keyboards

I'm a big fan of using keyboard shortcuts to get more work done in less time. But there are only so many Ctrl and Alt key combinations available for creating your own shortcuts. Also, the ones I don't use regularly are difficult to remember without using a cheat sheet, and the time spent looking up the ones I can't remember on my own negates the productivity boost I'm shooting for.

That's why I find myself relying increasingly on Windows' Run dialog and command line to open programs. Vista puts a pseudo-command line one click away: … Read more

Lighted keyboards are nothing new, but they tend to light every key the same way, or can be limited to just one color. Saitek is changing that with the Cyborg keyboard, a gaming keyboard with a unique, multicolored lighting system.

Watch the Saitek Cyborg Keyboard video on CNET TV.

The Cyborg keyboard divides its keys into a variety of zones, like the WASD keys, the other letter keys, the number pad, and the arrow keys. When gaming, users can customize the lighting of each zone through the keyboard's touch sensor panel, changing the zones' color and brightness. The WASD … Read more

As mentioned a few days ago, there seems to be an unlikely popularity surrounding hybrid mouse phones of the VoIP variety. But the one-two punch apparently isn't enough to automatically sew up the market, as evidenced by efforts to cram in even more functions ranging from earphones to instant messages.

This, however, is one we didn't see coming: a combination phone and roll-away keyboard. Along with the attached Skype keypad are a USB port and built-in speaker and microphone. The most notable selling points in its product description tout it as "washable and hygienic" as well … Read more

I'm a little late to the party with this unboxing of my new OLPC XO-1 laptop, but the machine arrived while I was out of town visiting my family for Christmas. In fact, there's a story there.

Before I left, I started hearing that people were receiving their XO-1's, and I realized that if mine didn't show up before I left, it would almost certainly arrive while I was gone. The OLPC people sent out no shipment notifications and didn't reply to several emails, so I had no way to delay the shipment or contact … Read more

One feature in Microsoft Word has saved me more time than all the other doodads in the program put together: Styles. I frequently edit Word documents created by other people. The first thing I do after opening their files is to reformat them so they're easier for me to work on. I created a handful of styles that let me make the changes in an instant via custom keyboard shortcuts.

The favorite font style of one of the tech writers I work with regularly is 10-point Bookman Old Style, which I find close to unreadable. Another writer I edit … Read more

I can live without Microsoft Word, and I'm confident I could manage well enough if you removed Excel from my PC. Even my favorite e-mail app is a nonessential.

But take away my browser, and I might as well not even start up my PC.

Mozilla Firefox is the first program I open and the last one I close each workday (or worknight, as the case may be). I found some great time-savers for the program. And since many of you prefer Internet Explorer, I've got some productivity-enhancing keyboard shortcuts for both browsers.

Reset Firefox's Javascript options … Read more

Smartphone keyboards are fine for composing short e-mails and maybe tweaking the occasional Word document. But if you want to get any serious work done on your device, fuhgeddaboudit. Your thumbs don't deserve that kind of punishment. Instead, reach for the iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard, which serves up a full-size set of QWERTY keys and then folds up slim enough to slip into your pocket.

The Stowaway normally lists for $149.99 (ouch!), but Amazon has it on sale for just $29.99--which qualifies it for the store's free Super Saver Shipping. Just make sure you … Read more

Last week I described the PureText utility that lets you paste plain text in Word and other applications via a keyboard shortcut. You can create a macro to get the same functionality in Word and Excel, without having to download anything.

(Note that the original post of this tip reported that PureText required that you click its icon in your system tray before you press the shortcut keys to paste plain text. This is true only if you open the destination app after the material you want to paste has been added to the clipboard. If both the source and … Read more

Mice, bah!

Every time you lift your hands off the keyboard to select something with your mouse, you're lengthening your workday. I don't need any double-blind studies to convince me that keyboard shortcuts save time: I experience it first-hand whenever I learn a new key combination that accomplishes some task that I thought required a mouse click. Or two. Or three.

Here are some of my favorite multi-keystroke time-savers.

Keystrokes for Working in Windows I wish I had a nickel for every time I clicked the little folder icon in the Quick Launch toolbar to open the My … Read more