Optimus keyboard

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am drooling *ALL OVER* this keyboard. Or, the prototype photos at least. This thing doesn't actually exist yet, but I am very intrigued by the possibilities. Every key has an OLED screen, and the markings thereon can be manipulated globally or even application by application. You really have to look at the pictures on the site to get the full effect.

There is a software application that allows you to customize the keys' function and appearance. As shown in the images on the linked page, you can change the keys to display pictures indicating their purpose (like the various tools in Photoshop, etc.) and even to assign macro functions to a few extra keys that have been added to the traditional layout for the purpose of providing more functionality.

I think the best things that could be added to this design include:
1) an embedded USB flash drive to store the various custom layouts so that the keyboard can be moved from machine to machine without needing to reprogram the customization. The current model is to have a software program installed on the host computer to store the customizations, but I think it would be a great idea to make the device more mobile.
2) I'm not sure if this is already included, but I think it would be an AWESOME feature to manipulate the keyboard based on the mod-keys that are pressed. For instance, to have the keyboard display all lower-case letters but switch to capitals when the key is held down. Also, display the vowels with umlauts (ä, ö, ü, et cetera) after option-u is hit on a Mac keyboard, or the various symbols that are unlocked by the command and option keys.

The only problem with number 1 is that the storage of layouts would have to be accessed differently depending on the OS to which the keyboard is connected. I'm sure the developers could make it work, anyway.

Also, there is an interview with the designer on the Primotech site here.

Amazon.com Sitting Pretty 10 Years Later

This article is a good synopsis of the history of Amazon and its rise to the top of online commerce. The article claims that, according to independent analysts, "Amazon has won over the masses with its vast selection, a brand name everyone knows, a site that's easy to navigate and a reputation for reliability."

That's certainly true in my case. I was recently looking for a few computer-related things (a sync/charge cable for my cell phone, a sync/charge cable for my handheld, and a copy of the PC game Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb), and I looked all around the Web for them. I checked out Shopzilla, I looked at Yahoo! Shopping, I even looked at brick-and-mortar retailers' sites like those of Best Buy and CompUSA. None of these places did what I wanted.

Best Buy and CompUSA's selections were very limited, and when I did find one or two of the things on my list they turned out to be pretty expensive. Shopzilla and Yahoo! Shopping are each only lists of retailers' wares, and I would have had to visit these individual online stores individually to purchase my items... no merchant (they're all pretty specialized) stocked all three of my desired items.

But Amazon came through. I did end up getting all of my items through individual sellers who provide their items via Amazon's "Used and New" service (is there an official name for that?), but I was able to purchase my goodies with one credit-card entry and minimal hassle. The charges all came to my credit card as "Amazon," so I assume that they are the only ones to saw my card number... and that makes me feel incredibly safe.

I trust Amazon. Why I ever shop anywhere else online is beyond me. These days, they've got everything from rollerblades to electric shavers, so why would I need to?

Apple - Support - GarageBand - Recording Your Podcast

How to make a podcast that doesn't suck.

AMD charges Intel with coercion in antitrust suit

This is laughable... just because Intel is good doesn't mean they have a monopoly. AMD still makes great processors, and there is a strong contingent of techies who won't use anything else (particularly in desktop machines). With Apple's new development of switching to Intel processors for its consumer machines, this does increase Intel's marketshare. However, Macintosh computers only have a three percent marketshare, and this development does not really change Intel's total impact.

Intel does have a gross majority of the marketshare for home-computer processors, but there are a number of other applications for computer chips these days. Handheld computers (PDAs), cell phones, and non-consumer products like supercomputers and high-end Web servers all use chips as well, and Intel doesn't have a very strong foothold in those markets. Well, it does have the XSCALE line of chips for PDAs, but the other examples I've mentioned are hardly Intel-driven.

Back off, AMD.

'Batman' beats witch at U.S. box office

I was kinda wondering whether I might go to see the new Batman flick, but I really didn't know anything about it at first. Now that I know that it stars Christian Bale as the famous Gotham superhero, I really want to check it out! Christian Bale was one of the lead performers in my favorite movie musical of all time, Newsies.

Also, it's directed by the same guy who directed Memento, so I'm sure it's got some of that quirky "what's really going on here?" feel to it. Of the movies currently in the theater, Batman Begins is probably the one I most want to see.

Even the courts know the Internet is the first place to turn for information

This is great... a new case has shown that even the *courts* feel that Google is an essential information-gathering tool. The plaintiff for the Munster v. Groce case in Indiana was ruled to have not exercised due diligence in locating a missing defendant because a Google search turned up some incredibly relevant evidence.

Survey: Intel transition may cool Mac sales

This survey is rather informal (respondents include Macworld readers, not industry professionals), but it sheds some interesting insights into Apple's recent decision to switch to Intel processors. Fully one-third of those surveyed who had been thinking about purchasing new Apple hardware in the next 12 months say their interest had waned in anticipation of the forthcoming change.

However, a certain number—13 percent, to be exact—actually said they would be more likely to purchase a new Mac within the next year. One of those surveyed mentioned a propensity to buy PowerPC-based hardware so that currently-owned software will not require an upgrade.

The switch to Intel processors is a huge change, and software developers of all types will be required to update their programs to work on the new "Mactel" machines. According to Steve Jobs, who outlined this process for developers in his recent WWDC keynote, those developers who have stayed up-to-date with their programming methods will find the changeover quite painless. Those who have lagged a bit and are still making software that requires PowerPC chips to emulate even older hardware will need to undergo a more extensive upgrade process.

In general, I see this as a great move. As an analogy: Like many "computer guys," I find that my machine usually accumulates a good amount of junk on the hard drive. I often play with "test versions" of programs, and install/uninstall software willy-nilly in my quest to make my computer work with me as much as possible. After a while, my computer (much more so in Windows than in OSX) is filled with clutter, and then I usually decide to reformat the hard drive and start again with a clean slate. After I've wiped the drive, I install only the programs I was actually using before the reformat, so that there isn't a lot of unused junk sitting around, taking up space and possibly using RAM if the uninstall process isn't as clean as it ought to have been.

This processor switch is like a platform-wide "hard drive reformat," so that only programs which are being continually developed will live through the transition. Of course, there are several pieces of software that I really hope/need/want to make it through (MakeMusic!, do you hear me?), but this process will certainly separate the wheat from the chaff.

Getting back to the survey, the respondents were asked to indicate how smoothly they felt the transition process would go. Sixty-seven percent felt that there would be "some bumps, [but] nothing serious," and I tend to agree with that viewpoint. Only a total of 7 percent felt that the transition would be either "perfectly hitch-free" or "absolute chaos," with the vast majority expecting a varying degree of problems that would definitely be resolved.

Sixty-two percent also said that they felt the new processors would make Macs either faster, cheaper, or both. In my opinion, anything that makes a Mac more financially competitive, especially if it makes it faster as well, counts as a boon for Apple.

Updated depiction

A while back, I included a "depiction of myself" here on my blog; I used an image created from the relative frequencies of the various bookmarks I've created on del.icio.us. Recently I've gone through my bookmarks and re-evaluated the tags I was using, in order to "shape up" a more current picture of my personal interests. The resulting photo can be found in this post's link.

A Wireless World, Bound To Sockets

Our telephones - even landlines - are wireless, our Internet is wireless, our television remotes are wireless, and our handhelds can even communicate with PCs wirelessly. But are we really a wireless culture?

According to the linked article (and I've run across this in daily life), wireless access to services does not completely remove cords from the operation of all of our gadgets. You see, the gadgets themselves still need wires in order to get power. Laptop computers, cell phones, and handheld computers still require frequent doses of electrical current in order to remain operational, and currently the only way to get that current into the devices is through the wide array of charging cords that tether us to walls for hours at a time while "juicing up."

And every device has its own power cable... that is, until iGo came on the scene. iGo makes accessories and adapters for all of the gadgets that we use. The power adapters have an "empty" cord, to which any number of "intelligent tips" (itips) can be affixed in order to provide electricity to any number of devices. iGo makes itips for almost every widely-used portable electronic device, so that mess of charging cables can be reduced to one iGo cord (and its accompanying set of itips).

This seems like a really cool solution, for now. I'd love to have one of those cables that would make my plethora of charging cords obsolete. However, I think there is something even better on the horizon: wireless power. Well, it might not be quite "on the horizon," but I'm sure someday somebody will find out how to convey AC and DC power across RF, infrared, or WiFi. Or maybe even create some new standard protocol. But I'm sure, eventually, it will be coming.

And then Starbucks will have to offer wireless power outlets in addition to wireless internet service, if yuppies are going to get anything done...

YubNub

YubNub is basically a "command line for the web." What this amounts to is that you can type all sorts of commands into its search box and it will automatically perform the Web actions you specify. For example, "g [keyword]" will search Google for your keyword, and "am [keyword]" will search amazon. It's all in the same place, so you don't have to rocket around to all kinds of main pages to do your web searching.

The other reason this is really cool is that it's social. The commands that the inerpreter knows can be created by anybody (the really good ones end up in the golden eggs section). This means that there are a ton of actions, from UPS package tracking to - get this - a feature that makes a computerized voice say anything you feed it (the command is 'tts').

Plus, I was able to use other computer tools in conjunction with it that expand its power even further. Quicksilver is a great tool for Mac OS X that allows you to launch files, control iTunes, send email, and other things from a single keypress. One of its features is that any bookmark you allow it to access (there are plugins for Safari, Firefox/Mozilla, del.icio.us, and other bookmark sets) with "***" in the URL automatically becomes a Web search. I created a del.icio.us bookmark with the URL "http://www.yubnub.org/parser/parse?command=***", and now I can enter any YubNub command straight into Quicsilver without even needing to view the YubNub webpage.

I'm excited to see where this goes. By the way, according to the author of the page, "YubNub" is an Ewok term meaning "Hooray!"