TidBITS#967/02-Mar-09
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/967>
The big news this week revolves around Web browsers, as Apple
releases a public beta of Safari 4, showcasing a new tab interface,
the graphical Top Sites view, and Cover Flow for bookmarks and
history. Doug McLean looks at what's new in Safari 4, and also
passes on the news that the Omni Group has made its OmniWeb Web
browser (and three other programs) free. Matt Neuburg reviews his
favorite new keyboard, the utterly retro Customizer 104 from
Unicomp, designed to feel like IBM's legendary Model M keyboard.
Elsewhere in the issue, Adam shares a look at a wonderful site that
obsessively documents iPhoto's book themes, and Glenn Fleishman
offers a hands-on review of Amazon's new Kindle 2 ebook reader. In
the TidBITS Watchlist this week, we look at 1Password 2.9.9,
Photoshop 11.0.1, MacSpeech Dictate 1.3, Corel Painter 11, and
Cocktail 4.3.1.
Articles
Liz Castro's iPhoto Book Themes Site
OmniWeb and OmniSiblings Run Free
Apple Releases Beta of Safari 4
Kindle 2 Improves Design, Not Features
The Greatest Computer Keyboard of All Time?
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 02-Mar-09
ExtraBITS for 02-Mar-09
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 02-Mar-09
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Liz Castro's iPhoto Book Themes Site
------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10093>
I'll admit that I prefer iPhoto's calendars to its hardcover books,
simply because if I spend the time creating a calendar, I'm certain
it will be displayed (on our wall, or by whomever I give it to) for
an entire year. In contrast, lovely as iPhoto's hardcover books are,
my experience is that they're looked at a few times and then put
away on a shelf. That's not a bad thing - a book may be perfect for
documenting a special trip or event and not require constant
attention.
But honestly, the other problem I have with books is that they're
quite a bit of work to create, at least if you're as obsessive as I
am about getting things just right. Even after selecting all the
photos and figuring out what, if anything, I want to say about them,
iPhoto offers oodles of themes and layout options within each theme.
Sometimes I become overwhelmed just picking my desired layout and
have to go read email or something easy.
If you're thinking about making a book in iPhoto, my fellow Peachpit
author Liz Castro has created a wonderfully useful Web site where
she obsessively documents each and every iPhoto book theme. For each
theme, she uses screenshots from iPhoto to summarize the outside
layouts, the inside layouts, and possible backgrounds.
<http://www.lizcastro.com/iphotobookthemes/>
Then she moves on to provide examples for each layout option, for
the cover, for the introduction page, and for pages containing each
of the possible number of photos for that theme. Each page is
exhaustive, but it's far easier to scan them than to work your way
through all the options in iPhoto itself.
Liz first started this site to document the themes in earlier
versions of iPhoto, and while the pages for iPhoto '08 are still
available, she has updated them all for iPhoto '09. For the most
part, the book-related changes in iPhoto '09 revolve around the
Travel theme, but it's worth noting that you can add either an
introduction page (really just a text page, since it can go anywhere
in a book) or a map page to any of the themes, although the Travel
theme offers the most customization options. Liz also provides some
useful tips on using the new map pages.
<http://www.lizcastro.com/iphotobookthemes/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Maps>
So if you're a bit overwhelmed by all the options in iPhoto, or are
just looking to figure out what has changed with books in iPhoto
'09, drop by Liz's site.
OmniWeb and OmniSiblings Run Free
---------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10094>
The Omni Group recently announced on its blog that four of its
previously commercial programs are now available for free download
without restrictions. The products include the popular Web browser
OmniWeb, the screen effects and presentation tool OmniDazzle, the
disk cleanup tool OmniDiskSweeper, and the memory optimization tool
OmniObjectMeter.
<http://www.omnigroup.com/>
<http://blog.omnigroup.com/2009/02/25/omniweb-omnidazzle-omnidisksweeper-and-omniobjectmeter-now-freeware/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/developer/omniobjectmeter/>
OmniWeb, the most widely used of these applications, previously cost
$14.95. Like Safari, OmniWeb relies on Apple's WebKit rendering
engine, and thus provides page display capabilities similar to
Safari 3. When reached for comment, Omni Group head Ken Case
confirmed that the company plans to update the embedded version of
WebKit regularly and would be including a newer version in a future
5.9.x update.
Although OmniWeb's innovative features, such as site-specific
preferences, graphical tabs, persistent workspaces, and expandable
text area fields, caused the browser to attract a devoted following,
OmniWeb had difficulty competing against the Mac's major browsers,
Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. Both Apple and Mozilla can bring far
more development resources to bear, and the free status of Safari
and Firefox overshadowed any technical superiority OmniWeb may have
enjoyed in specific areas.
Now that OmniWeb is free, it may see significantly increased usage,
since it's certainly a very good browser, just not one that could
compete against free alternatives. We would strongly encourage
everyone who cares about Web browsers to give OmniWeb a try. If
nothing else, it's often useful to have multiple browsers around for
checking recalcitrant Web sites.
As a smaller company with limited staff and resources, the Omni
Group decided they were unable to devote the necessary development
and marketing efforts to these products. But rather than let them
languish, they decided to make them free. However, the company has
clearly stated that the programs have not been discontinued or
abandoned. While they are no longer considered to be under active
development, the Omni Group hopes to update them as possible, with
Linda Sharps of the Omni Group stating, "We have lots of ideas for
what we'd like to add to these products, and it's possible that at
some point we'll have more resources to allocate to them."
Some users are concerned that, despite these words, the move to
freeware will slow the development of these programs to a halt,
perhaps putting them in the dreaded "maintenance mode." Some
commenters on the Omni Group blog have suggested the company
consider making the programs open source, thus enabling a wider
community to continue their evolution. When asked about
open-sourcing the programs, Case said, "We considered making any or
all of these apps open source in addition to being freeware. But a
good open source project still requires good project management,
good filtering of submissions, etc., which isn't exactly a recipe
for focusing our attention on our other products! But we haven't
ruled out the idea either."
Despite the jury being out on open source versions, loyal OmniWeb
fans may be comforted to know that a new version is in the works.
Case said, "We didn't want to keep charging people for OmniWeb 5.x
just because we hadn't shipped 6.0 yet. We're still continuing to
work on [OmniWeb] 5.9.x updates, as well as a more major 6.0 upgrade
- they'll just all be free."
Sharps also noted that this move in no way indicates any serious
trouble on the business end of things. In fact, according to Sharps,
2008 was the company's "best year ever," and it is continuing to
grow steadily, to the point of conducting a hiring search for new
developers. These newly free programs may even contribute to the
bottom line by acting as positive PR for the company, drawing in new
users who may then discover the Getting Things Done-inspired
OmniFocus, the OmniGraffle diagramming program, the popular
OmniOutliner, and the project management program OmniPlan.
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/>
Apple Releases Beta of Safari 4
-------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10091>
After more than a year without a major update to their Safari Web
browser, Apple has released a public beta of Safari 4, bringing a
host of new features, interface enhancements, and performance
boosts.
The major changes include a new Top Sites feature that enables users
to view and connect to their most-visited sites; Cover Flow
integration for bookmarks and history; the relocation of tabs to the
top of the window; an updated WebKit renderer featuring the new
Nitro Engine that handles JavaScript with improved speed; and a full
set of developer tools.
A brief post-release survey of Twitter traffic about Safari 4
indicated a mixed reception: glowing reviews and gripes about
missing features or buggy behavior were equally present. But despite
it being too early to tell whether the update will be a hit or not,
Safari 4 provides lots to talk about.
**Top Sites** -- Arguably Safari 4's most dramatic new feature, Top
Sites provides an at-a-glance springboard to your most heavily
visited sites. The view appears when you open a new browser window,
or you can click a new Top Sites icon (a grid of squares) in the
Bookmarks bar. When opened, Top Sites displays an in-browser window
containing a grid of screenshot thumbnails of your most visited
sites (utilizing the most recent appearance of the sites).
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2009-02/safari4_topsites.png>
The grid has an edit mode which enables you to move the thumbnails
within the grid, pin them to a certain location, and select from
three grid sizes (6, 12, and 24 viewable thumbnails). The Top Sites
view also shows when changes have been made to a site, signified by
a blue star appearing in the right hand corner of the thumbnail.
Clicking any of these miniature windows in Top Sites brings that
window forward in the browser tab and displays the site.
While I think the Top Sites feature looks fantastic, and enjoy
opening sites from its interface, I question its underlying
philosophy. Essentially, I want more control over determining what
my Top Sites are, rather than having Safari tell me. Clicking an
Edit button lets me remove sites in the view or pin sites to a
specific location (for example, if I always want Google News to
appear in the upper-left corner). But removing a site brings up a
replacement chosen by Safari; why can't I simply type the URL of a
site I want to appear?
The issue here lies in the word "top." I want a feature that will
show me my _favorite_ sites; Apple is giving me a feature that shows
me my _most visited_ sites and assumes it's the same thing. This is
undoubtedly true for some users. My mother, for example, visits the
same handful of Web sites regularly, and rarely strays from them.
But what about people who frequently get caught up in Web surfing,
or do heavy Internet research? If I spent a day researching a new
piece of software, it's possible that several of the pages I
trafficked in that search could supplant my truly favorite sites,
those sites I want easily accessible. This is especially true were I
to do any regular cleaning out of my browser history.
Perhaps over time my Top Sites would be the sites I check often, but
what if I want a site easily accessible from this page even if I
don't go there often? For example, I might be interested in a site
that updates infrequently, and would want it accessible from this
page as a way of seeing when new information has been posted. In
short: let me tell Safari what my Top Sites are, not the other way
around.
It turns out there is a non-obvious method of doing this. Open a
browser window and load the site you want to appear in your Top
Sites. In a separate window, bring up the Top Sites screen and click
the Edit button. Lastly, drag the URL from the first window and drop
it onto one of the Top Sites thumbnails, and then click the pin
button to hold it in place.
Hopefully, the final release version of Safari 4 will provide a
better way to manage what appears on Top Sites, such as a menu item
for Make Top Site. Still, as a visual way of catching up on
often-visited sites, the feature has boatloads of potential.
**Cover Flow** -- Another major addition to Safari is the integration
of Cover Flow browsing to your bookmarks and history. Just like in
the Finder or iTunes, Cover Flow here enables you to sift through
snapshots of browser pages in your History or Bookmarks lists.
Safari still has its classic drop-down menus from the top menu bar,
where you can find a text listing of your recent History or
Bookmarks. However, if you open these to a full view or click the
Bookmarks icon on the Bookmarks bar, you will see the new Cover Flow
view.
I'm skeptical about the utility of Cover Flow as applied to
bookmarks, though I think applying it to history makes more sense.
In either case I'm interested in determining whether Cover Flow will
speed up my search, much as it undoubtedly looks cooler than your
typical text-based list.
Typically, when I'm searching through my history I'm looking for
sites I don't visit often - things I found while surfing or
searching whose names I don't recall (otherwise I'd probably just
Google them). So for searching my history, I imagine looking at
image files might be a faster way to search, at least for me, given
that I'm a highly visual person. There have been countless times
when I opened a site from the History list that sounded correct,
only to discover it was different from what I thought. The
image-based Cover Flow could solve this sort of problem.
However, applying Cover Flow as a search method for bookmarks seems
slower because a fundamental difference exists between the two
situations: in my bookmarks I usually know the name of the site for
which I'm searching. In this case, the application of
image-privileged searching seems like a detriment. Searching through
iTunes with Cover Flow is helpful because album covers look
drastically different and often incorporate a recognizable name.
However, most Web sites don't look that different from each other,
especially at a distance. When I speed through my bookmarks with
Cover Flow, many of the pages look quite similar, especially when it
comes to blogs. In this case, it's more helpful to have a list of
words to scan through, because the site names stand out more
drastically than their appearance.
**Tabs** -- The new tab placement at the top of the window in what's
normally known as the title bar is aimed at opening up more screen
real estate. To that end, the tabs work well and provide a clean and
streamlined appearance. (Google's Chrome first introduced this
placement of tabs.) As a big fan of tabbed browsing, my concern
isn't so much with the elimination of a dedicated tab bar, or the
location of the tabs at the top, but with the shifting sizes of the
tabs themselves.
In Safari 4 the size of each individual tab is dependent on the
number of tabs currently open in the browser. Thus, if two tabs are
open, each takes up half of the top bar; if four tabs are open, each
takes up one quarter of the top bar, and so on. This is quite
different from Safari 3, or even from Firefox, wherein tabs are
equally sized, with each new tab being added to the right hand side
of the tab bar until the tab bar is filled. When the tab bar is
filled, the tabs shrink in width, and after a certain point, a tab
with three dots (a graphical ellipsis) appears that, when clicked,
enables you to scroll amongst the open tabs. The consistent size of
the tabs makes it easy to locate them quickly, and close them.
Safari 4's new shifting tab sizes means that the location of your
tab changes slightly as new ones are opened, as does the close tab
button. Though the difference is slight, it does slow you down
enough to be annoying.
Also troubling is that the loss of the title bar means that there's
no single name for the current window in a consistent location, as
is true for nearly every Macintosh application. Plus, clicking on
the title bar can result in unexpected clickthrough, since clicking
on a tab not only switches to Safari, but displays that tab.
**Nitro Engine** -- Apple claims its new Nitro Engine handles
JavaScript 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, more than 3
times faster than Firefox 3, and 4.2 times faster than Safari 3
according to benchmark tests using iBench and SunSpider. Apple also
reports that Safari 4 bests those other browsers in HTML
performance, loading pages 3 times faster than either Internet
Explorer or Firefox.
From my own testing, and reading anecdotal evidence on Twitter, I
must say Safari 4 is noticeably faster than Safari 3 and Firefox 3.
This is especially true on JavaScript-heavy pages. The updated
WebKit also now supports HTML 5 and CSS 3, and Apple boasts, "Safari
4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project's Acid3
test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript,
XML and SVG Web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic
Web applications."
<http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid3>
**Developer Tools** -- Safari 4 enhances its set of developer tools,
enabling developers and Web designers to examine page structures,
debug JavaScript, inspect offline databases, and test code. Despite
the welcome inclusion of these tools, the Save as Web Application
option that was widely reported to be available in the developer
seed version of Safari 4 is now missing.
**Other Changes** -- Additional updates include the replacement of the
somewhat irrelevant SnapBack button in the Address Bar with the
Refresh button (when a page is loading the Refresh button switches
to a spinning gear, and if hovered over, switches again to the Stop
button), thus further streamlining the new interface; the welcome
addition of full-page zoom instead of just text zoom (accessible via
Command +/-); updated versions of the Smart Address Field and Smart
Search Field that offer more sophisticated search suggestions; and
finally, enhanced phishing and malware protection that better
protect you against these risks.
**Download and Install Information** -- Keep in mind that Safari 4 is
a public beta, so you're likely to run into rough edges.
Additionally, Safari 4 saves bookmarks as a plist file as opposed to
an HTML file as was done in Safari 3. Thus, it is likely that
outdated bookmark syncing tools may not work with this version,
although the recently released Foxmarks bookmark synchronization
tool does largely support Safari 4. Be sure to back up your
bookmarks before installing. Also, just to note: the update requires
a full restart upon installation.
<http://blog.foxmarks.com/?p=705>
Safari 4 is a 31.7 MB download. The update requires Mac OS X Leopard
10.5.6 or Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11. If you're running Leopard,
Security Update 2009-001 must be installed first.
<http://www.apple.com/safari/download/>
Kindle 2 Improves Design, Not Features
--------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10097>
Amazon's Kindle 2 should have been its Kindle 1. That might be a
left-handed compliment from this southpaw, but I found the original
Kindle electronic book reader to be awkward in design, navigation,
and handling.
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00154JDAI/?tag=tidbitselectro00>
Fundamentally, the Kindle 2 retains the same software, type display,
restrictions on content, and technology as the previous release.
Nonetheless, the new version makes a better case for itself.
**Function Follows Reform** -- The Kindle 2 ($359) eschews the first
model's overly designed form in favor of a flatter, thinner, more
conventional, rounded-corner rectangle. Instead of a strange
iridescent vertical selection bar, designed to avoid a refresh delay
issue in the display, there's a tiny square joystick nubbin for
navigation and selection. It's a huge improvement.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2009-02/Kindle2.jpg>
Amazon also rearranged the tiny keyboard into a more sensible,
simpler layout: a regular matrix of circular buttons with a spacebar
lozenge at the bottom, instead of the simulacrum of an ergonomic
split keyboard found in the original Kindle.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2009-02/original_kindle.jpg>
These changes aren't cosmetic. They take the device from feeling
like a version 0.5 prototype to having the polish and fit of
something that deserves to be released.
Redesigned buttons for navigating to the next page, previous page,
or home, moving back to the previous action, and bringing up a
contextual menu are all enormously improved, even though they're all
smaller. On the original Kindle, it was sometimes hard to press the
correct button, and easy to trigger the wrong action by accident.
The Kindle 2 sports 2 GB of storage built-in (though no option to
add more), with most of that initially unused. Amazon estimates
1,500 books could be stored in the available space. The built-in
battery can't be replaced by a user, but Amazon says the battery
life was improved.
The Kindle 2 can be charged via a USB cable, and Amazon includes a
nifty iPhone-like sleek adapter that's distinct from Apple's, but is
similarly compact.
When T-Mobile released its Android-based G1 phone, I complained that
the maker, HTC, had given little thought to power adapters,
providing a cheap and generic brick. Amazon is clearly on Apple's
page about small touches paying big dividends.
**Toning Up** -- The E-Ink-based screen continues to be the star of
the Kindle, improved on by what Amazon claims is a 20-percent-faster
refresh. I know that the flash of the pixels being rewritten is less
disturbing to my eye than the original Kindle. It's also clear that
Amazon and E-Ink have made it simpler for small areas of the screen
to be rewritten more quickly to show selections, a spinning progress
icon, and highlighting.
The screen now shows 16 levels of gray instead of 4, and it's
remarkable how so few distinct tones actually dramatically improve
an image's display. Dithering can barely work with 4 tones, but with
4 times as many, it works much better.
E-Ink and other firms are working like mad to produce better
versions of their paper-like displays, and it's easy to imagine that
with a slightly denser screen with a faster refresh and - dare I
dream - 256 colors or grays, a much more general-purpose device
would be possible.
<http://e-ink.com/>
**Mehr Licht, Said Goethe** -- The biggest remaining lacuna is the
lack of illumination. The E-Ink screen is designed to draw no power
when changes aren't being written to it. It's the closest thing to
paper that you can read on today. But the contrast isn't high enough
for me to read comfortably without direct illumination.
I've been reading on the device in a variety of places since
receiving a review copy, and most of them don't work well with my
otherwise perfect (with correction) vision. On a tabletop at lunch,
I can read a newspaper or book just fine with bright overhead
indirect fluorescents, but the Kindle needs to be propped at 45
degrees to get the right illumination. The matte screen avoids
reflections at a large range of reading angles.
At home, on a couch on which I routinely read paperbacks with small
print, I could barely read the Kindle. As someone who finds direct
lighting unpalatable (to mix senses), the Kindle doesn't meet my
needs.
**Whisper Me a Book** -- The Kindle 2 is equipped with the same Sprint
cellular data connection for downloading files. The original model
had a hardware switch for disabling the wireless connection to
increase battery life or when using a Kindle on an aircraft. The
Kindle 2 puts the wireless switch into software, available at the
top of every menu no matter the context.
As before, the cell data connection is the Kindle's secret weapon.
You want a book? Navigate through what's available for the device in
the Kindle Store, which is linked to your Amazon account, and thus
presents you with recommendations based on your past buying habits.
Select a book, click buy, and it's on the Kindle in under a minute.
There's no monthly charge for the Sprint network; the price of its
use for downloads is apparently built into what Amazon charges for
books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers.
Amazon calls the delivery system WhisperNet, and it's rather nice
when you've subscribed to, say, The Washington Post, to have it
simply available each morning, stored on the device.
If you drill down, there's an experimental Web browser, seemingly
unchanged from the original Kindle's version, which needs an extra
advanced setting turned on to support CSS. The browser is fine in a
pinch, but it's not something you'd use on a regular basis.
I'm still surprised Amazon didn't go for the gusto and put in an
802.11g Wi-Fi chip. With an antenna and certain radio components
already in place, adding Wi-Fi might have cost Amazon just a few
dollars, and made the Kindle more usable in a greater variety of
places. The Kindle 2, like its predecessor, can't be used outside
the United States with its radio on, and Amazon won't sell a Kindle
2 to anyone without a U.S. delivery address and a U.S.-based credit
card.
The other kind of whispering built into the Kindle is text-to-speech
synthesis. The Kindle can read whatever text is on screen in a
perfectly pleasant voice through its built-in speakers or while
wearing headphones. I found the default voice just fine; it might
become boring on a long flight or drive due to the lack of human
inflection, however.
After some opening salvos by the Authors Guild about this feature,
Amazon agreed to make changes that would allow publishers to turn
the read-aloud option on or off for individual titles. The issue at
stake is whether Amazon is purchasing just the right to sell
onscreen reading or also the right to sell audio versions. Amazon
says there's no problem but is trying to assuage publisher and
author concerns.
(I'm a member of the Authors Guild, and the group has done a great
job in preserving the eroding rights of authors for the last several
decades. This may appear to be about readers being denied access,
but it's actually about authors wanting to be paid for their words
by those who resell them. I wrote a thorough explanation to accompy
this article: "Why the Kindle 2 Should Speak When Permitted To." You
can also read Guild president Roy Blount, Jr.'s amusing editorial on
this matter from before Amazon changed its policy last week. And you
can listen to Harlan Ellison rant in this NSFW-language YouTube
clip, "Pay the writer.")
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/10107>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE>
**Rights Remain Silent** -- So far, so good. But behind this new
hardware sits the soul of the old machine. For the Kindle, Amazon
sells only books that are in its proprietary, digital rights-managed
format. You're not buying a book; you're licensing a specific use on
any Kindle you own.
Amazon may extend that to smartphones. The company has made noises
about something like Kindle reader software that could access the
same library of 230,000 titles. If Amazon follows the policy it uses
for video purchases and rental, the media you buy would be stored at
Amazon and available on any supported device.
Adam wrote more about this in his preview of the Kindle 2, "Amazon
Announces Kindle 2 Ebook Reader," 2009-02-09. In short, Amazon has
locked formats available, and books you buy in Kindle format can't
yet be viewed anywhere else.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/10056>
**Lighting the Fire** -- The Kindle 2 is a superbly updated ebook
reader, and worth considering for any frequent traveler who is also
a voracious reader. Instead of carrying pounds of books or facing
the horrors of boredom on a plane or in a distant hotel room, the
Kindle 2 neatly lightens the load and fills the gap.
For me, the price of the device and its minor flaws keep it off my
wishlist: I travel little, have a short commute by bike or car, and
read widely enough that the current Kindle library likely wouldn't
satisfy my needs.
The Greatest Computer Keyboard of All Time?
-------------------------------------------
by Matt Neuburg <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10101>
Back in 2004, Adam reported the tale of his relentless search for a
keyboard that would meet his all-text, all-typing, all-the-time
needs as perfectly as did the nostalgically recalled Apple Extended
Keyboard, and how he settled on the Matias Tactile Pro (see "The
Majestic Alps and the King of Keyboards," 2004-03-29). Leap with me
now, though, still further backwards in time, to a keyboard greater
still: arguably the clickiest, springiest, most responsive keyboard
ever, a massive hunk of sturdy plastic, whose tall, concave, solid,
gently textured, large, separated, clacking keys once resounded
through offices and computer labs all across the land. This was
IBM's legendary Model M, whose feel was intended to suggest that of
Selectric typewriters, punch-card machines, and business equipment
of all kinds.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/7607>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_Keyboard>
The Model M's keys operated on the principle of a "buckling spring",
which IBM patented in 1978. Supporting the keycap is a coiled
spring, shaped like a piece of a tiny Slinky, running vertically
from the underside of the keycap down to a knob sticking up from the
pivot point of a rocking actuator switch. But the spring does not
run _quite_ vertically. The angles of the spring's top and bottom
attachments are such that it actually bulges or bows forward a
little. As the user starts to press the key, the spring is
compressed and (this is the important part) the bulge is increased.
The force of the compression combined with the angle of the
increased bulging is sufficient to rock the actuator switch forward
into the "on" position with a sudden, highly audible snap. The key
character has now been typed. There is a good deal of travel left in
the key, however, so it continues on downwards, with the spring
resistance increasing all the while, until it is stopped by its
housing.
<http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT4118611>
There is something about the precise combination of all the forces,
sounds, and nerve and muscle responses here that feels immensely
solid, firm, predictable, and clean. As you rest your fingers on the
keys, there is no chance whatever of depressing one of them
accidentally; the resistance of the spring is too much for that. And
even if some random twitching of your fingers does depress the key a
little, the point where the rocker switch actuates is not reached.
Yet as soon as you start to depress a key deliberately, it snaps the
rocker switch very early, and the remainder of the downward key
travel echoes this responsive feedback with the rising spring
resistance until, if you are heavy-handed, your finger is stopped
hard, with a second click, by the key housing. At the same time, the
keys themselves, as I mentioned earlier, are tall, the keycap tops
being slightly concave and quite widely separated, almost cradling
and guiding your fingers into place.
The result is that your chance of slipping onto the wrong key, or of
not knowing with certainty when a key has been struck, or of getting
the timing wrong so that keys are struck in the wrong order, or of
key "bounce" emitting two instances of a character where one was
intended, is reduced essentially to zero. If what you're accustomed
to is a typical modern rubber dome switch, then after about two
minutes to get used to the keyboard, you suddenly find yourself
typing more cleanly, steadily, and accurately, with more relaxed,
precise gestures, than ever before in your life.
Manufacture of the Model M keyboard was divested from IBM to Lexmark
in 1991, and in 1996 the design was licensed by a small Lexington,
Kentucky firm called Unicomp. At the end of January 2009, NPR did a
story on Unicomp. According to reporter Martin Kaste, Unicomp's
founder is Neil Muyskens, who left IBM specifically to continue
manufacture of this keyboard, using not just the original technology
but the original plastic molds. Manufacture is both labor-intensive
(the buckling springs are inserted by hand and individually tested)
and high-tech (the key response times are rechecked by a robotic
typist). The resulting price isn't all that high - just a little
higher than an ordinary keyboard, really. But, according to the
story, it's high enough to make sales a problem; retail chains (any
left in business) won't stock it, and what Kaste calls "aging nerds"
don't buy fast enough to keep the company going, especially because
these keyboards are so reliable and long-lived that you probably
won't buy more than one of them, once.
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100076874>
You can guess the rest. Once I heard that story, I had had enough.
Enough frustration with decent but ultimately mushy, short-lived
keyboards. Enough guilt about not putting my money where my heart
and fingers are. I bought a Unicomp keyboard. I love it. I'm typing
on it right now. And if you're a real typist with plenty of desktop
space, I can't recommend it highly enough. It isn't just that I type
more accurately, more smoothly, and (therefore) faster; it's that I
_feel_ better. I'm more comfortable, less frustrated, less tense;
and I approach a day of typing at the computer with eagerness
instead of a vague, nagging dread. This could really make me a
happier, more productive writer!
If you want one, the place to start is the PCKeyboard.com Web site
(and don't start puzzling over whether there's an "s" at the end of
the name; it's all too confusing). What I got is listed as a
"Customizer 104/105". It comes in one color, black (with lovely grey
keys), and two wiring configurations, PS/2 (boo, hiss) and USB
(yay!). So what I ordered was a Windows (US) USB model with US
English layout.
<http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/>
Now, don't get all bent out of the shape over the use of the word
"Windows" in that title. Nothing about this keyboard is going to
remind you of Bill Gates except for the presence of a picture of
something that looks like a flying window where the Option key
should be, and the presence of the word Alt where the Command key
should be, next to the Spacebar. I suppose you could paste something
over those symbols if they really bother you (I think Unicomp will
actually sell you alternative keycaps, but I didn't look into that).
You do, however, need to reverse the meaning of the Option and
Command keys. Here's how you do it.
Plug the keyboard into your computer. A dialog will appear stating
that the keyboard isn't known, and asking you to type the key to the
right of the left Shift key ("Z" on my keyboard) and to the left of
the right Shift key (forward slash), and then asking you to confirm
that this appears to be a U.S. keyboard. Then, choose Apple > System
Preferences, open the Keyboard & Mouse preferences, and click
Modifier Keys on the Keyboard pane. In that dialog, set the Command
key to mean Option and the Option key to mean Command. You're good
to go! Remember, though, that this reversal is made in software, for
your individual user; during startup, when your user hasn't loaded
yet, to hold down the Option key (to display a choice of available
systems) you'll still need to use Alt.
(Okay, I lied. There is one further indication that this is a
Windows keyboard: the presence of the Application key next to the
right Control key. I believe this is supposed to do the same thing
as right-clicking the mouse - what a Mac user would call
Control-clicking. On my machine, it doesn't do anything, and that's
just fine with me.)
The Customizer 104/105 keyboard costs $69; shipping is extra (and
earplugs for anyone who shares your office space must be purchased
elsewhere). See the Web site for other models and configurations.
<http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/customizer.html>
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 02-Mar-09
---------------------------------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10092>
1Password 2.9.9 from Agile Web Solutions updates the password
syncing utility with support for Safari 4 Beta, as well as support
for the iCab Web browser. The update also brings improved load time
for Agile Keychain, expanded built-in documentation, enhanced
imports from Safari and Firefox, and a variety of bug fixes
including ones that address import performance, memory leaks, and
crashing in Mac OS X 10.4. A full list of changes is available on
the Agile Web Solutions Web site. ($39.95 new, free update, 11.4 MB)
<http://1password.com/>
<http://www.icab.de/>
<http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password/versions#v7365>
Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 is a maintenance update to Adobe's flagship
photo editing program. In the latest version the Pen barrel rotation
now works correctly with Wacom tablets, 3D textures edited by
plug-ins are properly recognized, and the results for the Auto-Blend
Layers command have been improved. Also, two crashing bugs have been
fixed - one that occurs when pasting formatted text, and another
that occurs when working with corrupt fonts. ($699 new, free update,
33.1 MB)
<http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/>
MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 from MacSpeech is a maintenance update for the
speech recognition utility, fixing reported issues and adding
several features. Changes include new Cache Document and Cache
Selection commands that enable users to navigate and edit existing
documents by voice, microphone status indicators that have been
added to the menu bar, new Press the Key commands that input the
keyboard keys specified, and an added Cancel Training command that
closes the Recognition window. Other changes include recognition
window output now being handled without auto-formatting, and the
removal of the Force Quit this Application command. Several bugs
have also been fixed, including one that causes the command Go to
End to fail, and two that caused MacSpeech Dictate to crash. Lastly,
the latest version includes a new online help book written by
TidBITS Contributing Editor Matt Neuburg. ($199 new, free update)
<http://www.macspeech.com/>
Corel Painter 11 from Corel is the latest version of the
professional painting and illustration software. Changes include new
Hard Media and RealBristle Dry Media controls that offer greater
media options, enhanced selection tools including a new polygon mode
for the lasso tool, increased support for Wacom pens and tablets,
new color profiles for individual documents, a new resizable color
palette, improved Adobe Photoshop support, and a feature that
enables users to switch between Transform modes from one centralized
location. ($399 new, $199 upgrade, 103 MB)
<www.corel.com/painter>
Cocktail 4.3.1 from Maintain is a security and stability update to
the general purpose maintenance utility. This version addresses an
issue wherein Cocktail stopped responding during a scheduled system
cache clearing, adds the capability remove the Trojan Lamzev.A and
the worm Inqtana, and improves the utility's capability to clear
potentially harmful files. ($14.95, 1.8 MB)
<http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/>
ExtraBITS for 02-Mar-09
-----------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10103>
**Exporting 720p from iMovie '09** -- Macworld's Chris Breen spent the
weekend crunching pixels to come up with a way to export
deinterlaced 720p video from iMovie '09, a process that seems
strangely difficult (and made more difficult by an unresolved bug in
the way iMovie handles interlaced video). (Posted 2009-03-02)
<http://www.macworld.com/article/139124/2009/03/export720pimovie09.html>
**Dan Frakes Examines Safari 4's Tabs** -- The beta of Safari 4 offers
some notable changes to how tabs work, and while some of those
changes are useful, others have provoked criticism. Macworld's Dan
Frakes runs down the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Posted
2009-03-02)
<http://www.macworld.com/article/139026/2009/02/safari4tabs.html>
**MacOS iPhone Project Puts System 7 on an iPhone** -- We thought
running the classic Atari game Adventure on an iPhone was the
epitome of retro geekiness, but a fully functional version of System
7 on an iPhone? Wow! It's not available yet, but it's worth checking
out for the screenshots alone. (Posted 2009-03-02)
<http://www.macosiphone.co.cc/>
**MobileMe Receives Various Improvements** -- None of this stuff is
earth-shattering, but Apple has improved MobileMe's performance in
various areas, fixed some user interface annoyances, and made other
small improvements. (Posted 2009-02-27)
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3409>
**iPhone Becomes Credit Card Terminal** -- People who sell at farmers'
markets or street festivals can now use an iPhone to process credit
card transactions via ProcessAway. Now if only there could be direct
iPhone-to-iPhone transactions, or the capability to use an iPhone to
make payments more generally, as is increasingly common with mobile
phones in Japan. (Posted 2009-02-27)
<http://www.processaway.net/>
**Hidden Preferences in Safari 4 Beta** -- Liking the beta of Safari
4's speed, but ambivalent or truly annoyed by changes such as the
top-mounted tabs and new toolbar? The Random Genius blog found
hidden preferences to control these and other settings. (Posted
2009-02-26)
<http://swedishcampground.com/safari-4-hidden-preferences>
**The Photographic Dictionary** -- Thanks to Photojojo for turning us
on to The Photographic Dictionary, a Web site that defines words
both textually and with a carefully chosen photograph. Particularly
interesting are conceptual words, such as "unknown." (Posted
2009-02-26)
<http://www.thephotographicdictionary.org/>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 02-Mar-09
----------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10102>
**Backups Need Power, Too** -- Readers share tips about determining
what size of a UPS to buy, and how best to deal with a power outage.
(2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2482>
**EtherPad Brings Simultaneous Writing to the Web** -- Dropbox's
versioning feature invites using it in tandem with SubEthaEdit, but
for now the idea is just a wish list item. (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2483>
**Time Machine ignoring folders** -- Readers share ongoing,
unexplained quirks with Time Machine. (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2486>
**iPhone to Add Location Logging?** Is Google somehow getting around
Apple's limitation that non-Apple applications can't operate in the
background on the iPhone? (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2487>
**Safari 4** -- The Safari 4 beta dispenses with the SnapBack button
that would take you back to an earlier page, leading readers to
comment on whether they ever used the feature. (10 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2490>
$$
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