Tag Archives: ink search

Ink Search Tool for Tablet PCs & UMPCs Updated!! (Beta 2 release)

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9

I’ve made many significant improvements and bug fixes to the Ink Search Tool, and publicly released Beta 2 today!  This release is much faster, and has many new features – Including Desktop Search! WooHoo!

For those unfamiliar with the Ink Search tool, this is a Tablet PC application that lets you write (‘ink’) search terms on your screen rather than typing or using the Tablet Input Panel (TIP).  A more general background can be found here.

Now for the good stuff….  New in this release:

  • Much faster with a lighter footprint
  • Full Windows Vista support (as well as Win XP)
  • Enhanced GUI updates (Very Vista / Office 2007 look, even on Windows XP)
  • Ability to search Google Maps
  • Google Desktop Search!!!
  • Wikipedia Search
  • Slight tweaking in the handwriting recognition
  • And of course, regular Google Search is still in here too

All of the new searches are enabled with a button called, More Searches, selecting that will give you a drop down with the additional searches.  Note: If you do not have Google Desktop Search (GDS) Installed, you will not see the Search Desktop option.

One really cool feature with searching Google Maps is that once you set your default location (via Google) you can enter a business name or type (ex: Computer Stores) and the search will show you the closest matches on the map.  Very neat!

Get the FREE Download Here

(Please uninstall Beta 1 first if you have it installed)

I’ll be adding some additional features soon!!  Keep Watching!

As always, I’d love to hear your input, feedback, and feature requests. Please get in touch here.

Announcing Ink Search Tool for Tablet PCs & UMPCs!!

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16

[UPDATE: A newer version is now available.  More Info Here]

I’ve just completed a neat little Tablet PC utility that I have wanted for a long time.  The tool lets you write search terms on a small form, and instantly send the terms to a Google search inside your default browser with one tap (or a gesture).  No more awkward use of the Tablet Input Panel (TIP) inside a web page!!

The tool uses the new InkAnalysis API, and so far I have been very impressed with the recognition accuracy.  Some of the beta testers have told me they are seeing better accuracy here than with TIP.

The recognition will automatically add the best result to the query, but you can also select close matches from the lower button bar.  For really difficult words, there is also a character correction screen for quick entry and correction.  I really think you’ll enjoy using this for your searches.

This is a beta version, so there may be a few grinding sounds every now and then, but I think most of them were worked out in the private beta.  Right now the tool just does Google searches (via the Custom Search engine – this is why you’ll see the URL as TabletPCTools.com), but I may expand this to other engines and desktop searches soon.

If you find any problems, have suggestions, feedback or features you’d like to see, please get in touch.

The app does require the Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 to run.  You can get this from Windows Updates.

Download the Tablet Ink Search Tool Free Here!!

Main Screen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Correction:

 

 

 

Launch from the windows Quick Launch Bar: