Saturday night Lan and I went over to Matt and Linda’s for dinner. And, you guessed it, it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to tech.
Matt was beaming about his new Treo 650 and how it had changed his life. He’s always been a Palm fan, so the Treo fits nicely there, however, it also gives him access to his emails and notes. It’s so useful that he doesn’t carry his aging notebook with him much anymore. I drooled over it because of the Bluetooth. When I upgrade my phone I’ll be sure to get one with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a great complement to a Bluetooth-enabled Tablet–so I can get access to the Internet where WiFi isn’t available.
During the conversation I asked about Skype. He hadn’t heard of it. After a brief description he was eager to try it out, so we downloaded a copy onto his 350MHz Sony notebook. Yes, this thing is showing its age. Surprisingly though Skype installed and ran like a charm. Well, actually not. It took us the better part of 15 minutes to realize that the built in mic had a bad connection and if we tapped vigorously on the mic area it would start working :-).
We Skyped Lora so he could hear how well it worked. He was impressed. His mind was spinning, thinking of how he could use Skype at work. Then came the clincher: I suggested he untether his notebook from the wall. For a split second I could see the “Ah ha” go off in his eyes. At that very moment I think he saw a new form of mobility that he hadn’t valued before–he was talking with Lora through his computer while he was walking with it down the hall. Even though I’d shown him Tablet PCs before, I don’t think it’s until this very instant that he “got it.” He picked up the notebook and he carried it into the other room to show his wife. She politely joined in the Skype conversation and was also a bit surprised–especially at the sound quality of the conversation considering how old and slow the notebook was. She caught on quickly. She imagined setting the notebook in the kitchen and Skyping with her Mom in the evenings. I think it was at this point too that she also began to appreciate exactly why I like the mobility of a Tablet PC. It has all the power of a notebook, but an added twist in mobility that changes the way you think about doing things.