Dell Latitude XT

I am currently evaluating the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC for my university. I have been using it for about one week, and I am really pleased with its performance. It came from Dell with the Microsoft’s Windows Vista Business operating system installed, which includes Microsoft’s new Tablet PC Support features. Click here to read about all of the tablet features in Vista–Tablet PC Support is included in the following versions of MS Vista – Home Premium, Business, Ultimate.

I spent about three hours with the “Personalize handwriting recognition” function when I first received the machine.  This function has you write out 50 sentences, the English alphabet, numbers, and frequently used symbols. You can go back to this function at any time and select to either “Teach the recognizer your handwriting style” or “Target specific recognition errors.” You can also select whether to opt in to automatic learning for personalization. This allows the recognizer to gather information about the words that you use and how you write them and store that information on your local computer.

I am very impressed with the handwriting recognition technology. I purposefully write at the same speed as I normally would when I provide handwriting samples to the computer.  This way I do not write the samples neater than I would in a normal situation.

Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 is great for taking handwritten notes on the tablet during meetings. You can choose to leave the notes in your own handwriting, or you can have OneNote convert your handwriting to text. OneNote doesn’t convert every word correctly for me yet, but the simple editing and formatting that I must complete is a lot easier than typing up a whole meeting’s worth of handwritten notes. (Most of the time, I never go back and type up my handwritten meeting notes.)

Finally, I have found that reading web articles is really comfortable in “portrait” mode on the tablet.  You can use either the pen or your finger to scroll down the page, or select the next article that you would like to read. The XT is very thin and it weighs around 3.5 lbs.

Filed under: Educational Technology , Dell, Latitude XT, Microsoft, onenote 2007, PC, tablet, Vista

Clues from Neurology

I am attending the Educause 2008 conference in Orlando, Florida. The keynote speaker for the first day of the conference was V.S. Ramachandran, Professor and Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, at the University of California, San Diego.

He spoke about unique aspects of the human brain, including phantom pain and synesthesia. Check out his presentation here. It is really fascinating.

Also, check out this POD on CurrentTV for a first hand description of synesthesia.

Filed under: Uncategorized , brain, educause08, human, neurology, phantom pain, synesthesia, V.S. Ramachandran

Just ONE Question

The ONE Campaign is currently urging supporters to sign an online petition to get a question about global poverty asked at the next presidential debate on October 7, 2008.  ONE claims that only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates.

Jim Lehrer chose not to ask a global poverty question at the first foreign policy debate.  Now we need to ask the next debate moderator Tom Brokaw to ask John McCain and Barack Obama “Just ONE question” on their plans to fight global poverty.

I just took action with the ONE Campaign and you can too, here:

http://www.one.org/debates/?rc=debatestaf

Filed under: Uncategorized , action, barack obama, global, john mccain, one, petition, poverty, presidential debates, tom brokaw

Food Crisis

I am currently enrolled in a business and public policy course for my MBA studies.  I have a research project due in the middle of November, in which I am supposed to focus on The Food Crisis.  “What food crisis?” you may ask. The instructor has left the assignment wide open, and we can choose any aspect of a current food crisis in the world.

The assignment is as follows:

• Research the full context of the problem
• Look at the historical situations which posed similar issues and policy challenges
• Identify all of the stakeholders and list their concerns, values, and desired solutions to the problem
• Conduct two personal interviews with stakeholders in the situation
• Write a policy paper, recommending a policy-making process for the federal government (or any other countries government) that incorporates the shared values of all stakeholders

I have a couple ideas for the paper, but I have not settled on any specific crisis.  If you are reading this blog post and would like to give me an idea for this paper, or point me toward a stakeholder willing to be interviewed, feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks,

Jared

Filed under: Sustainability , crisis, food, government, mba, POLICY, stakeholders

CNN Event

I highly recommend CNN’s upcoming television special, “The Next President: A World Of Challenges.” I had the pleasure this afternoon of being in the audience for the tv taping at GW’s Lisner Auditorium.  Former secretaries of state, Albright, Baker, Christopher, Kissinger, and Powell were asked about the advice they would give to the incoming President of the United States.

This event was taped for broadcast on CNN and will premier Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 9 pm.  It will also be available online at CNN.com.  For the entire written transcript of the presentation, go to this link.

The event was also live-blogged by The GW Hatchet, The George Washington University’s independant student newspaper.

Filed under: Foreign Policy , 2008election, Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Colin Powell, dc, election, election08, Elliott School, Foreign Policy, Frank Sesno, GW, gwu, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, lisner auditorium, Madeleine Albright, mccain, obama, The George Washington University, Warren Christopher, washington