Dear Readers: The Future of this Site
byDear Readers,
Over the last several months, almost a year now, I’ve gone through many life changes that some of you already know about. All within a two month period, I went through graduating, getting married, moving, and starting a new career (and getting a puppy, which proved to be just as stressful!).
While this site has always been dear to my heart and fun to interact with, my life took priority. I had to put many side projects and interests on hold to focus on what I considered most important.
This break gave me time to appreciate the many events that would have rushed by even faster if I hadn’t stopped to appreciate life. I wouldn’t have traded this last year for anything in the world and I now feel truly blessed to have all that life has given me. My break from the site was necessary for me to grow as a person. I hope you understand.
So, now, my life is slowly becoming stable and allowing me to once again open up my box of interests and hobbies. It’s a wonderful thing to finally have free time! Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that my interests are no longer with “promoting Tablet PCs in higher education.”
After thinking about it, my interests are with learning, technology, creative ideas, new ways of thought, and interesting solutions to problems. I want to explore the latest digital book technology, but I also want to explore the best way to organize my work files with my work laptop. I’m interested in the latest iPhone software, the latest knowledge sharing solution, and the smartest iTunes playlists.
My interests are still with learning and leveraging technology to enhance that learning, but just not strictly with a Tablet PC, and not strictly for college use.
I don’t think the solution to this dilemma is to leave the site or to turn it over to a fresh group of college students. Maybe I’m greedy, but I like the site and I also think the site would be in the same situation a year from now, if not sooner. It’s a very hard thing for a student to keep up while studying and experiencing college. Trust me. This site was my baby and I still had trouble caring for it like I should.
At the same time, I’m not going to continue a site that does not fit my interests.
My solution is to modify the site. In the very near future, the Student Tablet PC will be renamed Endless Scholar. The content will not just be Tablet PCs for college education (though that topic can still be discussed), but everything related to a lifetime of learning and how to fit technology in that equation.
I feel, and hope, that a majority of those of you who still follow this site will find the new direction just as interesting, if not better. I know many of those who I corresponded with were “students of life” and were applying learning concepts to everyday activities, such as taking on a new language or making the most of a business class.
Another change with the site is that there will be no ties to any particular software or system (which is why Tablet PC is being removed from our title). If I want to talk MacBook, then I will! There will also be no ads.
This will be an idea sharing, How-To, “Hey, look white I found,” site. This isn’t a news site and I don’t think it ever really was. My facts about systems and software come from other sources anyway, and there’s no point trying to keep up with awesome news sites like GottaBeMobile.
So what will become of Student Tablet PC? All the old content will still be here, just with a different title and domain name. Old links will (hopefully) still work, but those things seem to break on me so who knows! I’ll do my best!
I’m happy to say that Robert Burdock will still be here with Endless Scholar. I was thrilled to hear that Robert liked the idea of directing the site to a “student of life” theme because I think his life style personifies the idea of an “endless scholar.” I hope to live my life the same.
However, as we all have had life and priority changes, Andrew, Frank, and William will no longer be formal authors, however are free to be guests here whenever they please! We will miss them and their work, but we know they’re off to bigger, better things!
In conclusion, if you are happy with the new direction of the site, I hope you stay around and see how it plays out. If not, I completely understand but we will miss you as an audience. The readers I hear from make it so enjoyable to continue the site and you are appreciated. Thank you for your time and best of luck with your studies.
Again, sorry for the extended blog silence but it was necessary. And sorry for the site direction change but it was necessary as well. I think our future here is bright and I hope you enjoy the ride!
Warmest Regards,
Tracy
Other posts that may interest you:
Tablet PC culture isn’t what it used to be-
Best wishes in your new endeavours!
September 17th, 2008 at 6:09 pmBest of luck to you, Tracy. I’m looking forward to this new direction and know you will do an excellent job.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:28 pmThanks for the best wishes, Rob and William ^_^. I’m really excited!
September 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pmI’ve enjoyed your site. It has been one of many that helped me choose tablet pcs. I use mine with young children (pre-k). Best wishes and looking forward to new beginnings.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:28 pmI too am happy to see you continue on with your website! I have missed your writings and look forward to reading them again in the near future.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pmWelcome back. The Student Tablet PC has been in my bookmarks for several years. I have missed it, but hey it’s your site and it was obvious you were busy. I’m delighted you’re coming back. As of last week I have two kids in university, and both have their tablets with them. I hope some of the old content stays around, and some of the tablet enthusiasm continues. Good Lluck with Endless Scholar!
September 17th, 2008 at 9:15 pmI’m happy to see this website reborn. It gave me lots of advice to buy a Tablet PC and to be the first paperless student in my university. Your work will always be an example to manage my Italian tablet pc student blog; I hope that your new project will be useful like the first one. Thank tou for all and good work.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:11 amI’ve never commented at your website (I can’t say I have been the best and most dedicated reader, but whenever I was looking up something related to my tablet pc–or software for tablet pcs–your site would, inevitably, pop up), but I would like to now. Somehow, the name “Student for Life” appeals to me more than “Endless Scholar”, but none of us are complete without our little quirks. I look forward to the new direction of the site, and while I might not ever become the perfect commentator, I’d be a dedicated reader. I’m definitely a student for life!
I must thank your review of the x61t for my recent purchase of this tablet! I’ve just been waiting a whole month for Lenovo to finally send it!
September 18th, 2008 at 1:01 pmLove the idea. I love the sound of a site where you can find bits of tech gold, or just see something that goes wow. I would however like to thank you for the all the work you’ve put into the site. I’ve done several all nighters just reading the posts and am pleased to say I am ordering an ST5112 tablet!!! Yaaay me!!!
Look forward to the new direction!
September 18th, 2008 at 1:21 pmEndlessly interested in what you find to be interested in.
Currently I run Fusion on a MacBook Pro JUST so I can run OneNote for capturing the cream off the surf.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:15 pmGlad to hear you will still be doing something with the website. I haven’t been a student in a LONG time, but use the TabletPC at work and have always enjoyed reviewing material on the site. Good luck with the new direction. I look forward to seeing how it works out.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:16 pmThanks for all the very nice comments and congratulations on all the new tablets!
Sara - You know, that actually was considered, but something about having Student Tablet PC as the blog title and essentially my business name for the last, what, four years, made me hesitant to keep “student” in the title. I’m honestly kinda tired of using the word student :-D. To me, a student seems more official and “I’m going to school for X subject” while a scholar seems more like a general person who is studying anything. “Eternal Scholar” came up but the domain name was taken and I didn’t want to deal with alternatives, and the word “endless” seemed to convey that there was a simple constant struggle to learn which was what I was going for. “Scholar for Life” or “Scholar of Life” might have worked, but then it just comes down to the simplicity of the title and preferences. I wanted a very simple title and there is a surprising difference between two words and three, especially if you write or say it frequently. To me, “Endless Scholar” also sounds more like a title and “Scholar for Life” sounds more like a description. But this is likely more explanation than you ever wanted :-D.
BTW, the new design and domain are nearly ready to go (just details remaining) so it shouldn’t be too long before it’s up and running. I’ll say maybe…this weekend? I have a half day vacation by chance tomorrow so YAY more free time to work on whatever!
September 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm“BTW, the new design and domain are nearly ready to go (just details remaining) so it shouldn’t be too long before it’s up and running. I’ll say maybe…this weekend? I have a half day vacation by chance tomorrow so YAY more free time to work on whatever!”
The new design is lovely! I’m impressed. I actually appreciate the explanation–knowing more actually opens my heart a little more to accepting the name now
I also have a question for you, Tracy. As I mentioned, I have waited a month for the x61t (and now the last wait is on customs). Is it worth it to return the tablet when it arrives and get the x200t instead? I’m not sure if the new specs in the x200t are colossal enough to merit the switch (and I got the best specs on the x61t for only 2.5k–could have gotten it even less without the 4-year accident coverage–something I’m betting can’t be matched with the premium on the new tablet. I look forward to your insight on Lenovo’s latest offering, and, again, the site looks marvelous!
September 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pmI’m glad you like the new design and that the name is growing on you! I love this new design and I’m really having fun playing with it.
As for the tablet, I was considering that myself. Is it a good enough improvement to grant saving for a new tablet? I’m not totally convinced. It has several improvements and a wide screen is nice to work with, but if you got a great spec’d X61, I’m not sure how much of a difference you’ll really notice. It looks like the speakers are better since there are two and the X61 has a rather awkward placement, but I usually use headphones anyway.
You’re also going to likely wait a while to get the new one. If it comes out in October, then you’re probably looking at a mid to late November arrival at your door. Lenovo has a history of month-long (or more) waits.
So if it would REALLY bother you not to have the latest and greatest and you’re willing to pay a little more and wait a little longer, then sure, the x200 would likely make a great computer for you if you already like the X61. But since you got a great X61 for a good price and it’s almost in your hands, I’d think hard about it first. I got a nicely spec’d X61 and I’m not feeling the urge to upgrade yet (except I do need more RAM…).
September 20th, 2008 at 4:47 pmI think you should give the URL to someone to manage as a student tablet website, and then have links to this one and keep this going. Great idea, but I did find the other site useful when I was a student. To keep it and yet not have it at the same time is actually showing how businesses fail in time.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:03 amWell good luck with your ventures even though it happened all within 2 months. It’s probably hard to cram all that stuff together. But good luck and Have a good day.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 am