All the stealthy viral marketing of the “Origami Project” that has been hinted at being a new type of Tablet PC has been uncovered by The Register. It is a baby Tablet PC!

Visit The Register for the full scoop - or did they snag if from someone else’s scoop?

Or I could be days behind everyone else!

That’s what I get for not reading my RSS feeds this weekend!!!

Did you know Google has a TV show?

If your cable company has Current TV, then every 30 minutes you can watch “GoogleCurrent.” If, like me, you do without pay TV, you can watch it at the Google Current TV web pod or on Google Video.

Reminds me a LOT of Rocketboom.

And for more video fun, the unofficial Google Video of the Day recommends:They are Taking The Hobbits To Isengard

Has anyone been using Google Analytics? I want to give this new tool from Google Labs a try, but you need an invitation.

If anyone has an invitation code that they could send me, I’d sure appreciate it.

I don’t think I can offer much in return, except maybe a sketch on the Tablet PC. I am getting pretty good at that (it won me a Tablet Guy!).

The meeting went great! I gave my Tablet PC demo to a group of about 30 people and I was quite pleased.

I was very nervous beforehand, and had practiced a little, but I tried not to over-prepare. You know, you can mentally do yourself in if you prepare too much. Having only 15 minutes, I knew I had to jump right into it. I will post again on the specifics, but I had several “jaw-dropping” moments. When I displayed MathJournal, that blew their minds. OneNote was a winner. MindManager needed much more time. PDF annotator hit big. Inking in MS Office earned oohs and ahhs.

I even had applause when I was finished. It is very likely they will have me back for a longer session.

They Educators really liked the power and possibilities of the Tablet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a pilot program before long.

My name is Darren, and I am a Tablet PC Evangelist.

Tomorrow morning I will be presenting a Tablet PC demo. I know I’ve been talking this up for a month, and it is good to finally be ready.

I hope I am able to re-work my demo into something useful for the Tablet PC community. I doubt I can share it word-for-word, since it is for my employer. But maybe I can derive some nuggets from the research and share it here.

The odd thing is, I never figured I’d be a Tablet PC Evangelist.

Life is so interesting!

That Demo I mentioned a while back is on Wednesday.

I have only 15-20 minutes to talk and do the dog-and-pony show. That isn’t much time.

Thanks to my MindMap I have a good overview of things I can cover. Narrowing it down will be the hard part.

Roughly, it will go like this:

What is a Tablet PC?

For software, I want to cover:
MindManager
OneNote + Snipping Tool
ActiveWords
PDF Annotator
Math Journal
InkGestures for Word

Benefits of a Tablet PC to Educators and to Students

Now, before the Demo I will try to get a handle on “ActiveWords” and “InkGestures for Word.” I really doubt I can demo much in the time I have, so I have to really know the software if I am going to show it.

If you have any resources (mindmaps or videos of Tablet PC benefits, student/professor uses, etc.) that might be helpful, please let me know.

As a follow-up to my weekend dedicated to learning MindManager, I want to tell you I did it. I finally “get it.”

I have not mastered it. My maps are not pretty. They don’t use fancy colors. The topics are not cross-linked. But I have a nice handwritten Mindjet MindManager Map.

And it is a getting fatter and fatter the more I think on my subject.

The subject, of course, is my upcoming Tablet PC demo to a group of V.Ps and Dean on the Academics council. It is not pretty, but it has really given me a great thought process for how I can best present my information.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

It is sad that my trial will expire in 8 days, but at least I have it for the demo, had a great experience with the program, and actually have personally witnessed the benefits of a Mind Map.

Looks like Microsoft / H&R Block are bored with selling TaxCut, because now they are giving it away.

It appears to be a free offer to get TurboTax users to switch, but nowhere in the process is there validation process to prove you are a TurboTax user (which I am, and hate this year’s verion, and would have switched had I had this before we finished*).

In fact, the web page doesn’t seem to actually say the free download is only for TurboTax users. I don’t really get it, but the Federal version of TaxCut Standard is 100% free (the State add-in is $24.99 extra).

I wouldn’t post this if I thought it was illegal, sneaky, an exploit (like a Buy.com/GoDaddy deal I saw elsewhere) or just plain morally wrong. This seems ok for anyone to download. Let me know you disagree.*

Best I can tell is that this is free. For anyone. Plus, if you buy Microsoft Money 2006, that comes with a $30 rebate. So, that is free too (sorta).

Get your free TaxCut Standard (and more) right here.

*added to this post to clear my conscience

Thanks to the winter storm this weekend, I now can work on a goal.

By Monday, I want to I will know how to use MindJet MindManager.

I can not tell you how intimidated I am by this. You see, many of my FTPCB’s (Favorite Tablet PC bloggers) all know how to use it (expertly). That is intimidating. Many of you also use the Getting Things Done methodology. That book is intimidating (I can’t even open it). I have ActiveWords, and I can’t grasp it, but so many other FTPCB’s have.

I think I have this issue that if I can’t be instantly good at something, can’t master it easily, I want to avoid it.
(more…)

Ah, how I wish I had thought ahead.

I never really thought I’d need a TV-out option on my Tablet PC, but now I do (sort of). Fujitsu does not offer SVideo out on their 40XX line of Tablets, so I would have had to select another manufacturer upfront.

My only option is a VGA to TV converter. There are a lot of them, and the prices vary greatly. Some will convert your PC’s VGA output for use with an RCA jack, some output to SVHS, and others RGB. Woah, too many choices dude!

Now, to be honest, this isn’t a HUGE deal. It would be nice to have, but it really isn’t necessary in my work environment. The reason I want TV-out is so I can get the “visualizations” in WinAmp or Windows Media player put on our TV for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party. I think it would add a nice element to her “dance party” theme (and I am sure the room full of 9 and 10 year-old girls would love it).

Unless I find a good deal on (fl)e(a)Bay, I probably won’t be able to get this to happen. I still think it would be way fun for them.

TV-out via Svideo is something to keep in mind for the next one though.

So, does anyone else ever need TV-out?