keys
Latest
iPhone Experience: The keyboard
We've got our iPhones. Now it's time to see what these puppies can do. This is the first in a series of posts intended to explore the iPhone's features. This time, it's about the keyboard.With the iPhone, Apple eschewes the "real" keyboard of some other smart phones, and offers virtual replacement. It shows up when needed, and disappears when it's not. It's available in both landscape and portrait orientation, depending on what you're doing. Let's look at an example of each.First of all, the iPhone's response to your keystrokes is immediate. The "Notes" application (as well as a few others) requires you to use the keyboard in portrait mode. Create a new note and the keyboard emerges, taking over the lower half of the screen. By default, letters are displayed with a QWERTY layout, as well as a backspace button, shift, and spacebar. An additional button swaps letters for numbers and symbols (for punctuation, etc.). Click any key and it immediately "grows" from underneath your finger to confirm your selection. The problem for me, at least, is that I don't always see the letter I expect.Typing on this thing in portrait mode with 100% accuracy requires the hands of a adolescent girl. When typing a 27-letter phrase ("This little piggy went to market," if you must know), I made 5 "errors." That's not a whole lot, but it's enough to be kind of annoying.Apple must have predicted that people with adult-sized fingers would have trouble, so they've built in a helpful feature. As you type, the iPhone takes a guess at which word you're after, and places it on the screen just below the cursor. To accept the guess, simply hit the spacebar. While this is handy for avoiding errors in portrait mode, it's a real speed booster while in landscape.This is where things change. Typing in landscape mode - say, while using Safari - is much easier. Because it's got more real estate, the keyboard is wider and the keys are larger. I was able to type my test phrase with no errors and as quickly as I could find the necessary keys. Speaking of Safari, the keyboard acquires a handy ".com" button while you're on the net. It's also more comfortable to type in landscape. Your hands quickly learn how to position the iPhone so that it's secure in your grip while leaving your thumbs free to type away. I wish there was some why to flip all applications on their sides, just so I could make use of that nice, wide keyboard.If anything is at fault here, it's my massive Meat Mittens, not Apple's software. However, I would imagine that a number of users have hands like mine. For us, "slow and deliberate" is the name of the game.
Programmable X-keys Stick takes you to macro heaven
There's no denying that macros make all of our lives a bit less tedious, and while having a few here and there will suffice for the most of us, the hardcore RTS gamers and graphic designers can certainly appreciate the overkill on this one. PI Engineering's X-keys Stick (full shot after the break) is a programmable, customizable rod sporting no fewer than 16 buttons ready to bow to your commands. Available in PS/2 and USB flavors, the backlit device ships with Macro Works software (or iKey for OS X) and a template for printing out your own key labels. Nah, this won't hold a candle to the tweaking abilities of the Optimus Maximus, but the reasonable $99.95 pricetag also manages to (thankfully) pale in comparison. If you feel like really nerding out, X-keys also has X-keys Professional and X-keys Desktop editions designed to sit next to your keyboard. The X-keys Pro version even comes with a WoW sticker set to push things off the deep end -- as if the macro madness hadn't gone far enough already.[Via EverythingUSB]Read - X-keys StickRead - X-keys Pro and Desktop
Get trinkets out of inventory-- and on a chain
I can conquer dragons, I can crush Centaur, and I can even take candle (I've been waiting for days to get a chance to post that hilarious thread), but if one monster in the World of Warcraft has cost me more than anything, it's a full inventory. On my hunter, I've got a bag full of food, and on my shaman, I have to carry around four totems all the time. Crafting items take up another bag or two (my disenchanting rogue has a bag full of enchanting mats and a bag full of poisons). Quest items, potions, food, reputation tokens, noncombat pets and mounts, and that hearthstone-- there's just not enough room for everything!So here's one idea, shared with me by Braila of Thunderhorn (our guild's tree-mendous healing druid) during last weekend's Karazhan run: How about a trinket chain?It makes a lot of sense. Blizzard implemented a keychain to get keys out of our inventories, and considering that we're all hauling around tons of trinkets lately (I had seven on me, and one of our warriors had eight with him), this seems like the first place Blizzard should go to thin out the inventory. It's not like trinkets are huge items-- why should they take up 1/16 of Netherweave Bags when you can fit 200 arrows in the same place? Spare trinkets should have their own tab to sit in, something that grows the more you get, just like the keychain.Of course the obvious solution would be to just not carry so many trinkets around. But there's so many of them for every situation-- healing, solo grinding, raid healing, DPS, PvP-- that it's no wonder everyone at 70 has such a collection. Blizz should give us a chain to put them on.
Nissan NA warns that cellphones could disable intelligent keys
For proud owners of Nissan's newest Altima or Infiniti's G35 sedan, we certainly hope you don't habitually stuff your shiny new I-Key in the same pocket as that diminutive handset, or you may return from your next stop to find yourself totally immobile. In a rather bizarre (and strangely ambiguous) announcement, Nissan North America has claimed that owners of the 2007 Altima and G35 should make certain that their "intelligent key" is kept at least "one inch away" from their cellphone at all times, as getting too close for comfort could cause the keys to be "erased, rendering them unable to unlock or start the car." Interestingly, a Nissan spokesperson stated that the company found "incoming and outgoing calls had the potential to alter the electronic code within the I-Key," and as if that weren't tragic enough, the keys seemingly can't be reprogrammed afterwards. Of course, the firm assured everyone that the issue was only in "a very small percentage" of the total keys (and cars) sold, and while a new iteration will be out this fall, you can presumably rent a car and drive to your dealer for a replacement if the glitch hits your whip.
No UBRS key for you!
Call me crazy, but I am still collecting Azeroth keys and attunements. It's this thing I have with needing to complete things. I realize fully that I will hardly ever go to UBRS now that I am 70 (it's a Murphy's Law thing), but should any of the lower members of the guild need entrance for attunements or gear of their own (my guild is full of collectors just like me), then I will be able to help them out. I have two out of the three gems needed, and have in my spare time been running the instance with our guild leader trying for the third. So imagine my irritation when I read today on QJ.net that the quest line is bugged, severely. Vaelen, the schmoe who gives you the quest in the first place, is now in the habit of deleting the quest and your quest items when you talk to him. Now, this isn't right by any stretch of the imagination. Vrakhris mentioned in the forum post that Blizz knows about the problem, and are working on fixing it in an upcoming patch. Meanwhile, there's a workaround to tide us over.
Keyport keyholder streamlines your keyring, won't change the world
While not quite as ridiculous as rigging up a Wiimote-controlled doorputer to pop your locks, the multi-key KeyPort "universal fob" is almost as hilariously overengineered. Although not as revolutionary as the company is claiming, the slide-out design seems like a pretty slick way to manage your keys, and they're also saying that RFID and RF chips will be integrated into the device to handle your building- and auto-entering needs. Interestingly, none of the swoopy Flash animations on the KeyPort website show the unit having any actual controls for these features, or what happens if you have a VW flippy-key, or one of those huge commercial Medeco keys, but that's not really the point of swoopy Flash animations, now is it? Peep a couple more tasteful renderings of the KeyPort after the jump, and be sure to check out the "forum" link on the KeyPort website to read the company's blog, which compares the importance of the KeyPort to Linux and, um, Gandhi.
Breakfast Topic: So how are those keys coming?
So the expansion's been out for over a month, you've gotten all your raid keys done, right? RIGHT? The overwhelming looking raid attunement chart hosted by WoWWiki seems intimidating, but a lot of things turned out to be easier than I'd anticipated. For example, you don't need to complete Shadow Labyrinth, The Steam Vaults, or Arcatraz for your Karazhan key. The Shadow Labyrinth key is at the end-boss, Murmur, but the fragment in The Steam Vaults can be reached without actually killing any bosses, and the one in Arcatraz can as well. The reputation buildup just from doing the usual instances and quests was enough to provide me with almost all the reputation I needed for heroic mode keys, but I haven't started any heroics yet.How are those keys coming folks? Horror stories with that pickup group in Steamvaults got you down?
Why the BlackBerry Pearl keys suck
Ever used a Pearl? Well, yes, it's thin, it's sexy, it's much more easy on the eyes than the rest of the BlackBerrys out there. But the keypad -- dear lord! RIM got so wrapped up in that stupid "Pearl" of theirs that they forgot how crucial the typing experience is on a mobile communicator with a QWERTY (or in this case SureType) keyboard. They're smushy, mushy, wobbly, and weak. Know why? Because they're just keys glued to a thin, flexible rubber film beneath. Seriously, we kid you not -- more pictures after the break.
Davis Key Buoy will save your keys from drowning
Here at Engadget, we love to bring you news about one of our favorite low-tech gadgets -- the key. No, not key as in keyboard, but rather as in, "Dude, where's my (bump) keys?" or more accurately, "Holy crap, I just dropped my keys into the ocean." Fear not, because for the low price of $7 you can now buy a new keychain fob that promises to save your keychain from maritime disaster. When your keys hit the water, the Davis Key Buoy will open up and inflate a 14-inch long bright orange cylinder for easy spotting within 30 seconds and will hold them there for up to 40 minutes. Of course, if you carry a warden-sized set of keys with you then this won't work, as it only supports up to 4.2 oz (120 g) of weight. Now if some company could team up with Davis to make an inexpensive waterproof 2GB flash drive that would inflate to the surface in the event of a water landing, then they'd have a product we'd surely buy.[Via OhGizmo]
Bump keying: $1 keys open any lock
Anyone who knows anything about locks and lock picking knows that most locks on most doors -- the tumbler variety -- can be picked with a little skill and a couple of tools. But what would you say to the frightening truth that lying before the world these hundreds and hundreds of years we've been using tumbler locks, was a simple technique that allows an intruder to quietly, quickly, easily open any lock for the cost of a copied key? It's called bump keying, and we can assure you it has nothing to do with certain white narcotics. By simply cutting some keys down to serrated-like edges of sharp, even peaks and valleys, an amateur can break into a home in less time than it takes to disassemble a bic pen. Watch as a master locksmith walks up to his own shop, bumps a key, and cruises right in only to declare that his own front door is now no longer more secure than it would be using a $10 lock (after the break). The cheap, easy, no-mess skeleton key: coming to a robbery near you. Alert your insurance agents, everybody. [Warning: PDF link!][Via MAKE: Blog]
TUAW Tip: shortcuts for display, audio and keyboard preferences
This simple tip was actually sent to us by TUAW reader Zoli Honig. It works on my MacBook Pro, and I assume other portables: if you hold the option key while pressing any of the F-key shortcuts for display brightness, keyboard brightness or audio volume settings, System Preferences will open and take you straight to the relevant preference pane. I don't know if this is Mac OS X Tiger only, and I don't have desktop machine to test with, so if you're still on Panther or using some kind of desktop Mac, feel free to share whether this tip works on your machines in the comments.
Kensington brings that portable keyboard feel to your desktop
I need to come clean: I thoroughly enjoy working on my PowerBook far more than my iMac G5. Why? Other than the obvious portability factor: it's the keyboard. Aside from an ergonomic (where'd those go, anyway?), the PowerBook's keyboard is about the best darn keyboard I've ever laid hands on. Every standard desktop keyboard just feels big and clunky, and the keys have a lot more travel to them. I can type much faster on my PowerBook's keyboard, and nowadays it's gotten so bad that I stumble and trip up on regular desktop keyboards. When you blog for a company like Weblogs, Inc. who revokes one day's lunch privileges for every typo they find, this can become a serious problem (just kidding about the lunch thing, but let's just say I'm missing a toe or two).If you're nodding your head in agreement to any of my keyboard obsessiveness, I think Kensington has a good solution for all of us. I found their SlimType Keyboard for Mac at a CompUSA last weekend, and wow did it feel like my PowerBook. Its layout is slightly different from both a PowerBook and standard Apple desktop keyboard, as the Home/End and Page Up/Down keys are lined vertically on the right of the Delete/Return side of the keyboard, but its keys have the same low rate of travel and a very similar, solid feel. I haven't grabbed one yet, but they retail for $40, and some of the online retailers that Kensington's product site link are selling it for as low as $30.If you pick one up or already own one, feel free to sound off with your thoughts.
Introducing: Keyrings!
Eyonix announced this afternoon that keyrings have been implemented in the game starting with patch 1.11. The keyring will hold multiple dungeon keys, and the number of keys your keyring will hold is based on level (4 for levels 40 and under, 8 for 41 to 50, and 12 for 51 and over). While a small change, it certainly makes me happy - my bank will no longer be cluttered with keys and I'll have far fewer moments where I arrive at a dungeon only to say "Oops... that key is in my bank."
