GottaBeMobile Reader Meetup

31 August 2007 Posted By: Andrew
Posted in: Blog Related

Rob and the GottaBeMobile Team are putting together a GTB Reader Meetup in Colorado Springs, Colorado next weekend (September 8th). Seeing as I’m just short hop skip and a jump away (okay, actually about an hour and 20 minutes…but totally worth it). So, baring any last minute homework assignments that completely slaughter my weekend, I plan on being there and you should to if you’re around the Denver/Colorado Springs area.

If you need a ride (of just want to carpool) and are within easy pickup distance between Golden and Colorado Springs, leave a comment below and I’ll get a hold of you to work out the details.

My Senior Year: A New Plan for Notes

29 August 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Note-Taking, Organization

After a few years trying different things and a few internships under my belt, I have a new outlook on how tablets help note-taking, and how only keeping digital copies of my notes can be a hindrance. The basic plan for this semester is as follows:

1. Take notes with Tablet PC in class. This includes recording the lecture, if needed.
2. Use breaks after classes to clean and condense notes. Look through the book to add notes as needed.
3. Go home or to computer lab and print notes with one topic per page (to allow for easy rearranging later).

Livescribe - Time to ditch the Tablet PC?

29 August 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: Accessories

Described as a ‘paper based computer solution’ Livescribe is apparently a new mobile computer solution which uses a combination of electronic ‘smartpen’ and special micro-dotted note-paper to both digitally and traditionally (i.e. ink on paper) record your hand-written notes, while at the same time recording the audio of a lecture or meeting. Once recorded a simple tap on an area of your written notes plays back (via the pen) the portion of audio recording pertaining to those notes. What’s more copies of the digital version of the notes, with the audio embedded, can be distributed and fully accessed via computer. There’s a student targeted ‘teaser’ video showing these features in action so I guess I’d be better shutting up now and inviting you to go along and see for yourself. Make no bones about it, Livescribe looks good on paper (no pun intended) but my immediate response is to wonder just how effective the mic is on that pen is (given it has such a central role of importance). However while I can’t realistically see Livescribe being a direct replacement for a Tablet PC (I just wanted to use a catchy headline :o)), the fact that the price is supposedly being set at under $200 must make it a viable addition to the techno-student’s ‘tool-box’ but that’s only on the condition that Livescribe performs as well as the hype suggests. The company are promising a Q4 release so we’ll no doubt find out soon enough.

Gadget bag voyeurism courtesy of Lifehacker

28 August 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: Accessories, News

 

In the past we’ve all had the pleasure of virtual peeks into the Tablet PC gadgets bags of the usual suspects ( including James Kendrick, Warner Crocker, Sumocat and even li’l ole me) but thanks to a recent request for ‘go bag’ shots at LifeHacker we can all enjoy a whole new round of virtual rummaging. The ‘call to arms bags’ seems to have been popular and to date there are two sets of shots - HERE and HERE. Sadly there aren’t not too many Tablet PC’s on show but there are plenty of other tasty student-centric gadgets to get the mouth watering and the face turning green with envy

Studying in the humanities – Part 2a: Note-taking for lectures: The ‘before’

28 August 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: Note-Taking, Organization, Study Aids

Well it’s been 2 months since I scribed the first in my series on how I use my Tablet PC (along with other e-gadgets) to study electronically (and as close to 100% paperless as I can) so before I proceed to the next part, I should perhaps apologise for such a lengthy delay. Over the past few weeks I had resolved to finish off part 2 almost daily but every time I did, something new would crop up and prevent me from doing so. Thankfully from now on (or for the time being at least) I’m not as affected by external distractions so subsequent updates will hopefully be a bit more forthcoming.

Unfortunately, due to its length, I’ve had split this part of the series into three separate posts. Yep it’s long and while I seriously detest long posts with a passion (especially when I’m writing them :o)) I think the complexity of the subject warrants it. To ease the torture of you having to read it (if you have the fortitude that is) I have, as I did in Part 1, used as many sub-headings and bullet points as I could and I’ve also tagged on a brief summary at the end. I hope that helps :o)

Ok so without further ado I proudly present (after the jump) the first subsection of Note-Taking for Lectures – the ‘before’ phase

50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work: How Writers Do It

27 August 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Tips / Tricks

While looking through some old links of mine, I stumbled upon some tips from a time when I wanted to be a writer. It’s a hard think to motivate yourself to do work that you don’t really have to do, without a boss watching over and hard daily deadlines. Sound familiar?

50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work

Students should really take these tips to heart. While not 100% applicable, I’d say they’re 90% student ready, and more than just the generic ones the schools hand out like “find a quiet place to study” or “study four hours for every one hour in class.”

TabletKiosk Sahara i440D Slate PC

21 August 2007 Posted By: Andrew
Posted in: Hardware

My school year officially starts today and I’m kicking it off with week long project: Reviewing the TabletKiosk Sahara i440D Slate PC.

TabletKiosk was nice enough to send me a demo unit for that I can play around with for a week and I’m going to spend my week trying to use it as my primary computer. It’s my first experience with a slate tablet and I can see why Tracy likes hers so much.

I know there are bunch of reviews of this unit out on the Internet already, but I haven’t read a single one (I really haven’t) and I’m not going to read a single one until I’m almost done with my review.

Google Alerts: Get the news you want

7 August 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Websites

First, I’m busy finishing up my last internship with the company I plan on working for and they’re handing out full-time offers before the end of next week. That means these last couple weeks have been like finals that just don’t end and with a big ol’ jackpot at the end if I get an A on everything. Needless to say, my mind has not been really on the site.

But! I did find something that might help those looking for internships or jobs and want to know more about a company or topic.

Dell’s Latitude XT

4 August 2007 Posted By: William
Posted in: Blog Related

Dell has taken some time out from buzzsawing tablets so they can release some more details on the upcoming tablet. No more updates on price but some news on very juicy specs.

• Single or dual-core Intel ULV CPUs (with integrated graphics)
• LED-backlit WXGA 1280 x 800 display option
• Outdoor viewing WXGA 1280 x 800 display option
• Pen and touch support (digitizer and touchscreen)
• (3) USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet (duh), 1394, VGA out
• WiFi options up to 802.11n, optional Bluetooth
• Optional 3G (HSDPA, EV-DO Rev. A)
• ExpressCard slot, optional Smart Card slot, fingerprint reader