Jeff Chan

Microsoft Natural Ergonomics Keyboard 4000

Like I was saying a few days ago, I got myself a brand new keyboard, the Microsoft Natural Ergonomics Keyboard 4000. I got the package yesterday and I’ve been using it ever since. Despite a few minor problems so far it’s been pretty good.

In the past I’ve always got the cheap $5 dollar keyboards, but those come with a great price. My hands and fingers would start to hurt if I type on the keyboard too much (over 30 minutes). I’ve been wanting to get an ergonomics keyboard for awhile now, hoping that it will solve my problems. Right now, I can’t say for sure if this is helping.

The keyboard takes sometime to get use to. As you can see, the middle is curved up, supposedly to make you more comfortable. But as someone who doesn’t type the 100% proper way, it takes time for me to adapt the keyboard.

The keys are fairly comfortable and quiet. The keyboard also comes with software to allow you to customize the buttons at the top. I’ve never really used those keyboard buttons before, but I may give it a try this time. There’s also a zoom button but it’s quite awkward to have it right in the middle. The back and forward buttons are also in the middle, which is kind of odd. My Logitech MX Revolution mice does a better job of zooming and back and forward browsing since it has better customizations.

I was a little disappointed to find that my keyboard didn’t come with the 7 degree riser. When I was in Office Depot to check out the keyboard myself. The riser made typing much more comfortable. But hey, I bought the OEM version of the keyboard, which is of course cheaper. Nothing to complain here. The truth is that Microsoft makes pretty damn good keyboards. Overall, I think the keyboard is well worth the money.

 Topics: ergonomic, keyboard, microsoft, opinion, review, Tech

Switching To Google Reader … and Back

I am a pretty loyal Bloglines user ever since I started subscribing to RSS feeds. I’ve been tempted to switch over to the new version of Google Reader for awhile. Three days ago, I finally got around to organize my feeds and exporting them to Google Reader. However, Google Reader just doesn’t fit my taste and I switched back today.

Here are the main reasons:

1. Scrolling One of the things I like about Bloglines is the ability to just swift through the feeds really quick and take a glance at the headlines. But in Google Reader, scrolling is really annoying because it marks the posts as read one by one, thus making scrolling really slow.
2. Sharing Another great thing about Bloglines is the ability to just have a public page where you can show everyone else the feeds you are subscribing to. In Google Reader, there is a similar feature. But instead of displaying a list, it actually displays the RSS items.
3. Shortcuts This is the main reason I switched back to Bloglines. Bloglines’ shortcuts are very simple. j is next item. k is previous item. n marks the item. f goes to the next folder. Things are not quite the same in Google Reader. The previous and next item shortcuts are the same, but switching between folders makes me want to scream. First I have to select a folder by pressing shift+n or shift+p. Then I have to OPEN it, again, holding down shift and pressing o. Why can’t I just select the NEXT folder and OPEN it in one press.
4. Marking Items as read The is the main reason I actually use feed readers instead of iGoogle or anything of the like. With feed readers, I can keep track of what I’ve read and what I haven’t. One small annoyance in Google reader is that when I open a folder and when there is only one or two items unread(and don’t take up the whole page), I still have to press the “j” button n times, to mark them as read. Of course I can always “mark all read”, but Bloglines makes it so that I don’t even have to do any of that.
5. Organizing It’s so hard to organize your feeds in Google Reader. It just plain sucks. I want the ability to just drag and drop my feeds and folders. Double click to rename them. And hold on to control to select multiple of them. I also just want to hit delete to delete a feed or folder. But with Google Reader, you have to make bunch of check marks one by one and then choose your action.

If Google fixes these annoyances, I will definitely give it another shot. But for now, Bloglines it is. Oh yes, meanwhile, checkout what I’m reading every day.

 Topics: Bloglines, feeds, Google Reader, opinion, review, RSS, syndication, Tech

Proyecto Final

I know it’s been a long time since I updated. After the all the robotics competition, I just had a lot of projects and the AP Chinese exam to handle. So far, I have two final projects left and I’ve already took the AP Chinese exam. The exam was great (never thought I would say that), I’m pretty sure I’ll score a five. As for the projects, I have a very idiotic Spanish project which involves tons of “summary pages” and essays — not fun. The other project is for my Physics class. I’ll be making a mousetrap car. I already have some ideas, but I just need to stop procrastinating.

I wanted to post about this last week but didn’t have time. I got a new mouse! I got the Logitech MX Revolution. 55 bucks but it’s well worth the money. Now my fingers don’t hurt when I click. I also love the configurations I can do with it.The only thing that sucks is the battery power. There’s no sleep mode either, so I always have to remember to turn it off.

Meanwhile, I’m still planning for the summer plans including the July Hawaii trip. Since I’m part of a “team”, I’m suppose to work with a bunch of pain in the butt parents and hypocritical team members. These people are the stupidest hypocrites ever…

Anyways, other than the usual school work, I’ve been doing some labor for Shane and MQ. It’s also ants season here so after this I’m going to go kill some ants!

 Topics: advance placement, ants, AP, Hawaii, Life, Logitech, mouse, opinion, review, spanish