dirtystylus

Sony’s E-book

From earlier this week: my look at Sony’s Reader Digital Book (such an awkward name), over at Greensearch.

I enjoyed my short time using the Sony Reader, and I would really like to try Amazon’s Kindle just to compare the two. I keep wondering whether both products are too narrowly-focused to make a big impact, however. The whole time I was using the reader I found myself dreaming up a possible alternative — perhaps a larger cousin to the iPhone which also had an e-book reader application, instead of a dedicated e-book reader.

Keyboards Extended II

Update 2008-05-02: Got a SteelSeries 7G to try. It’s a non-starter, because on the Mac the “SteelSeries” function key occupies the left-hand Alt/Option key position and can’t be remapped. When ordering it I thought they had just put the SteelSeries logo over the standard Windows key. So I’m sending it back. Just for reference, the keys are the black Cherry switches with no click. Now I’m looking at importing a Filco Majestouch FKBN104M/EB from Japan.

My previous post brought me a bunch of emails and comments with keyboard suggestions, so I decided to do a quick rundown of their recommendations in a separate post.

John Gruber (whose tag-team podcast episode with Dan Benjamin kicked off all of this typing) has put up a flickr set of his retired Apple Extended Keyboard II. Note the well-worn groove in the spacebar.

A while back while disappearing into this rabbit-hole of a keyboard search I read this overview of the different keyswitch types. The article also has a good note on how most keyswitches require less force to actuate than people apply, and this is due to the amount/type of tactile feedback that the typist receives. It also refers to the Strongman switch, which I believe is in my Matias Tactile Pro 1.0. Interestingly enough, my Tactile Pro looks exactly like a rebranded Strongman board. Hrm. Speaking of the original Tactile Pro, here’s Khoi Vinh’s review from 2005, which led me to both the Tactile Pro and the Macally iceKey.

The new Apple Aluminum Keyboard got more than a few mentions, for a variety of reasons: some cited the small form factor, others the handy OS X-specific function keys. My bosses gave the office a nice surprise a few months ago and bought every employee one of these, and I think only two people (myself being one of them) declined to use it after trying it out. My other coworker said the Caps Lock behavior (where it requires a long press for activation) drove him batty, and that was enough for him to reject it. I found the key travel too short — I had expected it to feel like my Macbook’s keyboard, since it’s basically the same layout, but the keyfeel is different in my opinion.

Jake Seliger, Eric Hood, and Perrin Haley all recommended the buckling-spring (using the same tech as the IBM Model Ms) models from Unicomp. I may order one of these Unicomp boards and see whether it’s an acceptable noise level for the office. Jake Seliger also has a good review of the Matias Tactile Pro 2.0. His review mentions the “shadow/ghost keys” issue with the original Tactile Pro, which I use at home. I haven’t had it happen all that often, but it is annoying when it does since it’s usually when you’ve built up a good head of steam.

I got two mentions for the Das Keyboard II, which has no markings, only scooped F and J keys so you can center your hands. I had thought about ordering one about six months ago but my ever-increasing reliance on TextMate key commands means that this would be an exercise in frustration since that’s the one time I look at the keys and need to see the characters. The Das Keyboard uses keyswitches from Cherry.

Ryan Singer mentioned the Happy Hacking Pro 2. It can be ordered unlabeled, just like the Das Keyboard II.

The one that I’m most itching to try was suggested by Sam Lentz: a SteelSeries 6G. Sam wrote me: “…the keyboard you are looking for exists, but comes from an unlikely place. It is designed by a hardcore computer game hardware manufacturer called SteelSeries.” A blog post from SteelSeries has all the hype over the 6G. Once again, Cherry keyswitches make another appearance. Sam pointed me to this review which mentions the relative noise level, but sadly the recorded sound files are dead links. I’m not sure if there’s a difference in keyswitches between the 6G and the newer 7G; the 7G appears to be easier to find from online retailers. I think I know where part of that economic stimulus check is headed.

Finally, there’s the waffle keyboard.

Keyboards, Keyboards

Update 2008-05-08: Jake Seliger just posted a review of the Unicomp (Model M-type) Customizer

Update 2008-05-06: Found the geekhack.org forums, which provided some nice feedback on different mechanical keyswitch models.

Update 2008-05-01: I’ve compiled most of people’s suggestions in a follow-up post.

This is why I love The Talk Show: in Episode 20, Dan Benjamin and John Gruber spend an entire hour discussing keyboards, specifically the Apple Extended and Extended II . If you’re someone content to hammer away at a sponge-y membrane keyboard like the ones that ship with virtually every computer these days, then dedicating an entire hour listening to two guys talk about keyboards seems insane. If, like me, you’ve spent years looking for the ideal keyboard, then starting today’s podcast was like being in the desert and seeing a faint reflection, (just there!) over there on the horizon. Could it be water?

I had hoped the podcast would bring news of a new, magical keyboard, one combining the precise feel of mechanical keyswitches (like the old IBM buckling-spring Model Ms or the aforementioned Apple Extended line) with the lower noise of scissor switch or membrane keyboards. Sadly, they confirmed my own suspicions: in a perfect twist of irony, computer makers have let the single most important input device stagnate.

I have a few good keyboards, both of which are mentioned in the podcast. The Matias Tactile Pro pictured above is what I use at home, and I like the feel of the mechanical keyswitches. Unfortunately, the super-clacky metallic ringing is a little too much noise for the office, even one that blasts music over office-wide wireless speakers. I’m don’t know how the feel compares to the revised Tactile Pro 2.0, but I will say that I enjoy this keyboard the most of all the ones I’ve tried the last few years.

Not wanting to force everyone around me to wear headphones all the time, I switched to the Macally iceKey, which uses scissor-switch keys like you would find on a laptop. The feel is pretty good and snappy and noise is fairly low, so it makes a decent compromise. It isn’t a pleasure to type on, however — if it were a hockey player it’d be a good second-line player: 25-30 goals a year, maybe 35 in a contract season. But that’s about it. I tried the new low-profile Apple Aluminum keyboard for an afternoon, but the feel was inferior to the iceKey so I’m right back where I started.

Benjamin and Gruber end the episode with an offer to buy mint-condition Apple Extended/Extended II keyboards from whoever still owns one. I’m casting an eye to the future, however. Experiments like the programmable, LED-tastic Optimus Maximus are great, but surely it’s time for some company out there to start putting some thought into core keyboard technology again — something with a precise mechanical feel that’s also well damped for sound. Something like the Leica of keyboards — built like a tank, mechanically precise, and whisper quiet.

KO’d

Got sucker-punched by the flu this past Wednesday. Spent Thursday working from home, but by Friday I just packed it in and hibernated through Saturday. This came just as we’re finishing up the project I’ve been working on for the last several months, which made for the worst possible timing.

Mom stopped in to visit us Saturday evening, and today she was off to meet an old friend of hers from Manila. She got to see Jordan sing in church this morning, before heading off to catch a Broadway show with her friend.

Nice to see my new(ish) tv made the top of the heap in a recent showdown. Malice recently got a new flat-panel and we were discussing the relative merits of 1080p resolution. Is it worth it? Here’s one chart on different seating differences related to the screen resolution we can discern.

Of course, all of this comes as Pioneer announced they would start sourcing their plasma panels from Matsushita, which led to a fair amount of panic in the online echo chamber about the fate of the Kuro line. Pioneer swears it won’t make a difference in quality.

Walmart Drops HD-DVD

Update 2007-02-18: Looks like the cutting and running is already in progress.

The corpulent lady has sung: Walmart is set to phase out HD-DVD players and media by June of this year. That’s pretty much it for the home video prospects of the format, coming on the heels of similar announcements from Netflix and Best Buy (although BB will still stock HD-DVD hardware/media, it will officially recommend Blu-ray). It might still find use as a storage media, but I think at this point Toshiba and company will just cut and run. What remains to be seen is how quickly the holdout HD-DVD-exclusive studios (Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks) will start releasing in Blu-ray.

I think that downloadable content will eventually become the primary distribution channel for home video, but I think that there will always be a market for physical media. The audio/videophiles will still represent a niche market for the highest-quality video/audio encodes of films. A more interesting question to me is whether downloads will take over before Blu-ray surpasses DVD as the home video format of choice.

I hope that the net effect of all this is that Netflix starts increasing their Blu-ray inventory so my wait for popular movies is reduced.