Ending the blog on Mobility.

I will be ending this blog on mobility because my mobility activities are very limited.

I do not buy gadjets as frequently as others and We have wonderfull websites which are dedicated to this.

I will be switching over to blogging on to my hobby food which is basically Food and SPA's

cheers to all.

- Amrith Kandlur

A ghost that switched on my Tablet PC.

Not really a ghost :), it could have been some hardware / software properties that woke up my PC from sleep.

Last week, I put my tablet PC to sleep mode and slept around 10:30 in the night. within 15 mins, i heard a 'Ding' sound of my yahoo widget clock and i was surprised to see my tablet switched on!.

Yesterday, after a long session of Internet browsing at Starbucks, I again put the tablet PC to sleep and packed it into my new bag, however, during dinner at the restaurant, i again heard the 'Ding' sound and to my amazement when I opened the bag, the tablet has been switched on and has been running for almost 1 hour and was so hot that i could not touch the bottom part of the tablet, and had to open the tablet and keep it out for almost 20 mins to cool down!

I did some research and found that there are various reasons for this.

1. Wake up on LAN feature
2. Schedules tasks etc

However, my wake up of LAN is disabled and schedules tasks are not available.

Still continuing my research so that i can find an answer for this.

For the past 6 months, i was using the sleep mode, now i have to shut down my notebook in the fear of burning it out inside my bag.

Dust inside the digitiser of the tablet PC screen.

help required, Just 4 months into getting my Toshiba M400 tablet PC, I have a small spec of dust inside the screen which seems to move around when I tap the screen.

Would require information on how to remove the dust myself.

Tony Buzan's Mind Mapping software.

I did a lot of research on the Internet and was satisfied with Mind manager as the software for doing my mind maps on a digital formats. Mind Manager is cool with good options such as Microsoft office connectivity and other features that most mind map software cannot boast of.

However, During my causal research, I found that Mr. Tony Buzan, the pioneer and inventor of the Mind mapping concept has his own software called the iMindMap, and I could download it and use it. To be frank, it does not provide as much technical capability as other software, but mind mapping can be fun with the ability to add in images and other capabilities such as the ability to design mind maps as similar to the way we do it on paper.

I will let others to evaluate and post more about the software, until then, do give it a try and see if you can improve the way you note information or put down your thoughts. :)

The website to visit is http://www.imindmap.com/

Battery life..,

Much has been written about battery life, and many have solutions.

I discovered a simple solution to expand my battery life (When I am travelling or in an Airport) and in situations where I cannot find powerplugs.

In case you are not browsing the internet and not using any external devices, do the following.

1. Disable both the WiFi and the Bluetooth adapter (Some notebook PCs have a physical switch, others will have to use the network properties).
2. Most notebooks and tablets now use a Internal USB port as a controller to the DVD ROMs. Disable / Detatch the internal DVD ROM.
3. Reduce screen brightness to around 30% or less.
4. Remove all external USB thumb drives, flash drives etc.

Observe the batter life, you will get quite a lof of juice. I got almost 95% increase in battery life.

MIND gathering at Microsoft.

The MIND gathering in Microsoft Malaysia went on well with over more than 50 participants (Independent developers) attending the events and it turned out to be a very memorable one for everyone who were there to experience the productive offering that tablet PC’s have. A lot of enquiries on the mobility devices were involved and lots of questions followed with the capabilities of the tablet PC. Even though tablet PC's have been in Malaysia for quite some time, not many were aware of UMPC's.

The MIND gathering started off with a presentation by Mr. Justin Lee, C# MVP, Singapore on “Solving Common Problems of Web Applications with ASP.NET AJAX”. He covered a few areas that developers face during web development on the .Net platform and it was interesting to note a quite a lot of improvements from Microsoft on AJAX, and the ability of Visual Studio .Net to cater to web development.

My talk titled “Improving productivity with Ink” was to educate the productivity behind using the tablet PC and also the tools, utilities and productivity applications available in the market.
There were questions asked to me about tablet pc’s latest trends, models, reviews, software applications etc, and I told them that there is one website http://www.gottabemobile.com/ and I have indicated them that they won’t be disappointed on what they are looking for. Thanks to Dennis Rice, Warner Crocket, Rob Bush way, Hugo ortego who have been providing us constant information and insights into the world of mobility solutions. Do get to know more about the gottabemobile team at http://www.gottabemobile.com/custom.aspx?=aboutus

During the event, i wanted to give away my DIGIMEMO digitiser that i had indicated on the blog, and Mr. Mike Kow won the digitiser. (The critiria was that the person should own a Windows Mobile Phone, and should show me any microsoft website by connecting to the internet using either GPRS, 3G or Edge.) Too bad that not many of the users of windows mobile devices had configured their PDA's for internet access.

Once the event was over, we all headed for dinner (Sponsered by Microsoft) and had a few constructive discussions that lasted almost 2 hours. Hope to speak at an other microsoft event soon.

100 MBPS High Speed Internet Experience.

I was totally swept off my feet during my initial visit to Singapore wherein I experienced 10MBPS Internet at my friends place where i camped for 4 days. During the May day holidays, I was off to Singapore again for my "Gadget Shopping" and was shocked to know that you can now have 100MBPS (Yep, it's one hundred MBPS) high speed broadband to your home for less than 80 USD (120+ SGD) unlimited Internet.

I paid a visit the Starhub (the Internet provider) to experience the speed and i was double thrilled. I was not able to play around much on the download speed, but they do provide 2MBPS upload speed.

Web pages were flying without me having to wait even a couple of seconds for downloads.

visit http://www.starhub.com/ and click on the 'online' link for more info. You Singaporeans are very lucky :)

Speaking at MIND in Microsoft.

I have been invited by Microsoft Malaysia to speak at the MIND (The Malaysia's Independent Developers Community) monthly event. I informed them on the topic of Tablet PC's and will be covering productivity in businesses using the Tablet PC's their value and the tools / technologies available including UMPC's. My one hour talk with the subject "Improving productivity with Ink" also includes demos of popular Ink based applications such as Mindjet Mind Manager, Teo 3 etc and will also show case a few videos of Intel's vision on UMPC.

If anyone has any specific subjects that i need to cover on Mobile PC, please do email me. You can visit MIND website at http://mind.com.my/

A tablet PC for a 5th Grade kid?

Well, if i was amazed with the multi-monior video, i was shocked with this video when i came to know that a 5th grade student is to use a tablet PC in their school, and this is not provided by the school but the parents are to buy it for them.

The video indicates that these students are adopting quite well to this new toy (I meant tablet PC). What next? Podcast for students to listen to the teachers classes? Wow.., we are in a fast changing tech world. visit http://on10.net/blogs/laura/1582/ for the video.

Multiple Monitor Madness.

I am a regular visitor of channel 10 (http://on10.net) and yesterday, they posted a video of Mr. Jason Garms showing off his personal Vista Work Space. He's uses four twenty-four-inch monitors connected to his machine.

I am a big fan of multi monitor setup and i used an external monitor to my tablet PC, but what Jason has is extreme craze, check out this video at http://on10.net/Blogs/tina/vista-monitors-unleashed/

DigiMemo NoteTaker Pad Giveaway.

Well, i am quite disappointed to know that there is not a single person who registered with me saying that they have a tablet PC. Thus, i will have to change the rules of my DigiMemo Note taker.

here are the new rules for you to win this gadget.

• The first person to email me (In Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Only) will be the first person to receive this.
• You need to email me on what you will be using this? (I am giving this to only employed executives and not teenagers who spend their time in cyber cafe's playing games.)
• You should own either a tablet PC or a windows mobile based device.

Remember, the rule here says that you either own a Tablet PC or a windows mobile device such as PDA or PDA phones.

You need to collect this yourself from a specified address and you need to show me that you own a windows mobile device.

The decision on whom to give away (based on the criteria of the text of the email on the reason you need this) will solely be mine.

I shall post on my blog on the winner and the photos during his collection, thus please do not email me once you see the postings. Email me on info@amrith.net with the subject 'Tablet PC' and give me around 2 paragraphs on why do you think you would like to own this gadjet.

So.., Hurry up, what are you mobile users waiting for?

DigiMemo NoteTaker

Finally, after the visit to PC Fair, I could manage to open the DigiMemo note taker and it was pretty cool to know that someone who would like to archive his notes will have a great time with this. However, please do note that this does not enable the user to interact with the PC; this is an ofline note taker that can digitize your writings.

The opening of the packing was not that exiting as it was something that I pushed it to the store room once I got the tablet, however, I thought I will indicate the mobility community so that others who consider that tablets are expensive can think of using this as a note taking digital pad.

The DigiMemo required three AAA batteries and it’s quite simple to get things up and running. There is also a slot for a CF card in case you need more memory. By default, it has around 8 MB memory which can save around 100+ Pages.

The pen also required a small battery used in wrist watches, and this is also provided in the box. This is a specialized pen with a normal ink refill.

These refills should be available in the book stores, and the note taker has a slot for you to store two reserve refills. However, there is no proper slot to store the pen; this makes it easy to lose the pen very easily.

The note taker (Pad) has four buttons on the left side which has specific functions such as previous page, next page, delete and new page. Indications if a page has text in it is visible on the digital display is also available.
However you have to be careful when you write on a book because of the following issues.

When you flip the page of your book, you need to switch to the next digital page on the pad manually. Not doing so will mix the notes.

If you are using plain sheets instead of a book to write, do not move the sheets on the pad, moving the sheets and writing on it will result in overwriting notes on different areas.

The negative point is that I cannot write on it if the note taker is connected to the PC. (They provide a USB connection).

The software provided is a breeze to install and is vista compliance. Connecting the Note taker to your PC is by recognizing this as a new flash drive, and a new drive letter is assigned with the files stores in a specific folder.

You can either double click on the files, or copy this to your computer (which is recommended). Once the notes are imported to your PC, using the AceCad software, you can manipulate the writing using colors and objects.

I am not sure what to do with this gadget as I am not using it anymore, and I am yet to receive any email from Malaysia indicating me that they do have a tablet PC (which I had called upon for members to register for the Malaysian Tablet PC community).

Thus, Thus I have decided to give away this gadget to the first person who registers with me for the Malaysian Tablet PC user’s club. This initiative is for Malaysians only as I do not want to take the pain of bearing postal expenses to deliver this.

DigiMemo Note-Taker.

While cleaning the store room last night, i found an interesting Gadget that i had bought a year back. It's a DigiMemo A502 pad that will digitize my notes which i can scribble on any A5 notebooks or sheets of paper.

Before I bought my first tablet, I used this to take down notes in meetings, and then transfer it to my PC. It has it's own software which could manage all the notes in one place, and at the same time modify my notes to move objects, colorize etc. They even have a new addition of DigiMemo which can not recognize hand writings, and even use A4 papers. visit AceCad's website on http://www.acecad.com.tw/dma402.html for more info of their latest products.

This does not help you in replacing the tablet PC interface with Inking capability, but will definitely help in taking notes and transferring it to your PC.

For those who do not have a tablet PC to scribble notes, you have two alternatives.

1. Get a digiMemo writing pad or

2. Get a Wacom tablet.

Let me fill in the batteries for the DigiMemo and write a review of it tomorrow. Not sure why I pushed this Gadget to the store room in spite of it's wonderful functions.

Microsoft Office 2007 file sizes issues.

I am the only person in my office who is using Microsoft Vista Business Edition and Microsoft Office 2007, The rest of the 40+ staff are still on Windows XP and Microsoft office 2003.

This makes me save a lot of files in compatibility mode. I generally work on Office 2007 formats, and before sharing files, I have to "Save as .ppt" stuff and give it to them.

My colleagues were shocked when the file sizes were very big and complained to me that i better switch back to office 2003. I was initially wondering why do they complain so much when the file sizes are not too big. My colleague showed me a presentation that was created in office 2003 which came to around 6MB and the same presentation created in Office 2007 comes to around 29MB!

Well, to prove that they were wrong, I removed all smart art's in the PowerPoint files and re-saved it in the older version, only to see that i got a few megabytes less.

Now., i am not sure if this has been reported to Microsoft by many users, or is it that my configuration and design of the PowerPoint is such that the files are so big. Looks like i need to run a test with two notebooks, one with Windows XP and Office 2003 the other with Vista and office 2007. create the same PowerPoint or Microsoft Word files and check the file sized, I need the test the same with smart Art and other cosmetic options and also the a PowerPoint file without these cosmetics.

Planning to first create a test list and share it with you all, will post the test list soon by Monday, and shall accept testing scenarios from the blogging community so that i do not miss out anything.

Toshiba M400 Tablet's strange behaviour.

I have been observing my tablet for the past few weeks and i have to point out that there are a few strange behaviours that i need to note down.

• The screen blinks ( as in blink with a blank display for 1 second) and am not sure why it happens, this happens when i open a few applications.
• The tablet hangs with the fan spinning very fast.., a loud spinning noise is heard and then, no mouse activity, no keyboard activity or whatever, I need to do a manual switch off.
• I should not close the display when the tablet is in the process of hibernating, it hangs as in scenario 2.
• The tablet wakes up on it's own when it is in sleep mode (I do that when i am on the desk and need to be away for a short while).

Need to keep an eye on these points, and need to check if it's repeating a lot.

Windows Vista Update frustrations.

I have been trying to get windows Vista update itself so that it can download any new releases and patches. Since the first installation, i have never updated my OS.

I tried the Windows Update in the control panel, and i get this error "Error Code 80244017" and the online help did not help, nor did my research on Google results give me any answers. The Microsoft tech net and a few linked sites asked me to disable the firewall, disable the anti-virus etc and all this did not work out well. I am still struck with this and hope to get some information on how i can solve this.

I have tried logging in as administrator, and the login that I normally use has been assigned administrator rights. Hope someone can help me post a solution to this.

Please note the below points that should give you an idea on what to indicate me on the solution.

• I am using Windows Vista Business Edition.
• My notebook is mobile profile, thus i need not be connected to the domain all the time.
• I use Symantec Antivirus 2007
• I have tried the above with the Anti Virus and the firewall disabled.
• I do not use any proxy server for Internet connectivity.
• I have tried this option in the office, at home and even at wi-fi hot spots.

hope the Vista user community has a solution for this.

PC Fair in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

KL PC Fair is this month on the 13th, 14th and 15th of this month (April 2007). It's a wholesome madness of display and shopping of computers, accessories, hardware, software, telecommunication stuff such as phones, PDA, printers and everything that is electronics and is categorized under the personal computing arena.

I will be covering the PC fair event for a day and hope to give extensive reports on what was on the floor of the exhibition, and the latest hardware and software rumblings.

I will post the PC Fair event stuff on the 15th of this month, and don't forget to visit this blog as I will be posting photos of the event (also photos of the beautiful Booth babes who are to attract you to visit their booths and enquire about the product offerings).

If you are in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and would like to visit the PC-Fair, do browse http://www.pikom.org.my/PCFair2007/exhibitor.htm and get to know who is displaying what and what can you expect. this event entry if totally free for the public. You are encouraged to shop until you drop.

Malaysia Tablet PC user's Club.

I have researched a lot on the web and found that there is no Tablet PC users club in Malaysia.

I am planning to open a Tablet PC users Club so that Tablet PC users can share their views, reviews, the software they use etc by holding community events.

I will not be able to obtain any details from the Table PC vendors on who is buying Tablet PC. Thus, I want Malaysians from from all walks of life who own tablet PC's to send me an email to info@amrith.net so that i can compile a database and plan to hold community meetings at coffee shops or meeting places at least once a month so that we can popularize tablet PC usage and also educate people to move to tablet PCs'.

The tablet PC has changed my life.., hope to change others too..

please email me on info@amrith.net with the subject 'Tablet PC" and i shall plan something nice such as a community website. Hope to meet a good group of people in the next one month and share your experiences with you all.

Mobility friendly countries.

Being in Malaysia as an expatriate has it's own positive outlook, and specially for people like me, who are mobile, it's a great relief., i shall indicate you why..,

When i am bored working in office, or when i am on the road and want to check email, i have many options to do so.

1. Use 3G Internet providers such as Maxis, Celcom who charge you around RM 120 (USD 35) a month for unlimited Internet usage @ 356+ KBPS. There is one telecom which is now providing HSDPA which gives you speed of up to 1.5MBPS.

2. Buy a coffee worth RM 5 (USD 2) and you get to enjoy free wi-fi Internet of speed of upto 2MBPS (unlimited in usage and unlimited time spent at the coffee shop). Starbucks, Coffee bean, Austin Chase Coffee, San Fransisco coffee and many restaurants have this arrangements. Even Ice Cream shops and bread stores have Wi-Fi now.

My favourite is Starbucks, You get to enjoy unlimited Coffee from morning 8:00 until 11:30 (Free refill and you can browse the high speed Internet without anyone bothering you to move out, you are sometimes offered free drinks and goodies if you are a regular customer. They even provide you plug points to plug in your notebook and work there the whole day long. Who will not enjoy a good coffee, free Internet and smiling people?

The best part is to indicate you that if you want to go for a paid wi-fi services (who have 200+ location all over Malaysia), then you need to look at a company called AirZed. You pay around RM 140 (USD 40) for one year of Internet access at hot spots and this is for unlimited usage of Internet (Downloads / uploads whatever). No restrictions, no hidden agenda, no ads / pop ups and no surprise emails from them on promotions. I have been their customer for the past 4 years and they have great service.

I am off to Singapore this month end for a 5 day holidays, and i am exited to try their free Internet for the whole of Singapore.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/234742/1/.html

A good old friend of mine has subscribed to Singtel package wherein they are offering around 5MBPS unlimited Internet for SGD60 (Around USD40).

Last time, i got a download speed of around 460KB, hope to check what's new for me there.

Baby sitting, and the baby getting excited with my tablet.

When I am stressed out, I ask my friend to drop her toddler at my house so that i can entertain her and forget about my work. The toddler "Fasha" is 1 year and 5 months old, and is quite a handful. She likes me so much that once at my place, i just cannot leave her alone, and she expects me to pamper her by ensuring that i always carry her, feed her, rock her to sleep and even do a bit of story telling and play with her by walking to the playground which is near the swimming pool.

Why i am writing about her is because my tablet sort of drew her attention and she was observing me write on it. She came over, snatched the tablet pen and wanted to scribble on it. I opened the Microsoft paint application and she started her "Ark work".., Hope to see her use the tablet as soon as she grows up. heard that a few schools in Singapore are now using tablets as an educational tool wherein students take notes and communicate with each other..

My favourite Gadgets.

My tablet has been my companion for the past one month, and has opened up quite a lot of interesting areas that i never dwelt earlier. Downloading a lot of tablet based applications, evaluating them and using some of them is quite fun (Not to mention, my expenditures on these software are slowly growing). I now have a new blog, and i have to seriously consider getting my other website www.amrith.net up and running which will concentrate more on 'Corporate Performance Managemen". Also got a invitation to be the speaker at the "Asia Business Forum" and hope to get myself ready for that too.

I though i will post a picture of my favourite mobility gadgets that i use most of the time. In this image, I have my Tablet PC, Logitech diNovo Edge bluetooth keyboard, Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Mouse, My Dopod 838Pro 3G, HSPDA mobile phone, 160GB external USB HDD, a wireless presenter and my earphones with mic for me to use Skype (and now using Windows speech recognition.

My next dream gadget is the Newton peripherals Mogo Mouse. this is not currently available in Malaysia, and a quick email to newton peripherals quite a few months back indicated me that they do not have any representatives here in the Asia pacific region. Hope I could get my hands on it as soon as possible. I was not able to locate it in Singapore either.

The final verdict on the Toshiba M400 battery tests.

I finally ran a few more tests and the following are my conclusions. These conclusions are not to be considered as commercial, and the battery life could differ on various configuration of the Tablet PC.

1. Expect the batter to last for an average 2 hours with no external peripherals plugged in. (you can have your WI-Fi and Bluetooth on, screen brightness to around 50% and the DVD-ROM switched off).

2. You get another 15 to 20 mins extra if you can reduce the screen brightness to around 30% and cut down the processor speed to 50% (you will require Toshiba power saver utility to control all this).

3. The recharge time for the battery to achieve 100% charge while you are working on it (from 15% battery power) will take 2 hours and 35 mins. It should be much faster (Almost 1 hour 45 mins) if you switch off your notebook and charge it.

With this, I will stop my battery test on move on to other things.

Cheers,

A few things to note on the M400 with Vista.

During the installation of Vista.., I had to update my bios to ver 3.x which was downloaded from the Toshiba website.., I ensured that i had downloaded all the drivers mentioned for Vista including Vista utilities.

However, the screen rotation did not work and there was an other posting from Toshiba (new utilities) and with that installation, the buttons near the LCD panel and the function keys started to work, and so did the screen rotation.

However, i noticed a strange thing. try this and i am sure you are bound to get this action.

1. Change from PC mode to tablet mode. (let the PC be switched on and change to portrait screen for you to write / ink)
2. Move your pen to the 'Start' icon on the taskbar, and cick on sleep. (Let the tablet go to sleep mode.).
3. Switch on again. (login in using biometric or using the on screen keyboard).

Note that it's still in tablet mode, and the screen display has been rotated to 180 degrees for you to use in portrait mode.

Now, turn the tablet to PC more, Bingo.., the screen display does not rotate!!!

you have to change from PC mode to tablet mode and again to PC mode (Turn the screens and latch it) to bring it back to normal.., is this happening to anyone out there?

this happens only when you let the PC go to sleep mode when its in tablet mode and wake it up in tablet mode.

Google earth.., Why are you not tablet friendly?

I just got a message from my friend in Jakarta that google earth has updated a few locations.

I was exited to book mark a few places and started off with browsing the globe in tablet mode using the pen on the screen and getting exited about it.

I also wanted to move to an other location and though of typing in the location. However, found that google's fly top text box does not let the tablet PC input console to pop-up and let me ink. i need to swith back to PC mode, type in the location, and then switch back to tablet mode.

Google.., are you listening? can you please keep in mind that there are people who use tablets which are slate based....,

Second test on the tablet battery.

As indicated in my previous blog, I could not convince myself with the fact that I could get less than 2 hours of life on the tablet, thus, I wanted to do it again today.

I got a comment on the blog asking me if I have all the drivers from Toshiba installed (Power Saver) and I did a double check and of course, I do have it.

This time, I took a different angle. I switched off the CD-ROM Drive, changed to power saver mode, and decreased the screen brightness to around 40%, and the processor speed was reduced to 50%.

I charged the battery 100% and repeated the whole test again. Guess what, I got another 16 mins extra!

I don’t want to do the same time now by switching off the Wi-Fi network and disable my Bluetooth mouse. I may get another max 15 more mins of juice on the battery.

Thus, let me do an other test.., how fast can the battery charge on the following conditions once the battery low indicators show up.

1. Charging the battery when the tablet PC is running (being used by me).

2. Charging the battery in Sleep Mode / Switched off mode.

I never switch off my tablet, i just put it to sleep mode, and when i travel by flight, i hibernate.

I will do the test tomorrow and post it all for your reference.

Anyway, with number of tests that I have done to my tablet’s battery, I would like to conclude that I will not get more than 2 hours of battery time. But I am not panicking as I have 2 power adapters (one at home and one in office) and I use the tablet with the adapter plugged in.

I am meeting up with a few close friends in microsoft malaysia this weekend, (2 of them have Toshiba M400 tablets). I need to ask them on their experiences on the tablet batter life.

I am not here to prove that Toshiba is wrong, they would have had a totally different approch to testing the battery time. Hope they also indicate the actual battery time on the tablet under normal conditions.

I am on Gottabemobile website.,

I had asked the gentlemen in gottabemobile (www.gottabemobile.com) to indicate the world about my blog.

A special thanks to Dennis Rice, Rob Bushway, Warner Crocker and Matt Faulkner for making it happen.

They have announced me as a new blogger and i promise that i will not let the mobile community down. I shall do the best to get the latest and post my experiences with the mobile gadgets that will get into my way.


here are some websites that i visit almost everyday (Sometimes many times a day)

www.gottabemobile.com
http://www.gearlog.com/
http://www.engadget.com/
http://www.neowin.net
http://www.tomshardware.com

cheers,

Toshiba M400 battery test.

It took me a good 6 days to get used to Windows Vista, (2 days of configuration of hardware, software, my mails, etc). IE still crashes when I enable third party I have read a lot about battery test conducted by owners of M400 tablets;


However, I wanted the real fact on my tablet.I charged the tablet battery to 100% and removed the power plug exactly at 11:45 PM with the following configuration.


* Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is switched on and I am using a Bluetooth mouse and using the internet to browse websites along with Outlook 2007 which will keep checking the email every 2 minutes.

* Screen brightness is set to 80%, processor is set to full performance and the fan seems to be on all the time.

* The power to the DVD-ROM is on and I am not player any CD/DVDs.

* I have not plugged in any peripherals to the USB port.


Well, waiting for the result is quite slow, thus, had to switch on TV and was watching “Feast Bazar” on travel and living channel, and at the same time, using the PC. My low battery is indicator is set to 15%, and critical level is set to 10%. I will wait for the battery test until it has reached 15% and not beyond that. (That’s the time I am supposed to plug in the power to start charging the battery again.


At exactly 1 hour since I started this battery juice extraction experiment,, I found that the tablet had consumed around 47% power, and said that I have another 1 hour and 5 minutes to go. (I am wondering what is Toshiba’s perception on the configuration that is required to get that 4 hours of juice!)


Alright, I finally got the warning, and just to indicate you all.., here is the verdict, Toshiba M400, Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM with the above points mentioned will last on the battery for only 1 Hour and 45 mins before it shoots a warning message that it needs to charge in order to keep running.Too bad that the fan just does not keep low, it’s on high speed all the time with a humming noise.


let me do some optimization of the Notebook (Processor speed, Screen Brightness etc) and then do an other test tomorrow.

I will keep you posted on this.

John Einstein's OneNote Calender.


I have been a great fan of John Einstein since I came to know about Teo 2. he released Teo 3 and that was the best outlook enhancement to ever been built.But according to him, Teo 3 is not doing that well in terms of sales inspite of having a very good review in ver 2.0.

Hope that he can catch up with this and get in the revenue that he had planned. I used the eval version earlier, and hope to buy this next week, and hoping to see all other members of he tablet PC community to support Teo 3 by getting their own copy.

Just came to know through GottabeMobile guys that he has released a calendar for OneNote. I installed it and found it to be the most usefull tool. (OneNote so far does not sort the notes in date order).


Hope to see more of John's contribution to the Tablet PC world. Not sure why microsoft is not leveraging much on his achievements.

Vista Handwritting..,

Last night, I was too exhausted to work and decided to try the speech recognition in Vista, and ended up using the tablet handwritting features.

I configured thepen flicks and initially was frustated because i could not get it right, however, once i was used to it, i love this feature and wonder how did i ever live without it. Most interesting part was the abilty of Vista to recognize my handwriting. I was really impressed.

Sync my teeth (PDA)..,

I depend on outlook for everything right from contacts information to tasks, emails, calenders etc, and my new PDA the Dopod 838Pro is on syncronization mode whole day long.

However, once on Vista, i got to know about Windows Mobile Device Center. (Had to download it from the web with the required drivers). Once it was in Place, i plugged in my PDA and it started the Sync processes. To my bad luck, it had 2 profiles listed, Computer 1 and Computer 2. Computer 1 was the previous sync used by ActiveSync. Thus had to remove both the profiles and re-sync again. However, this time, it took almost 20 mins and finally it was ready.

I am happy with the interface which allows me to sync my files, photos and music. I am yet to play around a lot with it and will keep you all postd.

Logitech Dinovo edge keyboard.

My brains think faster than my fingers.., which is why it's difficult for me to write than to type. Even though I did not attend any professional typing tutor classes (it was a trend during my school days for kids to join typing tutor classes), I can type very fast and there are times I type without even looking at the keyboard. Maybe many years of typing (amost 15 years) has made me a pro.

After reading a lot about the Logitech Dinovo Edge bluetooth keyboard, I was tempted to buy one. I spend a whooping RM 700 on this, but using it was pure pleasure.

Unpacking the box, setting it up was joy and i was wondering if i need to install the provided software. However, installation was very smooth. I switched on the keyboard, got my Toshiba Tablet to search for the keyboard, and bingo.., within 3 mins, i was using the keyboard without any problems.

The only thing i don't understand is the way the mouse pad reacts as a scroller., i have tried many times and the scroller seems to change to mouse movements. Maybe the way I move my fingers on the pad, or it's a sensor issue.

Anyway, I love the keyboard and so far, it has been giving me a good typing mood. Will write a comprehensive review this weekend.

A whole new world with the Tablet PC.

Now that i have the Tablet up and running, i wanted to get both my study room and my office fit for work kinda stuff..,

I mean, a new tablet also means new accessories and new methods of working.

I managed to get a 17" BenQ monitor for just RM400 (US$100) and set my study room at home. My study room @ home boasts of a good library, and a calm atmosphere which makes me work in style. It als has a wifi connection to a high speed internet of around 2MBPS. A good laser printer that shoots 16 pages / Min from Konica Minolta completed the configuration.


I even opted for a BlueTooth logitech n-DivoEdge keyboard and boy it's good. I shall write about it later tomorrow on how i managed to get it working and how good it is.


Next, my office got a Samsing 17" Monitor. A microsoft wieless keyboard and a few accessories. Getting an external monitor and extending the desktop makes such a big differance to me.

Productivity has increased by almost 100% and i am able to acompolsih much more compare to what i used to do.

Doing research on the internet has increased and usage of Microsoft OneNote has doubled. Lots of sections has been completed in OneNote that was pending in terms of research.

The road to Vista on my M400,

My tablet was delivered to me by Toshiba with Windows XP tablet PC edition and i was sent an email with a link asking me to order the media for the free upgrade.

However, I was too existed to have vista on it and took the liberty of using the volume licencing option for my office and started the installation.

The installation was a tug-of-war with my experience.., it's not easy and not much was documented. thanks for Google that i could manage to read quite a lot of forums and postings that helped me with it.

1. First of all, i had to visit the Toshiba Asia website and download all the vista drivers. this pile up with almost 200MB of downloads.
2. During the installation, get the drivers ready for the RAID hard disk.
3. Vista did not recognize my HDD, until i asked it to read the drivers. (The drivers for the HDD was located onto my USB drive and good that it can recognize this without any issues).
4. Within 18 mins, the installation was smooth and i could login to Vista.

Oh yes, Everything works, (But i am forced with a very high resolution as other resolutions are not that good in Vista, thus I end up using 10280 x 1024 and the fonts looks quite small. Looks like i need an additional monitor for a smooth usage.

Aero works, Network works, but the problem is that after so many years in XP, i have to find my way through Vista. (Settings, configuration etc are located in places which could take some time).


Updated all the required drivers from Toshiba and the finger print reader works very well. Now that my PC is up and ready, time to get more juice out of it.

A new Tablet PC.

Got my second tablet PC in one year.., (Last june 2006, my tablet was stolen from my car in Tesco)

It's a Toshiba M400 tablet with the following config.

• Intel 64Bit processor 2GHz with 4GB L2 RAM
• 2 GB Memory
• 100 GB HDD
• BioMetrics (Fingerprint reader)
• DVD RW dual Layer.
• and other standard accessories.

This blog shall keep you updates on a interesting mobile devices and apps out there that will keep me alive. (I just can't seem to love gadjets).

Good that the spare pen was included this time, and this tablet is running as fast as a race car. even my virtual PC running on Windows Server 2003 enterptise is very smooth.

Hello world,

This blog will concentrate more on the my interest on mobility solutions. Hope to update most of this website visitors on what's happening on the mobility solutions in this region.

Keeps visiting this blog and please do not forget to bookmark it. Lot's of information to flow from here.

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