The QWERTY layout is, I grant you, an illogical mess. I'm happy to hear your arguments that Dvorak is the one true way. Or that Colemak is several percent faster. But QWERTY is a standard now. Everyone uses it on their laptops and phones. It is used everywhere. Except, it turns out, streaming services. They use alphabetic keyboards. Worse, each one has a unique layout! Want to search for that movie staring that guy who was in the film with that one who does the adverts for that thing you…
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I love ergonomic layout keyboards. I've been lusting after the Ergodox models since they were originally on Kickstarter. So when a pal was selling theirs cheap, I leapt at the chance to play with one. I've tried to love it - I really have - but it makes too many compromises, in my opinion. Make no mistake, it is a technological marvel. A brilliant open source project, with excellent support, and a great community. As a keyboard, it offers an excellent physical typing experience. But it is…
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The MS 4000 keyboard is the best typing experience that I've ever found. I have one in my home office, one in my work's office, and one spare. But, at some point in the last 18 months of working from home, my work keyboard has gone walkabout. Oh well, a good excuse to buy a new one! Except - sadly - Microsoft have discontinued it. Don't get me wrong, you can buy a "4000" branded keyboard - but it is a radically different design. And change is scary. So I'm buying up old models on eBay. If …
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Yet more MSc yak-shaving. I'm currently reading Melissa Schilling's book "Strategic management of technological innovation". In a passage talking about customers' resistance to new inventions and the destruction of domain knowledge, it talks about the invention of the Dvorak keyboard. Supposedly better than the QWERTY keyboard - but ignored by the majority of customers. August Dvorak is said to have died a bitter man, claiming, “I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human r…
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I love my keyboards. I mean, I have an unhealthy obsession with them. I spend a lot of time typing and the cramped keyboards which come with most laptops and MacBooks just don't cut it for me. Their poor ergonomics leave my wrists in pain. For years I was a devotee of the Microsoft 4000 Keyboard. It's a big old beast - and that's its main drawback; it's just too large to carry around. It could also do with an integrated USB hub if it's going to take up one of my precious laptop ports. So…
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I love my MS 4000 keyboard. it's one of the best pieces of hardware developed by Redmond. It has some drawbacks, sure, no USB ports, weird function keys, no backlight - but the real problem with it is its heft. It's a chunky-monkey that's really only suitable for leaving in a fixed location. It's far to big and bulky for a laptop bag - and life's too short to type on a non-ergonomic keyboard. So, time to try the inelegantly named "Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop" - a wireless keyboard with…
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I've written before about my love for the MS 4000 Ergonomic Keyboard. It's the only keyboard I'm comfortable typing on for extended periods of time. Sadly, one of mine has started to get a bit old and frail - the letters are rubbing off and the keys are getting a bit spongy - so I sprang for a new one. On getting the new one out of its box, I couldn't help but notice that it had undergone some fairly substantial cosmetic changes. All the keys are in the same position, and the functionality…
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My mother loves her BlackBerry, even though it is one of my cast offs. Sadly, her ancient Torch finally gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. We spent some time trying to work out the best phone for her before, eventually, settling on.... another BlackBerry Torch! Why? My mum has an Android tablet which she likes very much. Her Windows laptop suits her needs fine. She admires her friends' iPhones and iPads. Yet she still chose the classic BlackBerry - not BB10 - over all the other phones…
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I'm in love with my keyboard! The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 is a dream to type on. Large, well spaced keys, split keyboard, and a whole host of extra media buttons. There's only one tiny problem. Two of the buttons don't work in Linux - specifically, the keyboard scroll buttons. This is a long standing bug in Linux, but luckily it is fairly easy to fix. Using Florian Diesch's tutorial at Ask Ubuntu, I've come up with this simple guide to get your keyboard working. (more…) …
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