Hello everybody.
Currently, InfoQube is positioned as a personal information management system. It only runs on a full Windows platform. It cannot therefore be mounted on any smartphone known to me. However, many of the uses to which InfoQube could be put involve mobile computing. Currently, there are two kinds of platform for mobile computing:
- Smartphones
- Netbook and laptop computers
Many of us are looking forward to the day when InfoQube integrates well with some smartphone, and the efforts made by Jerome suggest one direction forward. I know that better synchronisation (with Outlook and with smartphones) forms a part of Pierre's plans.
Another possibility would be to port InfoQube to a Windows Mobile platform. However, I am not wild about this for three reasons:
- The Microsoft Access database engine, on which InfoQube is currently based, does not itself run in a Windows Mobile environment
- Nor does the SQL Server product, to which in the future it is anticipated that InfoQube will migrate, have a Windows Mobile version (there is in fact an SQL Server compact edition, but I doubt that Pierre would want to constrain his developments to that particular database management system)
- Personally, I highly dislike the Windows Mobile platform! I have for several years past been one of the very few French users of Palm Treos. The Palm Pre is just about to appear here in France, and that may be my next phone, or I may make the jump to an Android phone. But I ain't no way, no how, going to buy into Windows Mobile...
In some medium or near future, many if not all of the client and/or server applications we currently use will migrate in part or in whole to the cloud. But for now, we must accept that InfoQube is primarily a full Windows application, which we use on a desktop, laptop or notebook computer.
So I thought that it might be interesting to start a short thread on laptop computers which are well adapted to InfoQube, and also netbook computers similarly well adapted.
The laptop computer which I use here at work (I teach in a business school) is a Lenovo machine. Lenovo, a Chinese manufacturer, purchased the previous ThinkPad division of IBM in a few years ago. Lenovo machines have two very interesting characteristics:
So I thought that it might be interesting to start a short thread on laptop computers which are well adapted to InfoQube, and also netbook computers similarly well adapted.
The laptop computer which I use here at work (I teach in a business school) is a Lenovo machine. Lenovo, a Chinese manufacturer, purchased the previous ThinkPad division of IBM in a few years ago. Lenovo machines have two very interesting characteristics:
- They are sturdy and robust machines
- They have for a long time had screens with a very high pixel density, so that the machine on which I am working is 1450 points wide (I mention this, because Pierre has said that he would wish to replace his existing laptop with a similar machine). This used to be very unusual. However, an increasingly common screen format is 1366 pixels by 768 pixels. Indeed, this format is beginning to appear on the larger (11.6") netbook computers.
I would like to highlight some very recent computers which fascinate me and may be of interest to other users of this forum. I am sure that other forum users will be able to highlight other interesting machines.
Because I am a teacher and researcher, I very much wish that my next machine will sport a tablet interface. The reason is that when teaching, one scribbles quick diagrams on a whiteboard. If, as I do, you work in a school which has not invested in electronic whiteboard (so-called SmartBoard) technology, a tablet computer, perhaps with handwriting recognition, would be an excellent move forward. So I want a tablet machine, which will feature handwriting recognition, and can in effect be used as an electronic whiteboard. For performance, it will require at least an Intel Pine Trail processor, probably an N450 (although an N470 would be nice) and 2 GB of RAM. Alternatively, an Intel Celeron SU2300 would offer more power.
Already available in a somewhat underpowered N450 version, and imminently to be available in a more punchy N470 version, is the Lenovo S10-3T netbook tablet convertible machine. This machine has many innovative features, among which is that the touchscreen is capacitative -- which permits true multitouch operation. Because it only has a 10 inch screen, the screen format is 1024x600 pixels. In that format it is expected to retail for about 650€.
For a combination of performance, cheapness and lightness, the now almost imminent Acer Aspire 1420P looks fascinating. In one version, it has an 11.6" HD 1366 x 768 (WXGA) pixel resolution screen - good enough to play
See http://us.acer.com/acer/product.do?LanguageISOCtxParam=en&rcond5e.c2att…
This machine replaces the Intel Atom Pine View N450/N470 single-core low power consumption chip found in the latest small-format netbooks with an Intel Celeron SU2300 low voltage part. As a consequence it is much more powerful than the very highly portable 10" screen netbooks. I really need that extra power - nother usage which is important to me is voice recognition software, for which all versions of the Atom are frankly underpowered, not least because they can only address one or 2 GB of memory. The Aspire 1420P comes with 3 GB. Sole disadvantage of this machine is that the touchscreen is resistive (not capacitative), which means that you normally have to apply significant pressure to the surface, typically using a stylus. This also makes true multi-touch rather difficult. Despite being much larger and much more powerful, it retails here at under 500€.
Because I am a teacher and researcher, I very much wish that my next machine will sport a tablet interface. The reason is that when teaching, one scribbles quick diagrams on a whiteboard. If, as I do, you work in a school which has not invested in electronic whiteboard (so-called SmartBoard) technology, a tablet computer, perhaps with handwriting recognition, would be an excellent move forward. So I want a tablet machine, which will feature handwriting recognition, and can in effect be used as an electronic whiteboard. For performance, it will require at least an Intel Pine Trail processor, probably an N450 (although an N470 would be nice) and 2 GB of RAM. Alternatively, an Intel Celeron SU2300 would offer more power.
Already available in a somewhat underpowered N450 version, and imminently to be available in a more punchy N470 version, is the Lenovo S10-3T netbook tablet convertible machine. This machine has many innovative features, among which is that the touchscreen is capacitative -- which permits true multitouch operation. Because it only has a 10 inch screen, the screen format is 1024x600 pixels. In that format it is expected to retail for about 650€.
For a combination of performance, cheapness and lightness, the now almost imminent Acer Aspire 1420P looks fascinating. In one version, it has an 11.6" HD 1366 x 768 (WXGA) pixel resolution screen - good enough to play
See http://us.acer.com/acer/product.do?LanguageISOCtxParam=en&rcond5e.c2att…
This machine replaces the Intel Atom Pine View N450/N470 single-core low power consumption chip found in the latest small-format netbooks with an Intel Celeron SU2300 low voltage part. As a consequence it is much more powerful than the very highly portable 10" screen netbooks. I really need that extra power - nother usage which is important to me is voice recognition software, for which all versions of the Atom are frankly underpowered, not least because they can only address one or 2 GB of memory. The Aspire 1420P comes with 3 GB. Sole disadvantage of this machine is that the touchscreen is resistive (not capacitative), which means that you normally have to apply significant pressure to the surface, typically using a stylus. This also makes true multi-touch rather difficult. Despite being much larger and much more powerful, it retails here at under 500€.
Both machines should be able to run on a single battery charge for a full eight hour day or a transatlantic flight!
I hope that this post will spark a discussion on the best platform for InfoQube.
I hope that this post will spark a discussion on the best platform for InfoQube.
Mark