A touch on typing

Just when you thought they had come up with everything ... Here's the Das Keyboard - just like a regular 104 key-board, but with one little difference - there's nothing printed on the keys. Metadot Corp had a clear target market in mind when developing Das: : "A keyboard with no inscriptions on the keys was obviously only for a certain type of geek, not just normal ones, only those who are above the pack: the übergeeks." It costs $US79.95 and is available from www.daskeyboard.com. If you go to the site, note the illustration of the Windows Menu Key. My favourite though was one of the endorsements: "At first I was intrigued, but when I started using it two things happened: it was a joy to type and my colleagues looked at me like I was a superhero! I would not go back to a normal keyboard now." -- Philippe H
On the more practical side, the Das people claim that using the keyboard could help you type up to 100% faster in a few weeks. Theory is since you can't tell what the keys are by looking, you'll memorize their positions - and type faster. Wish they'd had that at school in my day when I was learning typing - we had to do with the low tech version - with a bib tied around our neck - and fastened to the top of the manual typewriter so all you looked down on was the cloth - and you couldn't see the keys. The incentive to get it right was great - cause those were the days you were working on your original with three carbons behind - and those funny little rub-out pencils that could put a hole in the paper if you weren't careful. Ah, progress!