Obduro

I decided to write a blog post using my HP 2730 and the tablet functionality of Windows 7.  Since I bought the 2730 in December, l haven’t really used its tablet capabilities - I’ve just been using it as a regular laptop.  Because of this, I also haven’t trained the software to recognise my handwriting and therefore I have to edit quite a few words before they’re converted to text.

I imagine it would be a better writing experience if the text could be entered anywhere on the screen instead of just using the table input area - and perhaps it does work better using Microsoft software such as Internet Explorer or Word, but I’m using Tumblr as my main blogging tool and Google Chrome as my browser of choice, and the current experience isn’t too bad.  (The word Tumblr by the way did take a few times to enter correctly.)

One of the good things with Windows 7 is that it can recognise handwriting in more languages than its predecessors Vista and XP tablet edition.

So, what does my wish list for pen based text entry contain?

• Full sereen text input
• An explanation for the strange phenomenon where all paragraphs start with a space (it’s ridiculous to have to mark the beginning of every sentence and hit delete) EDIT: This phenomenon has only been noticed in Chrome when entering text.
• Patience while training the software to understand my hideous handwriting

I have to admit that I made the final edits using the keyboard, shame on me.

Today I replaced the Samsung 4G modem for a new Samsung modem with roaming capabilities between the 4G and the 3G networks. Time will tell how good it works.

The 4G (or LTE) service I am using has been blessed with a speed update. 

I am using Remember the Milk to keep track of my household chores, the tasks I’m currently working on and various other things that I want to do or plan to do. 

The concept of keeping track of things by using a to do list is great and I’ve been doing this for the last fifteen years or so. Marking tasks as completed always gives me a good feeling of accomplishment.

For the most part of those fifteen years, the to do list has been a sheet in a writing pad and marking tasks complete was done with a pen drawing a fat line through the item. The feeling of accomplishment isn’t as clear when using a web based to do-list but all the other benefits make the transition worthwhile.  

Since starting to use Remember the Milk, I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of tasks: One time tasks, recurring tasks with a fixed time before repeating, recurring tasks that repeat a couple of days after being marked complete.

The experience so far is to keep the number of ongoing tasks low - just because it’s easy to create new tasks doesn’t mean that I’ll have plenty of time to complete them.