Category Archives: General

Announcing TabletGoo.com – The Tablet PC Search Engine!

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Ever since Google announced the Search Engineco-op program, I’ve been wanting to spend some time with it and see how powerful it really is.  I’ve created several personal search engines over the past few weeks, and have been very pleased with the results, and the ability to narrow my searches to specific sites on the interweb.

This past weekend, I finally made the time to throw together a search engine focused on Tablet PCs and Mobile Computing.

Today I present TabletGoo.com – the one stop search tool to find anything Tablet PC related from you favorite Tablet PC web sites and blogs. Yes, it is REALLY hard finding good domain names, but it is fun to say, and will grow on you, promise! 🙂

I’ve got many other features I’ll be adding to TabletGoo.com over the next several weeks that will make web surfing on a Tablet PC a MUCH MUCH easier experience – so bookmark it, and stay tuned and check back often!

 

Note: I’ve added the Tablet PC/Mobile sites from my bookmarks, RSS feeds, etc… but I am sure I have missed plenty.  So if you have a favorite Tablet/Mobile site that is not showing up in searches here, please contact me and I’ll get it added to the engine right away.

Happy Birthday Tablet PC!!

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Today marks the 4th birthday of the Tablet PC Launch (Win XP Tablet Edition).  So, Happy Birthday to tablets everywhere!

While I’d love to pontificate on the state of Tablets and how things have changed since the launch from a Table PC launch partner / ISV perspective, I just don’t have the time right now.  Soon, promise! 🙂

Save the (Plastic) Pink Flamingo

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I just heard on CNN Headline news that the factory where the tacky, yet uber chic, plastic flamingos are made will close by November 1st.

Don Fatherstone (yep that’s his real name) , the owner/inventor of the plastic flamingos says the Union Products plant will be closing due to rising manufacturing costs.

A very sad day for kitsch lovers everywhere.  I sure hope I can find a few boxes to stock up on!

Since I grew up in south Florida, a backyard cookout just doesn’t seem the same without the tacky little creatures peppered about the lawn.

Sure, It’s pretty likely some overseas manufacturer will start(?) producing cheep knock-off flamingos soon, but without Don’s signature on the tail feathers, it just won’t be the same.

RIP Pink Flamingo 1957-2006, gone at a still spry 49.

More Coverage:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl…

http://improbable.com/2006/10/20/pink-flamingo-eme…

Personal Google Search Engine – Google Co-op

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Lot’s of buzz today about the newly announced Google Co-op engine which lets you create a custom engine tailored to your website(s).

Pretty cool concept.  I was able to create one for EdHolloway.com in less than a minute.  You can try it here – Search Ed Holloway.com

You can also create a custom search engine constrained to a set of sites and keywords you may regularly search, a programmer for example, could create a search engine to their favorite coding sites, and have the ability to search just this subset of the Internet, without having to manually filter out unwanted results.  It will be very interesting to see what sorts of sites start popping up around this technology – http://www.realclimate.org and JumpUp.com are two that Google is already highlighting.

Give it a while – cool stuff!

 

More details and coverage:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/eureka-your…

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=36…

http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticl…

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/23/google-custom…

http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6128807.html

Fujitsu 1610 Tablet PC – Hands on Preview

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I had the chance to spend a few minutes with a (pre-production) Fujitsu 1610 Tablet PC this morning.  One word – Awesome!

It has a similar (if not the same) feel and form factor as the 1510, with updated hardware AND a PC-Card slot (a MUST have for EVDO/EDGE, and a big issue for the 1510).

I had a chance to run our application on the unit, and the performance was snappy and just as good as any full size tablets.  I was a little concerned about the screen-size and and passive/touch input, but things ran great and were very usable.  I also tried to play a full screen HD video to get a feel for graphics performance, that was good as well, with a few minor jumps and skips – but I’m told this will be much better with the final software drivers.  I should have an eval unit soon, and will be sure to do more testing, and photos.

If you are in the market for a small form-factor convertible tablet you will definitely want to check out the 1610 when they become available(very soon).

For more specs and details on the 1610 (and eveything else mobile), be sure to check out the coverage at GottaBeMobile.com 

Tablet PCs, Ink Blogs, and Education

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I had a nice note yesterday from an Ink Blog user who is using it as an education tool.  She teaches a graphic communication class, and has been creating blog entries, in ink, showing various page layoutsfor her students to review online.

When I wrote the plug in, I would have never imagined it being used for education, but after seeing Romy’s use it just makes perfect sense!  What a great way for educators to quickly and easily post information for students to review – a picture is worth (at least) 1000 words!

Installing Vista RC2 on a Virtual Machine

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Vista RC2 (build 5744) poked it’s head out yesterday on the Microsoft Beta sites.  This build seems easier to install on a VMWare virtual machine than previous builds, and performance is very usable.

The only gotcha I had, and why I’m posting this, is that if I ran the install from a VMWare or Daemon Tools ISO CD emulator, the install needed a driver, which, of course, I did not have.  After messing with this for 20 minutes, I decided to just burn it to a DVD and try installing from that.  Worked like a charm.  There may be some other ISO mounting tools out there that will work for this, but burning it to a DVD was the quickest solution for me.

Now off to try it on a M400 Tablet and the Q1 UMPC!