Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 Info

I picked up Microsoft’s newest ergonomic keyboard this weekend and I am settling in to using it this week. Switching to a split keyboard design has definitely affected my typing ability, you see I operate with a four finger and two thumb approach to typing and can pound out a page rather quickly. My copy of Mario teaches typing is not available so I can’t pull a wpm out for you but suffice it to say I can find my way pretty well without the ring or pinky. From what I have read it takes several weeks to adjust to a new keyboard and I am hoping I can get into a real touch-typing habit very soon. There are a few important things to do as soon as you get this keyboard.

1. Update the driver to Microsoft’s latest, as of Sept 18th it is 5.5

2. Hack the Zoom function of the keyboard: Pain in the tech has a great walkthrough on this.

3. You can change the zoom speed in the keyboard settings of Microsoft Keyboard in order to Scroll Faster.

4. Upgrade to iTunes 7. After you have done these steps the keyboard is ready to go.

4.1 By updating the driver and iTunes I was able to get the play/pause button to actually play or pause rather than playing and then pausing half a second later, or vice versa.

A Fine Day for Rollercoasters

This past Saturday we went to Cedar Point. If you are trying to find the best time to go to Cedar Point, I can tell you it is sometime in between Labor Day and the start of Halloweekends (starts next weekend). The longest wait we had was 1 hour on the Millennium Force, though it was entertaining due to the 98 degree fan/singer/comedian in line near us. This fellow was going through the whole repertoire of the band 98 degrees with shuffling, knee slapping and full volume singing. I wish I had my camera so I could share a picture of him with you. We were also able to ride every other coaster save; the Blue Streak, Mantis, and the corkscrew due to lack of desire.

I am currently working my way through a compare/contrast of Robert Greenleaf and Nicollo Machiavelli. The paper will deal with the time period and management styles of these two men.

Get to The Point

Today I am heading to Cedar Point, Its foggy out and maybe a litttle chilly, perfect day to have fun on “America’s Rockin Roller Coast!”  Have a good day!

Wii Old School Games Pricing

Earlier this week Nintendo unveiled loads of information about the Nintendo Wii including pricing for the classic NES games. The price of the games will be $5 each. Many people are already bemoaning the price complaining that it is too much to pay for a retro title that can be had online for free (though illegal). I don’t understand what the big deal is; first off $5 is what Microsoft has been charging for the classic titles it brings back that can often times be played on your PC through use of an emulator. Second Nintendo is enabling the average person to play these games in front of a TV. They have removed the guesswork for Joe Average, whereas before he would need to find an emulator, wade through porn and virus infested Rom sites to find the rom of his 8 bit favorite; now all he has to do is drop $5 and its ready to play, on his TV with a controller.

I think very few games are worth playing but those that are favorites can easily be justified at $5. If you see a game you like just pack your lunch one day out of the week and shazaam, you can afford a game a week.

As for the Hardware pricing I completely agree about $199 being an impulse buy but including Wii sports takes some of the sting away form the $250 price point. Let’s face it, Microsoft and Sony didn’t provide much pressure to come out any lower. It still is the cheapest console coming to market with a game and a second controller you will just scrape the core Xbox 360. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Nintendo Fanboy, actually you could accuse me of being a 360 fanboy, but I basically pick the best of breed in my opinion and run with it. $5 isn’t too much for an old school game whose delivery is now easier and play method more fun for non computer inclined folks. I hope to pick up a Wii in the near future, right after I flip a PS3 on EBay to pay off all my college loans and CC debt. Well I guess it won’t go for that much but who knows. Anytime I can relieve my debt care of Sony is a good day.

Capcom Dead Rising: Wheres The Patch

Last Friday I went out to pick up Dead Rising, at EB Games. When I got home and tried to play it I couldn’t get past the loading screen for the first part of the game. Literally 5 minutes in and nothing. After some phone calls MS put it on Capcom and advised me to download a patch, which isn’t yet available, or try another disk. Back out to EB Games and 15 minutes later no luck again. Back to EB Games, thankfully the manager was nice and she gave me store credit which was more than I would have gotten at a big box store. The problem boils down to having the HDD attached, if I remove it I can play the game fine, I just can’t save it without spending another $40 on a memory card. Now I am waiting for Capcom to get to work and release a patch for the HDD bug as well as the problems evident in Dead Rising for the 360 on SDTVs. The HDD bug hasn’t gained as much attention but it is just as much of a problem. Other publishers have turned out patches as within days of a game hitting store shelves. This is completely unacceptable, the mehtod of delivery is there, the problem is evident, the blame is squarely on Capcom. Thanks for turning me off of the game, and making me wary to pick up any other titles you publish. Where’s the Patch Capcom?

Also using Google image search to try and find a patch produces some rather interesting results. Google Image Search: Patch NSFW(People Without Patches, or Clothing).

Microsoft Access Database Tips

This past week I struggled valiantly against an Access database which would do nothing but tell me that a recordset was not updateable. Microsoft’s help database lists roughly 25 reasons this can happen.  I want to share the root of my problem and another handy excel tip.

If you are the unfortunate recipient of the error, this recordset is not updatable then the first stop you should make is to your relationship table.  Once there right click and show all.  After that make sure all your tables which show are linked appropriately.  Link the tables correctly avoiding one to many relationships.

After you make those changes don’t forget that clicking the list view icon does not run the query in the same sense that double clicking on  a query form the list menu does or clicking on the red exclamation point.

Good Luck Accessing and such.

Great Foxtrot Comic RE Wikipedia

Yesterday’s foxtrot cartoon raises some great points about wikipedia and plagiarism.

Foxtrot on Wikipedia and Plagiarism.

Anyone planning on trying this out?

Go Dolphins

I’d love to catch up on the review of my bluetooth headset, similarities between Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership, and more but tonite the Dolphins take on the Steelers.  More to come later.

Watch the game, are at least shout out Go Dolphins.

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