Welcome to the Flyblog!

I am a very pleased owner of a Flybook V5 (from Dialogue Technology). When I started looking at the unit In July of 2007, there wasn’t a lot of information available. I set up this blog to not only connect with other Flybook Owners, but to provide real-world experiences for anyone else looking into purchasing this ultra-portable laptop. Please let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you, and welcome to the Flyblog!

Lesson One: Don’t post using a bogus email

Due to flamers, I changed the settings on this blog over a year ago so that posts by others are not automatically published. I will use my own discretion in what to publish and what not to (hey, it’s my blog) but I certainly won’t post if the email given is invalid. Please note: your email address does not show up on your post – that is something that only shows up to the blog owner. I am also not in the habit of giving out email addresses to a third party without written permission from the owner of the address.

Vitakey Upgrade – now works with IE8!

Thank you so much to Egistec Customer Support who posted comments on the Flyblog today to let us know about the upgrade to Vitakey (which just came out today, so kudos for the timely information). The good news is, it now works with IE8. The bad news, for those of you who used the “protected files” feature – that’s been abandoned and you’ll need to extract your files from the protection before installing and using the new version or you won’t have access to those files.

I have installed the upgrade and it appears to be working well.

You can find the update here. (http://www.egistec.com/download/update-vitakey5.html) (note: this is a 52MB file)

Per the instructions:

Please follow these steps to install the Patch:
1. Unprotect all your protected files
2. Uninstall previous VITAKEY from control panel and reboot PC
3. Install this Patch and follow the steps on screen
4. Reboot PC

I would add to that being sure to check the box to backup you user data file during the uninstall process.

Unlike in the past, you do*not* need to enter your serial number again.

This updated build is only for VITAKEY 5 users which carried the AuthenTec branded fingerprint sensor.

How to check the sensor brand?
1. Go to ‘Control Panel\System and Maintenance\System’
2. Click on ‘Device Manager’
3. Right Click ‘fingerprint coprocessor’ under ‘Biometric’ and select ‘Properties’
4. Find the Manufacturer brand name in the ‘General’ tab

Beautiful Day… glad I have my Flybook

So it is a gorgeous day in Indianapolis and I have a day packed with meetings… sigh. However, I did toss (gently) my V5 in my backpack and cycled to my 8a meeting. Nine  people in the room (my client and *their* client) and the room’s PC (connected to a projector) wasn’t connecting to the internet.  Flybook to the rescue… whipped it out, connected up via AT&T, switched the projector cord from their PC to mine, plugged in their Logitech USB dongle for the keyboard and mouse and we were good to go. Few people even blinked, but hey, *I* felt good about it; these meetings are hard to schedule and the billing rate of the people in the room was sky-high.

Right now I’m sitting in the Starbucks on Mass Ave. taking a break between meetings to do some general web surfing (Flyblog / Facebook / Email / LEED Credentials).

Have I mentioned recently how much I love this little unit? Seriously… best business purchase I’ve ever made. The only con right now is that I would be outside in the sun if   had a unit with an indoor/outdoor screen. Ah well…

Wow… long time… just checking in

Has it really been that long since I last posted? I’m not one to just rattle on to see my own words in print, but I probably should check in with the world now and again. Hopefully, I have kept up with approving posts in a timely manner. I’m annoyed by the whole approval process, but it is necessary as people insist on posting items that are off-topic to my site (not talking about spam exactly – WordPress’s spam cather does a remarkable job with those).

Since the burglary in January, my little V5 has seen some HEAVY usage. I’m trying to remember to do the “run it all the way down a couple of times” routine with the battery at least once a month, but I think I’m starting to see some battery aging – it ran out on me durng a client meeting yesterday (luckily, at the tail end of the meeting). I’ll need to do some testing to see where I’m at on battery life.

One bit of paranoia to come out of the burglary – I do notleave home without my Flybook; not even to run to the drug store on the corner. In my line of work, being without a computer, even for a few days, would be a career killer. It certainly confirms to me that I don’t want a unit that would be any larger and/or heavier. I’m always amused (and, admittedly, irked) by people who complain at the cost of the V5 because they can buy a 17″ laptop for much cheaper… uh… yeah… so? For me, the point of the unit is its size (ok, and the touchscreen). Trust me, I would not be hauling a 17″ laptop to tai chi class!

Looking forward to hearing some announcements out of Dialogue/Flybook… over a year and a half since the V5 became readily available…

Anyone visted Flybook.com lately?

When it opens to the main page, there is a long legal thang that pops up. A “Prohibition of Trademark or IPRs Infringement.”

I’m assuming there is a story there someplace.

(btw. DTC stands for Dialogue Technology Corp. )

 

You know, when you see stuff like that you think… hmmm, wonder if my Flyblog needs a legal disclaimer (which I just added to the About Me page), or hmmm… could anyone take issue with my blog masthead? Tell you what, DTC… if you take issue with my masthead, please tell me and I will immediately replace it. Sound fair? Legal stuff… scary!

So yeah… what about the new versions?

Francesco asks:

Hi, does anybody know anything about the upcoming V6, V8 and V9?

Good question! Not that I’m tired of my V5 mind you. Just, you know…. curious…

<grin>

Flybook Memphis? Flybook Taiwan? Hello?

Well, it sounds like Flybook Memphis no longer exists. One reader actually drove to the location but found it all closed up. Another reader is leaving messages at Dialogue.com.tw and not getting a response.

Most of the vendors who previously sold the V5 now have comments up “while supplies last,” “limited availability,” “out of stock.” Not good.

This is really sad… Dialogue has a great product, but they really seem to be having trouble with the business side of things.

For those of you needing support and assistance, I’m afraid I don’t have any answers – I’m in the dark as much as you are.

Update 2009-02-10:

Hey, we’ve heard from Flybook. Roland Pinto sent me an email and would like to sit and talk a bit about where Flybook is going, but as I’m still all wrapped up in the whole burglary thing I’m going to have to put it off for a couple of weeks.

However, Barron of Flybook posted the comment below (but in response to a different blog post). I thought it worthwhile to repeat it here:

Barron, on February 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm Said:

Hello there to all that have posted questions about our support facilities. Yes, we have decided to close down Memphis.

We are servicing systems out of two places now. One is in the midwest and one on the west coast. Depending on where your Flybook resides, when you request service, it will be sent to one of those two facilities.

Should anyone have any issues or problems with the Flybook that you own, please, send us an email to nasupport@flybook.com and you will get an immediate response from our technical support resources.

Thank you all for owning Flybook as we continue to build and grow our company here in North America. We will also start to monitor this wonderful blog and start to involve ourselves in the blog entries that our wonderful users are leaving. So, please, ask anything and we thank you very much for your love of our products.

Still here

Again, long delays between posts. Basically, nothing new to report. Although I do have to mention that the Flybook once again saved the day. While out of town for work last week, my house was burgled. While they got my main computer (ugh), I would be dead in the water without my V5. It’s currently hooked up to a 19″ CRT monitor (yes, you read that right… a CRT that a friend brought from the back room of his office).

Word to the wise – they ransacked the place and found my backup drive (obviously, not so cleverly hidden).  I’m ok, however, because I use an on-line backup system called Carbonite. It’s kind of slow – it took 2 1/2 days to get my 33 GB of data back, but hey… I have it and I’m working . The cost of Carbonite is only $50/year for unlimited data (but they will only back up data and only on internally connected hard drives).

Oh, and I have since activated the bios password and will do so on any future machine.

On the topic of the stupidity of thieves… they took the printer, but not the printer power supply; the 4 year old 17″ widescreen tv (not HD), but not the power supply; the wireless keyboard and mouse but not the communication element/mouse charger. And it isn’t like I had all that much to begin with (they had no interest in the 20-year-old stereo or the 15 year old tv)… I’m thinking, “you risk prison for THIS?” Really??

On the topic of security systems… <grin>

Feeling bad…

Ok, so I haven’t posted much recently but really, what is there to say? System continues to work great… uh… any questions?

My Flybook is riding the underground rails

I’m doing a photoshoot of Indiana Underground Railroad sites and it’s one more time when I’m thrilled with the Flybook. I was able to get connected in some of the most remote sections of Indiana.