Category: Computers

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Nexus S and the Apple Wireless Keyboard

When I bought a Samsung Nexus S in December, I had problems using the Android keyboard because I have big fingers. They aren’t the sausages I remember when I shook George Duvivier‘s hand, but they’re big.

Inevitably, when I used the keyboard in the portrait mode, a key press would often result in a mistyped letter. I thought a Bluetooth keyboard would help with this problem and I miraculously received one for Christmas.

Nexus S

The Apple Wireless Keyboard follows Apple’s design aesthetic, which I happen to like (in spite of the Macintrash category I use on this blog).

I thought it would be a simple task to pair the two Bluetooth devices, but for several months, I was unable to find a suitable IME app that would work. You would just think it would work, but it didn’t. Last December, I tried Teksoft’s BlueInput demo and Elbrain’s BlueKeyboard JP. Neither of them worked at the time – I couldn’t get the keyboard to pair with the phone.

I don’t know if it was the Gingerbread update to 2.3.3 or an update to BlueKeyboard JP, but the last time I tried to connect them, the Nexus S and the Apple Wireless Keyboard started working together. I did the following:

On the phone, turn on Bluetooth – “Settings/Wireless Networks/Bluetooth“

  • Power on the Apple Wireless Keyboard
  • If the keyboard isn’t listed under “Bluetooth devices” select “Scan for devices”
  • Once the phone finds the keyboard, it will display “Paired but not connected” under the device name
  • Under “Settings/Language & keyboard “check “BlueKeyboardJP”
  • Under “Settings/Language & Keyboard” select “BlueKeyboardJP settings“
  • Check “Connecting Process”
  • “Selected keyboard” should have the Bluetooth keyboard’s name checked

Finally, open an app that uses text input. Touch and hold (long press) in the text box until “Edit text/Paste/Input method” pops up. Select “Input method” then select “BlueKeyboard JP.” In the Status bar, next to the Bluekeyboard JP notification icon, it will say, “Connecting….”

Apple Keyboard

Elbrain’s documentation for Bluekeyboard JP shows that the notification icon changes color for three different states – Disconnected, Connecting and Connected. It’s very subtle.

I’m currently using version 2.16 of Bluekeyboard JP, which has ads displayed at the bottom of the screen. Since I got Bluekeyboard JP working, I thought I’d use the paid version, which has a user dictionary, but the comments in the Android Market for BlueKeyboard Pro JP say that the paid version also has ads.

Update: I just installed Teksoft’s BlueInput demo 1.8 and it also works, pretty much the same as BlueKeyboard JP.

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Digital Cartridges for Analog 35mm Cameras?

RE-35 digital cartridge
The site re35.net says, “The RE-35 cartridge replaces the film in your classic analog 35-mm camera. Set the ISO to 400 and your done – your camera will now take high quality digital pictures.”

This would be great, if it’s true, though a search for “Flexisensor” and patent turned up only a device from 1998 for monitoring blood oxygen saturation.

UPDATE:

The site re35.net posts this disclaimer:

“THE BAD NEWS:

Some things are too good to be true!

Re-35 does not really exist. We (the design company Rogge & Pott) created Re-35 as an exercise in identity-design. We invented the “product” because it was something, that we had wished for for a long time (as many others).
We launched the website and sent out “press releases” on April first – thinking, that the date would make clear, that Re35 is just wishful thinking – a classic April Fools Prank!

A lot of people didn’t hear about Re-35 until after April first, so we added this disclaimer”

Since it was an April Fool’s joke, maybe they should have put up the disclaimer a little sooner.

(Photo courtesy re35.net)

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Devil’s Slide – Total Recall

I was reading Robert Scoble’s post about the AT&T-T-Mobile deal (One bad company buying another: AT&T buys TMobile) and he mentioned, “Devil’s Slide (cell service) is non-existent for AT&T and TMobile, but works the entire way on Verizon for me.”

Devil’s Slide is an area of steep cliffs along the Pacific Ocean about five miles south of San Francisco, California. This stretch of Highway 1 can induce acrophobia if you start thinking about driving your car off the road. This is a good piture of it showing the road slicing right across Devil’s Slide. This part of the highway is “remote,” in that the extreme terrain doesn’t allow for much habitability for a few miles on either side. Maybe that’s the reason AT&T and T-Mobile didn’t care about a dead spot for a few miles, though I wouldn’t recommend checking your phone’s signal while driving this stretch of road, especially if you are driving in a sporting manner.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) started building a tunnel in 2005 to bypass the area prone to rock slides so Highway 1 won’t keep getting closed. The tunnel is 4200 feet (1,280 m) long and will be completed in 2011. On October 1, 2010, they punched through one of the tunnels. I just wrote all this because the video reminded me of Total Recall.

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NEC Multispeed EL

NEC Multispeed EL
NEC Multispeed EL

Why do I still have this computer? Why am I still able to find the DOS 3.2 boot disk? Why does it still boot? Why did I carry this computer around 25 years ago?

The NEC Multispeed EL wasn’t my first computer, but IIRC, it may have been my first portable computer. Portable in that the computer and case with the shoulder strap weighed 12 pounds (5.4 kg). I don’t remember what I was doing with it.

I just powered it on and wondered if the makers of Microsoft DOS thought anyone would ever be entering a date 25 years in the future when it asked for the current date.

NEC Multispeed EL Boot Screen
NEC Multispeed EL Boot Screen

My NEC Multispeed EL has a NEC 16 bit, 9.554 MHz V30 CPU (a reverse engineered Intel 8086), 640K RAM, dual 720K 3.5 inch floppy drives, a backlight monochrome LCD display and an optional Hayes compatible 2400 bps modem (CompuServe: GO NECTECH). It booted to DOS 3.2 and had a couple of applications (Telcom, Notepad, Outliner, Filer, Dialer) that loaded into RAM from the boot floppy. The boot floppy also setup a RAMDISK as drive C:.

Unfortunately, in a few days, it will go to the electronic waste at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.