Off to IFA 2006!

Living in Berlin can be annoying at times concerning the scarce amount of possibilities to check out new hard- and software, but the IFA 2006 in Berlin (!)the world’s second largest Home Entertainment and Digital Lifestyle exposition after CeBIT already. To get there, the organizational authorities had to make the huge event a yearly, (not bi-yearly as it used to be) spectacular. For the reason so many people are being attracted, the IFA committee is already being sued by many other trade show organizers, due to the loss of up to several hundred visitors and exhibitors to IFA.

My main point is that I am visiting the IFA 2006 in Berlin on Sunday, and I will be there the whole day, which should give me plenty of time to review any stands YOU want me to check out. Send me an email with your request by Sunday, and I will write an article of all things that readers asked for (and of course those, that I thought are cool 😀 ). Pictures will be included, as long as The Camera doesn’t get stolen by pickpockets or something.

Well, go ahead and get writing, You have 28 hours starting NOW!

//F2theD

Software: Microsoft Experience Pack

Hi you guys, thanks for stopping by. This will be the first post of a series all about Software. I seemed logic to me to begin with the software utilities I use (virtually) all the time – The Microsoft eXPerience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC edition 2005. It includes:

-Ink Art, a tool created by AmbientDesign, very similar to ArtRage 2.

-Ink Crossword, A crossword tool that you would treat just like a newspaper crossword

-Ink Desktop: enables you to ink right on your desktop. When you close Ink Desktop, all ink is saved from the screen.

-Media Transfer lets you easily access, copy and stream all multimedia contents from your home PC to the TPC via network. Timed transfer possible.

-Snipping tool, a Little app with which you draw a circle on the screen. The content you encircled can be annotated and saved to file, clipboard or email.

-And finally the Energy Blue theme. It adds a skin to media player and makes your Windows and Buttons look like in windows MCE. Here are a couple of screenshots:

Copyright 2006 Fabian Dietrich

OQO: Perfect for Ink in School & College?

It has been on gizmo/gadget rumor sites for over two years, and now it’s finally here: the OQO model 01+.

It has been considered vaporware for a long time, but now first reviews and insider reports confirm the OQO will soon be available. I recommend anyone interested enough to visit jkontherun and check out their posts on it. The interesting part about the OQO 01+ is that even though it has a 5″ 800×480 screen (smaller than the 7″ of a UMPC), It inherits an active digitizer, which is critical for taking handwritten notes on a Tablet. On a normal Touchscreen like that of an UltraMobile PC, resting the hand on the display will cause severe inking problems. Because a touchscreen will only sense the stylus / finger on one single coordinate (exception multitouch), the hand on the screen will make your handwritten notes appear somewhat like Picasso’s drawings when he was three and a half. While the TabletKiosk eo elegantly solves that problem with a 120 gram touch sensor (meaning you have to press harder), the OQO will feel just like your normal 10-14 inch active digitizer Tablet PC. Except it’s WAY smaller.

This may of course be a problem for some people, but everybody has a personal, “custom” minimum of space they need. The OQO is powered by a Transmeta Crusoe CPU at (I think) 900 MHz and 2k of Level 1 cache. It has 265 to 1024 megabytes of RAM, a 30 gig hard drive and a CF cardslot. It also sports 802.11b/g wireless, and an “applish” feel due to the silver/white and the boot screen. What gets in the way of perfect usability is the heat the OQO develops after a while and the active digitizing sensor. As described on Tablet PC Lounge, the recognized screen taps can be a little bit off on the outside rim of the display. Dunno what happened there. The OQO 01+ isn’t a slate, as it has has a slide out keyboard with an actual mouse trackpoint and right/left click buttons. However at the kb size I don’t recommend typing your lab report on it 😀 . The OQO is nice for some, less for others, so if the 2.5 hour battery or the 2000something USD price tag keep you from ordering one right now, I suggest you take a look at the Tablet Kiosk eo with 7 inches of screen and a 120 gram touch screen for inking. (approx. 1000 US dollars at 512 mb, 40 GB and 1 GHz). *type 2 u l8er!*

//F2theD