keyboards

I do a lot of typing every week, probably more than most folks. But I'm certainly not the fastest in my field. To improve that there's TypingWeb, a Web-based typing tutor the likes of Mavis Beacon and other software-based typing helpers. It's been around since 2004 as a paid service, but has just opened its doors to everyone for free.

The service offers a few ways to enhance your typing, including lessons in the home keys, correct finger placement, and handy shortcuts, and bundles them with exercises that apply what you've just learned. It's not nearly as slick as some of the more recent typing efforts I've seen, like Keybr or the addictively fun TypeRacer, but the lesson plans for each difficulty level are really well thought out. You can simply pick and choose areas where you want to improve on and dig in.

To go along with these tests, the service monitors your progress to becoming a typing legend. You can view this advancement on a chart that will identify your improvements (or decline) in general accuracy, as well as raw words per minute, and that number combined with your accuracy (which may be lower).

Some of the lessons can be insanely difficult. Fulfilling just one part of one difficulty level is a veritable barrage of testing. Near the end of any section the tool simply won't let you continue to the next step until you fulfill a certain requirement either in accuracy, speed, or time.

After spending some time brushing up my skills I noticed a decent improvement on the typing test I had taken before I began the course, although the wording hadn't changed, so I think I had a leg up on it from the last time. Who knows how much better I'd be if I had the hours (yes I mean it) to go through the rest of the lessons. You could do these tests for weeks.

One thing I find amusing is that there's an iPhone app for TypingWeb for those who need a little work maneuvering Apple's somewhat cramped QWERTY touch keyboard. It doesn't go nearly as in-depth as the desktop version, but I suppose it's a good tool for people who don't send text messages or write e-mails. The test is also a little easier with your phone in landscape mode--giving you the keyboard that's about twice as wide. However, I don't think that's the point. Existing TypingWeb users will need to sign up again, but anyone can try it out anonymously too.

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The Touch Diamond hasn't even gone on sale in most countries and already, another new version has been announced. T-Mobile Germany launched three new MDA phones (its name for the HTC devices) and one of them is the MDA Vario IV, which is the rumored HTC Raphael. The other two are variants of the Diamond and Advantage.

This PDA-phone is largely similar to the HTC Touch Diamond but comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard like the TyTN II. According to Netherlands-based site Mobile Phone Helpdesk, the Vario IV has all the features of the Diamond but comes with 256MB … Read more

The quest for the perfect portable keyboard has seen all manner of designs, whether they fold, roll up, or even glow in the dark. But no one seems to have found the killer solution just yet--and we doubt the latest attempt by I-O Data is the exception.

There's no disputing that this Bluetooth keyboard, which is designed for use with a mobile phone or PDA, is portable enough at 6 by 3.6 inches and only half an inch thick. Those petite dimensions, however, could well be what limits its success. Just look at the picture accompanying this item: … Read more

The people at iKey (not to be confused with IKEA) clearly have some sort of James Bond complex. Last fall they debuted a keyboard made for night-vision goggles, and now they've come out with a model that supposedly can endure the harshest environments. (What's up with all these survivalist keyboards, anyway?)

The DT-5K-MEM-TP, whose name perhaps intentionally sounds like an encrypted message, is an "industrial membrane" keyboard that's made with a "hard-coated, textured polyster film" that supposedly puts silicon keypads to shame. It also bears the distinction of being NEMA 4X-certified, which the … Read more

If I had a nickel for every time I've typed the word "Microsoft," and another two cents for each occasion I've had to enter "Windows," I just might own the dang company by now.

I'll bet you've got your own list of terms you've typed so often you can barely see the letters on their keys anymore. But there's no need for you to spell them out each time you need to use them. Just enter them once in the AutoCorrect dialog box in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other … Read more

It wasn't exactly Minority Report but Bill Gates' technology demonstration at the company's CEO Summit earlier Wednesday may be remembered years from now as a harbinger of the end for the keyboard and mouse era. Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon enough. (Cue Winston Churchill here about how this is not the end, the beginning of the end, but perhaps, it's the end of the beginning.)

As Gates demoed a 4-foot-by-6-foot prototype called TouchWall, there was little resemblance to Tom Cruise's futuristic data juggling in that 2002 sci-fi performance as he moved 3D screens around … Read more

We're not much for touch-typing, preferring instead to use a highly advanced version of the two-finger method we call the, uh, three-finger method (left and right index fingers, plus the right thumb). Still, anything even slightly out of the ordinary on a keyboard can throw a major roadblock in the way of our productivity.

Dell turned a few heads earlier this month with the European keyboard layouts for the latest Vostro laptops. While the U.S. model we reviewed seemed normal enough, our friends across the Atlantic found that some Vostro 1310 and 1510 models had a bizarre bottom … Read more

Gaming is serious business, of course, and the line can often seem to blur between console gear and military-grade hardware. The latest example of this potential convergence may be SteelSeries' 7G professional gaming keyboard.

We're not sure if it's as tough as the survivalist-oriented M779, but the 7G claims to be 10 times more durable than conventional keyboards. That means 50 million keystrokes, according to the company, thanks in part to mechanical switches that are plated in 18k gold. The no-click switches would probably come in handy for covert operations as well. No word, however, if it's … Read more

It's all the latest from the Crave blog with Brian Tong and guest hostess Bonnie Cha. This week they talk about 'Mario Kart' for the Wii, shiny Pebble MP3 players, a dream come true for Panoramas, a touchless remote, and keyboard pants you won't want to be seen in.