Tatum and Denim blog

 Warner over on GBM is
pretty excited about fuel cells. Lets face it, when you are talking about an exponential
increase in battery life, what mobile geek wouldn’t get excited?

Hmmm? Samsung is showing off a new fuel cell battery (DMFC-which stands for Direct
Methanol Fuel Cell) that will supposedly run your laptop for a month of 8 hour days.
Yeah, you read that right. I love, and we need, to see advances in battery technology,
but when I say that I’m thinking on a smaller time scale, like 24 hours or so. I mean
within in 30 day period you would think you could plug in once or twice, right?

There are two major barriers to widespread adoption of fuel
cells, as I understand it.

1.  Infrastructure- with fuel cells you don’t plug in per se. The process is more
   akin to getting your printer cartridges refilled. Therefore there needs to be a battery
   exchange infrastructure and pricing model around that before this will be really viable.
2.  Airlines. Fuel cells have bad things in them. Even if you could go out
   and buy fuel cells today you could not take it on a plane.

The problem is that fuel alls contain reactive chemicals. That is how they worts. From
Wikipedia:

Fuel cells differ from batteries in
that they consume reactant, which must be replenished, while batteries store electrical
energy chemically in a closed system. Additionally, while the electrodes within a
battery react and change as a battery is charged or discharged, a fuel cell’s electrodes
are catalytic and relatively
stable.

Many combinations of fuel and oxidant are possible. A hydrogen cell uses hydrogen as
fuel and oxygen as oxidant. Other
fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols.
Other oxidants include air, chlorine and chlorine
dioxide

So for now the two issues above are implicitly causing a third problem -the lack of
critical mass in the market. The technology is actually there today, logistics are
the problem.

I’m hanging in the speaker room and my session is in an hour.  This is the first
chance I’ve had to look at my feeds and do a quick post.

Tablet PC is here in force this year - I am doing a session
about positioning Tablet PC for Enterprise Mobility, which I will blog more about
after the fact.  Hugo did a session focused on UMPCs and he was his usual, enthusiastic
self.  He had a huge number of devices with him - which was great because it
really showed off the diversity in the UMPC form factor.  Like tablets, you really
need to get a UMPC in your hands to really understand the value.  I’ve got 5
tablets of various types with me so people can get a feel for different form factors.

The other thing that strikes me about tablets here this year is the number of speakers
and attendees using them - there are heaps!  Other than my own I’ve seen:

• Motion Computing LS800s
• Toshiba M4s
• Toshiba M400s
• Toshiba R400s
• Lenovo X41s
• Lenovo X60s
• one HP TC1100
• HP TC4200s
• HP TC4400s
• and even a Panasonic ToughBook convertible!

I was also interviewed on camera for Virtual
TechEd so that should be up there soon.

The party last night was at the Movie World theme park.  I ran around like a
mad man trying to get on as many rides as possible.  We’ve got a great photo
from the Lethal Weapon ride that I will post up once I can scan it in.

Well - I think it is exciting anyway…

Great news everyone! I have managed to get myself slotted in as a speaker this year
in TechEd Australia.

If you are attending try to stop by and catch my session @ 11:30 on Friday 10th of
August:

UNC320 -
Positioning Tablet PCs in Enterprise Mobility

Mobility has long since ceased being about push email and RAS. Unfortunately that
is how is mobility is approached in many organisations. This session will explore
what mobility really is, what enterprise mobility is and where UMPCs and Tablet PCs
fit in the enterprise mobility strategy. In addition we will crush a few Tablet PC
myths and have a few cool new devices you can get your hands on. You will go away
with a better understanding of what Tablets are (and aren’t) and where they would
fit in your organisation.

If you already have aticket then I’ll see you there! If not then my, its sold out.

I’ve got my LS800 back and I’m in the process of rebuilding it.  So far I’ve
got the following installed:

• Windows Vista Business
• Office 2007 Ultimate
• Nod32 AV to keep the bugs out
• FolderShare to sync my Documents and Favorites between my work computer and the LS
  (so I don’t have to use my pen challenged laptop too much…)
• FeedDemon to get my daily RSS fix
• Windows Live Writer to give a little back
• Windows Live Messenger to keep in touch

Of course I have done a ton of patching and countless reboots as well.  Painful.

I have a stack of things yet to install - I’ll have to do them as time permits over
the next couple of days…

I was just reading over an interesting article on Computerworld NZ listing the 10
biggest technology flops of the past 40 years.

It is an interesting article and the author - David Haskin Framingham - gives some
interesting background on each technology as well is explaining why it is on the list.

The list includes:

1. The Apple Newton - before it’s time.
2. DIVX - not what you think…
3. Dot-bombs
4. The IBM PCjr
5. Internet currency
6. Iridium
7. Microsoft Bob
8. The Net PC
9. The paperless office
10. Virtual reality

The thing that caught my attention is that the Tablet PC was not on the list. 
For years the Tablet has been much maligned by the “mainstream press” and I would
not have been too surprised to see the tablet listed, though I would have disagreed
bitterly.  Two or three years ago the tablet would have likely featured.

Could it be that the mainstream press is coming around to what we the tabletscape
have been saying for ages?

Anyway - it is a good read, so check out the full article here.

A while ago I blogged about my friend Lee - who gave
up smoking so he could buy an LS800.  Last night Lee found a creative new
use for his tablet that possibly saved his skin.  There is a bit of a story behind
it…

You see, we had a few drinks after work to celebrate a customer win.  It was
a messy night.  I had to be poured into a taxi fairly early and some of the others,
including Lee, carried on.  Now, Lee lives way out of Sydney - about 1 1/4 hours
by train out.  He got on the train in his merry state and fell asleep. 
He awoke about 40 minutes after the train trundled passed his stop. 
In a panic he jumped off at the next stop intending to catch the next train back in
the opposite direction.  He fired up the LS and jumped online to check the timetable
and discovered that that was the last train for the day.  The first train for
the next day was two and a half hours away!  It was dark and it was cold and
there was no shelter at the train station.  Too far to catch a taxi - Lee was
stranded, with nothing to do but wait it out. 

As he shivered on the platform Lee had an idea.  He turned the brightness up
to full and kicked of a defrag on his LS800 and stuffed it inside his jacket - as
a heater!  With the extended battery on it there was more than enough juice to
keep Lee mildly warm until the next train.  So if ever you find yourself a drunken
idiot stranded on a train platform at two in the morning - make sure you have a tablet
to stuff into your jacket!

Amazingly Lee still showed up to work on time the next day.  Needless to say
we have been giving him a very hard time.

I had a great time at the Influencers party at Tech Ed last night. I caught up with
fellow Tablet MVPs Terry Stratton and Frank LaVigne, and lots of other great people.

Here’s me with some new friends.

Photo courtesy of Frank’s Tech
Ed 2007 Photos

In case you had not worked it out (with all the posts I composed offline appearing)
I have now arrived in Orlando.  Some 24 hours of traveling, with only a few broken
hours of sleep on the flight across the Pacific - and yet I feel way too awake. 
I’ve had some food and a nice glass of red wine (for medicinal purposes of course)
and now I’m off to bed to try and force myself to sleep.

The billion dollar question - what sort of presence will the tablet PC have at TechEd
this year?  If my room key is anything to go by I think we are going to see a
couple…

TechEd here I come!

Tablet PCs are great for artists. And doing a quick sketch is a cool way to demo your
device to the uninitiated. Just one problem… Everything I draw ends up looking like
a monkey drew it. And not one of those talented monkeys you see on Discovery channel
from time to time, either!

Sound like your own artistic lack of talents? This might help!

One of my favourite tablet artists Chad Essley points to Mark Chong’s Ten
Minute Drawing Blog!  Mark does some really cool screencasts on his blog
showing the process he goes through to draw, explaining it as he goes.  Very
cool.

Check out Mark’s great blog and
brush up on those drawing skills.

Like Greg Hughes I am planning
to head to TechEd in Orlando next week.

All though I’ve been booked
for the conference for ages my flights got stuck in an approval loop and were
only booked today. Phew! Don’t get me started on what I think of that!

‘spose I should do something about a Tablet Meet-up @ TechEd!

Also at CeBIT Australia…

Panasonic have a good range of Toughbooks on
show. 

There is a Toughbook
19 in a Perspex case and you can press a button and spray it with water. 
Rather ominously it appears to be either off or dead…

One of the things that is quite striking about CeBIT Australia is that many of the
Mobile PC vendors are noticeable by there absence.  Motion Computing and Panasonic have
sizable displays on show, but there is no sign of Toshiba, HP, Acer, ASUS, Samsung, Fujitsu or
any of the other big players I was hoping to see here.

Those who are in attendance are reaping the benefits as both the Motion and the Panasonic
stands are packed every time I walk past.  I hope the competition is at least
attending the show and learning that they should be here next year.

Just bumped into fellow Tablet PC MVP and all round tablet enthusiast Hugo Ortega
in BloggerZone at CeBIT
Australia.

Looking sharp, Hugo

Watch out Orlando, here I come!

That’s right, I’ve confirmed that I can attend and have now registered for TechEd
US! Can’t wait, I had such an awesome time last year and learned heaps!

Tablet meet-up anyone?

 I’m catching up on screeds of feeds that I have been neglecting for a couple
of weeks. I just came across a cool post and photo of NZ’s Prime Minister using a
tablet PC in Redmond. Hail to the chief!

From Nathan Mercer:

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, met with Microsoft’s senior
executives at the company’s headquarters in Redmond.  The group exchanged a broad
range of ideas around technology solutions designed to create opportunities for New
Zealand’s continued economic development and growth plans. 

Helen
Robinson (MSNZ MD), Helen Clark (NZ PM), Chris
Liddell (MSFT CFO exNZer), Steve
Ballmer (MSFT CEO)

This photo is taken in the Microsoft
Centre for Information Work (CIW) click here for
a virtual tour and here for
an image gallery of the facility.

Source: New
Zealand Prime Minister Tablet PC-ing in Redmond
Originally published on Sun, 25 Mar 2007 04:13:55 GMT by nmercer

In in the lounge in Auckland waiting for my flight to LA. On my way to Seattle for
the MVP Global Summit! Yay!

I’ll be packing my geek bag this weekend and heading off to Seattle for the MVP
Global Summit.  This is a conference for all the MVPs and IMO is one of
the major benefits of being a MVP. 
I can’t wait!

For one thing you get to hobnob with the product teams from Redmond - which should
be fantastic.  I’m also really excited for an opportunity to actually meet the
other Tablet MVPs in person.  So far the only one’s I’ve met in person are Hugo
Ortega - he’s in Sydney so only a 3 hr flight away - and Terri
Stratton, who I met in Boston at TechEd last year.

Can’t wait!!!