keyboards

Maybe fewer keys is the answer to RSI

Perhaps more than any other piece of office equipment, the computer keyboard has been constantly morphed to keep its operators' hands out of the doctor's office. In the perennial battle against RSI, we've seen versions that break in two, glow in the dark and even skip the keys altogether. But instead of the hardware options, others continue to pursue solutions in the keys themselves--and a generation that goes beyond the QWERTY alternatives may be just beginning.

New Standard Keyboards, for instance, has developed an alphanumeric version that includes only 53 keys rather than the usual 104, according to … Read more

A printer that shuns computers

No, this isn't a relic from the DigiBarn museum. Although it may look like a prototype of the first personal computer, the object pictured here is actually a Casio printer--it just happens to come with its own attached keyboard.

Why, you might ask? The idea is that you can bypass a computer and type in any text, such as letter addresses, directly into the printer, according to DeGadget. A 7-inch LCD, which can provide a preview of the writing, is large enough to show up to eight photos at a time. Its $515 price seems fairly high in … Read more

A perfect keyboard for Dr. Octopus

The next time you complain that your keyboard has too many keys, remember that things could always be worse--consider the "Chromatone CT-312."

This one's actually for music, not computing, a synthesizer with hundreds of unlabeled keys that would surely drive us nuts (312, to be exact--hence the number in the name). Technabob aptly describes a "baffling chart" that's supposed to make sense of the Chromatone, but that only makes it worse. There's actually a method to its apparent madness, he says, based on a 19th century concept called the "Janko keyboard" … Read more

iPhone e-mail starting to annoy me

My biggest concern was the keyboard. Having used the Prada phone, I expected the worst. Surprisingly, the iPhone keyboard starts to feel comfortable fairly quickly. Within a few days, I went from typing two out of every three letters incorrectly down to just one in five wrong. That gives hope.

E-mail, though, is another story, making me long for my BlackBerry. Sure, Yahoo allegedly provides the same RIM-type push mail. But it's simply not as quick or easy to knock out a sentence or two on the iPhone.

More annoyingly, it appears there is no way to delete all … Read more

Logitech announces an ergonomic keyboard with no learning curve

We don't mind a little weirdness in the pursuit of better ergonomics, but we really dislike funky mice and keyboards that require you to relearn how to type and/or mouse. That's why we're particularly excited about Logitech's Cordless Desktop Wave desktop set, which the company announced this morning.

For $89 when it hits stores this August, the Cordless Desktop Wave will give you two major ergonomic features. The first is that, as the name suggests, the keys are arranged along a wave-like pattern that ripples across the keyboard. This design is supposed to account for … Read more

Playing the piano by following the lights

Given that we're long past the age of piano dancing, this might be the closest we get to playing any type of keyboard that's not connected to a computer. Yamaha, which is proving itself in the digital music world with products like its virtual drum set, has developed the equivalent of painting by numbers for the piano to debut in August.

Its EZ-200 keyboard has a "follow-the-lights" system that even tone-deaf types like us can handle, as well as touch-sensitive keys that sound louder as they're struck harder. "All you have to worry about … Read more

iPhone's keyboard is the big 'if'

As stylish as the Prada phone is, the touch screen problem I wrote about earlier hasn't gotten better. It's often frustrating.

I say this because of all these great iPhone ads we're seeing on television. When I look at the keypad displayed, I wonder if it's all going to be as simple and perfect as they make it look.

I'm skeptical. It seems as if it would be very easy to overlap onto a different key. At least on the BlackBerry, you know when it happens. It's a matter of feel. You immediately know … Read more

Which Keyboard?

I grew up with computers in the home, almost. I think I was just eight years old when my father brought home a teletype machine (with integral 110 baud modem) connected to the GE600 mainframe computer. My mother could type up a storm on her IBM selectric, but I was strictly hunt-and-peck on that noisy, strange-smelling teletype. But that teletype really inspired my newfound passion for writing stories, for when I told it to print -- BANGA-BANGA-BANGA-BANGA-KERCHUNK-BANGA-BANGA-BANG -- it printed at a full 110 baud, or almost half as fast as my mom's finger-sprints. Incredible!… Read more

Finding fashion amid the printer paper

Given that fashion is clearly the dominant theme of the day so far, we think it should be applied to some computer stuff before it's too late. But the last place we thought to look would be Office Max.

Still, to its credit, the retailer is planning a line of snazzy peripherals that will undoubtedly stand out amid the sea of printer paper and blank DVDs. The "G-Cube" collection will spice up boring old mice, keyboards and the like this fall in themes with such names as "Enchanted" and "Lux Leopard," according to … Read more

But does it need varnish?

We wouldn't exactly call it a fetish, but some of us at Crave have been known for our fondness of wood finishes on gadgets. (Well, not all gadgets.) And it's even better when the item in question is made entirely of wood, not just trim.

So this keyboard from Japan's Marubeni Infotec naturally caught our eye when it was spotted on Tokyomango. It's not the first of its kind, of course, but it's still one of the nicer ones we've seen. Even if it's not made of bamboo.