I Bought my stand: HUGE discounts & free shipping all over the world

Having to wait a few weeks before my Adam arrives I already bought a stand for my Adam. If you are curious about the stand Greg from notioninkfan shows on his blog, well you can find it at

http://www.miniinthebox.com/portable-adjustable-folding-tablet-stand-for-ipad-and-laptops-transparent-black-_p156362.html?currency=EUR for 15 euro (+/-19$) (At other places it was double the price with also added shippingcosts)

The have huge discounts now : (60% for two days yet left) and I also bought a stylus for just 1 euro! Worth looking NOW there because they  DELIVER ALL OVER THE WORLD WITH FREE SHIPPING.

 Portable Adjustable Folding Tablet Stand for iPad and Laptops (Transparent Black): (they also have it in white)

This stand apparently fits perfectly to the ADAM in portrait and landscape-mode and is foldable.

Here are some pictures:

(Thanks to our friend Shane Trafford from the UK who send this photo to Greg)

Aluminum Alloy Touchpad Stylus Pen for iPad - Black

I also bought a stylus for 1.55 euro (It has very nice reviews )

Overview:

• Aluminum alloy material
• Clip design easily attaches to pockets, books, magazines

Specification:

• Dimensions: 4.25 in x 0.43 in x 0.39 in (10.8 cm x 1.1 cm x 1 cm)
• Weight: 0.14 oz (4 g)

Opening a new USERS-BLOGS-page

Heyloa Keyloa had a nice suggestion:

"Perhaps a "my adams configuration page" could be included, where people can add their own little blog page explaining all the stuff they installed on their adams, why and where to find the software. ;) "

So here it is. You are all invited there to post a link to a Adam configurationpage on your personal blog with a list of apps installed + links + useful information

Invitation for creating regions!

I'm actually very curious to know how many people in my region/country will be, or already are, an owner of an Adam. Wouldn't it be nice to meet up and share our excitement?

I'm actually very curious to know how many people in my region/country will be, or already are, an owner of an Adam. Wouldn't it be nice to meet up and share our excitement?

So this is an invitation for everyone to create lists for each individual country or region. This blog can be a platform to do so. If you would like your country/region included in the region-sheet, then just put a little comment here mentioning your particular country or region. That way, we can all get an idea of where our nearest Adam-neighbors are located. Perhaps, we can even try to organize ourselves!

Nice apps!

Go to the Android tips and tricks page for nice apps to install on your Adam. There is also a nice section about printing. Although I 'm still looking for a good general printing app that supports all wireless or network-printing without sharing.

I ordered one

(Thanks Heyloa Keyloa for the translation!)

Here's my story of ordering the Adam:
I received my first mail from notion ink at 6:18am local time, which stated that I would receive my second mail (the one allowing for me to order) at 9am Indian time. This is 4am local time. Which made me think:"Whuh ? Shouldn't I already have received that mail ? " Eventually I received said mail at 11:37am local time. It said: AN ADAM FOR YOU.
It contained a link which sent me directly to the store and allowed me to put one aside for me. Step 1: SUCCESS!

Even the payment seemed to go smoothly, until verification that is. I got the same notification over and over again, being that they couldn't reach my bank. Initially I thought I was doing something wrong or that I made an error in filling out one of the fields ("all fields are mandatory" !). In the meanwhile, Rohan updated his blog with the specific message that we absolutely had to warn/call our banks. Well... I had already called visa, aka BCC, aka Athos. They reassured me that there would be no problem at all transferring money to India.

"Ok...", I thought:"What now?!". "Backup the whole ordeal?". "*shoot* I'm no longer receiving an order number?!" Well, needless to say that registered in my mind as "oh oh, not good".
When I again clicked on the same link, I did however get automatically re-directed to the payment section of the order and I could try once more. *relief!* I was afraid though, that they would charge me for multiple Adams, because of all my failed attempts. After three additional attempts, I just quit altogether...
I went back to reading the NI blog and could see that numerous people encountered the same problem. No answers from NI Support, none from CC-avenue (transaction manager). You did have to provide your bank name. So I tried again, with the name of a different bank. BCC this time, and another time with ATOS. I almost had a "eureka" moment, but .... nope ... a dud ... again.
Later that day I eventually decided to call my bank. I explained the situation to them, told them that whatever I tried, I couldn't make the payment I wanted to make. After being put on hold a few times, she explained to me that if I didn't use my card reader to verify the payment, any such payment would be blocked. That was news to me... I asked her if there was any way to circumvent this. She hesitated, and said:"Well, no .... and yes...". Eventually she gave me an email address from the main office of my bank to which I had to mail a file with all the print-screens of the different stages of the on-line order during payment. And also of my partially hidden Visa card. I did this instantly of course.
In the meanwhile, it was already 3.30pm. At 4pm the bank contacted me asking about the card number of my visa. He somehow connected a wrong visa number that didn't exist to my name. After I rectified that situation, the man went mute. No communication any more whatsoever...
Once I got home from work I wanted to try again, but this time I obviously logged in from my home computer instead of from the one at work. Which didn't work! So I kind of suspect that once you order from a certain PC, a file is saved somewhere telling NI systems that you ordered from that specific computer. And that it won't allow you to place an order from any other pc.
I again went to the blog to read more comments, and apparently after 7.30pm, some people were succeeding in finishing their order by paying for it. I had to wait until 9pm, before I could make it back to work to get to the same computer I tried my first orders on. I had left it on when I went home.

And guess what ? This time it worked from the get go!!! I also had to verify the payment with my card reader.
Lessons to be gotten from my story:
x once you start your order from a certain pc, you'll have to finish it from that one
x don't forget your card reader for verification
x be patient ! Perhaps it was just the over crowded server at CC-avenue that caused the problems ?
So there it is. I got to order my Adam. To all of you whom are still waiting to do so: I wish you good luck!!!

Which ADAM would you choose?

Are the problems real concerning the screens? Lots of people get hooked on Adam because of this new screen they present on their tablet. A revolution. PixelQI is there as a nice combination of two worlds. People who thought of buying an e-reader suddenly see possibilities in a tablet that besides reading can also give them other functionalities. E-book-readers miss a lot of possibilities and Adam looks like the ideal tablet /reader. Outside with back light off it reads as good as an ereader (an Ipadkiller here for sure!); inside with back light on we get a regular colourful screen. Now it seems that colours are not that bright as on a normal LCD. Is it a problem? Can we live with it? Actually I would like high contrast when I watch a movie, but I'd never watch on my tablet , having my superp plasma at home....
The pixelQI also claims to use less energy. That's wonderfull. But how much less then the LCD? Maybe enough reason on itself to take that screen? Or is it just the fact we don't have a brilliant screen. The surface is mat to avoid reflections and reduce finger smudging. At work we don't have brilliant LCD-screens neither. It  would be very annoying for me as an architect drawing the whole day. We miss sometime this high-contrast feeling, but at the other hand never suffer from unwanted reflections. .... Of course these are professional monitors, very expensive, without "blochiness"....
So, these are just some thoughts I wanted too share. What are your feelings? What did or will you choose? (There is a little survey in the sidebar!)

INTAKE THINKTANK

[ERRORUPDATE: click on the title if you want to go to the page] It wasn't possible to correct the error in the page bar above

First a nice little story I heard:

In a forgotten land, a man was sitting the whole day with his feet in the water enjoying every minute of his life. After a few days, an American that saw him can not help himself going to him and tell him to stand up. "Come on man!, Stand up" "Seek a good job and do something of your life!" 

"Why", replies the man

"Well, then you can make yourself useful and get money, lots of money!"

"Yes, but why!" replies the man "What's money good for?"

The American is surprised. "Well, heu..., then you will be able to buy everything and get rich!"

"And????" the man looks to him without understanding...

Finally the American replies: "Well, with lots of money you would be able to buy yourself an island and sit the whole day... with your feet in the water"......

However I would like to sit the whole day with my feet in the water enjoying my Adam, I could probably not resist to keep on thinking about how to make it better yet. That's why I chose this weeks comment from:

Heyloa Keyloa . He said... " I was wondering if a "notion ink innovations" (or something like that) could be added too as a menu. Just a place where people can talk about things that they'd like the notion ink to adopt in an Adam 2 or if possible in "upgrades" of the Adam 1..."

Thanks HEYLOA KEYLOA . I took this under consideration and added a page on the site: "Thinktank" I developed the idea further and would like to start something here:

I would like to start a thinktank about some aspects of tablets, their use and way to work with them. The tablet makers dictate us how we live and what we need, but maybe it should be the other way around. Maybe we should tell them what we want first. Adam is the first tablet developed with input of people from all around the world. That's a wonderful start! Adam 2 will and can certainly be even better. Now that Adam 1 is launched, it is interesting to think about what could have been done better to perhaps even (RE)DESIGN A WHOLE NEW CONCEPT, something compatible or complementary to Adam. What we don't know yet. That's the nice and interesting part of it. We don't know where it will get us.

I'd like to make a group of people from different work fields, and take us through  different phases to finally reach a new product really designed for everyone. Ideally the group would also contain technicians and developers and some people of NOTIONINK too. We want to build further on what NI started and help them.

Phases
1) Inventory: gathering as much as possible information, running ideas, needs,...
2) Interpretation: searching for relations, connections, making schemes, ...
3) Evaluation: what works well, what not
4) the problems: what are the REAL problems and which are less relevant?
5) Alternative options and solutions
6) The design....

Who wants to be part of this? Everybody is welcome.

Best add-ons and comments rewarded :) weekly

Every week I will select one of the best developed comments of the past week, in a special article on the front-page of the blog, signed with your name! So be motivated, creative, imaginative, detailed, attractive, complete, and most important USEFULL...and who knows.

Annotating. How does the ideal app look like? (updated on 10 feb 2011)

Most of the time, peoples needs are very specific but probably can be grouped in similar fields. Look at PDF-annotating. Almost everyone is interesting in one way or another. ... PDF's are HOT: they are relatively light, easy-printable, universal,  capable of handling nice resolutions,...But it's really not so very developed yet when you look at the apps we have at disposition. The choice is limited and are those apps really well-designed?

Can Adam add something to the use of it, having three panels?
I can imagine one panel with the pdf, the second with the annotating tools and stamps and the third maybe a database linked to the annotating information? Actually , do we know if Adam will allow ONE app to work with the three panels? Would we like to have this possibility?
How would the ideal Adam app look like?

Also Printing: We could imagine having the possibility to print it with the used annotating-legend of the placed objects at the site of the page ...


Known APPS:
( it's useful that when you place an app you also give a little appreciation next to the name and also rate it. If bad working apps are allowed here, just do't forget to mention it ;)

*RepliGo Reader is the best annotator for android now: reading very big files, annotating with adaptable sticky-notes, use it as a e-reader, ...

http://www.cerience.com/products/reader/android

View and annotate native PDF documents on your Android-powered device!
RepliGo Reader for Android is the highest fidelity PDF viewing solution available and the only solution available that supports PDF annotations.

Use RepliGo Reader to view Gmail PDF attachments just like you would see them on your desktop. RepliGo Reader can also be used to view online PDF files or files that have been saved to your media card. Use the device’s browser to navigate to a PDF online and RepliGo Reader will render the file for viewing. Utilize the ability to highlight, cross out or underline text, add sticky notes, and then send the changes via email or to an online storage account.

RepliGo Reader supports embedded fonts and renders text and graphics clearly at any zoom level. Image-based PDF files that use the latest compression types are also supported.

A special reading view reformats pages into a single column, making reading easier. A Night Mode makes reading in low light conditions more comfortable. PDF Bookmarks and text search are supported for easy navigation of large documents.

RepliGo Reader for Android is a powerful application for mobile professionals that require immediate access to important PDF files without making compromises.

RepliGo on Adam!

Ebooks: creating them yourself (updated on 31 march 2011)

I found this software:   http://calibre-ebook.com
It allows you to create and convert your own ebooks. Let say you have a pdf. You can make an ebook of it. It's for free and runs on different Os systems (apple Os, windows, Linux).

E-book creation tutorials

Various tutorials on how to create/convert e-books with calibre.

• A guide on e-book conversion by John Schember, a calibre developer ABCs of e-book format conversion .
• A step-by-step guide on converting HTML and Microsoft Word formats using calibre.
• Another step-by-step guide on creating ePub files starting from OpenOffice/Word.
• Read the Conversion Section of the calibre User Manual for an in-depth understanding of how conversion works in calibre

I don't know if we will be able to read ebooks files (epub? which formats?) But then this software can create lots of formats, starting from Word, Openoffice, Pdf's, Html,.... Surely Adam can read various files(I hope;). I even remember seeing on the NI-blog an image where I think we can see the pages curl (I like that:)

Free programs like scan2pdf can help here with scanning (through your printer) but interesting is the new booksaver coming up:
see "http://www.gizmag.com/book-saver-scanner-from-ion-unveiled/17532/"
With the ionaudio booksaver: coming on this spring and presented at CES 2011 we get for the price of 150$ a Booksaver that claims to be able to convert 200 pages of a book in ereadersformat in 15 min.

Somebody with experiences?
(To be clear: this chapter has the meaning to create ebooks from materials that you own and are permitted to copy for personal use, not for selling and making profit)

EBOOKSTORES ALL OVER THE WORLD
In meanwhile  we can still find local internet-stores for buying ebooks:

* ALL LANGUAGES:
http://manybooks.net/  (for free: different classic books in all languages for free)
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page (free books all languages, different types)

* DUTCH:  
http://www.cosmox.be/e-books (NEW! epub: buying, they have lots of recent popular books)

http://www.ebook.nl/ (epub: buying, have all recent popular books)
http://www.selexyzebooks.nl (epub: buying, have all recent popular books)

http://www.bol.com/nl/m/nederlandse-boeken/digitaal-gratis/ (to be rated yet)
 

* FRENCH:  

www.ebooks-gratuit.com (For free! different formats: uploaded by people: french comics, books,...)

* ENGLISH:      

http://www.free-ebooks.net (to be rated yet)

http://www.planetebook.com (to be rated yet)

http://www.getfreeebooks.com (to be rated yet) 
http://www.archive.org/details/texts
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.baen.com/As a starter for SciFi and Fantasy fans out there I highly recommend Baen Books
They have a free library with several hundred books and the books you pay for are usually $6.00 or less

                           (can some people help me search and make this list bigger?)

Solaro on Adam: will it replace our learningbooks?

Students. Adam is there for you. Apparently Adam will work together with the SOLARO app.The new post of Rohan today shows you how Adam and Solaro (will soon be available on Adam) can work together to help students learn in the digital environment. It seems to be some kind of internet-learning software. I don't know it so will check it out and inform you. We got this news just after I started this blog. Good news!
Apparently it provides Math, science and English arts. Right now California, British Columbia etc. More states will be added in June . The question is: will it be useful for other people around the world?
What do you think?

www.solaro.com

What is SOLARO?

SOLARO is an innovative E-Learning solution with materials that are 100% compliant with each regions's core curriculum standards and customized to meet the unique learning needs of each individual student. SOLARO was built with three core principles in mind: Learning, Assessment, and Remediation.

What's in it for me?

Teachers:

Dynamic content aligned to your regional curriculum

Diagnostic assessments with detailed reporting that tracks progress and achievement

Ongoing visibility into the strengths and weaknesses of the class and each student

Students:

Customized instruction based on your individual learning needs

A motivating incentive program that encourages learning and rewards success

Access to lessons and homework on smart phones and tablet devices

Parents:

A safe, reliable, and accessible learning environment

Real-time reporting and updates on the progress and content mastery for each of your registered children

A proactive approach to your children's education by continuing the education process outside of school hours

This is a site for you.

Hallo there, hello Adam, hello world.
If you are open to help people and share some experience, or if you have question, this is a place where you can find your way. Being mostly concerned about people to work well with their tablet and use it at their maximum potential I'm interested to know what people do with their tablets and how they use it. If there are real pregnant needs, I suppose that it better to make a front about the item and who knows we will be heard. I hope Rohan from Notion Ink will read us and who knows share one of his ideas here too.
So feel free to share here.

To be clear this is a site that will only trie to gather and order information.

Also I don't have a structure really developed yet, but wanted already to start something up now. So in meanwhile I'll try to manage the information and publish regular summaries . Later , maybe with your help I'll be able to make a real site. Thanks
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