Black Friday Deals

I don't know if this is a limited time offer, but Amazon is offering MaximumPC for $5 per year.

Maximum PC (1-year auto-renewal)

In other news, the case for my slate that I ordered from Best Buy for Business is delayed.

On the Case

If you have been looking for a case for your slate, you can find it at Best Buy for Business for the MSRP with free shipping. (Not at an inflated price as certain other online stores will charge.)

The Samsung part number is AA-BS2N11B/US

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/tablet-pcs-accessories/AA-BS2N11B/US

The BestBuy for Business SKU is BB11647617

http://www.bestbuybusiness.com/bbfb/en/US/adirect/bestbuy?cmd=catProductDetail&showAddButton=true&productID=BB11647617

Use coupon code FREESHIP to get the shipping deal.

I am working on a hardcase to hold the slate, power supply, dock, keyboard, and other accessories. I will report on my progress later.

Update to Microsoft Ink Crosswords

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is fairly easy to force the installation of Microsoft Ink Crossword to your slate.

http://samsungslate.blogspot.com/2011/10/software-tweaks.html

One thing you will notice, though, is that with the wide screen display, you may not be able to see all of your puzzle collections. To fix this, you need to install two dummy collections that will appear at the bottom of the list and force your files into view. Here are my steps:

1. Create two new directories:
   
   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Ink Crossword\data\xpkZFill
   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Ink Crossword\data\xpkZFill2
2. Copy a single puzzle into each directory.
3. Create a text file named PackContents.xml in each directory.
4. Edit each of the PackContents.xml files using Notepad so that they contains the following lines:

 <packcontents>
   <id v="xpkZFill2" />
   <cats>
      <c1  v="ZFiller 2">
        <p1  t= "FROM SPHERE TO ETERNITY" a= "By Clint Avery" m= "fcxFF0101-data.xml" />
      </c1>
   </cats>
</packcontents>

 Change the appropriate info to match the puzzle that you copied and the appropriate directory name.

Screen Separation

Like many others have posted, I have noticed a VERY SLIGHT screen separation on the lower left edge. It seems to be < 1mm so I am not too worried about it for now. Since it is past the 14 day easy return period, I would have to send it back to Samsung, or have the MS store do it for me. With the incredibly high demand for these slates, who knows when i would get it back! Given that mine was one of the first ones out of the factory, I expect some growing pains. Once things have settled down and I can afford to relinquish this computer, I will see about getting it fixed/replaced.

All Keyed Up

I just received my new keyboard today. I order the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 from Amazon for $57. This is the model with a portable number pad included.

Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000

It even comes with a grey flannel bag to hold the number pad.

The number pad has a Num Lock button, but I can't see any indicator lights to show which mode it is in. The state is flashed on your screen when you switch modes, so this is not much of a problem. With Num-Lock off, the keys behave as you would expect (except they aren't labeled):

Num Lock	/	*	Extend
Home	Up	Pg Up	+
Left	n/a	Right
End	Down	Pg Dn	Enter
Insert		Del

What is interesting is the Extend Key. In Excel, you can press this key followed by the arrow keys to select a range of cells. In Word, the key reverts to dash. To get the Insert key to work properly in Word, you need to go to "Options" ==> "Advanced" and select "Use Insert key to control overtype mode". [This is a fix for all keyboards, not just this model.]

[I am awaiting my Microsoft Arc Touch mouse and will add my impressions here once I receive it.]

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse - Black

Fresh Off the Dock

I just picked up the Dock for my Samsung slate from the Microsoft Store. (If you order your slate online from Microsoft, they are currently giving you a free dock.) It is a well made, brushed aluminum stand that has five connectors on the back:

1. DC Power Jack
2. Wired LAN port
3. HDMI
4. USB
5. Headphone Jack

There are a few things to note:

•  It is recommended that you turn off your slate before installing or removing it from the dock. You cannot hot-swap it. Putting it to sleep is not enough, you need to actually shut it down. The system seems to behave in a strange manner if you just sleep the device. Since the Slate powers up and down so quickly, this is not a problem.
• When you are using the dock, only the full-size HDMI connector on the dock is usable. The micro-HDMI connector on the edge of the slate is inoperable. I haven't actually tested them while using the dock since my extra monitor is at the office, but the manual that comes with the dock seems to be clear about this.
•  When you use the dock, initially, the default speaker device is the USB audio in the dock (the headphone jack). You need to go into the Sound section of the Control panel to switch the default sound back to the Realtek drivers if you want to use the on-board speakers. Once you change this, it seems to stick for succeeding sessions, you will not need to change it again. There does not seem to be a way to use both sets of speakers simultaneously. You can change the effects for both while in the control panel, but the system seems to only use one set for normal operations.
•  Yes, both USB ports will work at the same time. I was worried that one would be disabled like the HDMI and sound devices, but I tested them with USB sticks and had no problems. I would have liked more USB ports, but you take what you can get. An eSata port would also have been nice.

I purchased a cheap Inland 7-port USB hub from Fry's. It came with an external power supply that I use when I am running off of battery power and I want to attach power-hungry devices. It is not necessary for keyboards and mice, however.

Windows 8 Developer Preview seemed to work just fine with this device.No apparent differences.

Angry Birds!

 
Angry Birds works great on the Slate! It costs $4.99 on Intel AppUp site.

http://www.appup.com/applications/applications-Angry+Birds

Note, the AppUp site claims that it is NOT supported on Windows Tablets, but it seems to work OK. The paid apps on the site all have a 24 hr. trial period, so if you find one that does not work, you can just cancel the install and get your money back.

There seem to be a lot of games and other small apps, many of which are free.

Sugarsync - File Storage in the Cloud

One of the best data storage/backup/file syncing systems out now is SugarSync. You get 5 GB storage on the web when you sign up for the free plan. You get an additional 500 MB if you use my referral link. (see below for URL) If you install the software on two different computers, you can designate folders on each system that will automatically be synced between each computer. You can use your files offline since they are stored locally on your machine. When you next connect to the Internet, it automatically posts the changes. The system keeps a limited number of backups of the files, so if you accidentally write over that important memo, there is a reasonable chance that you can get it back without much effort. I use it to sync my project folders between my computer at the office, my home computer, and a laptop. That way, I can get to my work no matter what computer I am using at the time, and the data is backed up in case of disaster. (This has saved my bacon several times when computers died.)

It works on Mac, Windows, and mobile devices including, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile. It seems to work just fine on the Windows 8 Preview. One thing that it doesn't do is sync folders on removable drives. Since this slate has only a 128 GB disk drive, I am storing my documents on the 32 GB Micro SDHC card. I am trying to find a way to make the system think that this is NOT a removable drive (since I don't plan to ever remove it), but I have not had success yet. Other mobile devices may also have this storage space problem. SugarSync says that they are looking into fixing this.

I am satisfied with SugarSync's security, but given the recent turmoil over DropBox,

http://www.examiner.com/web-2-0-in-tampa-bay/dropbox-security-issues-sensationalized

you should remember that, potentially, anything stored "In the Cloud" is vulnerable. Be careful about storing anything that could cause problems if it were to become public knowledge. Keep your blackmail files separate!. ;-)

Here is the referral link:

https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=e6ce3sjsgjmcm&utm_source=txemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=referral

Really Safe Internet Browsing

I just heard about a interesting way to surf the web that seems completely safe.

http://spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm

Developed by the DOD, you boot off the CD and it loads a stripped down version of Linux that does not mount your hard drives, so there is no way for malware to affect your system.
The Deluxe version comes with Firefox, Adobe Reader, and OpenOffice pre-loaded. If you want save your data, you will need a USB stick.
It is not Windows, but if you want to access the Internet on a strange computer and are concerned about trojans and other malware, this might be the ticket.

[Note: Right now, the servers are VERY slow. I suspect that they are overloaded because of the publicity over this product.]