Lovin' the Bamboo Pen Tablet... Now if I Would Actually Use It...

I don't know, perhaps I'm just too old, but I've actually used my Bamboo Pen Tablet a total of maybe 15 times since I bought it.  I like the device.  I mean I think it's definately cool.  And perhaps if I spend a little more time with it, I'll actually begin to use it more.  But, admitedly, I find myself switching to the mouse over and over again.  Maybe it's because I'm so used to using a mouse, that the tablet just kind of feels unnatural to me.

Now, I've done a few things in Photoshop where the tablet has come in handy: pixel manipulation, resizing, drawing cut out areas, but I'm still not very good at it yet.

So what does this have to do with going paperless?  Nothing really, except that one of my ideas was that I could use the tablet to take quick written notes, without having to use a keyboard, like I would normally have done with paper. Perhaps an Evernote hand writing app for the PC would be useful.  Anybody got any ideas?

#iPad2 - The iPad 2 is Here!

Wouldn't you know it, the iPad 2 comes out about a month after I got the 1G iPad.  Oh well, thus is the world of technology.  One thing I thought was interesting is the number of people who have commented on the specs saying things like "it's only got VGA camera", or "it's only 256MB or RAM" (which is incorrect by the way).  They're arguing specifications and comparisons to other tablet devices that are either already on the marketing or currently being developed by other companies.

But I don't think that the specs are the real discussion point here.  The market is actually changing so why are we comparing storage space, RAM, and camera specifications on a device that's not even designed to BE a competitor to the PC?  An iPad is not a PC.  It's an incredibly powerful computer, yes, but it's not a PC and as such the PC rules and tactics don't really apply, in my opinion.

Call me an iPad fanboy if you like, but I think Apple created a real winner in this product.  They've built an entirely new vertical market in the computer/technology revolution. Does anybody remember netbooks?  I remember when the Asus eeePC was king of that mountain but now today nobody really cares.  Or at least those who are trying to keep up with what's actually going on in the technology arena.

The iPad isn't just a game changer.  It's a whole new game and if the competition wants to even remotely keep up, then they had better get out of the "PC" mindset and stop just immitating Apple's innovation and start actually designing and developing products that make interfacing with technology fun and exciting.

See, here's how I look at it.  Many people spend countless hours on their jobs interfacing with computers and, in many circumstances their experience with the computer is miserable.  It crashes, it requires updates, it requires that they deal with the often overwhelmed IT department, and possibly rude technicians, etc., etc., etc.  It just a giant pain in the 4$$!

So what does Apple do?  They create a new way to interface with with technology that's generally trouble free.  They don't even participate in the discussion about the PC should have this, or the PC should do that.  They just create something entirely different.  So much so, that even I, a long time PC user, with Windows, Linux, and computer networking experience, am considering a total move to the Apple platform because I like where they're going with it.

Make it an enjoyable experience for the user.  Forget about the specs.  Who cares if I have the latest and greatest "1.21 gigawatt flux-capacitor" if I can't find my files, or run my applications, or I have to go through an hour of troubleshooting to get my scanner to work (Hello!). 

Apple is getting it right.  They're developing and releasing innovative products and they are playing an entirely different game.  And I think that's exactly where it's all going.  That's part of the reason I decided to do this paperless home office experiment.  The old world is going away.  The new world is coming.  I can either be ahead of the game, or I can be a dinosaur, clinging to the past and talking about my blazingly fast video card.  I choose the future.

Flatbed Scanners

Why in the heck are flatbed scanners so dang expensive? Seriously? I can't seem to find decent scanner for less than $500. I can't really see why they need to cost so much. I mean, they're pretty much a single use device and they put these things into much cheaper multiple-function printer/scanner/copier devices and sell them for under $100 in some cases.

So what am I going to do about it? eBay.

A top feed, duplex Fujitsu is about $300. Still a touch pricy, but they're good scanners. Next up is a Xerox Documate for around $400. Finally there's the HP 5590, but frankly I've heard that this one kind of stinks.

So it looks like, unless I find something on craiglist, I'm going to be stuck with forking over $300-400. Oh well, it's for the greater good, right? Hmmmmm....

iPad in Church

So if you're gonna go paperless, you need to really commit to being completely paperless.  In my opinion, this means getting rid of as many paper books as possible... including my bible.  So this past Sunday I took the iPad to Church. 

This was much easier than you may think.  I downloaded Bible Reader by Olive Tree, put a copy of the American Standard Version, hooked it into my Evernote account and I was good to go.  Fully ready with electronic bible in-hand, ready to take surmon notes and all without wasting a single sheet of paper.

But it get even better.  My church has a Tuesday night Men's bible study too, so I took the iPad there as well.  What an awesome invention!

PaperlessGeek Is Such a Twit

No blog today would be worth anything if it's not autoposting on Twitter.  So, I went ahead and set up a Twitter feed as well.  Follow me @paperlessgeek on Twitter to get the latest posts and info.

Drive Corrupt...Panic Attack!....New NAS... Ah, That's Better

So the other day I went to pull some of my files off of my external 500GB harddrive, only to have Windows come back and tell me that the Legacy folder was corrupt.  Ack!  There's only about 15 years of data in that folder, so it's pretty much my entire computer life.  So the panic attack insued. So I ran the Windows drive recovery tool and had it fix errors, but once it completed, I couldn't mount the drive... Ack!  So, after rebooting the PC,  I moved it over to my laptop, hoping it something to do with my PC acting strangely... Ack!  It doesn't work here either? OK. OK. Calm down, Gary.  It's reallt gonna be OK.  Maybe there's something wrong with the USB cable... Whew!  Sure enough, that was it.

So I was luck this time.  Yes I have a back up but that could days to restore, and I just don't want to wait that long.  So I needed a more easily accessable means of storing my data but also had some built in reliability so I don't have to lose sleep at night if something goes wrong.

Enter the Netgear Stora!

It's a 1TB NAS with a lot of really cool functionality.  First off, it's a single 1TB disk, but there's an extra bay in the unit, so I just installed another 1TB disk I had in my collection 'o computer crap, and viola! An instant mirrored drive. It also has a USB port on the front, so I can attach an external drive to it for back up purposes or, as I'm currently using it, as a port that allows me connect my old external drive and move the files onto the NAS. It also integrates directly with iTunes, so I can easily migrate my entire library onto the device.

Now begins the task of migrating all of my legacy data onto the new device, but once it's done, I'll have a fully mirrored copy of all my important files.  Plus, I can set it up with my Mozy account, so I can continue to have offline backups as well.  How sweet is that?

Got Another Cool Toy

I don't know why, but I thought it would be cool to have a pen tablet hooked into my PC for possibly taking hand written notes and to use as a trackpad/mouse device.  I know, I know, it's not really a necessary thing, but it is pretty cool.  So I settled on the Bamboo Pen and Touch.  It a really good-sized device and seems to work pretty darn well.  Just have to get used to using it.

Here are some pics: