Over on the Microsoft Office Assistance web site, there's a great video of Chris Bertelson - an long-time Microsoft employee with lots of experience demonstrating software - navigating his way around the features available in Office OneNote 2003.

• If you've never seen or used OneNote, this video will show you all kinds of cool things, and gives a great idea of what OneNote is all about.
• If you're already a OneNote user, don't skip this one! Be prepared to see all sorts of great things that you can add to your personal toolkit to make you a OneNote power user.

This 45-or-so-minute video (see links below) should be mandatory training for OneNote users. It's that good.

I use OneNote every day on my Tablet PC as well as my desktop machine. One thing many people don't realize is that OneNote is not just a Tablet PC application - In fact OneNote was initialy conceived and designed before the Tablet PC was born, and it's a great program for desktops and laptops, too.

Chris covers some serious ground in the video:

• Watch Microsoft OneNote Tips and Tricks (256K) (optimized for broadband viewing.)
• Watch Microsoft OneNote Tips and Tricks Video (110K) (optimized for dial-up viewing.)
• Download the OneNote Tips and Tricks follow-along Word doc

And if you want even more detail, check out the webcasts:

The Webcasts of this demo are available on demand. These are generally more in-depth than the demos because they include audience interaction and questions and answers. You can watch them on your own schedule.

• Microsoft Office System Webcast: OneNote Tips and Tricks - Level 100
• Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks Part I - Outlook - Level 100
• Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks Part II - Word and Excel - Level 100
• Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks Part III - OneNote, Visio, InfoPath and PowerPoint - Level 100

One more dedicated post reviewing the new X41 ThinkPad Tablet and my experiences of the past week, then back to our regular (random) programming. You can read my first two review posts here and here.

Walk into an aiport or a coffe shop and start writing on your screen. You'll get "the look." Tablet PCs tend to attract and grab the attention of people who have not seen one before. They're also of interest to gadget freaks, of course.

I spent a few hours Saturday with some "new media" geeks, hanging out in downtown Portland. Several of them asked if I brought along the new ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC I've been using this past week. Well, of course I did. Several of those present said they've been thinking about possibly been getting a Tablet PC for their next computer, and wanted to see one. Others were simply curious about what IBM has done with their initial foray into Tablet-Land.

Of course, Josh Bancroft wanted to take pictures, heh. Many wanted to hold it in their hands, see how it feels, and to learn about what you can do with it. I've noticed one of the huge selling points of these things (with geeks and their wives and girlfriends, anyhow) is how the thing feels in your hand. Once I rotated the screen and placed it in their hands with the extended battery as a sort of "book spine" grip, that Tablet PC realization kicked in and you could see the expressions change on each of their faces. When people start using the pen, the "ahhhhhhh's" come out and the questions start. The main difference this time around is the X41's an even better example than most of why Tablet PCs are so darn cool.

Anyhow, I have been making a quick little list of things I'd like to see IBM/Lenovo to do to improve this thing, because while it's a terrific machine and I'm definitely won over, it's not quite perfect.

Use the hard drive protection gyroscope for screen orientation
I've been playing with it for a while now, and as far as I can tell, this model has a gyroscope (or similar) device built in that's used for real-time awareness in order to protect the had drive from shocks. You can even open the active-protection configuration applet and move the computer around and watch the picture of the thing on the screen move around just as fast as you can make it. But it doesn't appear the IBM software is connected in any way to the software switches that control screen orientation. Why not? If I'm holding the thing in my right hand with the battery on the left, use that technology to make sure the display isn't upside down, for gosh sake. Or, if I am missing something and the capability's already there, tell me, please.

Better stylus/pen
I wrote about this before. The pen has no "eraser" end on it. As expected, I was able to verify that any standard stylus that does have an eraser end works just fine with the T41 (I used an Acer pen for the test)... So, hopefully IBM will ship a new pen that has the eraser end, and I will buy it. Honestly, it's driving me nuts every time I work in pen mode. But that's okay, I'll live. For now, anyhow. I just wish the Acer stylus was the same size and shape as the IBM model, so I could just swap them out. No such luck.

Fingerprint software loses focus when Windows has been console-locked
This is a software nit-pick, and I am not sure if the problem exists on non-tablet versions of Windows XP or not (and I don't have a computer to test this with), but when the computer is "locked," the fingerprint reader dialog (they replace the regular Windows "This computer is locked" dialog with their own) often loses focus, and swiping your finger does nothing until you click on that Window to bring it into primary focus. I am wondering if it's because of the on-screen virtual keyboard, since it appears to have focus on the screen. I'll have to check on that and figure out how to turn it off, if that's the issue. Anyhow, it's a usability issue, and should be addressed one way or another.

Your mother is a hamster; Your father smells of elderberries
Just seeing if you're paying attention. Are you? Hmmm... If you can read this, you're too close. No, I mean you're doing fine. Yes, fine, thanks for asking. No, sorry I am busy tonight. Move along, nothing to see here. Maybe lunch though? Oh, oops...

So - All in all, not much to gripe about. If those are the worst things about this computer, then hey - it's a pretty darn good machine.

There are (of course) also a number of things about the computer that I really like over others I have used. So, to tie this thing up and put it to bed, a couple of them are:

The wireless networking software and hardware is pretty much rock solid
They got it right some time ago, and I really appreciate the reliable, easy to use and easy to count on wireless networking setup. I especially appreciate the fact that the ThinkPads are among the few computers  that load the wireless drivers right up front, so when I log onto the Windows domain, the login scripts are able to run just like I was plugged into the wire.

Sturdy, very light, and everything is right where it should be
From the pen location (front left side edge, right up front) to well-placed slate-mode controls (the fingerprint reader is on the monitor frame along with special Tablet PC buttons for rotation and common keyboard buttons as well as CTRL-ALT-DEL), they put stuff right where it works well. It's super-light, and no rickety construction here. The real point is that IBM waits til they know they've got it nailed down before they release it to the market. We've seen them do this before, and I remember talking to and IBM rep over a year ago when they told me IBM was working on a convertible Tablet PC overseas, and that it was definitely coming, but not to expect anything for about a year because there was no way they were going to get it wrong when they actually released it.

Oh, if this turns out to be true, this could end up being my favorite movie of the decade. You think I'm lame for it? Fine, I can live with that...

Dude, Underdog is going to be a freakin' movie star.

Shoe Shine Boy's alter ego (that would be Underdog for the uninitiated) was my number one favorite cartoon character when I was a kid. I still keep thinking I'm going to get an underdog tattoo one of these days (I almost did a while back, but got a different one instead).

It sounds like it might not be a cartoon, though. Something about a real dog and CG. Hopefully they can pull it off and not ruin the name, heh. We'll see.

BTW, I found this while checking out the blog at the Delta Park Project (I met Jason of DPP today at a podcast/videoblog roadshow meetup in Portland - cool dude).

More info about the movie? Ya you betcha, available at Empire Movies. And about.com (pronounced 'uh-boat'). Or just Google it.

Come geek out this weekend. Bring a friend, your audio gear and a camera (or just yourself if that's easier), and lets do some podcasting and videoblogging as the Podcast and Videoblog Roadshow comes to Portland, Oregon. It happens Saturday at noon downtown.

Podcasting, videoblogging, audioblogging, etc. Get creative. Fun stuff. 

All the obligatory W's: 

• You, me, Eric and whoever else wants to come out and play
• Portland (Oregon) Podcast and Videoblog Roadshow
• Seattle's Best at 1742 SW Sixth Ave
• At noon
• That's this weekend - Saturday July 16th
• Because we can

See ya there.

Chris points out a funny song that describes with uncanny accuracy that which is the SysAdmin. Check out The System Administrator Song, at Three Dead Trolls (cool site by the way). Several video formats are available as well as an MP3 file.

You probably know these guys from their "Welcome to the Internet Help Desk" skit. Wow, Wes has really grown his hair out, eh?

Next time you cuss your system administrator, stop and listen to this song or watch the video. Be nice, and they will too. Heh.

You'll likely laugh. And no drinking soda while you watch - or you'll be sorry.

Click here to watch.

Where I work we run a couple of high-security data centers, and the security policies don't allow outbound network connections to the Internet to be initiated from inside the datacenter. It's a good policy and makes for a much more secure environment. So, when it comes time to activate a copy of Windows Server 2003, I frequently get asked how to do that over the phone.

I could just say "Ask Google," but instead I think I'll just point people here, heheh...

Also -- It's worth noting that Windows should tell you what number to call if you let it. From the Microsoft web page on the topic:

I (finally) removed the Free Mini Mac banner from the top of the page, as I (finally) got the required number of referrals (again) to qualify to get the "free" computer.

I say "again" because I had the required number of referrals once before, a f=couple months ago. But apparently there was a repeat-visitor that signed up for more than one offer, which invalidated both of those referrals. So, I've patiently waited and waited, and now I have enough and I think it'll all be good to go.

But that's not the real news... So, what is the news you ask?

Soon enough, I'll be a <shudder> Mac user. That should be interesting.

Woah dude. Woah.

UPDATE: I've received approval for all my referrals and just ordered the Mac Mini, so soon I'll be a cult member, too! I'll post more when I get the thing.

Ok, this is almost weird and takes ego issues to a whole new level, but what the heck...

Rich Claussen proves he's easily excited (heheh...) when he says:

"My goodness! What nice, legible handwriting! You need to get that MyOwnFont app that won the Think in Ink contest and make the dang thing available!"

Dude, way ahead of you on that. Already did that, yesterday while showing the new tablet off to a coworker. See the attached file below.

Download: GregWrite.zip (TrueType font file)

For those of you who got here looking for the Tablet PC My Font Tool, it's on the Tablet PC Power Toys page at Microsoft's web site - but for quick access, here you go:

Download: MyFontTool for Tablet PC (.exe installer)

Oh, and that whole "easily excited" thing? Just kidding, bud. Rich also lists some cool places to download free fonts on his weblog.

Oh, and there's nothing quite like someone chatting with you on IM, using your handwriting. Crazy. 

It's been a day and a half now since I started using a ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC. Yesterday I posted a few initial thoughts, and today I have some more (part three is also now onlline and can be found here). I'm pretty much using the new computer exclusively now, which is a testament to it's usability, since I really liked the Acer I've relied on for the past couple years.

Update - Many people won't ever find it on the ThinkPad site, since it requires st00pid pop-ups, but there's a very good animated 3D demo of the X41T on the web site. And that link doesn't require a pop-up.

A bit of a description of how this thing feels...

Essentially it's an X-series ThinkPad notebook, one that's thin and light. Mine has the 8-cell extended battery, and in the real world it provides about 5 hours worth of juice for off-the-grid computing (no pun intended, old-timers).

The keyboard is predictably great. I am surprised at how quickly I am adjusting to the little rubber eraser-like mouse pointer device. It's not as bad as I'd feared. I still need some time with it, but that has nothing to do with the fact that this is a Tablet PC - all the X-series notebooks are built with that pointer.

The pen/stylus provided with this model lacks an "eraser" end on the blunt end. I am used to having that with my Acer C300-series model, and I keep catching myself turning the stylus around to try to erase something and finding it lacking in that regard. I'll need to try an Acer pen on the ThinkPad tomorrow and see if it behaves well. If it does, someone needs to produce a good after-market stylus that fits in the ThinkPad holder and includes the "eraser" end. I'd buy a couple of 'em.

It's solid, clearly very-well-built, which is exactly what you'd expect from a ThinkPad. The hinge/rotation point appears to be significantly better-made than the one on my Acer tablet (which has a tendency to buckle and break under extended use).

The fingerprint reader and software (again, not tablet-specific, although on the X41 the reader is on the display panel (in the lower right, so you can use it in slate mode to log in or unock the computer - nice!) gets lots of "WOW, COOL!" comments, and it works quite well. So far, in my totally unscientific study, it has only let me unlock the machine - the fingers of others don't work. That's a good thing.

When you convert to slate mode (by rotating the screen panel backwards and folding it down over the keyboard), the whole thing fits in the hand quite well. It's well-balanced and the battery lets me comfortably grip it much like I would a paper notebook - a good physical metaphor. It also makes it easy to keep a very solid grip, which is a great think in the IT department world - Anti-dropping features are always good. And as a bonus, it has the requisite ThinkPad "hard drive air bag" capability that protects the drive and heads from shocks.

The screen has a very wide viewing angle (I think it's like 170 degrees). Once I installed the hey-its-about-time patch for the Tablet PC OS and configured a few tweaks on the machine (typical Windows stuff), it's running like a champ.

the 1.5GHz Pentium Mobile processor is quick enough, and the machine seems to run a little faster than the Acer overall. We'll see what happens when I install VS.net on it in the next day or two - Oh and that reminds me, it needs a bigger hard drive... I have a gig of RAM in it, and that certainly helps performance. the IBM software that helps control the display and a plethora of other things has improved over the years, and that's good to see. It even let me map the Right-ALT key to act as a Windows key, which is a welcome feature since the IBM keyboards don't have one. Nice tweak.

I was a bit confused when I saw a USB port on the right side, and another one on the left side with some goofy looking, slightly narrower port right below it. After doing some looking around, it appears the extra port is a power port that accompanies the USB 2.0 port. Nifty. Power to the people. There's also a SD card slot, which is how these pictures reached your eyes.

Okay - so... What makes this one better?

Up til now, most Tablet PCs have often been heavy in the "shiny" department - lots of cool looks and nifty flair - but somewhat lacking in the durability and consistency areas. Keep in mind, I haven't used every tablet out there. Motion and others make Tablets that I have no experience with. I have extended experience with the Compaq, Toshiba and Acer models. Of those, the Acer has been my favorite. Until now, that is.

But what I can tell you is that the ThinkPad X41 takes the strong utility value and characteristics of the IBM line, trims it down, and adds Tablet hardware. It's classic IBM (now Lenovo) to watch the market and wait things out to see what works and what doesn't, then take the market by storm.

In my book, it's all about ThinkPad keyboard and durability, light-weight construction, lonnnnng battery life, a nice bright/contrasty display (much better than Toshiba's in that area), and excellent placement of controls.

Areas to improve? Better pen (with the eraser end on it), higher-res display (Toshiba may be flat in terms of contrast, but they kick serious ass in the resolution department), more microphones (again a Toshiba win) and find some way to build in a slot-load or slide-out optical drive (not likely in this form factor, I know, but hey I can dream).

By the way, the screened label says "IBM ThinkPad" on it. On the bottom it also says "IBM" with no mention of Lenovo. I assume that will probably change over time.

There's no huge surprises here - and that's what makes this Tablet so great... You get everything you'd expect from a quality, lightweight, compact and durable ThinkPad, and you get well-designed and -built tablet PC components and functionality built into it. And it all works, without the typical third-party software glitches and digitizer electronics frustrations I've had to deal with in the past. It's already fitting like a glove.

In my book, that's a real success.

By the way - just to be clear - in my original post I said I have received this Tablet for "evaluation and testing." This is a purchased computer, one we are checking out for use at work. I just wanted to be sure to explain that no one sent a free one and I am only blogging about it because I think it's pretty nifty and sweet. - gh

I am showing my co-worker, Alex, how I can blog in text entered with the pen, as well as in ink on the screen via email to dasBlog. 

By the way - this is nothing new... I did the same thing over a year and a half ago (see links below), but it still gets a bit of a "wow, that's cool" reaction.

Also did pretty much the same thing a few times from OneNote (which tends to group multiple images in a confusing way to try to avoid positioning problem unless you tell it not to, by the way):

• http://www.greghughes.net/rant/BlogEntryDirectlyFromOneNote.aspx
• http://www.greghughes.net/rant/VeryInterestingMoreOnOneNoteBloggingTrials.aspx
• http://www.greghughes.net/rant/BloggingOneNoteAndAudio.aspx

Hopefully you don't need this advice because you've been victimized, but this is something everyone should know.

If you ever become a victim of online fraud or any other form of fraud where you believe or know your personal information has been obtained or used improperly, there are a number of things you need to do. Microsoft's Security at Home team has put together a list of things you should do. They include:

• Close any affected accounts - both verbally on the phone and in documented written form
• Place a fraud alert on your credit reports - will all the credit reporting agencies
• Contact the proper authorities - both federal (FTC) and local (police or sheriff's office)
• Record and save everything - document, document, document

That's all good advice in general. Additional resources and more specific information is available on their web site.

My favorite RSS aggregator, FeedDemon, has just had an update pushed out in beta form. Existing registered users of FeedDemon can run the beta (warts and all) now.

And there's a whole slew of add/changes/fixes in this beta release from v1.5, all of which can be read on the release notes page.

The announcement from Nick is here. A download link is on that page.

New in this beta release is greatly enhanced synchronization with NewsGator. In a matter of seconds I got my NewsGator account hooked up to FeedDemon and was on my way.

Also, you can update all your feeds - across your subscription folders -at once. Nice!

And it looks great, too. "Surfer" is definitely my new newspaper style. I can group and sort inside the newspaper, and can choose whether I want to view full, short or no descriptions. Very slick.

Great job Nick!

Update: Part two of this review is here. Part three is here.

Just in time, since my old laptop's hard drive just started making shhhpppppttt-CLACK!!! sounds (sure sign of impending hard drive death and doom), an IBM X41 Tablet PC arrived on my desk this morning for testing and evaluation. I'm doing more and more travelling, so a single-machine solution with killer battery life and compact size is of interest to me nowadays.

Anyhow... So I've spent the last half a day between meetings and conference calls with a new X41T. That and backing up the old machine.

So what's it like? Well, let me just say this: "Finally – a Tablet PC that really makes me really want to have and use a Tablet PC."

Keep in mind, I’ve been using Tablet PCs ever since the TC1000 came out a couple or so years ago. Since then, I have primarily been using an Acer C300-series Tablet. That’s the one with the sick hard drive. A week or so ago I wrote about past experiences and how much I use the Acer machine. I also wrote about my thoughts spawned by an Engadget article that asked "How would you change the Tablet PC?"

While the X41T doesn't have all the things in my wish list, what it does have is quality and well-put-together.

Initial thoughts:

• This one has the biometric fingerprint reader. Cool, and it actually works.
• The red eraser/nub/pointing device will take some serious getting used to. Touchpad would be better.
• /me likes the keyboard - ThinkPad keyboards rock.
• Nice display, wide viewing angle, matte finish reduces glare nicely but doesn't sacrifice contrast. Needs to be higher than 1024x768 resolution, but I'll live.
• It's really light and really sturdy. Even with the extended battery I have on it. In fact the 8-cell battery makes it easy to handle when walking around with it, due to the ergonomic shape (OMG did really I just type "ergonomic???" Aaagh!)
• Seems to be speedy and snappy in terms of processing and computing power. I have a gig of RAM in this one.
• The hard drive is this goofy new short/stubby model, not something you can easily replace with another available standard notebook hard drive.
• Overall, impressive!

I'll have to live and work with this thing for a while, and then document some more thoughts. For now, the honeymoon has started and so far it's a lot of fun. But don't read anything into that.

More to come...

WHAT YOU SAY???

Zero Wing meets Star Wars in the English translation of the Chinese translation of the English version of Revenge of the Sith, a.k.a. "Backstroke of the West."

Click here for full details and a bunch of laughs. It gets fairly colorful.

[via Rory]

Over on Microsoft's Channel 9, Scoble's posted a new video of Kim Cameron, who has a weblog called the Identity Blog. He discusses identity and trust, and what it will take to build a single-experience trusted system for common identification. It's an interesting conversation. I've read his weblog for a while now, so it's good to see him speak about this.

"Identity is like the Hotel California of Technology - you can come but you can never leave. We have a lot of work to do."

This is a topic that is near and dear to my professional heart. Identity protection and theft is something I deal with every day. It's complicated. It's not easy. It's a goose chase at times. There are almost no standards. But it's of great importance right now. The people I manage and work with are super-talented and are building a couple terrific pieces of security software right now, software intended to protect people who do critical personal transactions on the Internet, and to catch the bad guys that try to steal and use your personal information.

Where I work we are charged with protecting the identities and assets of people who are doing critical financial transactions with their banks and credit unions. To us this stuff matters - it matters a lot. And it should matter to anyone that's doing business on the 'net and everyone who writes software used to do business on the 'net.

"It's impossible to be too paranoid about this ... We have to be paranoid."

The video is about 55 minutes, and it's worth the time for people who are concerned (or who should be concerned) about the topic. You'll need to get about two-thirds of the way through it til you get to Cameron's "Laws of Identity," which are akin to pure gold in their simplicity. Go watch.