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Personally, I found the TouchStream ST mentioned in the article much more attractive. Essentially a big touchpad that functioned as keyboard, mouse, and gesture pad. Gestures seem fun, useful, and productive, as Minority Report confirmed for me mentally. The TouchStream seems a bit limited, and restrictive due to its small size. However, an entire section of a desk, or true keyboard size pad would be a blast to use, I think. The only major problem is sensory response (none).

Perhaps a gelpad type material would be appropriate? It would provide interesting sensory feedback, and it would allow you to rest your hands comfortably on the surface without triggering.

-Greg

Testing a keyboard for a month would mean that I could only write a max of 12 reviews a year. Tough to pay the bills on that! :) But, I do use each keyboard exclusively for a few days (if at all possible) before I write a review.

Note that I still use the SafeType vertical keyboard and the TouchStream keyboard--I hope to follow up my last round of reviews with a "longer term" perspective (as you requested).

Testing a keyboard for a month would mean that I could only write a max of 12 reviews a year. Tough to pay the bills on that! :) But, I do use each keyboard exclusively for a few days (if at all possible) before I write a review.

Note that I still use the SafeType vertical keyboard and the TouchStream keyboard--I hope to follow up my last round of reviews with a "longer term" perspective (as you requested).

I have been using datahands for three years now, and for the price of the orbit, I advise saving up a bit more and going with the datahands. I have a hard time thinking that equivalent 'flat keyboard' speeds could be reached with the orbitm and the fixed nature of the right and left hands would make chair arm mounting more difficult. (Having the datahands mounted to the chair arms allows so much more freedom. Less of a feeling of being 'inserted' in your workstation.) That being said, I'd take one of those over a flat or natural kbd in a second, if only for the integrated mouse.

I am tired of having only one mouse and cursor on my computer, I think the keyboard should be split in 2 like Either of these 2 keyboards TouchStream ST or, DataHand.

Then, a optical mouse eye should be under each half, which controls a left hand and right hand mouse pointer.

So much more could be done with computer UI if we had 2 mouse pointers.

Do you eat a steak with one hand? And if you merge the keyboard with the mouse you don't have to switch you had back and forth over and over again.

I am tired of having only one mouse and cursor on my computer, I think the keyboard should be split in 2 like Either of these 2 keyboards TouchStream ST or, DataHand.

Then, a optical mouse eye should be under each half, which controls a left hand and right hand mouse pointer.

So much more could be done with computer UI if we had 2 mouse pointers.

Do you eat a steak with one hand? And if you merge the keyboard with the mouse you don't have to switch you had back and forth over and over again.

The Datahand system, reviewed here has a price of $1,295 USD.

Wow. 'Taint cheap, eh?

This article seems to have been passed over without much viewing. All of the keyboards are really interesting designs, but I would like to point out one in particular. The TouchStream ST. Granted, it does have a pretty heavy price tag, ~$300, but if I had the money this is what I would buy. It completely gits rid of the need for a mouse, and it has a wealth of gestures that make your life a lot easier.

Here is the link for the portion of the article about this awesome keyboard.

ExtremeTech has a story Keyboard Craziness and Mouse Madness has a few interesting keyboards and mice beyond the ordinary.
New is also this article about a keyboard without a keyboard.

ExtremeTech has a story Keyboard Craziness and Mouse Madness has a few interesting keyboards and mice beyond the ordinary.
New is also this article about a keyboard without a keyboard.

ExtremeTech has a story Keyboard Craziness and Mouse Madness has a few interesting keyboards and mice beyond the ordinary.
New is also this article about a keyboard without a keyboard.

a good roundup of fancy keyboards here

The build-your-own cost was already beaten to death in this

slashdot article. While it's a bit dated, the cost of a do-it-yourself Tivo/replaytv can also be found here (although they are a bit dated):

for both replay and tivo.

Very important is that you also need to get the TV-guide-snagging software configured, which is a bit painful. Perhaps worse, if it ever really catches on you can be sure the people who provide the guide info will want their slice (which is covered by the Tivo/ReplayTV subscriptions).

Lastly, the idea of building your own cheaply assumes your time is free, which makes sense if you are doing it for fun, but isn't really a sensible econimic argument.

Come talk to me again in about 10 years when you understand some history, learn to read, and stop cheerleading for your favorite OS just because.

Spreading information and history is not equivalent to preaching doomsday messages, you need to seriously learn the difference between the two.

After reading the article, I did a quick search for 802.11g throughput tests and 802.11a/b tests. I came up with two links:

Tom's Hardware 802.11g throughput tests

ExtremeTech's 802.11a and 802.11b throughput tests

There's going to be overhead with any protocol, but I would expect that wireless would have a higher overhead than wired protocols. There's certainly a lot of things you have to take into consideration for wireless throughput - obstructions, distance, error correction.

If you want better

[Next Page]

reviews that

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don't read like Cat in

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the Hat with ads, you

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should try

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AnandTech or ExtremeTech or even HardOCP.

Did anyone watch this clip of the new prototype GUI?

This is it. This is what e-mail viruses are going to look like in four years.

Read this article at ExtremeTech. It states that UltraSPARC IV will have 2 UltraSPARC III cores. If the UltraSPARC III are in-order, how can UltraSPARC IV be out-of-order?

Besides how does it matter if the core is in-order or not? All I want is kick-ass app performance - I don't care if you do in-order, out-of-order or even get a group of chimps to run through the instructions.

ExtremeTech has an extensive review also.

Care to back up that accusation with any "proof" ?

I recokon you could call this proof. Or maybe just a really odd coincidence.

Bundling a media player is not quite the same as bundling IE or WMP that have their fetid tendrils through the guts of your system. Apple's media player doesn't spy on you as WMP does

This confirms that someone in marketing is involved despite my first impressions of the project:
MSN iLoo Q&As with Tracy Blacher - consumer marketing manager for MSN

I love the logo on this one!:
Article: MSN Crafts Web-Enabled Toilet

ExtremeTech has a review on the Quill Mouse along with a vertical-split keyboard. The reviewer found that the mouse was comfortable to use... but the thing does look funny :)

Is it just me or anyone else has found the Xtreme Tek site suspicious to the point of intolerability?
Their name is probably a play on the well-known ExtremeTech. After seeing a huge banner featuring a scantily-clad girl in a horizontal position, I closed the window without waiting for download to finish. Thank you, but my standards of acceptance typically require a bit more ingenuity.

"FreeBSD has the largest development team, the largest user base, the largest number of ported applications, and the largest collection of active e-mail lists. It also has the best documentation..."

It also points out that installation is easier. In short, you use FreeBSD because it has the richest feature set and greatest ease-of-use. You use OpenBSD when security is your first priority and you don't mind struggling a little bit.

Here's a good analysis of the various BSDs from last september. It gives a great background on the BSDs and it'll help explain why the BSDs should be re-united (or not.)

our customers have seen a lot more innovation from us than they have seen from that [open-source] community

That's certainly true. They have come up with far more innovative ways to introduce fatal security holes, integrate flawed and overly restrictive DRM into their products, and come out with countless patches and service packs that sometimes even break basic system functionality. On top of that, M$ continues to complain that the very existence of open source might actually force them to improve their products! Sorry about that Bill, we obviously miscalculated what a burden we were placing on you. Please let us know what we can do to help your business stay the way it is and keep pissing off your users.

Ok, I found the link: extremetech reports this and my precious ee times was just plain wrong. Thanks. The datasheet said that 80W was the target power, which I assumed was for the processor but it's actually the target for the power supply. That's a lot of head room they spec'ed out. Since they are going after the server market, I guess we won't get any accurate numbers in spec sheets until they try to tackle the mobile market.

My general problem articles and reviews such as A Week of Wacky Input Devices is that they are not empirical. That is, little soft or hard research is done. I'd like more data bases on market research, user surveys, usability studies, and so forth. Opinions can certainly interesting and useful, but they don't have the same bite as research. Give me more data!

If you are interested Dvorak keyboards, I suggest you check out The Fable of the Keys by Liebowitz and Margolis (1990). At a minimum, it is a long article on why Dvorak failed economically, but it covers more ground than that.

We'll also be testing Opteron workstations as soon as they're completed. I expect the first reviews will be using the nForce3.

We'll also be testing Opteron workstations as soon as they're completed. I expect the first reviews will be using the nForce3.

We'll also be testing Opteron workstations as soon as they're completed. I expect the first reviews will be using the nForce3.

What? You mean like this?

Sounds exactly like you are describing!

or even Symantec

The most interesting bit in my mind, however, is what happens to this rogue bus license owned by S3. Recall that S3 Inc. signed a patent cross-license with Intel, then exited the graphics business, became Sonicblue, and sold off its assets to a joint venture with Via called S3 Graphics. That's why the current deal excludes S3 Graphics.

However, Sonicblue is also auctioning off its assets. That means there's going to be an Intel bus license up for grabs, possibly. However, as we wrote here, Sonicblue's legal team says the license can't be transferred without Intel's permission. That should make the auction more interesting, certainly...

From ExtremeTech.com:
Compaq, on the other hand, was the first "PC clone" company. It's a term that sounds rather quaint today. At the time, though, Compaq sent a shudder through the industry. Compaq reverse-engineered the IBM PC BIOS without ever looking at the BIOS code. That was harder than you might think, because IBM actually published the assembly code for the PC BIOS in its technical reference manuals. Compaq was able to prove that its engineers never looked at the code or disassembled the original BIOS to come up with their own.

This would probably never happen in today's lawsuit-happy technology industry. Today's IBM might sue a Compaq just to run the clock out. But back then, IBM--perhaps still skittish after its own set of antitrust battles with the Justice Department--kept quiet. Compaq opened the floodgates, and a host of PC compatibles soon hit the streets, and the PC industry was never quite the same small, insular community.

Should Programmers Be Protected With Code Tariffs

No by IBM

i thought Sun was pushing madhatter for the desktop env.

So that's my argument, anyway.

I keep hearing this rumors that their software disables/screws with Linux?!?

Read this article and see for yourself.

You can't really do this sort of thing at the filesystem or device driver level anymore because of the internal drive geometry translation.

SCSI drive have been doing it internally for a long time now. IDE drives are just starting to get this working. Link

I am taking a game design class at school and here are some readings that you all may find interesting. I wonder whether after reading the articles below and sticking to the concepts, will we become better game developers?

"Game Engine Anatomy 101" by Jake Simpson - http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,594,00. asp

"Formal Abstract Design Tools" by Doug Church - http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990716/design_ tools_01.htm

"2000: Formal Design Tools: Emergent Complexity, Emergent Narrative" by Marc "MAHK" LeBlanc - http://www.algorithmancy.org

Here is how criminals, the paranoid, and people who want to use their wife/boss/mother's account will do so.

PCI Express Technical Introduction on ExtremeTech.

The core, as defined, contains 64 Kbytes of instruction cache, 32 Kbytes of data cache, and 512 Kbytes of 8-way set associative level 2 cache. Unlike the Power4, the core does not apparently contain an onboard cache controller to enable the use of off-chip L3 cache.

The front-side bus electrically runs at 450-MHz, double-clocked to an effective rate of 900-MHz, generating a peak bandwidth of 7.2 Gbytes or 6.4 Gbytes/s of useable bandwidth after transaction overhead is taken into account, Sandon said. Five instructions can be issued and acted upon at any one time, while a total of 200 instructions can be "in flight" at any time, taking into account instructions that are stored in queues.

Performance-wise, IBM believes the chip can record a benchmark of 932 on SPECint 2000 and a score of 1051 on SPECfp2000, both at 1.8-GHz. Peak SIMD GFLOPs should be about 14.4, Sandon said. Using Dhrystone MIPS, the chip should output a score of 5,220. or 2.9 DMIPS/MHz/. IBM expects the chip should test 18 million RC5 keys per second.

As does Extremetech.com - they offer up a pretty in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding the fiasco here.

Scott

I have a definite list and surprisingly an order too (anyone else do this compulsively?)

1.) CNN
2.) LinuxToday
3.) OSnews
4.) KernelTrap
5.) Yahoo! Mail - Only including this because it's in my list.
6.) ExtremeTech
7.) AnandTech
8.) Tom's Hardware
9.) 2cpu
10.) Slashdot - Last because it takes the longest.

Hmm, come to think of it I have some wierd habits while surfing too. When I'm traveling my path of websites, I picture them on a 2d plane with distance in between. CNN on the left, linuxtoday in the lower middle, etc. Anyone else do this?

Tagged Queuing Explaination.

However, IBM's working on similar concepts for ATA.

I suggest you read this:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,555451, 00.asp