Word: tableted
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...that innovation is: pen and virtual paper. At least, that's the new technology the industry is flogging, as embodied in a slew of tablet PCs hitting the market this month. More than 20 manufacturers, including Fujitsu, Compaq and Legend, have joined in a Microsoft-led initiative to produce laptop computers that double as legal pads. What distinguishes tablet PCs from conventional portables is their ability to capture a user's handwriting - either as an exact digital copy, complete with bad penmanship and doodles, or by converting notes into digital text...
...tablet PC push may come as a surprise to those who thought the tech business was about crushing primitive methods of communication. But geeks have been unsuccessfully trying to develop and market a computerized writing pad for years. Raise your stylus if you remember the Apple Newton, which flopped in 1992. Engineers seem convinced that most of us prefer handwriting to typing and desperately desire to be freed from the shackles of keyboards. And now that computers are getting better at recognizing handwriting - the Newton was laughably inept in that regard - PC manufacturers are once again trying to sell...
...chance to test the industry's hypothesis using the TravelNote C100, the new tablet PC from Acer. Reasonably lightweight (about 2 kg), with a 20-GB hard drive and an 800-MHz Pentium III processor, the TravelNote looks and performs like a normal laptop computer. The screen, however, swivels around and folds back over the keyboard, creating a writing slate. A stylus serves as both a pen for note taking, and as a mouse for operating programs. Using the machine's built-in Wi-Fi (wireless-fidelity) link, for example, you can write a URL into the Internet Explorer browser...
...tablet PC also allows text input via the touchscreen's virtual keyboard - a necessary alternative, because Microsoft's handwriting-recognition software remains irritatingly inconsistent. The Acer works better than the Newton, but it interpreted my handwritten phrase "Jack ran down the hill" as "Jade full dam its lull." I may have earned a C- in second-grade penmanship class, but my handwriting isn't that...
...fairness, the software is right more often than it's wrong. Still, that isn't the point. Inputting data and operating the computer with a stylus instead of a keyboard and mouse only seems to make a simple task unnecessarily cumbersome, not to mention more expensive. Tablet PCs are selling for about $2,000, roughly a $400 premium over comparably equipped conventional laptops. For the extra cash, you do get the new Microsoft Journal program, which allows you to write and organize notes in a spiffy "digital-ink" format that replicates real writing. You can change colors, use a highlighter...