I've had the headset less then a month and its already broke. 
The left ear piece has snapped off of the headset and is dangling by the cable.
I was so enjoying these during my Office move in being able to walk around listening to Sirius radio without bothering others.
I had it in its bag all folded up, and the bag in a section of my backpack that has only a bag of cables.
I'm bummed now. Guess I'll have to buy another pair. Maybe try out some others.
Looks like I have the same bevel issue others are complaining about. Its not a big deal for me right now and I will hold off on sending it in for repair until something big breaks. I can live with it for now.
I had my first tablet question while in the wild. My wife, father and I were at the city's free outside movie last night. They were showing The Rocky horror Picture Show with live performers. It was great! I regularly take my tablet with me and work on something from the office or catch up on my RSS feeds.
While sitting in my chair inking in MindManager 7.0 a woman behind me asked me about the tablet. She stated that she was thinking of getting one for herself but wasn't too sure about them. I gave her the current positive & negatives about the Lenovo x61 Tablet. She really seemed interested in about it and asked where she could get more information about it. I being the ever teacher type and disseminating information to the masses, told her to check out www.gottabemobile.com and www.JKontherun.com.
I hope, by being out in the wild, I can show off the benefits of having a Tablet PC and inspire others to buy one.
Just an update. I'm looking at a couple of WebDav options. It looks like I'm going to rearrange my network at home and create a NAS over 1.2 TB.
I'm looking at OpenFiler, FreeNAS, as well as a Windows based WebDav solution. All of the options include Authentication from a windows domain, Web access, FTP access, Mapping drives, and of course WebDav.
If anyone has any comments on WebDav, I'm very much interested in hearing from them. I'm looking to secure it with SSL certificate of course. Positive and Negative comments as well as "Watch out for" comments are appreciated.
The picture is of a Mobile of Data. I sometimes wonder if I have too much time on my hands.
Following directions on the Gottabemobile.com's forums, my Auto rotate now works on my X61.
YEAH!
I made a error in this post. I stated I had the i903 version when its the i913. I stated that something's didn't show up with it when this is the version that comes with limited items. It looks to be the same headset but different packaging. I've corrected this.
I've had it in my head for a while that I want to either listen to 
Sirius Satellite Radio streamed from my computer or to a podcast and not be tethered to the computer. Now I can use my iPod of course for the podcasts, but I've been starting to listen to live feeds as well. Plus I have worn my current cabled headsets out.
So I went out and did some research into Bluetooth headsets. Now that I have the Lenovo X61 Tablet with Bluetooth, I can connect wirelessly with many of my peripherals such as my Sprint Sanyo 8400 Cell Phone with EVDO, and my Holox BT-321 Bluetooth GPS receiver.
My requirements were Bluetooth connection that supports A2DP, Stereo headset, long lasting battery, able to connect to two different Bluetooth devices and able to switch back and forth as needed. Boy I set my expectations high.
I found several different mono headsets that meet most of those requirements, but I wanted stereo. I found the iLuv i913 Noise-canceling headset with Bluetooth wireless technology.
It came with a ok bag, USB cable, Mini-USB to 3.5mm cable, and that's it. It was supposed to come with a Airline plug, USB Power Adapter and a Audio transmitter. I'm a bit disappointed in that. I wanted the i903 which comes with the above Striked list, but I can't find the i903 anywhere. I would like to use the Audio transmitter to connect to my iPod, but now I'll have to either tether with the Mini-USB to 3.5mm cable or just buy another wired in-the-ear headset.
Its a foldable headset, with labeled right and left earphone. On the right earphone has the Bluetooth button that is the multifunction button. It will turn on the Bluetooth, switch devices, and set the paring mode. Also on the rim of the earphone is the Play/Pause button and the USB Connector. On the left earphone is the power switch. Its a three switch, Off, On without noise cancellation and On with Noise cancellation. Each earphone has a cushion that is a bit small for my ear, but is comfortable none the less.
Pairing to the X61 was not a problem. It immediately recognized it. Entering the super secret pairing code worked great. (Why don't they pick a different number instead of the same number everyone else uses?) It paired up as a Stereo Headset as well as Hands Free audio device. The i913 can only pair to two devices at once. By pairing as a Stereo Audio as well as Hands-Free Audio counts as two. The good thing is that I can listen to my podcasts and if a Skype call comes in, the headset switches over to Hands-free and allows me to talk over Skype. It switches back to the Stereo Audio after the call is done. I haven't done this with my cell phone yet, but I'm sure it would work fine.
The i913 sounds good. I don't expect much other then stereo sound. The noise cancellation doesn't silence everything, but allows you to hear the music or whatever is playing more clearly. You can hear a difference when it is off. I did look for a Bluetooth device with in the ear buds to block all the outside noise, but didn't find any that met my requirements.
The battery is stated to last 8 hours while in Stereo Audio listening mode and 9 hours Hands-Free Audio Talk mode. I've had it on listening to Sirius's Coffee House for over 4 hours and still work with out issue. I haven't had a marathon telephone call since my wife (my girlfriend at the time) and I lived in different parts of the state. Since there is no plan on me traveling to far I don't think I can test this one anytime soon. I have tested it out by calling friends across the country and have been told it sounded fine.
Its really nice to walk away from my computer and still be listening to the podcast or music. There have been times I roll my chair over only to be tugged back by the ears. Its not a pleasant feeling. I've walked into another room with one wall between me and my tablet still able to hear the music. It may drop out now and then but soon reconnects. Now I can walk around the house doing chores still listening to my podcasts without having a iPod attached to me and earphones pulling from my ears.
The only negative thing I've experienced is not with the i913 but with the X61. There is a problem with the X61's Bluetooth. I find that I can only connect via Bluetooth after a reboot or a pairing. I find I can't connect after coming out of sleep. It happens with all my Bluetooth peripherals. So that's a current draw back.
Now for the real test of traveling in my car using the Bluetooth GPS, being connected to my Cellphone's EVDO via Bluetooth and call someone on Skype using the i913. I'll let you know how it goes.
My favorite Inked Blog, Sumocat's Scribbles, has a post on accessing his data remotely. Check it out. I'm going to read up some more on the specific drive he is talking about.
For those that are interested in this, check out GottaBeMobile forums. There are some great feedback going on there.
Since my original question, I received a couple of suggestions to use FTP. As in my original post I said that FTP will probably be the solution. Since its free and I already have a FTP Server setup I've expanded my home FTP Server to my user folders. Its currently set up to receive a backup of all my websites that are FTP'ed on a daily basis.
So I setup a link using Vista as a one click link for web/ftp addresses.
To do that follow these directions:
1. Open "Computer". You will see all your drives listed.
2. In the menu bar above click on "Map network drive" 
3. A separate window will pop open. Click on the "Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures."
4. Follow through the wizard by clicking "Next" , then on the next page click "Choose a custom network location". Then Click "Next" again.
5. Paste your FTP address here. (i.e ftp://ftp.website.com) Click "Next"
6. You need to enter your user id here for logging in to the FTP server. You will be asked a password later. Click "Next."
If your username is a email address, you will have a problem because the shortcut that is created will be created with different characters then the @ sign. The shortcut looks like this FTP://Userid@ftp.website.com. So if your username was a email address it will look like this FTP://userid@website.com%40ftp.website.com. You will need to enter your userid as userid%website.com.
7. Type in a general name you want the link to be then click "Next" again. The screen will come up with a overview so you can click "Finish"
You will see a new icon in you Computer list now. That is your one click, (May ask for your password if you don't save it) that connects you to the ftp server.
Ok now that's done, I tried to send and receive files from my FTP.
Now it all depends on the connection that you have. If your Internet connection is 1.0/386, files to the remote computer from your home will be slower then when you send the file.
I have a 3mb/786kb SDSL connection, and I connected my laptop via bluetooth to my cell that has Sprint EVDO. The files transferred at a decent rate. I can pick up any files I have setup in the ftp server to give access to my userid.
I'm going to keep this as a backup connection for right now, but there have been some other applications suggested and I will blog about those next.
I posted this in the JKontheRun Group's forum on Facebook. For those of you not on Facebook, I shall ask the question here.
Since I've become more mobile with my X61, I'm running into some issues with storing files on my local hard drive but not enough to store everything. I've had to choose what to keep on the local hard drive and yet still need access to files on the server. I've found myself at the local coffee shop and need that one file that doesn't warrant to be stored on the local hard drive, but keep it on the server just for this possible need.
I'm looking for a solution to have access to all my files over the internet. I want to be able to pull up files from my server at home without having to terminal service into it or use vnc. I currently terminal server into my system with local drive resources shared. I could setup a ftp, and will probably be the answer to this question, but want to know if there is anything else people can suggest.
It needs to be extremely secure and something that doesn't requires a pHD in UNIX or C# programming to setup.
My server is a Windows 2003 Server with about 900Gb full of files.
Yes I'm a digital packrat, but that's another topic.
I believe that we form our own
lives, that we create our own reality
and that everything works out for the
best. I know I drive some people
crazy with what seems to be ridiculous
optimism, but it has always worked for me.
Jim Henson
I really like the X61T in slate mode. Its not overly heavy. The 8 cell battery provides a nice handle. On the screen you see the status lights, a second power button with a lock, Ctrl-Alt-Del button (thats not labeled), Screen rotation button, tablet shortcut menu, microphone hole, Esc button, Arrow button, and the finger print reader.
The Lenovo is supposed to rotate the screen to match the orientation your holding it in. This is not always the case. It does it maybe 1 out of 10 times and that is usually after a reboot. All the more reason for the rotation button which rotates clockwise.
The power button on the screen has a lock button so that you don't accidentally turn it off. Why in the world would you want a lock on the power button? I can see it if its something that is able to be hit accidentally, but as it is the power button takes a second or two to actually activate. Now if the lock also locked the other buttons or the screen then I can see why its there, but this is not so. Essentially its a waste of space.
For such a small microphone hole, its actually pretty good recording device. I've been told it sounds nice and clear even with some background noise. Although the single speaker that is in the base doesn't put out much sound though, the mic makes up for the audio issue. I've set to rectify the sound issue, by buying a iLuv i903 bluetooth stereo headset. I received it today so I'll blog about it later.
The two killer features on the screen are the fingerprint scanner and the arrow key dial. Obviously the fingerprint scanner allows me to login without having to type in anything. Its totally awesome. This should be installed on all machines. You soon get over the conspiracy theory thoughts of the computer having your fingerprints and something devious being done with them when the convenience of being able to login without typing in a password. Not much needs to be said about it, except you do have to run your finger over it at a slow steady pace. Also the software for the rest of the password keeping beyond the login screen is a bit annoying. If it records the password wrong it will keep prompting you over and over again for a different password or prompt you to click the right login configuration for that particular application or website. This is one thing I turned off.
As for the arrow dial pad. This I absolutely love. When I had the Q1U, it had a similar dial pad. Now it would be obvious that you would want the dial keys to be orientated to the screen right. Not on the Q1U. If you had the screen in portrait mode the dial pad was still in the up and down of landscape. Well on the x61T it rotates to the way you have the screen orientated. WOW! What a concept! Now I can sit in the backyard with a cigar in one hand and the tablet in another and with my thumb on the other hand hit the dial pad up and down buttons to scroll when reading Google Reader. (Have I mentioned I have big hands?)
One of the best things so far is the X61 at work. I used to lug my Dell Latitude D620 with me back and forth, but its going to stay at home now as my work machine when I need to log in remotely. Now I'm taking the x61 with me to the office. At the office I setup two old Dell monitor stands up to bring up the laptops screen to my eye view. From there it is connected to a wireless keyboard and mouse, along with the Cat5 network cable, Power and the USB Headsets. With Lenny I can place the screen rotated around and the keyboard behind it. This brings the screen closer to my face, so I can see easier now.
More coming....
I use Ms Windows Live Writter
for my blogging tool.
'It has a add-on for Ink Blog.
this is what allows me to write with
my tablet pen.
I learned, in the last post that
you can only have 1 Ink window in
the post at a time.
Otherwise my previous post would
of had more information in it and
Not the same ink duplicated.
the things we learn.
Found this online gave to use
with the Tablet.
The object is to draw walls
around the ball so these
when you click go, gravity
pulls the ball towards the red
Box.
Found this online gave to use
with the Tablet.
The object is to draw walls
around the ball so these
when you click go, gravity
pulls the ball towards the red
Box.
I've mentioned before my need for a light weight machine. I thought this was going to be a UMPC, but I learned something about my Computing needs with it and soon returned it.
I started to look around for a mini laptop such as a Fujitsu P1610. Soon after the Samsung Q1U came out, the Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet was sent out to key Bloggers for evaluations. I followed these posts as I was putting the Q1U through its paces. I liked hearing about the performance of this nice little Tablet.
Three weeks after returning the UMPC I decided to purchase a Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Tablet.
I received it a week ago. I've held off from blogging about it until today, to give myself time to get the feel of it and tweak it to my needs.
So here is Lenny.
As you can see the screen is a smudge magnet. The flat black case can also collect smudges as well, but that is like all other ThinkPad's I've had in the past.
I like the inset of the two USB, Firewire and stereo jacks. On GottabeMobile.com Rob Bushway showed off a new Logitech VX Nano Mobile Mouse that has a wireless USB that fits perfectly in the nook.
Since the x61 doesn't have a CD-Rom I use an application called Alcohol 120% that I've blogged about already in dealing with no CD-Rom on the UMPC. Its a program that allows you to mount a ISO file as if it was a CD-Rom or DVD. I use the SD-Card slot shown above (the little blue line) to store all my ISO files.
The Lenovo comes with a 8-cell battery that so far has given me about 4 hrs without ever really running it down below 30%. If I wanted I can turn on battery stretching which turns off several features such as Display Brightness, 30 sec Idle screen, Disables all wireless devices, Disables any optical drives, and mutes the audio. I'll probably test this out later on as to how long I can get a battery to run. Eric Mack turned on battery stretch at 8:30am and at 10 still had 67% left. He even took the X61 on a flight from Boston to LAX on one charge. Very nice.
You can see on the bottom of the Tablet the docking port for the Ultrabase, which has a CD-Rom, extra battery and a list of other ports and functions. It also adds extra weight, which is not what I'm going for.
I did upgrade the memory from 2x1Gb Dimms to 1Gb Dimm and one 2gb Dimm. The silver color dimm is the 2Gb that I installed.
Others have mentioned, as well as I did above, that the display seems to attract fingerprints and smudges. I highly suggest in purchasing a micro fiber cloth to keep it clean. I've also purchased lens alcohol wipes to clean the really tough parts.
When the screen comes up all the smudges and finger prints mostly disappear and you can see everything fine.
One thing I'm not happy about is the latch. Its a inch long piece of plastic. It was created to be able to push through the top of the screen so you can latch the display closed in slate mode, then push it the other way to latch the display closed in laptop form. Unfortunately I must have opened the case when not unlatching all the way because now the little piece of plastic comes out completely from the top of the display. It will sit in the hole and it can hold the display down in the slate mode. It doesn't hold the display down tight as it originally did in laptop mode. I can live with this for now. When its closed in laptop mode I usually have it in my bag that holds it closed.
Speaking of the bag. I used to have this ratty old leather Dell Bag. Its seen many many summers and has been used for all sorts of laptops. I mentioned once before that I am a Tech bag collector and that I'm always on the look out for a new bag that will help me carry around my stuff. What the stuff entails changes year form year. All depending on what I'm doing at that time.
Rob Bushaway & James Kendrick posted they both received a Tom Bihn Buzz bag for evaluation. They both wrote right off the bat they liked it. So I ordered one as well. 
I'm really enjoying this bag. It has two pockets. The back pocket has two sections. The back section is for the laptop where its padded and the front section is for what ever. I keep a Portfolio to hold my papers. The front pocket holds my pens and cable bags.
I've cut down my needed items to make the weight of the bag below 10 lbs. Which is a big difference to the Dell bag I carried previously. It was tipping at 20 to 25 lbs.
I plan to use this bag while riding my bike to work when the office moves in September.
Over all I really like the Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet. It has the perfect mixture of being a smaller tablet and being powerful enough to run the many programs I need opened at once.
Chippy over at UMPC Portal listed 13 Optimization tips for Vista on UMPC's. I can see doing some of them, but all of them? No. You would have a glorified EtchaSketch?
These are great suggestions and should probably be performed sparingly but not all at once unless you wanted your Vista system to run like Windows XP.
At what point in optimizing performance do you lose quality and experience of the operating system? At what time should you admit that this system is not for you?
There is a thread at OrigamiProject.com, that states a users opinion on their UMPC being more then a Companion Computer. CTitanic, posts more about it on his blog. Basically his opinion is that technology has gotten so good that the smaller machines could be replacement Desktop/Laptop systems. His perception and expectation of the quality and performance of these UMPC's sometimes far exceeds what they find is really out there.
Is peoples expectations too high for these little devices or is there a system that meets these laptop minded people?
When laptops first came out, they weren't as people expected. They didn't perform like the desktops of the same time. They were slower, bulky and less reliable. It wasn't until 10 years later did a laptop come out that was equal if not more powerful then a desktop. People's expectations changed after that. Now we are back to the same, smaller is not exactly better.
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/04/is_copyright_vi.html
The concept of control is something that everyone struggles with. To be able to control your actions, your thoughts, your feelings, others, your environment, and etc. We all attempt to control things around us including other people. Some enlightened people will figure out they control nothing. Influence yes, control no. Create yes, control that creation, not even possible as many parents learn.
When we stop trying to control everything, putting it into our own little box of how we want things, then life gets easier and you can become happier.
Stop worrying about what others are doing with your creation and let it go. Get back to doing what you love. Create more, new, improve on your other creations.
This mainly brings up copyrights. There are too many people complaining about copyrights. The control of what you create or as they call it Product. RIAA and MPAA is a prime example of copyrights gone wrong.
"Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness on sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."
Some people's only products is to build on top of someone else's ideas. Its how we get new ideas and improve. Moving forward.
Now should someone get paid for their creation. Yes. Should they be constantly paid over and over again and for how long? That's the main question.
General Strike: 9/11/07
by truth prevails!
Thursday Jul 26th, 2007 1:40 PMA general strike has been proposed for 9/11/07. No work, school or shopping. Even a low number of participants can make a difference. The event will show up on the radar of the Powers That Be.Endless War.
Hundreds of Thousands of Dead Iraqis.
Torture.
Surveillance.
Civil Rights and Habeas Corpus: Gone.
Executive Privilege: No Accountability.
9/11 Questions?
Corporate Media.
Corporate Government.
Tyranny. Fascism. Lies.
The Time Has Come.
To Say NO.
While We Still Have a Chance.
GENERAL STRIKE
Tuesday 9/11/07
No Work. No School. No Shopping.
Hit the Streets."
BladeMonkey on Gottabemobile answered a fellow users call to be able to help clear up some screen space when using applications that are always open.
What came out is Roll Up App. Great little utility that will roll up the windows into the titlebar. I remember this first in Macintosh with a small little app I think was called Blinds, and again it was duplicated in Windows with Window Blinds. With the newer OS's these old applications won't work.
As a comeback Tablet user I find this application to be very useful. I have a 12in screen at 1024 x768 I need this application.
Currently from my experience it works great with all Microsoft Applications, but has some troubles with iTunes and Trillian windows. I'm sure as BladeMonkey gets more feedback and possibly some donations he will work and add to this application.
Check it out and give BladeMonkey some feedback.
Dell's trash talking video of slicing up a tablet notebook, stating their new system is the shit, has been posted all over the place.
Dell's Tablet better be of iPhone range of interesting features to do such a bold pre-ad.
I foresee that they will fail miserably at it. The company currently is so far behind other companies that they tend to take the safe route instead of the innovative route.
They lost miserably in the handheld realm because the other companies were coming out with new things.
The only way the Dell tablet will be a success is if Dell's Enterprise customers buy them in bulk, but that won't happen for several years since the Enterprises will be hesitant in doing anything with new technology. They would rather go with something more proven in reliability, which the standard laptop can provide.
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