How to ‘really’ type on an iPad or iPhone

iPad 2 has brought hundreds of thousands of new users to the tablet community. Add that to the millions of smartphone users out there, and that’s a lot of people who want to share information. Unfortunately, what many can’t come to grips with is the lack of a practical keyboard.

If you are filing reports from the field, or heaven forbid, trying to fill out a spreadsheet, there is nothing worse than a non-tactile, appearing and disappearing keyboard.

Productivity is back, thanks to Freedom and their i-Connex keyboard. This is a foldable, but full size keyboard that connects with your device by Bluetooth. Once paired and connected, you can go right back to touch typing and quickly complete your project.

The i-Connex will connect with a large number of popular devices including:

• Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running the 4.0 OS
• Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5 (with built in HID support).
• Playstation 3
• Windows, Mac and linux based laptops, PC's, tablets and netbooks.
• All other devices that have built in support for HID Bluetooth keyboards.

There are so many nice touches built into the i-Connex that make it a pleasure to use:

• A slide-out stand is concealed in the unit which gives you a place to rest your smartphone at a convenient viewing angle. When you are done, flip it back to the flat position and reinsert it back into the keyboard case for travel. It adds virtually no weight.
• Separate Alt and Ctrl keys allow you use your favorite keyboard shortcuts.
• Six separate keys perform multimedia controls like play, forward, reverse, volume up and down.
• A sliding lever locks the keyboard in the full open position so you can use it on your lap without the keyboard folding up during use.
• Separate up, down, left and right arrow keys.
• Full set of function keys F1 through F12 available.
• A dedicated e-mail key
• Comes with a protective case so it can be tossed into a purse or briefcase. It operates on AAA batteries and reportedly lasts 90 hours in use or 3,000 hours in standby mode.
• Two lights indicate battery and connection status

With the freedom from my laptop, I can now file stories from the road using just my iPhone. Even though I had that capability before, without a real keyboard, I could just not bear the thought of struggling with Apple’s flat keyboard. The idea of filing a 400-word story was not something I would have ever considered. With the i-Connex, it’s no problem.

You can find the i-Connex keyboard as well as other Freedom keyboard solutions on their website as well as at Wireless Ground: http://www.wirelessground.com/ and eAccess: http://www.eaccess-estore.com

Now with products like Quickoffice and LogMeIn, there’s no excuse why you can’t be truly productive with your smartphone or tablet.
Freedom i-Connex Mini Bluetooth Keyboard for Verizon iPhone 4, AT&T iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, Samsung Galaxy S/Tab, Playstation 3 and any HID Enabled Device (White)

Hot new PC’s announced at 2011 CES

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft delivered the Pre-CES keynote this evening and introduced Mike Angiulo, the corporate VP of planning and hardware. Mike then demoed five hot new notebooks/tablet PC’s that are pushing the new Windows 7 capabilities.

The first computer shown was an HP equipped with the new Sandy Bridge CPU/GPU which he claimed would provide a 20 times improvement in the speed of the graphical calculations. Even with such a performance boost to the graphics, it actually gets better battery life as well.

The second HP notebook shown used the AMD new Fusion chip and offered 9-hours of battery life. This unit, under $500, also included Northbridge and an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU).



The real crowd pleaser was unit number three from Acer. This laptop offered dual screens, (please watch the video to appreciate this). The second screen replaced the keyboard and could then double as a keyboard or a second monitor.

Samsung’s offering also wowed the attendees with their “sliding series” offering tablet functionality, but with a slide-out keyboard attached.

Lastly, Mike demoed the new model from Asus which offered a full powered tablet with radio equipped keyboard and a case.
According to Mike, they should all be available now on Amazon.

Related articles

• Microsoft Wows CES Crowd With Windows 7-Powered Tablets (mashable.com)
• CES 2011: AMD's Fusion APUs arrive in new laptops (zdnet.com)
• Ballmer Plugs Windows 7 as an OS for All Devices (pcworld.com)
• Highlights from Microsoft's CES Keynote: Windows edition (crunchgear.com)

The perfect keyboard for those who travel

Great ultra-portable 76-key digital piano with amazing sound. For anyone that travels and wants to take their keyboard, you can't do better than this. For the full review, click here: http://dbhas.info/dCjnYY
Or watch the video for a beginners introduction.

A review of the Yamaha Piaggero NP-V80 primarily to demonstrate the audio qualities of the keyboard. I'm not a pianist and don't pretend to be. Hopefully this video will be followed up with a video by someone who really knows how to make this keyboard sing. The sound quality and the options are really fantastic.