Month: May 2005

I remember reading about this a little while ago and now ExtremeTech has a review. Ergodex has a fully programmable keyboard called the DX1 Input System. It is a USB peripheral device designed for users to arrange (and rearrange) an assortment of programmable keys anywhere on its 11-inch x 9-inch “DX1 Pad.” The concept is simple: You begin with 25 DX1 keys, place as many of them on the DX1 Pad in any layout you wish, and use the included software to assign functions to each one.

Each key can be assigned its own macro (commands, actions), which can perform a variety of functions: a single key command (“Q”), multi key command (“Hello World,” list of actions), a text block(s) command (inserting any length of text), or program/file/URL commands. Each key communicates with the DX1 pad wirelessly and sticks to the pad firmly through an adhesive, which can be easily removed with a simple twisting motion.

Designed as an alternative to the standard QWERTY keyboard setup, the DX1 creates a window for users to personalize and customize their computer interface. Keys can be easily shuffled around for a customized layout and even act as different commands in different programs to suit your work style. So gamers, for instance, can have a completely personalized setup with keys that can do anything a standard keyboard can do, and then rearrange the keys into a more casual setup when dealing with more common Windows applications. Although not entirely designed to replace the keyboard, the DX1 Input System can make frequently used commands and command sequences simple enough by pressing just one key.

Read the full review here.

ExtremeTech interviews Microsoft VP, Todd Holmdahl who is responsible for all the hardware development, hardware and semiconductor teams, manufacturing, and test teams for the XBOX 360 – pretty interesting insight on how MS developed this from the ground up with IBM and ATI and on what to expect from the new device on the hardware front.

At last now you can personalize the google home page – options include seeing your emails (from gmail of course), stock market, news (from Google New, BBC, NY Times, etc), Weather, etc. Interestingly slashdot features on the list – separately – which means *sigh*, more noise is now going to be generated there. Check it out here.

Now that Windows Mobile 5.0 is released, if you want to see how it looks then check out the screenshots. I don’t know if HP would be releasing the updates for my handheld for this as mine is a bit old now – but if they are I would surely be playing with this in the near future.

Well not sure what Google plans to do with this, but they just released something called a Web Accelerator that is designed to work with broadband connections and supports both IE and Firefox. What is it? Per Google it is an application that uses the power of Google’s global computer network to make web pages load faster. Google Web Accelerator is easy to use; all you have to do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages will automatically load faster than before.

How does it work? Google Web Accelerator uses various strategies to make your web pages load faster, including:

• Sending your page requests through Google machines dedicated to handling Google Web Accelerator traffic.
• Storing copies of frequently looked at pages to make them quickly accessible.
• Downloading only the updates if a web page has changed slightly since you last viewed it.
• Prefetching certain pages onto your computer in advance.
• Managing your Internet connection to reduce delays.
• Compressing data before sending it to your computer.

 You can read more about it.

Well, in addition to the antivirus issues with Windows x64 bit, if you upgrade in most cases you could void your computers warranty – this varies from manufacture to manufacture of course. If you know the advantages of 64 bit and are one of the early adopters (or in other words a geek), then you are OK as you probably don’t need the manufacturer’s support (except if they need to switch hardware when it gets fried).