In this way, we found ourselves in need of a wireless tablet mouse for the road or at our favourite Halifax hangout Steve-O-Reno’s, when we don’t have easy access to our docking stations. While we like our pen and the keyboard trackpoint / nub, having a nifty mouse can be quite convenient. We tried throwing a regular-sized el cheap-o Logitech mouse in the bag, but the scroll-wheel always got damaged in a matter of weeks.

Off we went to the office supply store in downtown Halifax where we perused the various mice options. Our eyes pretty much fixated on the Logitech V500 Cordless Notebook Mouse. And it wasn’t just the pricing error on the shelf that attracted us (long, frustrating story).

The V500 is a bit different in that it has no visible wheel yet it has all common wheel features housed in something that Logitech calls the 4-way solid state scroll panel. You slide your finger accross the panel and voila. You can control the speed by your touch. It takes a little getting used to but it feels fine and does the job either vertically or horizontally. It also has right and left clicking. It’s small but not too small.

It requires 2 AAA batteries and the mouse has been working well for the past week. One of the neat characteristics of this mouse is that the USB receiver fits neatly in the body of the mouse and closes securely. So when you’re done having your latte at Steve-O-Reno’s, take the USB receiver out of your tablet’s USB port, put it in the mouse body, then put the mouse in the included small protective pouch. This is a great solution to not loosing the USB receiver (too often!).

Logitech claims that this is an "all-terrain" mouse (no kidding!). For car and SUV-less people like us this is pretty exciting. Of course we had to take it for a few road tests. On the bike. On the grass. On the cat.

Despite the so-so roadtest results (on the back of the bike, on the cat, on the grass and on the knee), we really like this mouse. It’s a nice change from always working with the pen or the keyboard trackpoint. And with this mouse it gives you even more of an incentive to be away from your sunless office with its docking station. After all, the hybrid PC Tablet model is supposed to be all about choice. And we’re adding this rodent to the Tablet-pantry.

Update: We liked this mouse so much that we had to get another one. 

Olga’s Tablet PC playing with Algorithms in Barrie, Ontario
 

What really matters in choosing between Windows OneNote and Microsoft Journal for keeping your handwritten notes?

In the end, for me, it came down to two differences between the programs.

1) Where are my notes?

Would you rather have your notes all in one Notebook, which has nice tabs to separate out sections, or would you rather have your notes scattered around your files, each note in with all the other kinds of documents you have that are related to the topic at hand?

 

 

Having said all this, Microsoft is in fact putting more development effort into OneNote. Which means OneNote has perks, tweaks, clever little things. If you’re plugged into the whole "my boss is tracking my every move" office job thing, OneNote will facilitate this with connections into the Office suite’s meetings, address books, and to-do lists. Too bad I need to keep my notes scattered throughout my file structure and in MyBrain. That’s the deal-maker/breaker in my life, and the problem with all binder/notebook programs.

But the greatest new whistle (or is it a bell?) is shared sessions over the internet. You can share your piece of paper across the world with others who can scribble on it, input text, etc.

 

Of course it can also be used while sitting across from one another at Steve-o-Reno’s to play tic tac toe.