Medical students can take notes during class using a tablet if they...

Medical students can take notes using a tablet if they use a tablet that accepts pen-based input. Traditionally, Windows tablet PC used Wacom technology and Penabled digitizer pens that allowed you to draw and write directly on the screen of your tablet. Your "inking" could also get converted into text if your handwriting was somewhat legible.

Today, we live in an era of capacitive touch-based computing and many people have said "bye bye digitizer pen (or stylus if you prefer)." Those of us who lived in the era of traditional tablet PCs often miss our pens and we feel drawn to tablets that have pen-input technology.

Today, we're left with a few options if you want a touch-based tablet that also allows you to take notes using a pen. N-trig has filled the void with its DuoSense digitizer that lets you switch from capacitive touch to pen-based input. If you want the best of both worlds, you can choose between tablets like the Lenovo ThinkPad (running Android), the HTC EVO View 4G from Sprint (running Android), or the HTC Flyer (running Android).

I really wish the iPad came with a digital pen (stylus)

I wish the iPad came with a pen. It would be the perfect gadget for jotting notes during a meeting. I would love to trade my Samsung Q1 Ultra for an iPad if the iPad screen included an active Wacom-enabled (penabled) digitizer that allows one to use a stylus pen and "write" on the screen. I've been a huge fan of "inking" and that really began with the old Apple Newton Messagepad series.

So, will Apple eventually release an iPad that includes a stylus pen? At that point, it would really be a tablet and it wouldn't be a pad anymore. Maybe Apple plans to use the name iTablet in the future for a new device that will incorporate a robust operating system, an active digitizer, and all the other missing features that are not currently found on the iPad (like a USB port, an SD slot, a webcam, a kickstand, a removable battery, a video port, and more...)

Samsung releases a pen-enabled eReader in Korea

Samsung has released a pen-enabled e-Reader in Korea. It's not a Kindle. It's not an iPad.  After seeing this picture, memories of the Apple Newton came flooding back. I really miss using the Newton. I loved the fact that I would write (or ink) my notes on the screen. I loved the fact that it had robust battery life (AA batteries).

Since the Apple iPad uses a capacitive touch screen, it's not designed for traditional pen-enabled inking and handwriting recognition.

Will handwriting recognition be a standard feature found in future e-readers?

Fujitsu's "Dual Digitizer" tablet PC display

The phrase "multi-touch" can be confusing when you're talking about tablet PCs. Windows 7 has some new features that will only work on tablets that allow you to control certain functions by placing two (or more) fingers directly on the screen. This is being called "multi-touch" or "multitouch" by many companies, but Fujitsu is calling this feature a "dual digitizer" function.
The tablet PC world is getting very complex and I hope we soon settle on all this terminology.

Here's how Fujitsu describes the screen option on the new LifeBook T5010 Tablet PC:

• 13.3" WXGA display with Dual Digitizer (pen input plus touch screen)

Now, this is going to get really confusing fairly soon. Touch screen is starting to mean many things.

• Passive touch? (can use any inanimate object, like a plastic pen)
  
• Capacitive touch? (fingertips, no plastic pens) - allows for multi-touch gestures
  
• Active digitizer? (Wacom or Penabled pens only)

You've probably seen some of these multi-touch features on the Apple iPhone or iPod touch. You can zoom  out by spreading two fingers on the screen. You can zoom in by pinching your fingers together. etc.

Slate vs. Convertible Tablet PC in the medical world

If you work in the hospital or a medical office, do you prefer to use a slate tablet PC or a convertible tablet PC? Maybe you don't even use a tablet.

I find that as people realize the efficiency of pen-based computing, they end up using the pen more than the keyboard. As a result, it may be better to train physicians to use tablets so they can quickly navigate and enter information using the pen. One nice thing about a dedicated slate tablet is that it is generally thinner and lighter. Convertible tablets have traditionally been at least 0.5 pounds heavier than a slate. However, there are fewer slate tablets to choose from. The leading manufacturers for full-size slate tablets still seem to be Fujitsu and Motion Computing. TabletKiosk is also out there selling slate tablets. HP used to make some slate tablets, but I haven't seen anything new from them. Lenovo never made any dedicated slates. The X-series tablets have all been convertibles.

Are we going to see more slate tablets emerging in the near future? Or is the tablet PC industry truly dying? My hope is that the increasing uptake of electronic health records (EHRs) will revive the tablet PC industry. However, EHR vendors really need to properly leverage the power of pen-based computing and push that message across to those who decide to adopt an EHR.

I had a dream about a tablet PC

Yes, I have strange dreams. The other night, I had a dream that I was showing my tablet PC to an old medical school friend. I haven't seen him in many years, but he's been asking me questions about tablet computers on Facebook and he's also a huge fan of technology. In my dream, I was showing him all the handwriting recognition features, the colored ink, the drag and drop, the pen flicks, and more. I love how you can "hover" with the Wacom Penabled pen on the Tablet PC. You can't do that with a touch screen. He was so impressed by all these tablet features that he went out and got one himself! Which one did he get? The same one that I use - the Lenovo Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC.

Back to Windows 7 on my Thinkpad X200 Tablet

I'm back to mainly using Windows 7 on my Lenovo Thinkpad X200 tablet PC. I simply uninstalled some of the ThinkVantage utilities that were causing some trouble, and now I'm good to go. I'm able to use all the buttons, ports, and I can even use my multi-touch screen (to clarify, this means that I can touch the screen using my finger for passive touch input, or I can use the Penabled Wacom digitizer pen for active input).

I've decided to abandon Windows Vista. I'm no longer running Vista on any of my main machines. Instead, I'm either running Windows XP or Windows 7.