Breakfast Club 2005

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

IOC

No word about our relationship as of today at 5:42 p.m.
The projects move forward. Time waits for no man/woman. John

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Teaching With Tech

Teaching With Tech

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/051017/17elearn.htm

Colleges and universities around the country are scrambling to keep pace with innovations in technology, both to flaunt their abilities as cutting-edge research institutions and to engage a generation of students armed with camera phones, Wi-Fi laptops, and Google. Some classroom technologies, like course websites, are already widespread while others--such as podcast lectures--are still experimental. But each new technique aims to revolutionize the learning process. Many faculty and students worry, though, that these advances are just distractions from the material and from time-tested methods of teaching. No one yet knows how effective these new teaching tools are. For now, students and instructors are engaged in what amounts to a national beta test to determine which of these technologies will go to the head of the class.--By Vicky Hallett, US News.com, Oct. 17, 2005

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

IOC update

R. Hall emailed today..... See forwarded email. Larry O'Grady has done some work in the CAVE for the army and others with whom we are familiar. I think we should work some time out next week to bring him out to OBS to get the bigger picture. JBB

PC Tablet / Information Update

Folks:

MIKE WENDLAND: Microsoft has a winner with Tablet PC operating system

BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

October 18, 2005

Not to be a name dropper, but when Bill Gates spotted me last week at a news conference in Ann Arbor his face broke into a big grin and he greeted me with something to the effect of "Hey, Mike, my favorite reporter!"

Alas, it wasn't my journalistic skills that brought the compliment. It was the machine I was using to ply my trade: a small, slate-like computer using the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC operating system.

Gates absolutely loves the Tablet PC system. He thinks it's one of the most innovative and useful things Microsoft has ever invented, even though it's been slow in taking off.

It was the second time this year that Gates and I had a face-to-face and the second time he noticed me using a Tablet. The last time we met, back in April during a visit to Dearborn, he was so taken by my use of the Tablet that he mentioned me by name a few days later during a speech in Seattle. So when Gates saw me last week again using a Tablet, he once again beamed approval and later, when I asked him about technology that personally excites him, he mentioned the Tablet PC.

"I'm staking my reputation on it in a very big way," he said.

The Tablet PC I was using last week is the LS800 from Motion Computing, one of a dozen or so computer makers who put out Tablet versions. Some tablets look just like laptops. The screen swivels around to cover the keyboard and, with a stylus, you can take notes in handwriting right on the surface of the screen.

If you want a keyboard, swivel the screen up and around and it works like a regular laptop.

The LS800, like all of the Austin, Texas-based Motion's models, is a slate tablet, meaning there is no attached keyboard. The whole computer is contained in the box that makes up the screen. Most of the work is done in your own handwriting -- which can be translated back as text or stored as you would notes on a pad of paper. The unit will also work by wireless Bluetooth with an optional detached keyboard.

The LS800 is the tiniest of the slates made by Motion, weighing just 2.2 pounds and about the size of a thin paperback book -- 8.94 inches by 6.60 inches by 0.87 inches thick. A button lets you have the screen appear in vertical or horizontal formats.

It has built-in Wi-Fi and runs the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC operating system. That means it's just like the Windows XP program you are used to with the additional ability to do the on-screen note taking and drawing, which Microsoft calls "ink."

On the unit I've been testing, though, is what I think is the single most useful piece of software I have ever used: Microsoft's OneNote.

OneNote lets you take handwritten notes on a Tablet PC and simultaneously record an interview. Afterward, when you want to hear what was said, tap the screen next to the notation or mark you made in your note taking and it plays back what was being recorded at that precise time.

The LS800 and all Tablets come with a built-in microphone. On the LS800, though, is a multidirectional array microphone design and configurable acoustics software called Speak Anywhere that maximizes the sound quality. I recorded the news briefing with Gates, for example. He was two seats to my right around a conference table and the mic picked up every word just fine.

I'd make some of his comments available as an MP3 file for you to hear online, but Gates' handlers said audio recording could only be for individual use and not rebroadcast or podcast.

The LS800 lists for $1,899 with a basic configuration of 256 MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive. The unit I tested had upgraded memory (512 MB), a 30 GB hard drive and an optional software package that included preinstalled Microsoft Office and OneNote applications, and cost $2,338.

You can get OneNote as a stand-alone product for about $80 online.

Battery life ran about three hours for me, using the OneNote application to record Gates and then, as I wrote the story of his news conference, to transcribe the interview.

Personally, though, I prefer the larger Motion 1400 Tablet that I bought about a year ago. When I'm not using it for interviews at work, I carry the 15-inch tablet around the house to read the Web and handle e-mail.

Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com.

Tablet PC's Reach for the Masses
By THOMAS J. FITZGERALD
Tablet PC's, the portable computers with pen-based abilities, have been around since November 2002, but so far have not been widely embraced by consumers or businesses. The devices made up fewer than 2 percent of the notebook computers sold worldwide in 2004, according to analysts who track PC shipments.

The tablet PC has been slow to take off for a number of reasons, including being priced higher than notebook computers with similar specifications. The platform has also been a factor: many predicted that the pen-based abilities would be more tightly integrated with the Windows operating system by now, and that more tablet-specific software would become available.

Still, tablet PC's have taken hold in some segments like education and health care, and computer makers continue to introduce models with features for broader markets. Many of the new units are aimed at general consumers, professionals and management-level business users, and they include features like ultraportability and wide-screen displays. Soon some will have touch screens. In addition, prices of tablet PC's have been declining along with computer prices in general, and the price gap with notebooks has begun to narrow.

The two main types of tablet PC's are the slate model, a book-shaped computer with a pen, and the convertible model, which includes a keyboard and closely resembles a laptop. Both types run the same programs as other Windows-based computers, but all of the mouse actions can be performed by touching the pen to the screen.

The pen also allows users to write directly into programs in longhand, using an on-screen input panel, or by tapping letters and numbers on an on-screen keyboard. For example, in a Web browser you can either write a Web address by hand or tap out the letters on the on-screen keyboard. Programs developed specifically for the tablet PC offer greater uses for the pen, including mathematics, drawing and more expansive handwriting capabilities.
A new unit from Motion Computing, the LS800 (starting at $1,899; www.motioncomputing.com), is an ultraportable slate tablet PC. It measures less than an inch thick and 8.94 inches long, and the screen is 8.4 inches diagonally. With an exterior made of carbon fiber, it weighs about 2.2 pounds and is the lightest and smallest of the slate tablet PC's on the market.

The LS800 comes with a built-in fingerprint reader, which can grant access to the system using finger scans in addition to passwords. It also includes several buttons alongside the screen - one for toggling between landscape and portrait views; another to turn the Wi-Fi radio on or off; and another that starts up the Motion Dashboard, a utility program that quickly allows users to recalibrate the pen, activate the Bluetooth radio and adjust settings like security and Wi-Fi connectivity.

On the other side of the size spectrum is a new convertible model from Gateway, the CX200 (starting at $1,100; www.gateway.com). It has a 14-inch display that, as with other convertibles, flips open like a laptop and can swivel to one side and then fold down over the keyboard with the screen facing up. It is the first convertible tablet PC with a display using the WXGA wide-screen format (a maximum resolution of 1,280 by 768 pixels, and a 16:9 aspect ratio for wide-screen viewing of DVD movies).

The CX200 is large: it measures 13.58 inches wide, 11.14 inches deep and 1.36 inches thick. It weighs about 6.75 pounds with an eight-cell battery, according to Gateway, and comes with a choice of several processors, from a 1.4-gigahertz Celeron M up to a 2.13-gigahertz Pentium M. It includes a bay that can accommodate optical drives or a second battery, and it has a seven-in-one memory card reader.

From Hewlett-Packard comes a model aimed largely at business users seeking portability, the HP Compaq TC4200 (starting at $1,599; www.hp.com). With a 12.1-inch screen, the device is essentially a convertible version of Hewlett-Packard's ultraportable notebook, the NC4200. As with many ultraportables, the TC4200 lacks a built-in optical drive for playing or burning CD's and DVD's, but it offers a selection of standard-voltage Pentium M processors, from 1.73 to 2 gigahertz, typically available in larger models. The casing is made of magnesium alloy, a hard material that is protective but also adds weight.

Another model aimed at business users is from Lenovo, the ThinkPad X41 tablet (starting at $1,899; www.thinkpad.com), the first ThinkPad tablet. The X41, like the TC4200 from Hewlett-Packard, has a 12.1-inch screen, but at 3.5 pounds with a four-cell battery, it is about a pound lighter. It comes with a 1.5-gigahertz low-voltage Pentium M processor, which sacrifices some speed compared with some other models, but puts less strain on the battery and helps reduce weight.

Another new convertible, the Toshiba Tecra M4 (starting at $1,614 after rebate; www.toshibadirect.com), is aimed at consumers, college students and business users. It has a 14.1-inch screen and is large enough to be a desktop replacement. It has an assortment of ports and expansion slots, including three U.S.B. ports, with two along the left side and one in the back; a Secure Digital slot; a PC-MCIA slot; S-Video for TV out; and a four-pin FireWire port (the type that does not provide power to an attached device).

When it comes to software made for the tablet PC platform, a variety of programs have been developed. For mathematics, the MathJournal from xThink ($198; $98 for students; www.xthink.com) can calculate solutions to handwritten math problems. For example, you can write out an equation like 5 = 2x + 1, and the program can solve it numerically or symbolically, or plot the result on a graph.

A $100 program, the PlanPlus for Windows XP from FranklinCovey (www.franklincovey.com), is a planner and contact manager; you can write appointments directly in the calendar, add daily notes and write in contact information by hand that can be linked to Microsoft Outlook for sending e-mail.

The tablet PC is also seeing hardware changes. Microsoft relaxed its definition of tablet PC's last month and is now allowing computer makers to put its Windows operating system for tablets into units with touch screens. The first is an ultraportable convertible from Fujitsu, the LifeBook P1510D, which is expected to be available on Nov. 22, according to a Fujitsu spokeswoman (starting at $1,549; www.fujitsu.com). It has an 8.9-inch screen and weighs about 2.2 pounds with a three-cell battery.

A touch screen made to work with the tablet PC operating system allows the use of any pointing device, including your fingers; it does not require the special pen of today's tablet PC's. (A version of the P1510D is available with a touch screen and the Windows XP Professional operating system, starting at $1,499.)

Microsoft has added features and addressed handwriting accuracy in past updates of the tablet PC edition of Windows. In Windows Vista, the Microsoft operating system due out next year, more improvements for tablet PC's are planned. (A note about Vista: If you are considering buying a computer now and upgrading to Vista next year, check first with the manufacturer about system requirements, including the graphics processor's ability to support Vista's graphics-intensive features.)

Among the improvements in Vista is a way to import text from sent e-mail messages to help recognize words not found in standard dictionaries; Pen Flicks, a way to assign actions like "delete" or "copy" to specific pen movements; and a way to train the system to recognize your personal handwriting style.

No word on whether that last feature has been doctor-tested.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

IOC contacted JBB

Received call from our friends at IOC. I will be calling them to set up a meeting to discuss GRANTS (they are focused on the wrong target). Will try and ascertain their ddirection and carry info back to the group. JBB

PS....I will be meeting with the Crestwood Schools volunteers from the SURVING THE FIRST THIRTY MINUTES conference from last week. More info to follow.

PSS....The bride has adjusted our sunday schedule....I cannot make the am meeting.

Beginning With the End in Mind

Welcome:

Let's see what we can accomplish towards our continued goals regarding K-12 Education, Community & Societal Empowerment and the various opportunities our works may dictate and/or suggest.

Best,

Jim