Eliot's Blog : end-user

Duke U Press Goes Online

Eliot — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:33:00 GMT

The e-Duke Books Scholarly Collection includes online access to at least 100 news scholarly books published by Duke Universty Press in the humanities and social sciences in a calendar year. With the purchase of the current year's titles in the e-Duke Books Scholarly Collection, libraries will also receive access to all of the Press's backlist books now available in electronic form.

http://www.dukeupress.edu/library/edukebooks/index.html

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Duke publishes about 115 books a year in the social sciences and humanities, according to Michael McCullough, the press’s sales manager. Subscribers to e-Duke Books will have online access to all those and to all backlist titles available in electronic format — 900 and counting. Although many university presses have partnerships with ebrary, Mr. McCullough said he believed that Duke’s program is unique because it offers access to the press’s full list, not just to individual titles.

A $10 Computer Announced in India

Eliot — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:48:00 GMT

From Computerworld

"BANGALORE -- India is developing a laptop to be sold at $10 that will target higher education applications, a minister of the federal government said today in Delhi.

Research on the new low-cost laptop is being carried out at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, said D. Purandeswari, minister of State for Higher Education, at a conference in Delhi. This measure will help raise the quality of higher education in India, she added."

The next day the Indian govern published a correction. The computer will cost $100, not $10. Still, that's pretty remarkable, especially considering the OLPC cost of close to $200. The other thing that caught my eye is that this model is for higher education rather than for lower ed. I've read glowing reports about the use of technology in early education, but those are most universal linked to great resources and immersion. I've heard of programs that have used technology intermittently and seen minimal or no results. Luckily, I've never heard of children's education being harmed by computers. This attempt to enable all higher education students access to a working computer looks good, at least on paper.

Star Power Behind Tablet Advertizing? That's So Dirty!

Eliot — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:01:00 GMT

I'm hoping that the title got someone's attention. Did it? Let me know. I get so little mail these days......

Anyway, I found this a little while ago, and immediately thought to put it up here, but then promptly got busy with SDK topics, reviews, newsletters and stuff. Better late than never.

HP has released a series of internet ads for their tx2000z Tablet PC, starring (drum roll)

Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs.

OK, it's not earth shattering, but it is, at least a little bit. Over the past five years there have been a few Tablet PC commercials that have made the airwaves. I remember the Lenovo ad with the ink; Microsoft Office had an ad where some workers spun a Tablet PC in an end-zone-like celebration; Gateway had an commercial in which a Tablet PC had a brief cameo; Best Buy had one appear as well. But these were small potatos next to a production of five vignettes of up to five minutes, each starring a recognizable talent. To me, this trumpets that HP sees return on investment. I'm sure Rowe doesn't come cheap, and you need to sell a lot of Tablet PCs to recoup the investment.

I am truly glad that they have taken the lead and produced these bits. They're really funny, especially if you are a fan of Dirty Jobs. And Tablet PC. Or just poop jokes.

My favorite exchange: "Hey, Mike. I got the massage table ready...That folds into a tablet, you know? You can write love notes."

Tablet rocks.

Pen Attention - Highlights Your Pen Cursor for Presentations

Eliot — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:11:00 GMT

Kenrick, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage, posted a blog entry in which he highlights something he calls "PenAttention." It's a little add-in he created that creates a sort of halo around the pen cursor. Usually, the cursor looks like the tip of a pen. With the add-in, you can also use the cursor as a pointing device. This is super useful when using a Tablet PC for a classroom lecture or a presentation.

Kendrick also got a nod from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The program is free and requires .NET 2.0 or higher and Windows XP Tablet or Windows Vista with a tablet pen.

New Tablet PC App from Microsoft Research: InkSeine

Eliot — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:11:00 GMT

I was just talking to a very special person today about how nice it would be to walk along the banks of the Seine, holding hands, this time of year. This has nothing to do with that.

InkSeine is an innovate note-taking, organizing, annotation application that was designed and build with the idea that you'll be commanding, entering data, and manipulating content with a tablet pen and ink. Menus, actions, commands, and more are all optimizrd for the Tablet PC. Just look at some of these features:

You can blaze a super-fast trail by using radial menus for pen commands. Just hover over a menu to preview the commands. Touch down in the center of the menu and drag towards the command you want to activate.
You can select existing ink right on the page to initiate a search.
Create queries in the context of your notes to keep track of searches, reuse them, or return to them later.
Easily find emails, documents, ink notes, or web pages without leaving your notes.
Drag links to the documents and web pages you find right into your notebook or drag images into your notes, from search results or file folders.
Filter your desktop searches by file type or date with simple pen controls.
Use powerful gestures throughout the application.
Create automatic hyperlinks from your notes and screen captures.
View your notes page-by-page, like a real notebook.
Pages scale to fit the screen when you rotate your tablet.
Much, much more

Of course, Microsoft Research has tutorials, Help documentation, forums, videos, and a blog up and running, just in case the app is not totally and unequivocally user-firendly.

Reading and Tablet PC

Eliot — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:14:00 GMT

OK, maybe this is more about a bold business move by HarperCollins, but that publisher is releasing entire books from its catalogue to the web, starting today. Each of the books will only be available for a month. You cannot download them to a laptop or reading device, such as the Kindle from Amazon.com, but they're available and they're free.

HarperCollins believes that offering larger segments of books for readers to flip through will generate greater sales for the company. Jane Friedman, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, told the New York Times that she doubted most people would read the entire versions online, but HarperCollins would track whether the editions actually helped increase sales. “We will know very soon if we sense any kind of cannibalization,” she said.

The immediate offering includes “The Witch of Portobello” by Paul Coelho; “Mission: Cook! My Life, My Recipes and Making the Impossible Easy” by Robert Irvine (from the Food Network); “I Dream in Blue: Life, Death and the New York Giants” by Roger Director; “The Undecided Voter’s Guide to the Next President: Who the Candidates Are, Where They Come from and How You Can Choose” by Mark Halperin; and “Warriors: Into the Wild” by Erin Hunter.

With a wireless connection and my Tablet PC, I can really curl up with a good book, now. And when my eyes start to droop, I'll just use my tablet as a tiny electric blanket.