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Posts with tag keyboard

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Mozilla, Search, Browsers

URL Alias adds superpowers to the Firefox address bar


Good things really do come in small packages, as is the case with the URL Alias Firefox addon.
I originally installed it looking to make the address bar more launcher-like. For example, I wanted http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox to open when I type mail or http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS05 when I enter wings.

I prefer using words or abbreviations I can remember easily instead of hotkey combinations, and this experimental addon is the perfect tool for the job.

Since URL Alias also supports a variable (yep, just one), you can do a whole lot more with your aliases than just save keystrokes.

To manage aliases, type the following in your address bar: chrome://urlalias/content/urlalias.xul [enter]

Suppose you want to set up a Google search alias for results from downloadsquad.com.

dls http://www.google.com/search?q=%s%20site:downloadsquad.com

The %s is replaced by whatever text you enter after the keyword: dls firefox addons will return results for all matching DS posts. Change the alias text and url, and set up as many site-specific searches as you like.

Read more →

Filed under: Fun

Can you melt a keyboard with your fingertips?

So you think you can type? Before you say anything: no, it's not a pitch for a new reality show.

Whether you think that you're a fast typist or not, you have to appreciate this: a medical transcriptionist who typed so fast and so frequently that the keys of their keyboard became completely worn through.

Of course, we understand that there are a number of factors when it comes to wear on a keyboard. If you type in between bites of a KFC multi-piece extra crispy chicken bucket, for example, or if the tips of your fingers are worn rough from all those years of forced labor in a Siberian prison, then your keyboard might be more prone to degradation.

The question is, does reading about someone typing so fast that their keyboard melted make you green with envy? How about orange with desire?

If you'd like to try melting a keyboard with your keystrokes, then you'll need to get a little practice in. We've covered a large number of online typing tutors in the past. Or, if you prefer a download, you can check out Stamina Typing Tutor (thanks for the link, Aseem).

[via BoingBoing]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Remap your boss's keyboard as a prank with SharpKeys

SharpKeys
Have you ever bought a laptop that has a few keys that you're convinced our in the wrong place? We've seen keyboards that put the Windows key all the way in the top right corner, or which put the arrow keys a bit too closer to the shift key for comfort.

SharpKeys is a utility that lets you remap pretty much any key on your keyboard. Just fire SharpKeys up, select a key, and then decide what you would like its new function to be. To get the full effect, once you're done, you can even try prying the keys off of your keyboard and rearranging them. Just a quick warning though: your spacebar probably won't fit in the spot where the K key currently resides. We figured you probably knew that already, but figured we'd issue a disclaimer just in case spacial relations aren't your thing.

Also note that if anyone follows the recommendation in this post's title Download Squad and its parent company AOL will not be held responsible for the fallout. But if you happen to snap any pictures of the ensuing fun, please send them our way.

SharpKeys is designed for Window XP, 2000 and Vista.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Reopen closed tabs in Firefox with your keyboard

Firefox Download Squad Cinematical Tabs
It happens to everyone, and it's annoying. Sometimes the wrong tab gets closed in Firefox, but it's OK. There's a solution to the problem, and it comes in the form of CTRL + SHIFT + T in Windows or COMMAND + SHIFT + T in Mac OS X.

We've covered other solutions in the past such as Unclosetab, a Firefox extension that adds a right-click option to reopen a closed tab. Another easy way to reopen a closed tab is simply to visit the Recently Closed Tabs menu under History.

And if you'd like to close the tab currently up, CTRL + W or COMMAND + W should do the trick. Now you have no excuse for your lady to catch you browsing the Apple Store late at night.

Filed under: Fun, Text, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Windows Mobile, Productivity, Open Source, Mobile Minute

Dasher - The psychedelic keyboard alternative

Dasher - information-efficient text-entry interface


Imagine you are driving across the state of Kansas, passing an endless quilt of farm fields filled with harvest ready corn. Imagine that you are dreaming and unrestrained by roads and fences. Entering one of the fields, a whole patchwork of color opens up before you. As you go on these patches get larger until they are each acres wide and as big as the field you just entered. It's as if you have passed into another Kansas hidden within the first.

Entering another field you discover that it too opens up to yet more fields. This goes on and on until you can't remember the real Kansas at all and can only look to next row of fields and the gallery of smaller worlds appearing within them.

Psychedelic? No. This is just what is like to use Dasher.

Read more →

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Productivity, Beta

PocketCM Keyboard - finger friendly typing on Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is great at a lot of things. Text entry is not one of them. While a lot of folks complain that the iPhone soft keyboard takes some getting used to, at least it allows 2 fingered typing on a device without a keypad. You need a stylus to type on most Windows Mobile devices without keyboard unless you're using a full-screen keyboard or Tengo Thumb.

The developer behind PocketCM Contacts has another solution, a 2-fingered software keyboard that takes up about the same amount of space as other software keyboards.



The keyboard looks and acts a lot like the iPhone keyboard. Key presses don't register until you lift your finger. This gives you time to shift your finger from one spot to the next until you've got the correct letter.

PocketCM Keyboard runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 and newer devices. It's still in beta, although it's under rapid development, so we can probably expect a final release soon. No word on whether the full version will be freeware, but PocketCM contacts is donateware, so one can only hope.

[via the unwired]

Filed under: Design, Developer, Google

Google on-screen keyboard gadget

igoogle keyboardLooks like Google is in the process of developing some sort of on-screen keyboard gadget for iGoogle for entering search queries.

In its current incarnation, the iGoogle keyboard gadget is built by a Google Developer in Google's Bangalore India office with language options including:

  • Hindi
  • Tamil
  • Kannada
  • Malayalam
  • Telugu
  • Gujarati
  • Sanskrit
  • Bengali
  • Punjabi
  • Nepali
  • Marathi
  • Oriya
  • Assamese

What could these keyboards be used for besides entering search terms? Some form of an early mobile phone application prototype? There are currently no English versions of the gadget, so if anyone has any other ideas on what it could be used for, please drop us a line.

[via Steve Rubel]

Filed under: Windows Mobile, iPhone

Get that iPhone keyboard look on Windows Mobile

iphone-like keyboardIt was just a matter of time before we saw more iPhone inspired Windows Mobile mods. While we won't see a hack to let your phone automatically change from landscape to portrait when you rotate the screen anytime soon (it doesn't have the hardware), you can make your on-screen keyboard a bit more iPhone-like.

The folks over at XDA Developers have released a skin for Happy Tapping Keyboard that looks like the iPhone keyboard. While one of the main things iPhone users complain about is the lack of a physical keyboard, its on-screen keyboard is a bit easier to use for thumb typing than the default Windows Mobile keyboard.

This is just a skin, so don't expect Apple's predictive text system. Windows Mobile's predictive text will kick in, offering suggestions as you type, but it won't give you any leeway when you hit the wrong key as the iPhone sometimes will.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Text, Web services, Social Software

Navigate Wikipedia faster with keyboard shortcuts

wikipedia keyboard shortcutsGetting around Wikipedia could take shorter than you have been previously use to. For instance, do you know about the keyboard shortcuts?

Keyboard shortcuts aren't a well known feature for users of the popular online encyclopedia, but they do exist. I recently came across a post by Steve Rubel reminding me of this fact.

These keyboard shortcuts work with any browser, and on both PC and Mac platforms, and don't need to install any special Greasemonkey script, and will surely speed up your time when searching for useful content.

Depending on which browser you are in you will have to use hold down this combination of keys, then hit your access key:
  • Mozilla Firefox 1.5: hold Alt, press access key
  • Mozilla Firefox 2: hold Alt-Shift, press access key
  • Internet Explorer: hold Alt, press access key, and then press Enter
  • Opera: press Shift-Esc, then press access key
  • Mac OS: Control and a key
Check out a cheat sheet for the key shortcuts after the jump:

Read more →

Filed under: Fun

Keyboard optimized for Google Reader - Flickr mockup



Enthusiastic users of an app or web service typically come to wish for some form of UI optimization or another. That near-vaporware Optimus keyboard that Engadget has been covering is a great example, but so is this Photoshopped mockup of a Google Reader-optimized keyboard from Flickr user paolovalde. For those who don't use Google's suddenly dominant newsreader, J is the key used to scroll through headlines in reverse (much like scrolling back through Gmail messages), which explains why paolovalde might be jonesing for a much larger and easier target to strike.

Who knows - with a rumored Google phone on the way, what's to stop the big G from cranking out an innovative keyboard?

[via Chris Wetherell of the Google Reader team]

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Maximum Typing - Today's Time Waster

Maximum Typing
Sometimes we all need a little practice with our typing, and it's nice to see someone kick some butt while we're at it. Pepsi is promoting Pepsi Nex -- a soft drink sold in Japan -- with Maximum Typing. It's a pretty nifty online typing game, in the vein of QWERTY Warriors.

Instead of zapping enemies by typing letters though, as you type in the letter or combination of letters on an ice cube, the little guy on the left of the screen rushes up and punches, kicks, knees, or otherwise pummels the cube to smithereens. In between stages he has a tendency to take a swig from a bottle. I'm going to assume that it's Coca-Cola.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Filed under: Windows, Productivity

Learn a new keyboard shortcut every day

Windows KeyStephen Mack is director of TiVoCast operations for, you guessed it TiVo. He's also a keyboard shortcut guru. As he points out, the less often you have to reach for the mouse, the less strain you put on the wrist, and the quicker you can get your work done at your computer.

After getting a few requests for keyboard shortcut tips from his coworkers, Mack went and set up a new blog. Sure, there are plenty of places on the web where you can find lists of keyboard shortcuts. But it's nice to just find one new shortcut a day to focus on. It's sort of like flipping through a word a day calendar. You don't become a wizard overnight, but by the end of the year, you've expanded your vocabulary.

There's just a few tips up right now, and they might seem pretty obvious (hit the Windows key to bring up the start menu), but there's a few hidden gems in there. For example, I didn't know you could also bring up the start menu by clicking Ctrl+Esc if your keyboard doesn't have a Windows button.

Mack's list appears to be Windows only, but there are plenty of resources out there for Mac and Linux users.

Filed under: Hardware, News, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft macks-out Vista ready hardware

Microsoft's new Vista hardwareMicrosoft has just announced a bunch of new peripherals including an expensive ($250) wireless keyboard and mouse set due out in time for Vista. The set features Bluetooth connectivity (30 feet), back-lit keys, rechargeability and easy navigation buttons. There is a less-pricey version without the sexy trim for $150. This is part of Microsoft's plan to help users transition to Vista, by having the navigation options right on the keyboard. Also, just released from Microsoft are a new web cam, a new presentation mouse, and a new wireless gaming device. I can't wait to get my hands on the new hotness to test-drive it, but they don't come out until at least January next year, just in time for Vista's mainstream debut.

[Via ComputerWorld]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

waNOCAPS: Eliminate the scourge of caps lock

waNOCAPSI believe I have made known previously the fact that I rather dislike Caps Lock. Though it is essential for some specialized applications, for most of us Caps Lock lies somewhere between obnoxious and dangerous. There is, however, a cure, for Windows at least: waNOCAPS is a quick registry patch that will turn the unwanted key into a conveniently-located third Ctrl key. waNOCAPS is free and comes with a companion patch that will reverse the changes.

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla

Master bookmark keywords in Firefox

Firefox and the art of keyword bookmarkingAdam Pash's latest "Hack Attack" column over at Lifehacker is a great guide to making the most of bookmark keywords in Firefox. In case you're not familiar, Firefox lets you assign keywords to your bookmarks which serve as shortcuts: For example, if you assign the keyword "dls" to your Download Squad bookmark, from then on you can just type "dls" in your address bar to get here. But if you're going for super-speed, you'll want something shorter, like just "d". Anyway, Pash's guide covers more than just that, of course, including quick searches (I'm up to 50, how 'bout you?) and a cool extension called OpenBook that streamlines this stuff even more. If you're a fan of keyboard shortcuts and are interested in speeding up your browsing in Firefox, don't miss this article.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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