• December 7th, 2007
• Filed in
  • Apple
  • Rants

No company on the face of the planet has been heralded for it’s excellent design more than Apple.

Sometimes when they’re pushing the design envelop they’re off the mark and their products end up making better fish tanks than computers.

In their effort to always push the envelope of industrial design they sometimes fail, but they always seem to do so gracefully. You can’t succeed without failing every once in a while and Apple is no stranger to flops. No one can argue their designs don’t have aesthetic appeal, but sometimes it seems practicality bears the burden.

So recently when a friend and coworker was foiled by Apple design I realized that Apple’s stellar design team wasn’t as flawless as we all sometimes think.

The situation occurred when Bill and I were talking about developing .Net applications on our Mac’s. Bill does a lot of work with .Net and I wondered why he still worked mostly on his PC at work when he could have all the Mac-goodness and develop .Net in his Parallels installation. This discussion lead to grievances about his lack of right clicking ability making the whole idea too much of a pain than it was worth. Bill has a mighty mouse and has had one for quite some time and was never aware that it indeed was a two button mouse. How could this happen? Seems that his macbook was defaulted to this (one button config) configuration unbeknown to him. So why didn’t he ever realize that his mighty mouse was a two button mouse? I think it’s pretty simple, Apple’s industrial design team did nothing to tell you “Hey this is a two button mouse because it looks like a two button mouse”. In fact, the only difference between Apple’s One-Button Mouse and their Mighty Mouse is the little scroll wheel (known as the nipple pictured below).

One-Button Mouse

Mighty Mouse

Don’t two-button mice look like this?

Any recent switcher would loathe the one-button mouse (I know I did), it’s just not what they’re used to and if you ask me, it’s always been a past problem with Macs. Two-button mice are the way to go and should always be set that way by default with each new shiny Mighty Mouse that ships. Move forward with your new-found user base and rejoice!

So to avoid future confusion I’m creating my own version of what a mighty mouse should look like using Photoshop wizardry. I call it the Mighty Kyle. I love my mighty mouse - it’s the best mouse I’ve ever had, but it sure doesn’t look like a two-button mouse, I think the Mighty Kyle sure does.

I can still hear the echoes of Apple’s “Think Different” advertising campaign, I say a better slogan would read “Think Different, For The Sake Of Being Different”.

Popularity: 3% [?]

• September 18th, 2007
• Filed in
  • Apple
  • Review

Some people have some nasty things to say about the new Apple Keyboard. I assure you, I am not one of them.

Among those nasty things - there are these “negatives”

1. Weird shape of keys
2. Keys lack “throw” aka key travel
3. Keys lack tactile feedback and require little pressure to press
4. Keys are “flush with the casing”

It’s ironic that everything these writers over at zdnet didn’t like about the keyboard I found absolutely awesome/amazing/killer. My dad first got the new wired Apple Keyboard and when I was home doing the laundry a couple Sundays ago I tried it out and immediately fell in love with it. I’m a pretty fast typer and home row is my friend. I’ve spent the last week telling all of my geeky mac user friends about how much I love this keyboard and so far two have also made the leap.

If you’re on a computer a lot. A keyboard & mouse are things that you’re going to use constantly. When one of the peripherals gets a big time update for the better - making the investment in the new one is almost a no-brainer. Here is a list of benefits that I’ve found using the new Apple Keyboard

The Good

1. The shape of the keys.

   It’s essentially the same key-type as a Mac Book. The fact that they are flat makes the striking area much bigger, cutting DOWN on typos. I’m much more accurate with the new keyboard

2. The lack of “throw” or key travel is actually a GOOD thing.

   I was talking to my Dad about this and put it in terms I think accurately describe the key travel.

   The tactile feedback of the new keyboard is very similar to this guitarist metaphor: It’s the difference between a beginner on a $150 Fender Stratocaster and a custom Ibanez in the hands of Joe Satriani. If your fingers are fast enough. You can fly.

3. The keys are not flush with the casing, they’re raised about 2mm off the casing.

4. There are new Leopard specific hotkeys, but they will work with Tiger if you run a system software update after you get it.

5. Typing is significantly quieter. If I had a decibel meter I’d do my own scientific comparison complete with fancy charts and all, but I don’t so you’ll have to take my word for it.

6. Bye bye carpal tunnel

   The angle of the keyboard itself is very flush with the surface it’s resting on. About 5mm off the surface in the front and 18mm at the back. The angle is much more natural and the font “lip” of the keyboard is virtually non-existent so it won’t cause the wrist strain many keyboards promote. Keyboard Wrist Gel Rest manufacturers are somewhere quietly sobbing.

The Annoying

1. Why the difference between the wired and the wireless versions Apple?

   No numberpad, no dice.

2. How do I clean this thing?

   Like all Apple products lately, there are no visible screws to get at. There’s “nothing” to this thing (with the aluminum casing it could probably slice watermelons)

3. White top keys have gotten some grime on the surface.

   But it was easily rubbed off with some TLC.

4. Some keys got moved around / replaced.

   No more Help key :*(. It was removed and others got shuffled around (big deal)

5. Now I’m stuck with 2 oldschool Apple Keyboards - any takers?

Popularity: 100% [?]