Great Tablet PC Development Blog

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Gavin Gear, a software engineer on the Tablet PC Team (SDK) has been writing some great articles on Tablet PC development, complete with code samples (C# mainly).  He started off with the basics, and is now starting to move into some advanced areas.

If you are a developer who wants a crash course in Tablet PC programming (or hire / manage such developers) be sure to check out Gavin’s blog – you’ll be up and inking in no time.

Gavin also has an open invatation to answer any Tablet PC SDK questions you throw at him – very cool!

Gavin, keep up the great work!

Ink Blog Plugin – Update for problem systems

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I’ve had a few problem reports from folks using Ink Blog Beta 2, where they get an exception message that starts like this:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly
‘Microsoft.mshtml, Version=7.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a’ or one of its dependencies. The system
cannot find the file specified.
File name: ‘Microsoft.mshtml, Version=7.0.3300.0

 

If you are getting this message, or any similar message that has “Microsot.mshtml” in it, then it probably means your system is missing this Windows file.  Normally this file is installed as part of IE 5.5 and up, so most folks have it.  I have read several reasons why this file may be missing, including IE7 Beta installs, but it seems pretty rare.

If you are missing the file, and you want to run Ink Blog Plugin you have 2 options:

1) Download / Repair your IE Install

2) Or (much easier) just download the missing file from here, unzip it, and copy it to your plugin directory ( C:\Program Files\Windows Live Writer\Plugins )

 

Hope this helps a few of you.

-Ed

Running with Mickey

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I just registered for the 2007 Disney World Marathon, which is in January.  I’ve been on the fence for a while but decided to pull the trigger.  Although (many, many years ago) I was running 75 miles a week religiously, today I am completelyout of shape and would probably struggle doing a mile right now.  I figured registering for the race and booking this trip would be the kick in the butt I needed to get back in shape.

Although I’m jazzed about the race, I think the next several months of training are going to be rough.  I’ll manage somehow 🙂

Being in my early midish-30’s, health is something I am starting to worry about more and more, and I hope this race will be a catalyst to go back to my former, more healthy lifestyle.  If you’re not thinking about your health, take a little time to read JK’s touching story over at JK on the Run

Now I just need to figure out how to build my very own TreadPuter – that thing is just too cool!  Any suggestions Brad?

Save a Life – Donate Your Old Cell Phones!

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I was just reading this post over at MobileCrunch where Oliver Starr came up on a terrible car wreck last night.  Long story short, he used his cell phone to call 911 and probably saved a life by getting help there so fast.  Nice job Oliver.

I remember coming across a bad accident like this when I was a young kid.  Unfortunately it was in the pre-cell phone days, and it took way too long to get help there.  My parents shielded me from most of the trauma, but I am sure not being able to get help there right away may have cost some lives.

So, what’s my point?  Well I’m a techie, and I’m sure many of my readers are too.  That means we probably have a drawer / box / closet full of old cell phones laying around – I know I do.  While I’ve always heard about donating cell phones (NOT recycling them), it’s never really hit home on how important it can be, until now.

Getting old phones into peoples hands will allow them to call 911 (even without a service contract), and could save lifes.

What can you do?

Thanks for listening,

-Ed

Portable WiFi – You can take it with you

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Just getting settled in at the vacation house, and got the Kyocera KR-1mobile router hooked up and running (basically plugging it into an AC outlet – <1 Minute) .  If you are not familiar with the KR-1, it is very similar to a standard WiFi router but instead of connecting it into a broadband connection (Cable modem or DSL), it gets it’s Internet connectivity through an EVDO cellular card – and it is AWESOME!

Even if I am the only one using the Internet connection and don’t need to share the WiFi with other users, I prefer using the KR-1 over just plugging the EVDO card directly into my X41’s PC Card slot.

Why?:

  • Speed – even though it doesn’t make sense, the EVDO connection is faster (I’ve tested with online bandwidth tools) in the KR1 than it is directly plugged into a PC.
  • Location,Location, Location – Unfortunately EVDO has all the same nuisances of using a cellular phone – it works great in some parts of the house / office / hotel room, and in other areas it has little or no signal.  With the KR-1 I can place it in the strongest area (The web config utility actually shows signal bars), and then roam anywhere else in the area via WiFi and not have to rely on a cellular signal.
  • PC / Windows Issues – PC Cards are notorious for getting into bad states when the PC goes into a standby/sleep/hibernate mode.  EVDO cards are no different, and in many cases it requires a total reboot of the laptop or tablet PC to get the card working again.  5 minutes wasted.  The KR-1 removes this issue completely.
  • Reliability – The KR-1 reconnects on dropped signals automatically, no more pulling up the EVDO dialer app to manually reconnect (and wait).  Very cool.

I’ve been using the KR-1 for several months now, and it is a definite two thumbs up!  I am fortunate enough to have both a Sprint & Verizon EVDO card, and so far I have always been able to get a great WiFi spot going with one of them and the KR-1 – Including a recent road trip.  It was just so cool and uber-geeky having a mobile hotspot inside the car!

Off to Cape Cod

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I’m on a plane now to Boston’s Logan, and then a 2 hour drive to the Cape.  Looking forward to a few days of R&R – but I am sure by this time tomorrow I’ll be restless and working on some project, or looking for something to do :-).

If you know of anything interesting to do in Cape Code, please let me know!

Microsoft XNA Game Studio Available

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Like most of you, I saw the XNA announcement about a month ago, I had actually forgotten about it – or at least cataloged it into a back corner of the mind.

Well, I just saw an email from MSDN  that the new XNA game development studio beta is now available.  There is no support yet for the XBOX 360 yet, but they say it will be available later this year.

I really think once the 360 support is ready AND Microsoft figures out an easy way for smaller developers to promote and monetize these games (and apps), we’ll see an interesting ecosystem start to crop up here.

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Sling to the Rescue!

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I woke up this morning to find my one-year-old Phillips Plasma TV dead.  Well, that’s not quite accurate it was one year and 12 days old (I dug out the paperwork to check) – nice how it just made it past the one year warranty from Phillips, huh?  Puzzling thing is, it turned off fine last night, no storms or other external forces were in the area, and all my A/V equipment is on a high-end surge and battery backup system. Odd.  The only good news is, that this was the first time in my life I have ever purchased an extended warranty.  I’ve always considered them a sucker warranty – but I am glad I did it this time.  The onlyreason I bought it is because I wanted someone else to deal with getting this monster off the wall if I ever did have a problem, but I must admit I was not expecting to ever have to use it let alone just a year later.  We’ll see how this whole extended contract works out, but I was impressed their service center was open today (a Sunday), and someone will be here Tuesday AM for service.

So I don’t really watch a hold lot of TV anyhow (who has time?), but if I don’t have my news and coffee in the morning, I just don’t seem to wake up.  So I (finally) hooked my sling player back up correctly – I had ripped out my Media Center PC and replaced it with a Tivo2 a while back, and never got around to getting the sling player right since I haven’t been traveling as much lately (whew!).

So several software installs and firmware updates later, I am back in business with my Slingbox.  I must say, the newer Sling player software is MUCH nicer, and has a better picture quality than I remember it having – very impressive updates on both the client side and the hardware.  So now I am able to stream my TV around the house (via 802.11g wifi), and catch my news on both my Lenovo X41 Tablet PC and my Q1 UMPC.  Sling even has a special skin for the UMPC  – very cool!  During the whole process, I actually came up with (what I think) would be a very cool UMPC app for the slingplayer, but unfortunately they don’t seem to have an API or any other exposed interfaces.  Maybe I’ll hack around and see what I can figure out.

Now I’m just wondering, Why didn’t I get around to getting this setup before?!?! 🙂

Tablet PC Hummer

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Lora over at “What is New” had a nice post last night mentioning our Tablet PC Hummer.  Since I’ve already had an email about it, I figured I’d post some photos.  Who wouldn’t like seeing a Hummer with a GIANT Tablet PCon the side?

This is a vehicle Field2Base co-sponsored (the artwork) with one of our large resellers.  The Hummer makes it’s rounds to quite a few tradeshows, and is also one of the salesguys’ daily driver.  Needless to say, he gets quite a bit of attention,and questions driving this around. Right now there is always a Tablet PC in the Hummer for demos.  Future plans include a complete mobile office inside, including printer, GPS, scanner, etc..

The photos below show a company group photo with the beast, and me taking the Hummer somewhere I probably shouldn’t have in our office park 🙂

 

 

 

 

Ink Blog Plugin Beta 2 now Available!

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UPDATE – Please note the newest version (v1.0) is now available here

I’ve just released an updated version of the Ink Blog Plugin, Beta 2 for Microsoft Live Writer & Tablet PCs.

There are quite a bit of new features here including:

  • More ink colors, including custom colors
  • Handwriting Recognition of Ink, which is posted in blog under the ink area
  • Various pens and line weights
  • Highlighters
  • Lasso tool / Move / Cut / Copy / Paste
  • Multi-level Undo / Redo
  • Text inside the ink region
  • Ability to re-edit ink before you publish
  • Vertically Expanding ink area – unlimited ‘paper’
  • Edit mode backgrounds for cleaner inking (Several line widths & Grid)
  • Recognition of shapes
  • And More….. 🙂

Requirements:

  • Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
  • Windows Live Writer
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
  • Microsoft Ink Update for Tablet PCs on .NET framework 2.0 / CLR

To Install the latest version on your Tablet:

  1. Download Here
  2. Close any open MS Windows of Live Writer
  3. Run Installer by double clicking on the downloaded file
  4. You will now have a “Insert Ink Blog” option in the Live Writer task pane, and on the ‘Insert’ menu
  5. Ink Away, and enjoy!

Important NOTES:

  •   If you get a warning message during the install, it is probably because you do not have the Microsoft Ink update installed (see above).  Continuing through the install is fine, but you will need to download and install the update for full & proper functionality.  (This is a good update to put on your Tablet PC either way to ensure optimum ink compatibility in other applications)
  • This beta build will expire on October 1, 2006 (Don’t worry, I should have another out long before then! 🙂 )

As always, please leave your feedback, issues, and requests as a comment here, or contact me directly.

 [UPDATE] If you are getting an error when you try to use the plugin that mentions the file Microsoft.mshtml please see the post here for a fix.

Ink Generated with Ink Blog Plugin - http://www.edholloway.com