Finals are Finally Over

Finals are over, and I'm relieved. I can't say whether my tablet was a benefit in total to studying for tests or not, but I can say that it helped and hindered in taking a final for my MIS class.
It took some convincing to allow my professor to allow me to use the tablet during the closed book/open note midterm and final. What really helped was the ability to turn off the wireless (really it was the fact that even though I was in the computer building, it was made out of concrete and there was no signal in the room whatsoever) and that the professor also owned a Fujitsu tablet and was playing with it and figuring out how it works. During the final I used the search function in windows to plow through power points to find some information I needed. This is when I realised one of the limitations to using OneNote or GoBinder - when you print to OneNote etc., it doesn't recognise the text in what you're printing as text - only as a picture. When searching in OneNote, since I left the handwriting as it was and didn't convert to text, the spelling of the word recognition often made the application pass over my notes. Also, the one lengthy page standard of OneNote made scrolling through power points that I had printed to OneNote very tedious. It was very hard to find what I needed by scrolling along 50 pages of info.
I've thought about using Power point and just annotating the slides themselves. This would not allow the recording feature that I love in OneNote, but the notes would be organized much more intelligently while being searchable. If anyone knows how to fix the print to OneNote feature to recognise the text, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
I've also decided that the tablet will go down to Seattle to get repaired. I will not try to replace it. By the time that a slate could offer anything that I wish, I'm sure years will have passed. Although the topic of price is a touchy subject for any tablet owner, I feel besides what I spent on the unit that I can be satisfied with what I have.
I also ran into a problem when loading power points while OneNote was open. For some reason the power points caused OneNote to freeze up and crash after a few minutes, then the power point would load up in one second as usual. The defaults were all set properly and this only happened at that one time.
The wireless problem that I've had (and have posted on the Buzz about) also has been fixed. My Netgear wireless router reset the other day, and this forced me to really try to configure the settings on my tablet correctly. I cannot get WPA or WPA2 to work with the Fujitsu. WEP is the only thing that has any security that will work. I can connect to the router, but I cannot get to the internet. My wife's Acer will connect and go to the internet, but this poor Fujitsu cannot. I still have no idea why not. I spent some time with a Fujitsu tech trying to figure it out, but they will pretty much stop once you get it working on an unsecured / WEP config and tell you to "play around with it" and try to figure it out. I called Netgear, and they are a complete joke. For my $79 router, they want me to pay over $30 a phone call after my purchase date is over 30 days away. Not only that, but they outsource to India. Try talking about passwords when it's "W like whale" etc. Blah. I'm usually OK with outsourcing, but when it's services for what I've paid for, I have a problem with that.


Well, that's it for now. I have to get my son going for school this morning. I'll post or link about a function I attended last night dealing with reproductive rights and scientific and medically accurate education in schools. All I can say for now is that if you're a fundie, you're my enemy. I'm so sick of religious people limiting and walking over the rights of my children and I just so you can live in a world of your making. I don't walk on your rights, and you'd better not walk on mine. One out of a hundred people that attended this speech which was totally nonpartisan and unireligious got so upset by listening to a story of a gal that was highly educated in a home school environment but not in sexuality and responsibility that was "thrown to the wolves" by her parents by leaving her unprepared for her first encounter with a boy that was interested in her at a party. The lady was so irate, as I could tell by her fidgeting, discussions with everyone around her during the presentation, and the way she made a complete boob out of herself by challenging stats from our own government when it comes to our STI, HIV, teen pregnancy, and age of first sexual encounter.
I'm completely floored at what people put their attention to, and what they totally ignore.
I hate to say this, but people of blind faith are my enemy.

Buyer's Remorse

I've contacted Fujitsu via e-mail and I have a decision ahead of me that I'm not enjoying.
I purchased my tablet for an obscene amount of money, and I'm feeling that the value I received for my cash isn't worth it.
My problem is simple; the sales staff at Fujitsu are misinformed.
I spoke to several of them, and they informed me that the video chip was upgraded enough to run Vista. I even talked about it on the Buzz when I was contemplating on my purchase. I was considering the Electrovaya SC3000 and the Fujitsu ST503x.
After owning it for a few months, I've found different. Even when I go to a website that has moving graphics let alone anything graphically intensive, the screen/cursor lags quite a bit. I have 2 gigs in the machine for goodness sake.
It's 2006! Why do they have such crappy video chips in these machines that cost more than I purchased my Jeep for?

My decision ahead - Do I try to return the unit to Fujitsu and go for yet another tablet that I can't demo (Electrovaya) or abandon the Slate form that I love for a heavy convertible that has more power and can run the future OS? I'm honestly feeling that this isn't worth it.

It's finals week and I can't spend time pondering this. I don't even know if Fujitsu is going to release something new around the corner. I am feeling I should cash in and wait for them to get their heads out of (I wish I could really speak my mind here) the sand and produce something that quite frankly desktops had 4 years ago. There are no excuses they can honestly give.

Tablet PCs and Politics

I have created this site to give new Tablet PC users help in basic tasks that I had to learn the hard way. I researched for days, weeks, and sometimes months to get the information that I needed. Rob Bushway and Dennis Rice have created a great website for doing just this at www.gottabemobile.com which host a plethora of walk-throughs and advice for those users who are at the level that I am at now.
I have noticed that there are many posts on personal blog spots that involve religion and politics. I have wondered if this would annoy or anger people if I did post some of my ideas and reasons why I have my personal beliefs since I've seen this. It's amazing how many people I see that are involved in religion etc. posting their views on links that I have clicked simply to get Tablet PC advice.

I don't have many readers here, partly because this blog is new and partly because there are a few thousand other sites just like mine out there. What do you think?
I live in the Pacific Northwest. I was raised in a very religious home that I consider pretty radical. I consider myself progressive and neither a Republican or a Democrat. I have always been interested in religion, but I am not a member of any particular flavor. Religion has mixed with Politics as of late and I feel that we are on the wrong course in our country.

Are any of you interested in reading different viewpoints as I am? Would you read if I spent the time to link particular posts that catch my eye?
Are you fixed in your beliefs so much that anything from another point of view would cause you to ignore another human?

I'm very interested in your comments on this. As a student I've found many christian groups coming onto my campus who do not attend the college to recruit people into their fold. I enjoy having discussions with them and unless they are complete idiots when it comes to actual history (not as recorded in the Bible) we have great conversations. Let me know what you think.

The Mythical Little Guy

And most of us think we have a good hold on what we believe to be right....
http://themythicallittleguy.blogspot.com/

I'm into my third month now...

I feel that I have got the hang of this machine. I know that it’s only been two months since I’ve owned my Fujitsu, but I think I am using my machine to its potential as a student. I’ve recorded lectures, developed a rather simple way to take notes, and used it for review sessions for midterms. Finals are around the corner and I’ve planned on how to study for my finals. I need to incorporate a new method – perhaps the Cornell method.
Rarely do I find myself pulling out the keyboard, but I’m glad that I purchased the leather portfolio case so that when I am doing some excel work or typing up a paper I can find a free spot on campus and still enjoy the laptop mode of the slate. Fujitsu has a nice way of using a laptop mode, but I’ve noticed that I can’t hold the computer in my lap while typing like I could a convertible. I can enjoy the slate’s advantages during class or lecture, while working with a group, and every time I walk to and from school with a backpack that doesn’t weigh 50lbs.
I’ve used a trial of Mind Manager for a marketing paper. I really felt it helped me focus on the structure of the paper, but all I was really doing was the same thing I do when I write any thesis. I was spending more time on the map than I did in the writing. I didn’t dive too deep into Mind Manager, but I felt that if it was going to be used as a note taking program that I’d want options to export all penned notes to a file as well. It may do this, but I didn’t see how.
I’ve used OneNote for most of my note taking. As soon as I loaded it up, it looked pretty much the same as GoBinder as far as how everything had a tab etc. I can honestly say I doubt I’d use another note taking program. It is indispensable in my opinion, especially if you are recording a lecture while taking notes. Every time you ink, there is a link being created to the time in the recorded lecture. If you click on an icon when hovering over the ink, you can listen to that exact moment in the lecture. I find this very good indeed!
I haven’t scanned my books into OneNote. I find that with all of my notes OneNote starts lagging a bit or it hangs on exiting. This is very annoying. I’m not sure if it’s because of a bad load, or if it’s taking its sweet time in saving the audio file or what. All I can say on this is that slates have a distance to go to achieve the technology that will improve the CPU power while keeping the heat down and the battery life extended. I look forward to that day.
I did have to use four pieces of paper yesterday for a lab exercise. Our operations management class all piled into one of the computer science labs and met a gentleman that teaches the university’s SAP class. All I will say is that structure is amazing. I want to look into getting more experience in SAP soon. I will be practicing more when I have free time. Unfortunately, I cannot use my tablet while doing this. Why would I?
With using my tablet for just about everything computer related, I’ve grown fond of my desktop once again. When I received my tablet I was engrossed in sucking up everything I could learn about it like a sponge. I studied the different companies that sell tablet pcs, decided which form of computer to purchase, and even made mind maps in order to learn some of the software that everyone was buzzing about on some of the different forums available out there for tablet pc discussions. I’ve found that doing homework that involves Excel or Access or any other database software is tiresome if you are bending over a big chair to a small table, on the couch bending over to the coffee table, or just on a bench somewhere using your wireless keyboard. There’s comfort in having a 21” computer screen and a full sized keyboard. I feel that soon I’ll be working on a macro system of study and computer use. Technology will keep advancing in ways that are hopefully unpredictable. We will be driven to consistently improve the techniques we have learned to incorporate into our productive lives. I remember making a light pen for my Commodore 64c so that I could draw onto the TV screen. How time has progressed.


One other thing I’ve been using my tablet for is helping my son with his homework or projects. We found ourselves helping him with his science project and coming up with ideas to explain how sound travels through air, solid objects and liquids. He did a great job on it. I’m proud to know he has a huge craving for science. We in America are failing when it comes to progressing science. Most industrialized countries have two times the students graduating with science degrees every year. I’ve taken him to Western Washington University and showed him all of the fossils and stones and artwork that we have on display, and he was amazed that they had a room with the title “Paleontology,” which is what he’s interested in at the time.

“What we need more of is Science.” – Mc Hawking (http://www.mchawking.com/)