and a 7-inch touchscreen LCD (liquid crystal display) that offers 1,024-pixel by 600-pixel resolution, instead of the 800-pixel by 480-pixel resolution of the original. In addition, the touch-screen keypad on the Q1 has been replaced by a hardware keypad. The keypad is still divided in two parts, with half on each side of the device, so that users can type while holding the Q1 Ultra with both hands. (Source: Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service, PC World)
HP recently unveiled its latest efforts at the consumer desktop and notebook market in Seoul, Korea - the HP TouchSmart PC and the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC. Both of these new flagship products are celebrated by HP to 'personalize' user experience with intuitive controls and touch screen displays. Today, we check out the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC that is being touted to give consumers a brand new feel of multimedia entertainment, literally.
At First Glance
The 2kg HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC bears familiar glossy black surface, silver trimmings and sleek sexy curves that fits in with the rest of HP’s latest Pavilion DV series. It has a solid build and is well furnished with creature comforts such as discreet speakers that are actually quite capable, a generous amount of media shortcuts, a multimedia remote that slips into the base of the notebook, a webcam flanked by a dual microphone array and a fingerprint scanner. (Source: Francis Yeo, HardwareZone)
Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 3.25Comments (0)
In his keynote at the Microsoft MVP Global Summit yesterday, Bill Gates and Rich Kaplan held a very relaxed and unscripted Q&A session following Gates' address. A number of really fine questions were posed regarding the philanthropic work Gates is doing through his foundation, the role of technology in education, entrepreneurship, and the ever-increasing impact of the net and Software as a Service. My favorite question though was what technology was Gates most excited and proud to have helped introduce. After mentioning some of the obvious things like his original BASIC interpreter for the Altair, his work on the TRS 100 (I had a whole 32K to work in so there was quite a bit of room to stretch out"), and Windows, Gates delivered the best line of the morning (from my admittedly biased perspective). He announced tha, as everyone in the room knew, the one technology he was really roud of and still very excited about was…
At CeBIT, the World’s largest IT show – Wacom – the global market leader for pen tablets and interactive pen displays, will be demonstrating a prototype of an LCD-tablet that has been specifically optimized for the capturing of handwritten signatures. The device has so far exceeded the expectations of potential customers. Softpro, Wacom’s partner had the exclusive opportunity to introduce the new tablet to selected customers in the banking and insurance sector prior to CeBIT. The feedback so far has been overwhelming. Customers were particularly impressed by the sharpness and accuracy of the tablet’s display which presents the signature instantly without any delay as if it had been written on a piece of paper. “It just feels like writing on paper” has been a popular comment by those that have had the opportunity to try it. The device will be on display at CeBIT’s „Signature Pavilion“ in the specialist show Bank-Finance-Systems in hall 17 (booth A01.16)
Ralph Maute, Product Manager for Softpro, sums up the impressions of customers, and prospects so far: „As an initial test we asked people that are not familiar with the idea of paperless signing to just sign on the new tablet. They could not believe that they were actually signing on an electronic pen tablet with an LC display and not on real paper. “Obviously, Wacom is on the right track with its design of its new signature tablet. Financial institutes have confirmed that “it fits perfectly into our branch environment” and “looks modern and secure”. However, financial institutes are not the only ones talking about this exciting new product. Vendors that require Point of Sales solutions, for example from the telecommunication sector as, well as retailers are also impressed by the new product’s features.
Maute adds: „Whatever feature you choose: Luminance, sharpness, or speed of the display – it seems as if Wacom has scored a real big point with this device. It will be very interesting to see how much curiosity the device will receive at Cebit.“ Softpro is exhibiting at Cebit together with its partner out of the ECM sector Beta Systems, Tablet PC manufacturer Motion Computing and last, but not least, Wacom under the umbrella of the so-called „Signature Pavilion “ – a booth specifically dedicated to the topic of processing handwritten signatures.
A new generation of a Signature Capturing Device
The device is convincing in the sum of its details and clearly demonstrates that Wacom has intensively investigated the market requirements for the environments for potential usage. Consequently, the tablet supports capturing of long names (especially the quite common combo names). The writing surface is non reflective, and resistant to scratches. Ergonomics and usability have also played an important role in the device’s design: In opposition to other tablets or pads on the market, the ball of the thumb can rest on the tablet throughout the signing process thereby providing an extraordinarily ergonomic signing experience.
Wacom’s patented cable free pen technology requires no battery in the pen and captures signature signals with an active digitizer. Thus, no interfering signals will be captured if the ball of the thumb touches the signature capturing field and lead to an extremely high quality signature. These facts are convincing: Several companies that are using products from Wacom’s competitors today, have inquired to test this tablet in order to evaluate the replacement of their current „pen pads“ for higher quality substitutes such as Wacom’s new device. Obviously, they expect Wacom to live up to their reputation for robust and durable products that the company has gained over the years among professional users with their other products.
Exceptional quality
Softpro’s specialists in research and development have tested the new tablet intensively over the last few weeks on its “inner values”, and were quite happy with what they found. Softpro is the worldwide leading manufacturer of software for capturing and verification of handwritten signatures. Its R&D department regularly tests almost every signature capturing device that is available on the market.
“Up to now the new Wacom tablet gets closet to our idea of an ideal signature capturing device“ says Ralph Maute. Underneath an appealing surface the device incorporates state-of-the-art technology: The very sharp display has resolution quality (VGA) that we believe is unmatched by competitors. Other advantages are the robustness and durability: While other manufacturers deliver tablets with background lighting Wacom’s tablet comes without it while still superseding its rivals with superb contrast quality.
Trustworthy Signature Data
Signing has already been an accepted form of authentication and authorization for hundreds of years but ha up until now required the use of paper. Signing elevtronically, requires much more than just an electronic image of a handwritten signature. The signature contains biometric information about how the signature was signed such as speed, patterns, habits, and pressure of pen strokes. These characteristics represent a biometric footprint which is unique to every individual and can not be reproduced by a forger. Unlike other biometric technologies such as fingerprints, facial scan, or iris scan, a dynamic signature is more accessible and accepted because it is non-intrusive and does not convey a sense of criminality.
Forensic experts emphasize the importance of a reliable and repeatable capture of different pressure levels that are applied throughout the writing process. They especially investigate if the manufacturing process of the capturing device is according to a high quality standard and excludes unacceptable manufacturing tolerances. This is actually a weak spot of many devices that are available on the market so far. Wacom’s new tablet fulfils this criteria with a highly reliable documentation of the different pressure levels.
Ralph Maute explains: “If we use signature data captured by this new device for an automatic comparison – e.g. using our SignWare Signature Software Development Kit– we can achieve outstanding results due to the fact that the tablet’s quality and reliability deliver very exact data.” Wacom’s inductive pen technology protocols the pen position and the intensity of the writing pressure very accurately. Thus we receive very precise profiles of time and location coordinates as well as levels of the writing pressure. This kind of technology has already been part of Wacom’s graphic tablets such as the Graphire4 or Intuos3 in the past. Most Tablet PCs use Wacom’s „Penabled“-Technology as well. They actually use this sort of capturing to achieve top quality for handwriting recognition. Maute: “We are thrilled by the fact that there is now a device available which so well caters for the specific needs of signature capturing.“
Background: Digitizing the Signature throughout the Signing Process
Signatures may be digitized during the writing process instead of scanning them from paper. A wide range of instruments is available for digitizing signatures: pen pads (with and without display), special pens, and Tablet PCs. They allow a gradual move from paper-based documentation to electronic processes as well as upgrading the quality of signature verification in general.
Softpro has defined a set of quality criteria for capturing signatures with digitizing instruments. A proper comparison of static signature characteristics and dynamic signature signals requires a digitizing instrument that takes into account a sufficient amount of time signals. It also must be able to differentiate between various pressure levels, and to provide an appropriate resolution rate. These requirements are also reflected in the upcoming standard for the interchange of biometric signature data which is currently in draft stage (ISO/IEC WD 19794-7).
Wacom provides quality tablets for signature capturing with their models Graphire, Intous, Cintiq and the PL-series that are available in various sizes. These tablets may be used for other applications too such as graphic design, medical applications or for construction purposes. All of them are equipped with Wacom´s patented, cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology. The special pen contains just an inductor & capacitor. The inductance and capacitance values of the tank circuit are selected to match the resonant frequency of the antenna coil. Depending on the technology in the pen Wacom tablets can provide varying levels of pressure up to 1024.
The tablet at CeBIT
The tablet will be on display at the Signature Pavilion at Cebit (hall 17, booth A01.17). Partner on this joint booth is also Motion Computing, one of the most successful manufacturers of Tablet PCs. Motion Computing uses Wacom’s pen input technology („Penabled“) in its devices. One of the demonstrations at Cebit will be how the mobile sales force goes paperless with electronic PDF-documents (e.g. account openings or contracts) are easily signed with Softpro’s SignDoc on Wacom’s tablets or Motion Computing’s Tablet PCs. (Source: Press Release)
Mi-Co, the leading mobile data capture software company, announced that it successfully demonstrated support for Motion Computing’s new C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) recently at HIMSS, the largest healthcare technology conference held in the United States. The C5 was announced by Motion Computing on February 20 during a joint conference with Intel in San Francisco.
The Motion C5, the first product in the MCA category, integrates durable design elements with key point-of-care data and image capture technologies to simplify workflows, ease clinician workloads and improve overall quality of care. Designed based on input from thousands of clinicians worldwide, the C5 brings reliable, automated patient data management directly to the point of care.
To effectively demonstrate the capabilities of the new C5 device, Mi-Co built a form-based sample application using Mi-Forms. This application was designed for the healthcare industry with the end users’ needs in mind. It integrates Mi-Forms’ industry leading handwriting interpretation, Tablet PC forms development and Tablet PC forms runtime environments with the unique features of the C5: a barcode and RFID reader and a digital camera. This sample form is representative of the capabilities available to software companies developing ink-enabled interfaces for their enterprise applications.
Software companies focused on clinical documentation and minimizing errors can reduce their time to market for support of the C5 by joining the Mi-Co partner program where they will gain access to Mi-Forms script source code supporting the device. To learn more, contact the company at 888-621-6230.
“We are pleased that Mi-Co, with its forms-based solution for tablet PCs, has announced and demonstrated support for the C5,” stated Tony Bonadero, vice president of marketing for Motion Computing. “The demonstration showcased on the C5 at HIMSS was extremely compelling and helped to show the product’s value proposition to attendees.”
“Mi-Co is thrilled to showcase the capabilities of this exciting new device,” said Greg Clary, Mi-Co CEO. “We are even more excited to share this opportunity with our business partners.”
The demo was featured in Motion Computing’s booth, Microsoft’s booth, and Mi-Co’s booth. In addition to the demo, Motion Computing also chose Mi-Co to develop its lead capture system for the HIMSS conference.
Mi-Co, the leading mobile data capture company, provides software to eliminate numerous pains of paper forms-based business processes. Mi-Co’s enterprise Mi-Forms Software System provides flexible electronic forms design for data capture using digital ink and has proven capabilities for handwriting interpretation and verification, data validation and the communication of forms-based data. Mi-Forms supports Tablet PCs, Digital Pens, Pocket PCs, signature capture devices and industry standard software technologies. Mi-Co reaches historically paperwork intensive markets such as the healthcare and government sectors through a growing network of over forty channel partners. The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and has offices in Seattle, Washington and Ft. Collins, Colorado. For more information on Mi-Co, visit www.mi-corporation.com .
Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2007 by ChrisD Rating: 3.5Comments (0)
Samsung has added a Windows Vista-based model to its UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) tablet family. The "Q1P for Windows Vista" UMPC has achieved Windows Vista certification, and boasts a 1GHz Intel Pentium M ULV processor, 60GB hard drive, WiFi and Bluetooth wireless, and a 7-inch wide-VGA touchscreen, according to the company.
Samsung reports that it created a task force to ensure that its products -- including the Q1P UMPC -- would be certified for operation with Microsoft's new Windows Vista OS.(Source: WindowsForDevices)
I arrived in Seattle earlier today and had a great meetup with many of the Tablet PC MVPs at the Microsoft Global MVP Summit in Seattle this afternoon. As you can imagine when a group of Tablet PC geeks gather, there was much sharing, comparing, and showing off of toys and gadgets. The most anticipated of these was the Vulcan FlipStart that James Kendrick brought with him. I can attest that it is indeed a heavy device with the extended battery attached and that it is capable of surviving a drop from waist height onto a marble floor with out a scratch (I didn't do it).
Tomorrow I hope to get a bit of hands on time with Toshiba R400. There are a number of Lenovo X60 Tablets on hand and everyone seems to have nothing but good things to say about it (except to note that the screen looks a little subdued when compared side-by-side with the R400 - I'll see for myself tomorrow. As (Source: Marc Orchant, ZDNet)
While Microsoft's Tablet PC design has come a long way since its introduction in 2002, it has failed to catch on with mainstream users.
There are several reasons. They tend to be more expensive than traditional portables. They've primarily been marketed to business users in specific industries, such as medicine.
And, frankly, they simply don't work as well as they should.
Here's a look at two tablet PCs, both of which were designed to work with Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system. One's aimed at consumers, the other at business users, and both still have some of the flaws that keep tablets from being snatched up by the masses. (Source: Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle)
If you have a Lenovo TabletPC, you can get a free TabletPC pen from Lenovo. All you need to do is fill out a survey. Here’s hoping that the pens are the ones currently with shipping models. They are a improved over the one I receieved with the engineering sample back when I did this InkShow review.The button is easier to find and it is easier to know if you’ve pressed it.
Here’s the link for the survey. (Source: Warner Crocker, GottaBeMobile.com)
On the financial front, Washington state notably has played a key role in helping the Serbian economy modernize. The late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, a popular reformist leader, personally visited Redmond, courted Microsoft and won a coveted prize when Serbia became a center for the development of the Tablet PC and language-handwriting-recognition technologies.
However, in 2003, Djindjic was assassinated by a sniper outside his government headquarters. A Serbian friend told me that it was the "end of hope." But progress resumed. The planned Microsoft center opened in 2005. (Source: Deborah Senn, Seattle Times)
The fire department of Mooresville, North Carolina has given new meaning to "racing speed" in this historic town north of Charlotte that is better known as Race City, USA. For Fire Inspectors Tim Warren and Dave Brooks, it means reducing the time it takes to conduct their inspections by at least a third with the recent purchase and installation of MobileEyes™ software, developed by TradeMaster, Inc.
"Last year we conducted 600 annual inspections and plan reviews for 5.7 million sq. ft.," said Warren. "Much of our time was spent on paperwork and filing which we can reduce tremendously with this new tool."
MobileEyes™ software runs on a tablet PC and includes handwriting recognition capabilities that make note-taking as easy as writing on a yellow pad. Inspectors also have easy online access to building and fire codes.
"We don't have to carry the code book with us anymore," said Warren, estimating that it's grown to at least 340 pages. "With MobileEyes™, I can access codes on-site, print out a report and have everything finalized before I get back to the office." Reports can also be emailed to the recipients, speeding up the inspection process even more.
Warren also indicated that the new technology is going to help tremendously with planning, record keeping and reporting.
"With performance-based budgeting, we can more easily show the number of inspections, violations, violations corrected and other items," added Warren.
For a community that has changed over many years from a railroad town to textile center to Race City, USA, Mooresville's fire department may be establishing its own speed records. (Source: Press Release)
The style is a big departure from the norm for Toshiba and it mostly works. However, it's not as slim as it first appears, instead using visual tricks such as shrouding the rotating hinge in black to hide the bulk. Place it next to a larger-screened MacBook with a built-in optical drive (an item missing on the R400) and you'll see what we mean.
As far as Tablet PC design goes, however, the R400 is a step up in looks and features. It's a pity not all the cool stuff is available at its launch. (Source: Simon Tsang, The Age)
Well, it has been here for a bit, in useful practice. The people at ARINC developed the eFLYBOOK and it is available for pilots the world over. It is an e-Ink viewer for use in aircraft, mainly for pilots.
This is an entirely interactive tablet (hmmm, you Tablet PC (and Mac) folks paying attention,, maybe the back of a regular laptop screen maybe?) that stores, maps, charts, and forms for pilots to fill out. It does it all with a material that reads like ink on paper (yes, hence e-Ink). Stylus interactivity of course as well.
The thing about the e-Ink is that the contrast ratio is like that of type on a regular book, no matter the angle, no matter the light, the contrast is the same (ok, at night it’s hard, but the same goes when reading a book, plus this can be backlit). (Source: Coolest-Gadgets.com)
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