Apple Wireless Keyboard [Review]

I bought this keyboard on Christmas Day 2013, off Amazon. It was delivered on January 2nd. Considering the Holidays, that’s pretty good. So, first thing I noticed with this keyboard is the size. It’s literally the same keyboard you get with a Macbook or Macbook Pro. I actually lined it up with my Macbook keyboard and it’s exactly the same.

The keyboard doesn’t weigh much either, Apple says it weighs in at 8 ounces. All of the weight is from the batteries (two AA batteries). But it very, very light. It also has these skid guards on the bottom of it, I’m not sure if they are suppose to prevent you from pushing it around when typing, but it doesn’t really do much other than keep the bottom of the keyboard from rubbing the desk.

Usability

With the keyboard only coming in at 12.8 x 1.4 x 7.3 inches in size, it’s pretty compact, and I have giant hands. I first came across this keyboard while working on a computer for a family friend. At first, I was taken back by how small the keyboard really is and how big my hands were compared to it. I had a bit of a hard time trying to figure out how to make my fingers work on such a small keyboard. But once I got the hang of it, it actually felt pretty nice.

The idea of taking a keyboard from a Macbook and making it into a bluetooth keyboard is pretty ingenious. The only thing I miss from the old Windows keyboard I used prior to this, is the 10 key.

This keyboard has all the buttons the Macbooks have, including controls for iTunes and screen brightness (need to have a compatible monitor).

The best part about this keyboard is that when I got it, I put batteries in and started using it. That was on January 2nd. Today is May 28th, and I just switched out the batteries. I use the computer, A LOT. So for the batteries to last nearly five months, is staggering. Well done Apple.

Cons

I’ve been ranting and raving about this keyboard for long enough… Now for the things that bug me.

I don’t use Caps Lock very often so, I didn’t catch this right away, but the button doesn’t seem to notice it’s being pressed, I sometimes have to press it two or three times before the light kicks on showing Caps Lock is one.

When I type, I don’t think of myself as one of those people who is smacking the keyboard as hard as they can. But with this keyboard, for some reason, as I type it makes this vibration sound, as if the alignment is off, just a hair. The area below the spacebar tends to have a little room that bounces off my desk as I type and makes this terrible sound. But, I usually have headphones on and don’t hear it.

I would love to be able to sync the keyboard with multiple devices, and have the power button act as switch between devices, but instead, I have to either completely disconnect the bluetooth on one device or have the device forget the keyboard to switch to another one.

 

All in all, I have really enjoyed this keyboard. The nice part is, where I work, we use Windows 7 and going from this keyboard to a Windows keyboard, isn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Seeing as with OS X you have several keyboard shortcuts that don’t mesh up with Windows keyboards. But on a subconscious level, because the keyboards are so different, when I sit down at my desk at work, I don’t even miss a beat.

So, with the few cons I have, I’m giving this keyboard a 9.6 out of 10 stars.

 

2014 Garden Season

I toned it down a little bit this year and planted more of what we eat the most of, Tomatoes, Corn and Green Beans. But I’m going to be planting two kinds of cucumbers this weekend but in planters, not in the garden.

For this season, I decided to go with three varieties of tomatoes: Juliet, Roma and Big Beef. I’ve put them at the end of the garden so they get the most of the evening sun as they can. Behind that is Corn and behind that is three bamboo teepee trellis setups for the green beans.

I did use a trick that I learned from my Grandpa, when planting my tomatoes, I added about an inch of manure and then an inch of soil, and then planted my tomato plants. Makes them big and hearty. 🙂

I’ve added berries to the mix too, although I don’t expect to see them until next year. I’ve got Blueberries, Raspberries and Grapes. I’ve also got a few strawberries planted, which already have a few little strawberries on them.

All in all, this looks like it’s going to be a great season.

 

 

The Hacker’s Diet 0.9.9b

I’ve completed the updates for The Hacker’s Diet 0.9.9b. Please check it out and give it a go! The Hacker’s Diet 0.9.9b

The Hackers Diet, WordPress plugin

Awhile back, I started looking into fixing the hackers diet wordpress plugin and publishing it for the world to use. Here recently I finally started towards that goal. I reached out to the original creator and got his blessings to go forward.

@mrwalker2k8 haven't thought about that code in many, many years

— keith thornhill (@afex) April 30, 2014

@mrwalker2k8 go for it

— keith thornhill (@afex) May 1, 2014

 

So, first on the todo list, is to figure out the series of errors that keep showing up. I was able to correct the installation issues that were showing up. The biggest issue now is, when you enter your weight and save it, a whole slough of errors show up.

Second on the list is to update the jquery graphing, to one a bit more aesthetically pleasing.

With any luck, I will be able to give this plugin a new life and add a few features in the process.

When @afex wrote the original code, he laid the groundwork for a widget, which I completed and it works perfectly. Another issue that I ran into was, when entering a weight on a given day, it always rolled back a day. I got that fixed as well.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

Dan