New Tablet?

I have been thinking about getting a new tablet. The Acer A100 I have just doesn't have the battery life I want and it is old and can't be upgraded. But I'm wondering which one to get. I do NOT want to spend lots of $$$ on one, but want one with good battery life and speed. I'm looking at the Nexus or even the iPad Mini (probably refurbished to keep the cost down). In a departure, I have even looked at the Windows 8.1 tablets. One of my favorite programs on ANY platform is Microsoft OneNote and I notice that the Windows tablets come with Office installed which would give me that excellent program in its native format. More as i look to change places.

The Need for Speed

The instant nature of the internet drives an apparent need for news to be put up as quickly as possible. Here's a minor example from my morning place. These are two Twitter entries placed right next to each other from different news services. Note the difference in the body count. I know that these types of counts are notoriously inaccurate and that a 10% difference in this case doesn't really detract from the main story. But it is illustrative of larger gaffs in news coverage which can result from this rush to be the first on the net with the story. If your report is more than 17 seconds ago, it's old news.

Where's your FIRST place?

With many of us having multiple social media places where we exist, the first thing we do when we get up is to check a device to see what we've missed when we have been in slumber land. Where is the first place you go in the morning?

Mine is e-mail. I am usually on call for work and have to check my work e-mail. Then I usually do a bunch of morning things, and the next place is my personal e-mail. Maybe it's because I am an old guy that I do this. E-mail is so "2000".

The next place is a crap shoot for me. Somewhat, it depends on the device I'm using. On my tablet, I have an aggregator for Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. I'm likely to use that. If it's the Ubuntu netbook, then I select one-most likely Facebook because more of my community hangs there.

I'm also likely to check one of the news sources that I like next. That's either Feedly (RSS feeds), News360, of Flipbook depending on my mood and, again, the device I'm on. In fact, I might do this first some days. A lot depends on what's going on in the world. These news sources have become my newspaper for the day. If I don't check them in the morning, I'm definitely looking at them at lunch or in the evening. It's also the major reason I look at Twitter. I subscribe to several news organizations just to be able to know what's going on.

So what's your routine?

Tablet Keyboard

One of my places has been my Android tablet, an Acer A100. I have had both good and bad times with this unit, but, generally, more good than bad. Writing has been one of the bad, primarily because of it's lack of a keyboard. Since I took touch typing on an IBM Selectric typewriter (yes, one of those) in high school, I have preferred typing to hand writing. It doesn't help that my handwriting is so bad that even I can't read it much of the time. The on-screen keyboard although OK for single finger typing just doesn't cut it for any type of creative activity. I have been looking for a reasonably priced (e.g. < $99 dollars) keyboard--preferably in a case. Well, I finally found one. It's a MiniSuit Keyboard Stand Case for Google Nexus 7 FHD 2nd Gen (2013). Yes, I know it's for the Nexus 7, but it fits the Acer A100 like it is made for it. It is a bluetooth keyboard that sell on Amazon for $21. That's reasonable, real reasonable. I charged it, paired it with the A100 and it is working great. The case is nice and the keyboard can be folded back so that the tablet can be used without it when you want.I'll write more about it as I get more experience with it.

OneNote Fixed

With the most recent update to this excellent note taking program, Android tablets broke. Microsoft has fixed the issue and, I must say they have a winner. I am a long time fan of this program and,with the upgrade to the mobile platforms it is really quite nice. It has always been an excellent note taking platform on the PC. The mobile platforms and SkyDrive add a dimension to the system. I'm working on some articles about social media creation using various tools and one which will play prominently is OneNote. Watch for it.

OneNote still messed up on tablet

I haven't given up on OneNote quite yet for my tablet but it is very frustrating that Microsoft hasn't fixed it yet. I'm resorting to other alternatives, but they just aren't as good. I have started to use my Ubuntu netbook--yes I do have one of those--with SkyDrive to create content, but this post is being written on my Acer A100. I have even considered a Windows 8 tablet or iPad, but just can't justify the cost. More in the continuing saga.

OneNote on Android Tablet gone to Hell

The last "upgrade" to OneNote failed for my tablet. This sucks since OneNote is an excellent program and the tablet was one place it worked well. Noe Microsoft has screwed that up. It's very frustrating and I'm actively looking for a viable alternative. So far no luck. One thing that keeps me from purchasing a possible alternative is the hope that this is only a temporary glitch. More later.