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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 11 Issue 26
Volume 11, Issue 26 Atari Online News, Etc. June 26, 2009
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1126 06/26/09
~ Deaths Bring On Scams! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Firefox 3.5 Release!
~ Who Moved Delete Key!? ~ Activision: No to PS3? ~ id Gets Bought Out!
~ Gunning for Girl Power ~ New Cybersecurity Act! ~ GTA: Chinatown Wars!
-* HP's Web-connected Printer! *-
-* Accused Spam Scammer Pleads Guilty! *-
-* Microsoft To Give Vista Owners Free Win 7! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Okay, I know that I sounds like a broken record, but I'm beat!! A long
and tiring week, lots of cold and rain, topped off with a night of no
sleep because of the rain and lightning. Those two weather bits really
freak out my two dogs - one was hiding in our bedroom closet and the other
was mercilessly huffing and puffing all night, keeping us awake all night!
And then an early and long day at work! I'd probably beg off [again]
putting down some words of wisdom again this week, but a barrage of
deaths in the entertainment world is prompting me to make some remarks!
First, Ed McMahon. The perfect sidekick for Johnny Carson. Watching The
Tonight show was enjoyable, but it made for better entertainment when Ed
and Johnny did their bits. And to see McMahon take Carson down a peg
every once in awhile was classic.
And, we lost THE Charlie's Angel, Farrah Fawcett! Sure, she wasn't a
great actress, but if you grew up when that show aired, like I did, you
couldn't help but like Farrah! And, I'm not ashamed to admit that I was
one of those proud owners of that "infamous" poster!
Okay, and then we lost Jacko!! Okay, I have to admit, I was never a
Michael Jackson fan. As far as I'm concerned, he was a self-made freak
of nature. Granted, he had talent. Heck, I even liked a few of his
songs throughout his long career. But, he was a freak, a sick one.
C'mon, parading around with his pet monkey. Neverland, his personal area
of entertainment. His alleged child molestation issues. A sham marriage
to Lisa Marie Presley. Another sham marriage and children. And many
years of mutilating his face through plastic surgery which personified
that freak image. And there's much more! Sure, maybe most of all of this
was simply a lot of publicity stunts. Quite possible. I know that when
I heard Jackson's name mentioned, the first question that came to mind was
"what did he do now?"
Yes, he was a talented singer and dancer. He usually had a great act, if
you enjoyed that type of a show. He had a world of fans. But, he's been
nothing for years, but a reclusive misfit. Sure, he'd make some semblance
of an appearance every once in awhile to keep his fans happy. Too many
problems and too many issues - all his own doing.
Okay, so he's gone. It is a sad day for many fans. His death will likely
cement his fame for all of eternity. Had he lived for many more years, I
believe he would have drifted off into obscurity. But Jacko, you've made
it into the pop music history books. Good for you. But, I'm not
disappointed that I didn't buy any of your records or videos. Hey, I'm
entitled to enjoy who and what I like! The "thrill" is gone.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Activision Saying No to PS3?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" id Software Bought!
Gunning for Girl Power!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Bethesda Parent Company Buys Legendary Doom Developer
Well that's that then, the parent company of the guys who make Oblivion
and Fallout 3 just bought the folks who make a couple games you've maybe
heard of called Doom and Quake. Put less jaw-droppingly, ZeniMax Media -
the front company for Bethesda Softworks - just picked up id Software, and
all the developer/administrative celebs at both houses seem to be
high-fiving the deal with bells on.
Of the transaction, id CEO Todd Hollenshead wrote:
"This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated
publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and
the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of
our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business
resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage
which will result in more and even better games for our fans."
Kind of wild, when you think how long both companies have been - for all
intents and purposes--independent entities. Bethesda set up shop in 1985
and somehow managed to avoid being assimilated by the publishing borg,
while id's done one-off deals with majors like Electronic Arts and
Activision but remained autonomous since 1991. They've both witnessed
the rise and fall of dozens of others studios - many just as
groundbreaking--from Origin (Ultima, Wing Commander) and Black Isle
(Fallout, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate) to Strategic Simulations, Inc.
(Pool of Radiance, Panzer General) and Looking Glass (System Shock,
Thief, Terra Nova) to Bullfrog (Populous, Syndicate Wars, Dungeon
Keeper) and Westwood Studios (Dune II, Command & Conquer).
ZeniMax's press release goes out of its way to assure that id Software
will continue to operate as a separate studio under founder and code
wizard John Carmack's direction. "No changes will be made in the
operations of id Software in the developer of its games," says the
release, adding "All the principals at id Software have signed long-term
employment contracts." Business as usual, in other words.
"This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward," said John
Carmack, explaining that the purchase will allow id Software to nurture
its franchises in a single, resource-consolidated space. "We will be
bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the
landmark games of the future," he continued, adding "As trite as it may
be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this
deal, I am."
Hard to believe, but the presently much-beloved company that long ago
made some of the buggiest fantasy role-playing games in the industry
(remember Daggerfall?) now owns the company that pretty much defined said
industry with green-glowing BFGs and auto-catapulting rocket launchers
from the 1990s on.
Activision May Stop Supporting Sony PS3
Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said in a published report
on Friday it may stop making video games for Sony's PlayStation 3, the
No. 3 console in the United States, due to high costs and poor sales.
In an interview with the Times of London, Kotick complained that the
PS3's $399 price tag is too high, and said the game publisher might stop
supporting the console.
Kotick was quoted as saying: "I'm getting concerned about Sony; the
PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy
for me to support the platform. It's expensive to develop for the
console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better."
Kotick said in 2010 and 2011, Activision "might want to consider if we
support the console - and the PSP too."
Activision, the largest U.S. game publisher, did not respond to requests
seeking additional comment.
The most popular console, Nintendo's Wii, costs $250, while the cheapest
version of Microsoft's Xbox goes for $200.
Roughly 290,000 units of the Wii were sold in the United States in May,
according to research group NPD, versus 175,000 for the Xbox and 131,000
for the PS3.
Complaints from game publishers about the cost of consoles are nothing
new, but Kotick's statements were particularly pointed.
"It's a little shot across the bow .... Was there a message there to
Sony? Quite possibly," said MKM Partners analysts Eric Handler.
"It is more difficult to develop for the PS3 and it costs a little more
.... The PS3 install base isn't what they thought it would be and the
machine is too expensive."
In an emailed statement, Sony Computer Entertainment America said "we
enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our
publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the
best entertainment experience."
GTA: Chinatown Wars Will Be Adapted To Sony PSP
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to Sony's PlayStation
Portable. Rockstar Games said the Nintendo DS game will be adapted to
the PSP platform and be available this fall.
New story missions, enhanced lighting and animation, and upscale
widescreen graphics are promised for the PSP version. It will be
developed by the Rockstar Leeds studio.
The violent game for the Nintendo DS has been a slow seller, with only
163,000 copies purchased by mid-May. The game released in March has
received good reviews.
The PSP version will be available on UMD for older disc-based PSPs and
on the PlayStation Network.
Game Developers Gunning For Girl Power
Known for making adrenaline-pumping action games for young men, video
game companies now are getting in touch with their feminine side.
Electronic Arts , THQ , Ubisoft Entertainment and Walt Disney are among
the game publishers that have made a big commitment to games for girls.
Why? Because it's a lucrative and relatively untapped market.
EA and Ubisoft in particular already have found success in making games
for elementary school to tween girls.
In the U.S. alone, video games for girls ages 2 to 12 generated sales of
$1.4 billion for the 12-month period through April, according to sales
tracker NPD Group. The girls segment represented about 7% of the total
video game market for the period.
"Girls have stopped thinking that gaming is geeky and are starting to
think games are cool," said Chip Lange, vice president and general
manager of Electronic Arts' EA Hasbro division.
Video games for girls today fall into two main categories, says Anita
Frazier, an analyst with NPD. There are "pet/nurturing games" like EA's
"Littlest Pet Shop" and Ubisoft's "Petz," and there are "fashion/style
type games" like Ubisoft's "Imagine" franchise.
"These are two classic play patterns for girls of this age," Frazier
said. "I'm hoping with greater experience with this market that the
publishers are able to branch out and find other themes of games to
appeal to girls."
Game executives agree.
"We're introducing them to the world of video games," said Tony Key,
senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft. "Where they go
from here is up for grabs. I would love to see them become lifelong
gamers."
Ubisoft is adding a third girls brand this fall with Style Lab. It's
targeting 8- to 12-year-old girls, known as "tweens" because they are
between childhood and adolescence. Style Lab games are being developed
for Nintendo's DSi handheld device and will focus on makeovers and jewelry
design.
Ubisoft's Imagine brand has sold more units than any other Ubisoft brand -
13 million copies worldwide since its launch in October 2007.
"These girls have buying power, and they're using it," Key said. Girl
games accounted for $150 million in sales for Ubisoft last year.
Electronic Arts is pursuing tween girls with its "Charm Girls Club," set
for release in October. The publisher sees "Charm Girls Club" as a
social game that girls can play when they get together at home.
It's being developed for Nintendo's market-leading Wii console with its
motion-sensing controllers.
"It's designed to make the girls have an absolute ball at a sleepover
party," Key said.
EA also is planning to take its "Littlest Pet Shop" franchise from the
DS to the Wii and into PC online games.
The company hopes it can capture business from girl gamers as they move
from "Littlest Pet Shop" to "Charm Girls Club" to perhaps "The Sims," he
says.
The secret is out about the lucrative girl games market, so publishers
are having to step up their efforts.
"A couple of years ago, you could have put anything out on the shelf and
because this market was emerging, you could have gotten away with it,"
Lange said. "But like with any emerging category, the market is becoming
more educated and starting to have a higher threshold for their quality
demands."
One reason that game publishers like girl games is because they're
cheaper and quicker to develop than male-oriented action games.
"It's a good margin business," Key said. "The games are not expensive to
make. The money is actually spent on the marketing side."
By comparison, a title like Ubisoft's "Splinter Cell" or "Assassin's
Creed" can take two or three years to create, with large teams of 100 or
200 software developers.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Network Shutdown Bill Faces Changes, Aide Says
A bill in the U.S. Senate that would allow President Barack Obama to
shut down parts of the Internet during a cybersecurity crisis will
likely be rewritten and needs input from private businesses, said a
congressional staff member associated with the legislation.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, introduced in April by Senators Jay
Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Maine
Republican, contains "imperfect" language, said Ellen Doneski, chief of
staff for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The bill, among other things, allows the U.S. president to "declare a
cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet
traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States
critical infrastructure information system or network." The sponsors of
the bill are looking for input on that section and other parts of the
bill, said Doneski, who works for Rockefeller, the committee chairman.
That section of the bill was an attempt to put into law who has the
ultimate authority for protecting U.S. cyberinfrastructure, Doneski said
Friday at a cybersecurity forum sponsored by Google and the Center for
New American Security, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "We were trying
to state the obvious: In an extreme cyberemergency or attack, the
president ultimately has constitutional authority to protect the
country," she said. "It really wasn't meant to go beyond that."
Other speakers at Friday's event said they welcomed new attention on
cybersecurity by members of Congress and especially Obama. The
president's speech in late May, accompanied by a cybersecurity policy
review, was "game-changing," said Christopher Painter, cybersecurity
director at the U.S. National Security Council.
Personal attention by Obama will drive cybersecurity changes in the U.S.
government, Painter said.
"By far, the most important part of it was executive attention," added
Philip Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for national protection and
programs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "Nothing is more
important for driving change in an organization ... than executive
attention."
While the White House will get a cybersecurity director under Obama's
plan, DHS will continue to have significant cybersecurity authority. The
agency's cybersecurity goals include hiring more people with network
security experience and developing a more comprehensive cybersecurity
recovery plan, Reitinger said.
Reitinger and other speakers also talked about an oft-mentioned goal for
cybersecurity: public/private partnerships. While Painter suggested that
the term has lost its meaning, Reitinger said DHS and private companies
need to better share information about attacks and vulnerabilities with
each other.
Those partnerships need to be ongoing and sustained, not just come
together to respond to an attack, said Liesyl Franz, vice president for
information security and global public policy at TechAmerica, a tech
trade group. Those partnerships need to be in place "so if something
happens, there's an organic way to respond," she said.
Accused Spam Scammer Pleads Guilty in Detroit
A Michigan man described as one of the world's most prolific senders of
spam e-mail has pleaded guilty to charges accusing him of defrauding
people by manipulating Chinese stock prices.
Prosecutors say 64-year-old Alan Ralsky of West Bloomfield made $3
million in summer 2005 by using an elaborate spam e-mail system to
inflate the prices of Chinese stocks on U.S. exchanges.
He pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering in
federal court in Detroit. Nine of the 11 people indicted last year in
the case have pleaded guilty.
Ralsky faces a possible prison sentence of 3 1/2 years or less under his
plea agreement.
U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg says Ralsky was at one time the world's most
notorious illegal spammer.
HP Unveils Web-connected Printer
Hewlett Packard unveiled a printer on Monday with a built-in Web
connection that allows printing directly from the Internet without a
personal computer.
The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web, described by HP as the
first Web-connected home printer, will be available later this year and
should cost around 399 dollars in the United States, the company said in
a statement.
The inkjet printer features a touchscreen panel which enables users to
connect and print directly from specific websites.
Among the sites offering the print application are the newspaper USA
Today, Google Maps and Google Calendar, movie ticket service Fandango,
Weathernews and Coupons.com, which offers store, restaurant and
entertainment discounts.
The printer can also connect to a user's Snapfish account to view, print
and upload photos, the Palo Alto, California-based HP said.
A company spokeswoman said HP planned to release a developers kit later
this year which would allow other sites to offer the printing option.
"Users will be able to browse and view popular Web destinations and
simply touch the app of their choice to launch a Web page where they can
customize and print content on demand in an easy-to-read format," the HP
statement said.
"We are taking advantage of the digital content explosion to reinvent
the category with an entirely new printing platform - powered by touch
and empowered by the Web," said Vyomesh Joshi, an HP executive vice
president.
"By giving people access to the content they want at the touch of a
finger, the ability to customize their printing experience and create
their own apps, and enabling easy 'one touch' wireless setup, we are
driving a significant shift in how people will be printing in the future."
Mozilla Offers Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate
Mozilla has published a release candidate for the Firefox 3.5 browser
that is downloadable from the Mozilla Web site, a company representative
said on Monday.
The browser upgrade features improvements in performance, compatibility,
and speed. A key feature is the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine,
offering better performance and stability, Mozilla said. The general
release is due at the end of this month, depending on whether any bugs
are found in the release candidate.
Tools are offered in version 3.5 for controlling private data, including
a Private Browsing Model. Support for HTML 5 and elements is featured,
including native backing for Ogg Theora-encoded video and Vorbis-encoded
video. Also supported are HTML 5 local storage, offline application
storage, text, and SVG transforms. Location-aware browsing is included, as
is native support for JSON.
The release candidate offered Monday actually is the second release
candidate build, but it is the first one directly downloadable form the
Mozilla site. The previous build was available to about 800,000 beta
users late last week.
A preview release of Firefox 3.5 had been offered early this month.
Microsoft Says Vista Buyers To Get Free Windows 7
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that prices for the Windows 7 computer
operating system are largely in line with those for Vista, and that
consumers who buy PCs before the new system goes on sale in October will
get free upgrades.
To drum up demand among people who aren't in the market for a new PC,
Microsoft also said it is taking limited pre-orders for Windows 7,
selling some for as little as $50.
Windows 7 is Microsoft's first new operating system in almost three
years. With Vista, Microsoft made under-the-hood technical changes that
left other software companies and device makers scrambling to make their
products work with new computers. Many didn't work at Vista's January
2007 launch; people also complained the new system was sluggish.
Microsoft is promising a smoother launch for Windows 7, in part because
it's not a radical departure from Vista.
People who have tested near-final versions say Windows 7 boots and runs
faster and spends less time nagging the user with alerts and pop-up
windows than Vista does. It also tries to make it easier for people to
navigate to frequently used Web sites, documents and tasks.
For customers buying new machines, the cost of the Windows software is
typically included in the purchase price. The prices announced Thursday
are for people who buy Windows separately or upgrade from older versions.
Consumers who buy Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate
computers starting Friday can contact the PC manufacturer for a free
upgrade when Windows 7 becomes available on Oct. 22. Windows Vista Home
Basic is not eligible for upgrade. The offer will run through January
2010.
Microsoft will record only about half the revenue it receives from
selling those copies of Windows Vista before Windows 7 launches. The
rest, about $200 million to $300 million in sales, will be recognized in
later quarters, once the upgrades have been distributed or the program
ends, whichever comes first.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said it will cost people $120 to
upgrade their existing machines to the Windows 7 Home Premium version,
$10 less than the comparable Windows Vista upgrade software. Upgrades to
the Professional and Ultimate versions will cost $200 and $220
respectively, the same as Vista.
By comparison, Apple Inc. said in early June that upgrades to its newest
operating system, called Mac OS X Snow Leopard, will cost $30.
The cost is identical regardless of whether the upgraded machine was
running Windows XP or Windows Vista.
Versions meant to be installed from scratch on a computer will cost
$200, $300 and $320 for Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.
Home Premium includes the updated look and feel first introduced with
Vista, a new system for home networking, the ability to create DVDs and
other features. Professional, the next level up, adds features to
support people who might have to work from home or use their computer
for work on the road. Ultimate is an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink
edition with added data security and other features more commonly
requested by big businesses.
Microsoft is pushing those versions, but it makes three more: Starter,
Home Basic and Enterprise. Starter doesn't include the updated look of
Vista or Windows 7 and is only available pre-installed by PC makers on
certain types of hardware, such as netbooks. Home Basic is only
available in developing countries. Enterprise is sold through volume
license agreements to big corporate customers.
Vista's weak reception has prompted Microsoft to extend the life of
Windows XP, an older system that is less profitable for the software
maker.
This time, to goose early sales and build buzz, Microsoft is cutting the
Windows 7 price by about half for people who pre-order upgrade software
for Home Premium ($50) and Professional ($100).
The sale will start Friday in the U.S., Canada and Japan, and on July 15
in the U.K., France and Germany. It will last for about two weeks, or as
long as allotted copies of the software last.
People can buy the software on Microsoft's download site or at retailers
including Best Buy Co. Inc., which said it is limiting sales to three
per customer.
Microsoft would not say how much it will cost to upgrade from a lesser
version of Windows 7 to a more robust one. The company also declined to
say what effect Windows 7 prices will have on netbooks, a popular
category of small, inexpensive laptops. The low prices are possible in
part because they run the older, cheaper Windows XP.
Microsoft said this month it is making a version of Windows for Europe
that does not come with Internet Explorer, its Web browser, in an
attempt to ward off sanctions from antitrust regulators there.
Brad Brooks, a corporate vice president for Windows marketing, said
Microsoft hasn't had time to polish upgrade software for Europe, so it
plans to sell the full version of Windows 7 to European Union consumers
at upgrade prices at least through December.
Jackson, Fawcett Deaths Exploited for Web Scams
The cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
warned on Friday that Web scammers were seeking to take advantage of the
deaths of Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett.
US-CERT said it is "aware of public reports of an increased number of
spam campaigns, phishing attacks, and malicious code targeting the
recent deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett."
"Email messages may attempt to gain user information through phishing
attacks or by recording email addresses if the user replies to the
message," said US-CERT, the operational arm of DHS's National Cyber
Security Division.
"Additionally, email messages may contain malicious code or may contain
a link to a seemingly legitimate website containing malicious code," it
said.
Phishing attacks are attempts by cyber criminals to collect user names
and passwords through the use of realistic-looking replicas of Web
pages, giving them access to legitimate user accounts.
US-CERT advised caution in opening unsolicited email and recommended
that computer users be sure their antivirus software is up to date.
Who Moved My 'Delete' Key? Lenovo Did. Here's Why.
Lenovo put nearly a year of research into two design changes that
debuted on an updated ThinkPad laptop this week. No, not the thinner,
lighter form or the textured touchpad - rather, the extra-large "Delete"
and "Escape" keys.
It may seem like a small change, but David Hill, vice president of
corporate identity and design at Lenovo, points out, "Any time you start
messing around with the keyboard, people get nervous."
Computers get smaller and faster every year, but keyboard design remains
largely stuck in the 19th century. When Beijing-based Lenovo, which
bought IBM Corp.'s personal-computer business in 2005, looked into
improving the keyboard on the new ThinkPad T400s, a $1,600-and-up laptop
for businesspeople, it knew it had to proceed with caution.
To understand Lenovo's concern, turn the clock back to the 1800s.
Back then, fast typing would jam typewriters, so a keyboard layout that
slowed down flying fingers was devised. The commonly used "A" key, for
example, was banished to the spot under the relatively uncoordinated
left pinky.
Typewriter technology evolved. Mainframe computing led to function keys
and others of uncertain use today. The PC era dawned. Yet many laws of
keyboard layout remain sacred, like the 19-millimeter distance between
the centers of the letter keys.
Tom Hardy, who designed the original IBM PC of 1981, said companies have
tried many times to change the sizes of keys. That first PC had a
smaller "Shift" key than IBM's popular Selectric typewriter did, and it
was placed in a different spot, in part because the industry didn't
think computers would replace typewriters for high-volume typing tasks.
IBM reversed course with the next version to quiet the outcry from
skilled touch-typists.
"Customers have responded with a resounding, 'Don't fool with the key
unless you can you can improve it,'" said Hardy, now a design strategist
based in Atlanta.
PC makers relearned this lesson in the past year, as netbooks - tiny,
cheap laptops - have become popular with budget-conscious consumers.
Early models boasted screens measuring as little as 7 inches on the
diagonal, requiring shrunken keyboards that many people found to be too
small. Some even repeated IBM's mistake by cutting the size of the
"Shift" key.
The computer makers have largely shifted focus to 10-inch or larger
netbooks, so that there'd be room for near-standard keyboards or better.
Push-back from consumers hasn't stopped companies from testing and even
manufacturing keyboards with unconventional designs over the years, in
some cases demonstrating that people could learn to type faster than on
standard QWERTY keyboards, so-called because of the arrangement of the
top row of letters. During Hardy's time at IBM, researchers came up with
ball-shaped one-handed keyboards that he said were faster than standard
ones.
"A lot of those things never passed the business planners and the bean
counters because they were concerned about manufacturing something that
was just basically an experiment," Hardy said.
Ones that did get made have remained niche.
Paul Bradley, an executive creative director at the global design group
Frog Design, said makers of ergonomic keyboards that also improved
typing speed were counting on concern over carpal tunnel syndrome during
the dot-com boom of the 1990s to drive demand, but the market never
materialized.
If ever there were a time to make radical changes to the keyboard, now
might be it. As evidence, Bradley noted the high tolerance many younger
people show for tapping out cell-phone messages on tiny keypads using
only their thumbs.
Lenovo is on a more conservative course. In designing the new ThinkPad,
it installed keystroke-tracking software on about 30 employees'
computers (They volunteered). On average, they used the "Escape" and
"Delete" keys 700 times per week, yet those were the only "outboard"
keys, or non-letter keys, that hadn't been enlarged.
Lenovo made those two keys about twice as long in the vertical direction
to fit the way people reach up, rather than to the side, and then
deliberately whack those keys, said Hill, the Lenovo executive who was
at IBM for nearly 20 years before the 2005 sale to Lenovo. The new
design cuts down on accidental taps of the "End" and "Insert" keys, too.
The new keyboard isn't perfect. Hill called "Caps Lock" a frustrating
hangover from typewriter days, a key that can introduce garble, emulate
shouting or foil password entries without the user noticing.
"I think maybe sometime in the future, we should maybe entertain
removing it," he said. "It's one of those things you kind of have to
approach with caution. There might be some people out there who just
really like their `Caps Lock' key for whatever reason."
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
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