"Keyboard" - see it on dwarfland.com

I've always had a love/hate relationship with typing. I do it most of the day, yet i'm incredibly bad at it (as Mike, who proofreads most of my stuff before i goes on the website can attest to ;). It's an hand-eye coordination thing – somehow i can't get my two typing fingers to hit the keys in quite the same order that my brain wants them to be hit.

Like everyone, i've had countless keyboards over the years, some better, some worse,but they have had one thing in common: they had been traditional desktop keyboards with big keys that need to be pressed way down. I've always found that i could type much better on my laptops than a the desktop.

Enter the new Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard that was recently launched along wit the new iMacs. I treated myself to one of these last week, and i can only say it's been the best €79,— i have ever spent. The keyboard is a joy to type on (after even a few minutes, could no longer stand my old Microsoft keyboard), not to mention it's stylish and really tiny (pictures don't quite prepare you for how small the real thing it looks!), without giving up standard key spacing.

Many people complain about the lack of numeric and and cursor on the wireless version, but must say after trying both for a while i actually prefer that – it allows me to keep the keyboard centered without having to move the mouse to far off to the right.

Though not officially spported, the keyboard works well with my Windows Vista desktop (contrary to may posts out there), it was recognized as Bluetooth device right away and worked out of the box. The only downside is that the Fn key does not (yet) work under Windows, so you cannot dual-use the F keys to control media playback, etc., as you can on Mac. I'm hoping that Leopard's Bootcamp will provide an updated driver maybe.

i can definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new and improved typing experience. And if you do need a numeric pad, the USB wired version provides that, and otherwise looks and feels the same.

There have been some of discussions about SQLGetData and TDAWhere vs. the new Dynamic Where and Dynamic Select features in Data Abstract 'Vinci' in our newsgroups this past week, and i think this cartoon sums it up nicely (via):

So, be safe now, and make sure to use Dynamic Where and Dynamic Select! ;)

A brief book recommendation: this saturday i’ve read The Gum Thief, the latest novel by Douglas Coupland. I’ve loved Coupland’s work ever since first reading Microserfs some ten years ago, and Gum Thief is yet another masterpiece in a long line of excellent novels. Made up entirely of letters and diary entries of characters that never actually meet or interact directly, Gum Thief tells the story of 40-something Staples clerk Roger who is writing a novel about – wait for it – a novelist writing a novel about a clerk at Staples. And if you know Coupland, you know that he, and only he, can pull it off.

If you like this one, i also recommend Miss Wyoming, Girlfriend in a Coma and – especially for those of us involved with geek stuff – Microserfs, of course.

"Welcome to the fall" - see it on dwarfland.com

Berlin, today.

I feel the need to say something here, inspired by recent language feature discussions and suggestions, both on our public Chrome newsgroups but also in the betas.

I know that many of you, our users, originally come from a Delphi background, and traditionally, Borland introduced about one change to the language per decade, or so it felt like, at least. In contrast, we've been quite "liberal" with extending and evolving the Chrome language; Chrome is only some four years old, and we've added a lot of cool stuff over the course of its life. And don't get me wrong, i think that's a good thing!

However, there's a fine line (a very fine line) between keeping a language evolving and growing on one hand, and implementing everybody's "wouldn't it be fun if" suggestions, on the other.

We will of course keep expanding the Chrome language according to our vision of where the language should go (and in fact we have many good concepts planned for 'Oxygène' and versions beyond), but that does not mean that we can (or will) jump at every suggestion or language change request that is brought up. This should not be taken personally by those of you who submit suggestions; it's not that your ideas are bad (at least not all of em ;-), but we do need to keep the balance and evolve the language into a consistent direction - not just add every neat gimmick that someone can come up with.

Otherwise, we'll end up with a language that no-one recognizes and where no two features work consistently between themselves, five years from now. We don't want that, and i'm sure our users don't want that, either.

And if you want something that feels like every singe syntax element was devised by a different person new to the language, there's always Ruby ;)

This is of course not to discourage the submission of ideas - many of the language features we've introduced into Chrome have originated from ideas submitted by users and beta testers (sometimes verbatim, and sometimes by evolving the original idea into what we same fit best). Please keep bringing us your ideas, but also please keep in mind that we simply cannot run with each and every one of them!

Let me know what you think...

Yours,
marc hoffman
Chief Software Architect

It’s been a while since i talked about it, but having recently received the DVD and had the chance for a re-watch, i need to recommend David Lynch’s latest masterpiece INLAND EMPIRE, again.

Completely self-produced by Lynch, INLAND EMPIRE (yes, that’s all-caps) received far too little exposure on the big screen – here in Germany even in Berlin only a few off-theatres showed it for a couple of weeks and i only had the chance to see it once, this past April – and from what i gather, the fate was similar in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe.

Is INLAND EMPIRE for everyone? I guess not, no. It’s 3 hours long. It’s shot mostly (entirely?) on DV hand camera. And even after having seen it twice, there’s no clearly discernible plot, just yet (current reasoning on the IMBb is that you need 3-4 watches to appreciate it, and 5 or more to “get” it). It’s no pop-corn cinema, so if you’re out for some relaxation and brainless entertainment (which isn’t always bad), then by all means, go watch Transformers, instead. But if you’re up for something different that will keep you thinking for a while, sit back and give INLAND EMPIRE a chance.

Subtitled “A Woman in Trouble”, one could say INLAND EMPIRE continues where MULHOLLAND DR. left off, again revisiting the darker side of the dream machine that is Hollywood, following an aging actress (excellently portrayed by Lynch-regular Lara Dern) who literally gets lost inside the plot of her latest project. If you thought MULHOLLAND DR. was confusing and incomprehensible, think again as INLAND EMPIRE introduces you to a whole new level and will make MD look like childs-play in comparison. If on the other hand you loved the dark atmosphere projected by MULHOLLAND DR., the threatening soundscapes and odd characters, you will love INLAND EMPIRE.

INLAND EMPIRE also stars the always amazing Grace Zabriesky in what probably is her eeriest role to date (“brutal focking murder”), as well as almost the entire main cast from MD (Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts and Laura Harring, the last two never actually seen on screen without Rabbit masks until the end credits roll), Harry Dead Stanton and a brief cameo by William H. Macy.

Also available now, finally, is the official soundtrack/score for INLAND EMPIRE, which has Lynch parting with his regular collaborator Angelo Badalamenti (responsible for virtually all relevant Lynch scores) and instead features several tracks of Lynch’s own composing, including the eerie “Ghost of Love” and the amazing “Polish Poem”, which instantly reminds us of Twin Peaks and Lynch’s work with Julie Cruise that was was heavily featured in that show.

Both the INLAND EMPIRE DVD and score are available now.