MS Keyboard for Mac

Microsoft will be releasing its popular curvy keyboard for the Mac later this year. Due sometime by summer, Microsoft will give Mac users a keyboard with a dedicated key that only the Mac understands. But that key won"t have the commonly found apple on it as Microsoft could not get proper authorization for its use. Instead, a clover will doan the key next to the spacebar for those special Apple functions. Also found on the keyboard will a key for ejecting optical discs such as a CD or DVD.

Microsoft To Make First Mac-only Keyboard ()

I don't know if I'll buy this or not. On the one hand, I'm excited to see MS support the Mac crowd. On the other hand, I know full well that the MS Natural keyboard works just fine on the Mac. Here I'll explain. Peabody set the wayback machine to 1994.


I graduated college in December 1992. I started my first "real job" in March of 1993 and it wasn't a programming gig. It was 1994 before I got a coding job, doing stuff that as far as I know is still classified. And it was in 1994 that I started noticed an alarming fact. The fourth fingers of both my hands hurt by the early afternoon. I experimented with a lot of things, and while I was trying different things Microsoft introduced the first "Natural Keyboard". I bought one - at the time it cost $99 which was a lot to me, but here I was at the start of my career and already my hands were crapping out on me. I bought my second one within a month - switching both my "main" computer at work and my home PC to the Natural Keyboard. I'll hate on Microsoft for a whole lot of stuff, but I seriously believe their keyboard saved my hands. I still use those two 12 year old keyboards. I'm typing this right now on my third Natural KB, but I bought that only because I wanted a USB keyboard. My last "real"job (when I worked at Crystal Dynamics) I still used one of those personally owned 12 year old MS natural keyboards with a PS/2 to USB adapter on it.

At home the USB version is attached to my KVM switch, which switches my keyboard, mouse and monitor amongst multiple computers. My Windows PC, my Linux box, and my Mac powerbook share three of the four inputs on that switch. (The fourth is unused since I shut down my Linux firewall and just use the Airport Extreme base station for firewall and NAT.) The USB version has some goofy keys, which I actually use - Volume +/- and Mute amongst a bunch of stuff I don't use.

Anyway, the Mac. This keyboard has "Windows" keys, which map to the Apple/Command key with no problem. I just tried the majority of the silly "media keys" across the top of this keyboard and the Mac do't read them. No matter, it does read the Volume and Mute keys and I use SizzlingKeys to do more elaborate iTunes transport control. Yes I lack the custom "eject" button but who uses that? Even when I'm using the Powerbook as a laptop I rarely reach for the eject button as opposed to doing something more GUI oriented. So I'm not sure what this MS keyboard really brings to the party. On the other hand, if you do a lot of typing and your hands hurt . . . what can I say? I really do believe this curved keyboard saved my career. I've never been to a doctor for RSI, I've never worn special wristbraces and I'm certain that had I continued to use straight line QWERTY keyboards I'd be a statistic by now. So if you use a Mac and your hands hurt after a hot keyboard session (URMKHOG), check out the Natural Keyboards. If you want an eject key wait for this version.

Oh and make sure you aren't getting the "Natural Elite" line. The Elite version is slightly more compact and noticably doesn't support the "inverted T" layout of the arrow keys, opting instead for a cross layout. More importantly the layout of Insert/Home/End/Page Up and so forth is wrong. (Actually the shot of the Mac keyboard seems to imply a split difference. The arrow keys are "inverted T" but the other navigation keys are funky, instead of the 3 x 2 array I'd claim is "right".) Anyways I hate the "Elite" version which is what any IT department will give you (it's cheaper than the normal version). But it's your hands and your career. I'd rather have a full size KB than the 4-5 inches of desk space the "Elite" version proffers.

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Eyetoy: Kinetic

Geez! Been over a week since I posted. I'm such a slacker.

I've been meaning to talk about Eyetoy:Kinetic for quite some time now. I finished week 7 of the first 12 week program today. It started me on "easy" for everything and I've successfully cranked all the difficulties up to "hard"in the last 7 weeks. It's started throwing more workouts at me, increasing the length of my workouts and I have to say I'm still loving it!

Fitness has always been a bit of a bugaboo for me. The problem is simple: I'd like to work out more but I have a fine line of what I'm willing to put up with. The whole hassle of going to the gym, getting a machine, doing the workout, showering, etc. is just a big pain. I've had gym memberships in the past and it's something that I just don't utilize often enough. The alternate route is to try to get some home equipment, but that is usually flimsy or not very flexible - it either breaks or I get bored. Using DDR worked for a time - but that game isn't really focused on fitness, it's more something that might happen if you play it hardcore. But since I hated most of the music, the hardcore play was difficult to impossible to sustain.

So what is Eyetoy: Kinetic? Short answer is that it's an Eyetoy "game" where the goal is personal fitness. It provides you with a virtual "personal trainer" and a 12-week regimen. I'll be brutally honest - 98+% of the games make me feel like I'm on the Millenium Falcon undergoing Jedi training from Obi-Wan. There's usually yellow orbs you should hit and red orbs you should dodge. When I get into the flow I can almost hear Alec Guinness offering tips. Of course, I mean this description as a positive thing. If if sounds cool to you, then I'd suggest checking the game out.

So does it beat having a personal trainer at a gym? I dunno, I've never paid for that. My guess is that it doesn't. On the other hand it's a one-time $50 expense so it's much less expensive. It works in the comfort of my own home, so I can just do my exercise before my morning shower and I never have to wait for a machine, or drive to the gym or whatever. Does it beat no real fitnes program? Oh yeah. I can easily point to the increased fitness and flexibility. We've been weighing the cats (who are really obese these days), and as a weird side effect I weigh myself every week or so. I've lost about five pounds since starting this - and that's over the Christmas holidays. On days where I get the cardio programs (there are four different types of programming and it varies what you do on what days - for instance today I got double "combat training" which really wore out my arms but only burned less calories than the longer cardio work outs.) I burn 400 - 600 calories depending on the other programming.

Another aspect is that it attempts to do some real training. I mean there's a warmup, a cool-down stretch, and optional body toning (or yoga meditation). When I was half-assedly going to the gym and using the exercise bike I didn't even know what constituted a valid warmup/cooldown sequence. And using DDR was even worse. I was genuinely surprised to see the asymmetries in my body flexibility that the stretches showed. But I'm proud to say some things that I could barely do seven weeks ago I can do now easily. (For instance, stand straight up, then bend one leg behind your butt. Grab that foot with your hand, balance on the other leg and bring the knee in. This stretches the quads in your thigh. I could do this easily with my left leg but I almost fell over the first time I tried it with my right leg. I can do this smoothly with either leg now. That makes me grin every time I do it.)

I mix it in with my Tai Chi - and while I'll still swear by Tai Chi for meditation and general muscle toning (especially on the legs), there are a few gaps that Kinetic addresses nicely.

Anyway, if you have a PS2 and you feel like you're out of shape, give this a spin. It's worth $50 in my opinion.

There are a few downsides. Like all Eyetoy it's a little picky on lighting and space. If you can't clear a fairly wide space about 7 feet from your TV it might not work well. I've had games that were frustrating (and a few games I've really learned to hate) until I learned how to maximize the space and lighting for the game. It really wants a single light source that sits between your TV and you. I've settled on a vertical lamp with two low-wattage bulbs on it (40w incandescent) that I put in the room solely for Kinetic. It's like track lighting only freestanding vertically if you follow. I move it into the room for my workout and stow it behind the speaker the rest of the time. I also had to set the camera sensitivity to "high" before it stopped reading Lee's painting as motion. :-) Otherwise the figures in the triptych would set off the motion detection - no idea why. I've had days where my score was adversely affected by stupid lighting issues. But still - given that I'd never pay for a real personal trainer it's a small price to pay.

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New Mindstorms!

Oho! The long awaited update to Lego Mindstorms has been announced and it looks pretty cool. See some stuff at the Mindstorms site and a Wired article about the development. It looks pretty cool - Mac support from the "official" environment, Bluetooth support for wireless programming, new ultrasonic vision and sound sensors and all motors have built in rotation sensors. All that adds up to a remarkably capable update. Daddy likes!


Lego buying has been at a lull - it's been a while since I played with my Mindstorms and my office is pretty much full up on models. Add in a lack of interest in most of the newer lines and . . . I just haven't done much. But this new CPU looks schweet.

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Download This Revisited

Back in November I linked to the Something Awful "NESCover" album (original post here). For whatever reason Bwana keeps critically failing his clue rolls when attempting to uncompress the RAR file, so I zipped the files from my iTunes library. Grab it here if you have similar problems. (EDIT: 1/12/08 - This file didn't survive the conversion from MovableType to Wordpress. Actually, it wasn't on the MT site anymore either. If for some reason you find this post and want the songs drop me an email.) Oh and Happy New Year!

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Bits and bobs

Bunch of unrelated little bits, spewed at you into one big post. Enjoy!
  1. Podcasts - I've been attempting to catch up on my old podcasts lately. Two that I've enjoyed: Wil Wheaton's Radio Free Burrito and surprisingly, the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour podcast. I say surprisingly because I've never been able to get interested in the Pro Tour recaps. I subscribed to the podcast because it was the MTG podcast, and almost deleted it when I realized it was all Pro Tour focused. But what can I say, reading the web recaps of the Pro Tour is boring, but the audio recording conveys the . . . sport of it, the human drama of the various players striving against each other.
  2. Guitar Hero - I may have hit a wall. I got to the hard level without learning the hammer-on and pick-off techniques. I mean, I understand them but I don't actually use them. The hard difficulty adds a sixth fingering position, and that's hard enough but at the same time the notes come quickly enough that I need to master this other thing. My last couple of sessions with it have convinced me I need to go back to a difficulty where I can play it, but force myself to try the more complex fingering techniques. I'm not sure I'll break through the wall. We'll see.
  3. Web Site - I've been thinking about this site and my fledgling writing career. I've come to the conclusion that this site, as I currently use it is unsuitable for for a professional writer promotional vehicle. I see two options - 1) I spin that promotional stuff off into a new site and probably makes posts here even more rare. 2) I revamp this site (lose the "Sniping Post" moniker for instance, stop slagging various game developers, and stop using it to mock my personal friends). I go back and forth as to the correct answer. Any opinions? Should I separate the personal crap from my "professional" online presence?
  4. Holiday Reading - Lately I haven't had much time to read novels, I've been catching up with magazines, or reading MTG books. But now we're flying back east next week for a bit, so I got a batch of Amazon goodies today. :-) .

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