I was watching CSI:NY and noticed the brand of one of the tablet PCs that they use. The show became less interesting as soon as I started browsing the product’s page.

I think tablets will be the new thing. I seriously want one. Screw ultra-thin laptops. Tablets are way cooler. The rumor that Apple is working on a tablet could still be true (multi-touch et al on tablets?). I dug around and found a few more things below.

• If the screen is an active digitizer, you get hover functionality (similar to mouse-over)
• Local prices aren’t that bad
• Most of the tablets are convertible laptops (I kinda don’t like this because of the hinges, added weight and size)
• As usual, drivers and apps on Linux are still young
• The Sahara Slate i440D makes me drool but HP’s TX2000 is cheaper

I haven’t used a small computer for a very long time. I wonder how a 12″ screen would feel. I think widescreen 15.4″ screens are huge already (all along I thought my laptop was 17″). I bought a 19″ LCD panel last December for desktop use and it’s been nothing but fun. We used to have an 11″ Twinhead laptop and the small keyboard was the only thing I didn’t like about it. Acer used to release laptops that made you position your hands in a way that they won’t be strained even if the laptop was small (I haven’t seen it on new laptops lately).

It could be that the desire for tablets are filling in the shortcomings of handhelds with Windows Mobile. Recently, I found it annoying that most handhelds come with puny internal memory. I multi-task a lot and the limitation on how many programs that can run at the same time makes me feel like a handicap. Tablets are like enlarged handhelds (all it needs is a SIM card slot!). I acquired a fetish for touchscreens.

Although I’ll still use a portable keyboard and mouse when I’m working, the mobility it gives as a tablet is a huge bonus. Picture yourself updating your blog in the morning while in the crapper! How cool is that? Even Sanya told me once to get a tablet (she ended up buying a MacBook though).

Fears that the benefits of an active digitizer touchscreen won’t be maximized on Linux are holding me back. Anybody used Vista on tablets? How about XP Tablet Edition? I could settle with Cygwin but I’ll use SSH with PuTTY on the loopback because the native terminal on Windows is lame and boring. Let’s not forget Compiz Fusion too. What will I do without my wobbly windows?

P.S. Product placement works.

Originally uploaded by dennysytangco.

*cough* joke lang

Very few people know that Google has other services/apps than web search. I use GMail and I love it. All my email addresses forward to that mailbox (except for my Yahoo! email which would still suck even if Microsoft backed them up as long as they don’t have POP and mail forwarding).

One particular client scheduled a meeting once and GMail prompted me for a response (if I was going or not). It appeared as if it was a GMail+GCal thing. It made me think they were using Google Apps (twitter reference).

After the meeting, we were supposed to update a task checklist (originally an Excel file). I told them to just upload the file on Google Docs and share it to everyone. They gave me this look where I lost them somewhere in that line so I brought up the topic that they used GCal to schedule that meeting. It turned out that they were using an Exchange server and GMail interpreted the message and sent the appropriate response.

I showed them Google Docs and after our next meeting, they mentioned that they got so amused with it, they started to use it on more of their documents. Quoting one of them, “we learn something new everyday.”

This client is one of the oldest companies in the country in the field of telecommunications (a couple of friends recommend them). The way Google Docs was used was not really enterprise level but this makes collaboration a whole lot easier. I was tempted to show them Basecamp but I think I should let them get used to Google Docs first. Adding another tool might overwhelm them (avoiding Web2.0 reference).

Focusing on collaboration, which one would you use: Microsoft SharePoint or Google Docs? How about weighing the price and features that met your needs?