The Apple wireless keyboard is nice too, but I struggle with the compact form factor a little.  Really I struggle on most non-ergonomic keyboards.  I went searching for alternatives and found out that Microsoft actually makes their ergonomic “Natural” keyboard in a Mac version.  This seems like the perfect combo as I have been using different versions of the Natural keyboards since 1994.  They are a little hard to find, but there was one seller in the Amazon Marketplace who had “new” ones.  I ordered one as a test unit, thinking I would order a couple more if it worked out good.  We setup the first one on my wife’s Mac mini.  She has been using it for a couple days and found the native Apple keyboard layout to be easier to work with, so I ordered up a couple more for the office and my home work station.  It comes with a mouse too, so we can use that for those times when you need a real mouse instead of the trackpad.

At my new office we also have a lounge/group work area with a big TV, couch, etc.  We have a Mac mini hooked up to the TV and bought the same wireless keyboard and trackpad I have for my desk.  Quickly realized that the trackpad needs a hard surface to be able to click.  We are planning to get a nice work table back there anyway and figured that would be fine.  Then started thinking there has to be some kind of tray that is specially built for the wireless keyboard and trackpad.  Sure enough there are a few products to fit that need.  This Black Walnut Keyboard Tray seems like it would work great and is quite stylish as well.  Little spendy though at $125 with shipping.  Later on I found another alternative on kickstarter.com.  Was too funny that I would come across that by accident on the same day I went looking for a product just like it.

About a month after having the Hero I started getting more eager to try out all the apps available (besides Facebook, Twitter, etc) and it was a huge let down.  The Hero just didn’t have the processing power to run them.  Also as the number of contacts and text messages grew.  The phone starting having issue just functioning like a phone.  I would have to shut it down and restart a few times a day just to make calls.  We also received notice that the AT&T switch over had been pushed out a couple months.  So now I was starting to wonder if I should try and clear out my phone or get another one.  Maybe even go back to the old Delv because first and fore most it needs to work as a phone.

After complaining about it all the time my wife thought I should try and renew her phone contract, get a new phone, then swap it out for me and she would keep her current one.  So I called Alltel and they said it could be done.  So tonight I stopped by Alltel and picked up the HTC Desire.  It’s like night and day compared to the Hero.  A lot of the little issues I had thought were Android quirks were actually just the old phone not having enough processing power.  Typing on the keyboard, answering a call waiting call are all much smoother with the Desire.  I’m still looking forward to my iPhone in March or whenever they make the switch, but at least now I can still get my internet fix on the go in the meantime.

Being a gadget lover, this renewed interest in reading has sparked my curiosity in the Kindle from Amazon.  I have always agreed with the fact that it’s not a competitor to the Apple iPad.  Even though you can read books on both devices and they have a similar design.  Certain types of books will be amazing on an iPad, but for just reading the kindle looks like the perfect way to do it digitally.

Next week I am scheduled to have a consultation with a company that specialized in website speed optimization (think fast loading pages).  As an incentive to meet with them they are offering a free kindle.  I jumped on the opportunity for both the in-depth demo of the service they provide and of course the chance to receive a free kindle.  I’m sure I’ll offer a review after/if I actually get one.

In the mean time however my rekindled (yea i said it) desire to read more books continues to grow.  After listening to this interview Robert Scoble did with Tim Ferriss about his upcoming book “The 4-Hour Body“, I decided to purchase his very popular book “The 4-Hour Workweek” for the kindle.  I have read bits and pieces of it in the past and have followed him on the web over the last couple years and figured I just just go for it.  I knew I could read the book on my computer even if I don’t get the kindle.  After reading a bit I remembered that I have the kindle app on my iPod touch.  So I gave it a try there and have really found it to be very readable.  Even with the small screen it’s easy to read and with only one or two sentences displayed at a time.  Keeps me focused.  I don’t get lost in the page, etc.

At first it was just inconvenient.  The iPod touch became more of a music player again and I relied on my new HTC Hero Android phone for checking email, twitter, etc.  After I won the Apple TV however, I was more determined than ever to get the wireless up and running reliably again.  A few more tech support sessions later I finally just gave in and ran a couple cat5 network cables up to the living room.  Needed to do it anyway for our DirecTV receiver and hopefully a new blu-ray player.

It’s not that the Linksys tech support people don’t try.  But it’s frustrating to start the process over each time, even though I provide them with my previous case numbers.  Hopefully they will just replace it.  I came up with a solution in the meantime.  Sharing the Internet off our Mac mini (which is completely easy todo with a Mac by the way).