Internet Explorer, we don’t often get along, but your behavior today is really getting me irked.

Specifically, you seem to load a background image for a Web site (client) of mine just fine - even though the graphic is hosted on an external server. However, you fail to load the background image for the header bar, claiming that it’s “blocked.”

Why does one image get loaded, and the other not? Why are you claiming the header as a cookie, anyway?

Internet Explorer, we are not friends.

Odd occurance for me: I bought a Western Digital 160GB external hard drive (the “Passport”) the other day to move files between my three laptops (2 mac G4 powerbooks and a Toshiba Satelite running Ubuntu 8.0.4), and all my Mac and PC towers (yeah, I’m a serious tech nerd with a problem).

At first I was very happy with this snappy little drive. On my original G4 PowerBook (a 700mghz), the USB 1.1 ports made for slow copies, but the drive operated like a champ. On the towers, everything moved along at a zippy pace. However, once I started to use my newer G4 PowerBook (a 1.5Ghz model, with USB 2), I noticed some problems.

The first time I plugged the Passport drive into my free USB port (the other is used by an external mouse), all was fine. I copied some files upstream and down. After that, I have been unable to mount the drive whatsoever. Just the “click, click” noise forever.

After reading some blog posts, support threads, and printed documentation, I’ve found that the G4 PowerBooks came with less-than-optimally powered USB ports - in some writers opinions, in order to better focus on FireWire. I suppose that would cause the constant clicking of a drive that doesn’t have the required power to fully mount; however, I did get away with using the drive once, for a day. Also, why would my older USB 1.1 enabled PowerBook be able to power the drive, yet my newer USB 2 PowerBook not?

Seems quite sad that I’m going to have to carry around a powered USB hub in order to use a pocket-sized drive. The whole purpose of the small drive was to have an easily portable - and yet large amount of file space - device.

I guess I’ll just have to wait another year until I can get a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

Update: 2008-06-15 I am working on getting the Web site back up and running full-speed. Please excuse the missing images below. They aren’t a deal-breaker for understanding the review.

So I got my Acecad Digimemo 692 delivered today from Tiger Direct.

The 692 cost me $89.99 ($96.48 after tax and shipping).

The 692 uses an A6 sized paper tablet (about 6×9), a special pen (with fairly-standard ink cartridges), and a USB 1.1/2.0 cable to connect to a (they specify PC) Mac or PC (see Mac/Linux notes below).

So, how’s the operation, how’s it running, what are my first thoughts?

Well, I’ve had the tablet for about an hour now, I’ve made a couple pages, and overall I’m pleased.

Initially, I had a bit of disappointment with the device as I thought the pen recognition/capture was absolute shit. Turns out, I had forgotten to install the damn battery into the pen - which greatly improved the capture (see the screenshots).

Once I finish another page I’ll do a bit of comparison on the capture and cleanliness of the notes.

Here’s a few points to consider if you’re looking at one of these:

1. Out of the box, there’s zero Mac/Linux support. However, I did find a really nice application (with minimal Google.com searching), called “VectorPen.” I’d recommend checking their site out and testing the export and reading process (that’s how the file images were made).
2. Keeping track of your “digital” vs “physical” pages in a notepad requires a brain - I’m not trying to be insulting, but if you forget to mark down on the physical pad which “page” your device thinks you’re on, you’re gonna get a mish-mash horrible file.
3. While there is an area at the bottom of the tablet to store the required pen, it’s nothing more than a lip - you snag the pen cap onto the lip to keep the tablet and pen together. I’d recommend a zip-up case to carry everything in together (losing a pen is a bitch - anyone with a Palm should remember that).
4. You might get frustrated over file management. Since I’m using a Mac and not using the supplied AceCad DigiMemo Manager software, I have to manually copy the .DHW files to my computer, launch VectorPen, and then convert the files to JPG/PDF/ETC from there (note: the VectorPen software only exports in JPG under the demo version. A license costs 15 Euro).

Overall, I think the tablet is going to help me greatly with meeting notes, project scoping and record keeping. I take an extensive amount of notes (I have nearly 10 notepads at work for various needs) and keeping track of paper notes after a month or so is an arduous task, further made difficult by my need to attach notes to projects (I like organization). The Digimemo tablet should help me with my organization and ability to better share notes (nothing like taking a quote from someone in January and E-mailing them the quote in May when they flip-flop).

I’m upgrading from the Grid services of Media Temple (our host) to the Dedicated services.

If my site is down, this post won’t serve much of a purpose, but in the meantime, it might serve as notice to a few people that might check in before the switch.

woot!

Chad