Incremental Blogger

Tablet PCs get noticed in election coverage

During the election coverage last night, several people across the blogoshphere noticed that Tim Russert was using a Tablet PC as a whiteboard replacement.

Most of the blogger comments are of the form, "Oh, look. Tim Russert is using a Tablet PC." Here are a few links:

Jason Snell: "Tim Russert has improved in four years. Instead of 2000’s dry-erase board, he now has a Tablet PC that can be both shot directly by a camera or projected onto NBC’s big screen behind him."

Alice and Bill: "watching Tim Russert use a tablet PC on NBC during election night coverage just to scrawl circles in blue and red from the tablet to the big monitor behind him was absolute proof that this product has truly jumped the shark."

Philip Michaels: "I was all set to post about Tim Russert breaking down the electoral college for me with what looks to be a high-tech etch-a-sketch, but Jason beat me to it."

VandS Politics: "Tim Russert’s computerized white board tablet PC thing is SO incredibly geeky."

Thomas Hawk: "It's nice to see that the tech blogs can come up with some way to cover the election. Scoble has a few comments on the tablets as well and must be doing the little victory dance on the coverage. Wooooohhhh Hooooohhh! The tablet coverage that is."

Robert Scoble: "...check out the system that Tim Russert is using. It's a Fujitsu Tablet PC."

Chris: "TIM RUSSERT IS USING A TABLET PC INSTEAD OF A WHITE BOARD TO DO HIS ELECTORAL VOTE MAGIC! That makes me far more happy than it should."

99Mac: "Total Election 2004 geek moment: anyone else notice that Tim Russert has replaced his trusty whiteboard with one of those superslim new Tablet PCs?"

Engadget: "Election 2004 geekery: Tablet PCs are the new whiteboards."

Andy Lin: "I wonder if he's got his hands on the newest Fujitsu 12.1" slate."

Iggy: "Tim Russert on NBC using a Stylistic as a whiteboard. I am not sure what application he is using, but this is very good for the Tablet PC. This is as mainstream as it gets."

Peter Rysavy: "As everybody is noticing, NBC's Tim Russert is using a Fujitsu Stylistic ST5000 tablet to illustrate some of the election night math...does anybody know what is that piece of software running on it?"

Chris Metcalf: "And the pathetic use of technology award goes to…"

WhatIsNew: "NBC isn't the only network using Tablet PCs for election coverage. CBS Using Tablet PCs."

And Fujitsu put out a press release here.

Overall, most of the responses weren't too bad. There were two definite "No votes" for using the Tablet PC. I guess they'd both like to see Tim Russert go back to using his handheld whiteboard so the camera can try chasing it as he scribbles his numbers. Although, there's no doubt that a Tablet PC is more expensive than a $20 whiteboard.

It appears that NBC wasn't the only tech-savvy news crew, Dan Rather had a Toshiba Tablet PC too.

Interestingly, it didn't get much notice--probably because the Tablet was mounted to a stand. Also as Peter noticed, Dan Rather was having trouble finding his tech groove: "Dan Rather was just referring to his "old reporter's notepad" - his paper pad and pencil, and then talked about the more interactive map on "this gadget here" (stumbling a bit when trying to name it)."

Actually it was ABC that I think really missed the boat here. With their stage set up they had people walking around and several times Peter Jennings would ask someone for some information and they'd say, "Oh one minute, I left that at my desk. Let me go get it." Or they'd have to dash back to their computer, tap a couple keys, to pull up a graphic. I thought to myself, "They need a Tablet!" The ABC News Political Director needed a Tablet the most. He was often walking between his station and Jenning's anchor desk. A Tablet would have saved some dead time and probably been the best use of a Tablet PC all night.

Update: Scoble points to this flash animation that tells more about the Tablet PC Tim Russert used.

Posted by Loren at November 3, 2004 11:06 AM