Long Live The Keyboard

Have you ever noticed that new technology tends towards a lack of moving parts? I can think of numerous examples. In the computer world alone, the mouse is replaced by a touchpad, keys or buttons by the touchscreen, harddrives by flash memory, fans by heatsinks or more efficient, cooler systems.

I suppose in the long run it's for the best. Fewer moving parts means less wear, so therefore things last longer, products will be more reliable. Less energy is needed as well. However, are we losing something? Buttons and keyboards have an obvious tactile quality that the touchscreen or touchpad cannot duplicate. At least without some major innovation.

I was recently researching the purchase of a new cellphone. While I was attracted to the "wow factor" of touchscreens, when I really considered my options I decided I wasn't quite ready for a full touchscreen phone quite yet. The touchscreen devices I have used the past (remote, GPS, PDA, iphone, etc.) have always been just a little disappointing. Keys on a screen are easy to miss. They are usually a bit smaller than we would prefer (which of course will change as the demand for larger screens continues), but the feel of individual keys goes a long way to ensuring accurate typing I think. I ended up with a blackberry, and while the buttons are very small, I can still type much more accurately on it's tiny little keyboard than I can on my GPS's touchscreen keyboard, which is easily twice the size. It could be my sausage fingers though. Haptic feedback (vibration responses to touch) is something I haven't checked out yet. Perhaps that is the answer. Some sort of feeling is really necessary in order to be able to type without having to watch your fingers.

You know what I really want? In the movie The Island, the doctor has a computer built into his desktop. He controls it through a small pyramid on the desk. It is a separate object, like a mouse, but by moving it in various ways, he had a great deal of control over what was happening on the computer. What a great idea. Here is way to reintroduce an object we can interact with, we can move and manipulate. I think that will always be more satisfying than a touchscreen. Plus think of the options, the variety of ways a computer could be controlled through objects, some smart - imparting information or controlling aspects of the computer directly, and some dumb, like a stylus.

Where am I going with this? I'm not really sure. Touchscreens are cool, but I think I am always going to want some sort of old fashioned keyboard. It just works better.

Ehh, I think I've lost my chain of thought...

Golf umbrellas and sidewalk etiquette

Golf Umbrella - what a funny name. I wonder if perhaps it was, at some point, intended for...say...golf?

To all of you making your morning commute with a giant golf umbrella, you are really pissing off the rest of us. There you are, with an impromptu circus tent held precariously over your head, wandering down the dead center of the sidewalk while the rest of us try to make our way to our respective destinations without suffering from a poke in the eye. God forbid if that thing should come down unexpectedly, the national guard would be called in to dig out all the bodies.

While we are on the subject of sidewalk etiquette, people, learn how to share! You may not spread out side by side with five of your closest buddies and try to bridge the sidewalk from street to building. You should not be bopping along to you ipod down the dead center of the sidewalk (possibly with a giant umbrella) while everyone else tries to dodge around you as best they can. Grow up and realize there may actually be other people in the world as well. Criminy. Conversations should be held at the edges and in building doorways. It's getting hard to simply walk down the street - jogging is basically impossible.

Also, absolutely no singing at the top of your voice. I don't care how drunk you are, or how good you think you sound. I would rather not be serenaded at 3am by a group of drunk post-college frat boys when all I really want to do is get some sleep.

That is all.

Outlook icon

Ahh, the outlook "new mail" icon - that friendly little indication that somebody loves you and somebody cares. Or it could just be indicating you have yet more spam to contend with. Either way, though, it makes you a little excited to see it pop up doesn't it?

If you are anything like me, outlook sits open on your desktop all day long, so at any time that icon could put in an appearance, giving you an instant and marginally justifiable excuse to forget whatever important task you were involved with in order to check up on whatever gem the email fairy has just dropped in your lap.

I am trying to think of a worthwhile metaphor, but I am just not sure we had this kind of instant gratification before the technology era...

Transaction Feedback - Chicken or Egg

Who should be first to leave feedback for online transactions (ebay, for example). Recently, I have noticed more and more sellers delaying their feedback, perhaps indefinitely, until the buyer has posted their feedback.

While I understand the urge on the part of the seller to make sure the buyer does not burn them in the final moments, is this really appropriate? I suspect if I were to leave a nasty, negative feedback regarding a seller, they would reciprocate in some way, why else would they hold off on their own feedback until I have left mine.

But here's the thing, what if they deserve it? If I have promptly paid for my purchase, my portion of the transaction is completed. Is my feedback part of my transaction? If i paid promptly and communicated well, but left a nasty feedback, does that warrant equally nasty feedback in return from the seller?

It seems this is becoming a method for sellers to blackmail the buyer into leaving positive feedback. When combined with the more and more common "friendly" emails reminding me to leave feedback about my transactions, online purchasing is becoming only that much more hostile.

UPDATE: Ebay has stopped allowing sellers to post feedback, thus ending any possibility of sellers holding their positive feedback hostage until the buyer provides the same. There are now complaints that buyer fraud will increase in response, but any market favors one or the other. Which way is better is, of course, up to debate.