keyboards

The Microsoft Surface is more computer than tablet. If you favor keyboards, that's a good thing. But the Surface has a lot to offer touch screen fans as well.

Like a tablet, you tap and slide your fingers on the Surface touch screen to open apps and access settings. Like a PC, you can enter keystroke shortcuts on the Surface Touch Cover and Type Cover keyboards to reach those same programs and system options.

Get the best of both the tablet and computer worlds by using these handy screen gestures and keystroke combinations for the Surface. (Note that the … Read more

Need to shut down your PC in a hurry? Simple. Here are two handy keyboard shortcuts to save you time and mousing.

Close all open programs A little-known set of keystrokes will shut down all active programs at once in no time.

Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and then Alt-T to open Task Manager's Applications tab. Press the down arrow, and then Shift-down arrow to select all the programs listed in the window. When they're all selected, press Alt-E, then Alt-F, and finally x to close Task Manager.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's seven steps that … Read more

Looks like Android's top-selling keyboard app, SwiftKey, has a sibling in the works, in the form of a new program called SwiftKey Flow. Officially announced today, SwiftKey Flow takes a page out of competitor Swype's book, by letting its users input text via continuous gliding gestures.

What differentiates SwiftKey Flow, however, is the underlying natural-language technology that's been migrated over from the original SwiftKey keyboard app. This means that users of the new Flow will get not only the flexibility of choosing between a traditional tapping style and a Swype-like gliding style of typing, but also the … Read more

Don't drink and text. Don't drunk dial your ex. That's all good advice, but it will be extremely hard to follow if you happen to be the owner of the Beer Keyboard.

The Beer Keyboard is exactly what it sounds like. It uses beer cans in place of keys. Just gently press down on a can and you trigger the proper letter or number on a computer.

The keyboard is made from 44 beer cans and an Arduino-powered touch capacitive controller. It was hatched by Prague-based brewer Staropramen and Robofun Create, a company dedicated to building unusual tech items.… Read more

Users who are tired of running back and forth between multiple computers might want to give today's collection of freeware a look. First, we have two KVM switch replacements: Qsynergy, a more intuitive version of the popular Synergy; and Mouse without Borders, a quick and easy solution from Microsoft's Garage for sharing your keyboard and mouse.

A third alternative is Win Switch, a tool to share programs on multiple computers and unchain you from your desk. All three options differ from remote desktop applications such as TeamViewer or Splashtop, since all of the computers operate on the same … Read more

One artist sees treasure in trashed keyboards of yesteryear.

Inspired by the tale of ancient Greece's infamously sneaky Trojan Horse and humankind's Internet gluttony, German artist Babis Pangiotidis created an elaborate model of a rocking horse known as "Hedonism(y) Trojaner" with skin made of thousands of forgotten keyboard keys. Babis states on his portfolio site that the shades of color found on the recycled keys range from ivory white to nicotine-stained yellow. … Read more

It's not uncommon to own multiple PCs. For example, you might use both a desktop and a laptop, frequently hopping back and forth between their keyboards. That's kind of a hassle.

Wouldn't it be great if you could control both those machines from a single spot? That's the idea behind ShareMouse (Win/Mac), an invaluable utility that lets you share your mouse and keyboard with multiple networked PCs.

The software normally runs $30 per license, and you need a license for each system you want to control -- in other words, a minimum of two. Today … Read more

Some iPhone 5 users are seeing lines in front of their eyes, at least when they key in their passwords.

Users chiming in on MacForums and on Apple's Discussion Forums say that lines of static appear across their keyboard as they type. But the problem seems to occur only when they enter their passwords at the App Store or iTunes store.

A YouTube video posted by one user clearly shows the static lines hopping across the screen.

Some posters believe the problem made be software related, especially since Apple changed the look and layout of the App Store and … Read more

While we think the iOS default keyboard is nicely designed as it is, Color Keyboard Pro allows you to choose from more than six different skins that have the full set of QWERTY keys in various colors.

At launch, you'll see a colored keyboard with one of the available custom skins. While it was very easy to choose a skin, we found it annoying that the click is louder when you type than with the original iPhone option, and we couldn't find a reasonable explanation for this.

You can also use Color Keyboard Pro to create messages. When … Read more