keyboards

Next to the ability to light up and roll away, there are two features seen increasingly in computer keyboards: waterproofing and silence. The "ReallyCool Keyboard" manages to accomplish both at the same time.

And really, why shouldn't it? In this day and age, these should be standard specs for all models. Many are aimed specifically at such professional settings as courtrooms and medical facilities, as Dvice notes, but there's really no reason that they shouldn't be used everywhere. The ReallyCool Keyboard even has backlighting so you can type in the dark while spilling coffee on … Read more

KeyboardLink is a great little tool for turning your standard Windows keyboard into both a program launcher and a program controller. The app is open source and uses a scant 3MB of RAM. Getting started requires configuring the activation keys, called the master keys, in the program's General features tab. People can set one or two master keys, an important feature that prevents you from accidentally launching a program. Basic capabilities, such as running the app when Windows starts, also live in the General tab.

Other tabs allow customization of your media player and major software programs such as … Read more

The adventures of Art Lebedev's keyboards continue. We thought there might be a lull in news from the Russian design firm now that it has gone to market with its "Optimus Maximus," the most-hyped keyboard of all time. Silly us. Now the company is already onto its Next Big Thing, the "Optimus Popularis."

Although it's still very much a work in progress, Electronista says it differs from the Maximus by not using OLED displays, though some keys will have symbols that change with different software. The Popularis is also smaller, though don't expect … Read more

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.

… Read more

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