April 11, 2006, 5:17 PM PDT
Another blank keyboard
Posted by: Lara Luepke

Though there aren't a lot of competitors in the blank keyboard market, Das Keyboard saw fit to update its original iteration with the Das Keyboard 2. We took a look at the Das Keyboard last year and found that eliminating letters from the keys really did help us type faster. After 20-or-so years of typing, my fingers know their way to the keys; my eyes just look out of habit. That said, I missed the marking on the less frequently used keys, such as insert and scroll lock.

Little has changed for Das Keyboard 2 in terms of markings--it still has none, which gives it an all-black, "I'm superior to your lettered keyboard" look. The design is slightly changed, but it still looks like a run-of-the-mill keyboard. Metadot, the makers of Das Keyboard, state that the Das Keyboard 2 is equipped with "gold-plated mechanical key switches that offer a distinct, tactile click feeling." I definitely noticed a click feel--and a very, very loud clicking sound that annoyed the hell out of my cubemate. In addition to the gold-plating, the F and J keys have a slightly deeper indent than the rest, allowing your fingers to find the "home row" faster. My fingers felt the difference, but I'm not sure how helpful it was in guiding me "home."

Despite its loud clicking, the Das Keyboard 2 is a novel concept and even a conversation piece if you're prone to having tech-related conversations (which we are). And if you're hoping to type faster with less reliance on glancing down at the keys, the Das Keyboard 2 could be the solution. But for its $90 asking price, you could have the Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 700, which includes a mouse, media controls, and keys with markings on them.

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April 11, 2006, 4:21 PM PDT
Virgin Mobile lands Kyocera Switch Back
Posted by: Kent German

Kyocera today confirmed what we expected by announcing that Virgin Mobile will carry its new QWERTY keyboard phone. Originally called the Strobe and first introduced at CES last January, the Kyocera Switch Back offers a full QWERTY keyboard, dual 65,000-color displays, e-mail, instant messaging, a VGA camera, a speakerphone, 256MB of memory, gameplay, and a wireless Web browser. Armed with exclusive MTV and other youth-oriented content, Kyocera is positioning the Switch Back as an alternative to the T-Mobile Sidekick II. In our opinion, though, the phone is certainly useful, it's not the prettiest mobile on the market. The Kyocera Switch Back will be available late this month for $149.

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• See product information for Kyocera Switch Back (Strobe)
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April 11, 2006, 2:20 PM PDT
Real-life adventures in technology: replacing an iPod hard drive
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

About a week ago, my trusty fourth-gen iPod decided to kick the bucket. More accurately, it was the hard drive that died, seized by a sudden fit of clicking and grinding. Checking Apple's Web site, I saw that getting my out-of-warranty iPod serviced would cost $249 (plus $6.95 shipping and handling), clearly not a reasonable option. A little online research, however, turned up several detailed explanations on how to replace the hard drive.

Fourth-gen iPods use a fairly common, 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive. It was easy to find a replacement for this drive; I chose a 20GB Toshiba MK2006GAL (the original drive in my iPod had a slightly different model number, MK2004GAL). Many retailers had the drive for around $90, but a few outlets were charging almost twice that, marketing it as a "replacement iPod hard drive."

It arrived a few days later, and I grabbed some bench space in the CNET Labs to perform a little digital-audio-player surgery. The hardest part was getting the case open without totally gouging the iPod, requiring a series of ever-smaller flat-head screwdrivers, until I managed to work one into the seal.

Once the cover was popped off (but still connected via a small ribbon cable), I gently removed the old hard drive and disconnected its IDE-style cable. It had blue rubber bumpers and a piece of blue foam attached to it, both of which I easily pulled off and attached to the new hard drive (I should have glued them on, but they seemed to stay in place on their own). The cover snapped back on and apart from a couple of tiny dings in the plastic, it looked good as new.

The biggest hurdle, and where the online tutorials I consulted fell apart, was in setting up the new drive. I plugged the iPod into my PC via a USB connection and attempted to run the latest iPod updater, which one tutorial said should have automatically set up the device for me. The updater ran a few times but never seemed to actually do anything.

I tried to format the drive through Windows but got an error. I tried again, this time using the "quick format" option, and it worked. Now I could run the iPod updater, and I finally got the option to "restore" my iPod to its factory settings. After that, it was just a matter of reloading my music onto the iPod, and I was back in business.

The moral of this story is that beyond knowing what part to order and being able to follow along with some illustrated directions, the level of technical expertise needed to replace a dead iPod hard drive is practically nil. Your mileage may vary, of course, so don't come crying to me if you fry your player.

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April 11, 2006, 2:18 PM PDT
Firefox Flicks: you do the marketing for them!
Posted by: Molly Wood

Mozilla has released its first round of videos produced by fans of Firefox. The entries are part of Mozilla's Firefox Flicks contest, in which amateur videographers make short films touting the browser's wonderfulness. The winner will receive a $5,000 gift certificate for B&H photo and video equipment and accessories. And unlike the poor folks over at Chevrolet, Mozilla reps say they're actually happy with the video that's been rolling in.

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April 11, 2006, 2:13 PM PDT
Microsoft gets around to saving your bacon
Posted by: Molly Wood

Despite rumors that recent IE security flaws were serious enough to warrant out-of-cycle patches, Microsoft stuck with its scheduling guns and today released a whopper of a security update that patches no less than 10 security flaws--8 of which could be used to take over your Windows machine. Unfortunately, even this dubiously good news was overshadowed by two new "critical" Windows flaws and a handful of "won't kill you...yet" problems. Those guys can't buy good security PR. And they've got a lot of money, too.

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April 11, 2006, 1:24 PM PDT
DLO releases HomeDock Deluxe for iPod
Posted by: Jasmine France

I've been waiting patiently for my HomeDock Deluxe ever since I got a glimpse of one at Macworld earlier this year. Apparently, my unit arrived at the CNET offices sometime today but hasn't quite made it into my hands. In the meantime, the folks over at iLounge have posted a pretty extensive preview of the device with many product images and screenshots. It's definitely worth a look. I will say this, though: Not that I own an iPod, but if I did, I wouldn't bite until the HomeDock Deluxe could at least display album art on the TV, if not offer onscreen video menu navigation as well. That said, the onscreen music menu navigation is a great feature sorely lacking in the competition and DLO's previous model.

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April 11, 2006, 1:00 PM PDT
The hard drive is falling! The hard drive is falling!
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

I just read this in a press release about an upcoming backup product: "The failure rate of every computer hard drive is 100 percent, so it's not a question of if a hard drive will fail, but when."

Hold on. Yes, it is true that every hard drive has an MTBF (here's a good explanation) spec attached to it, and that none are infinite. And it is also true that the hard drive is the least reliable part of any computer, being the only part, other than keyboard and mouse, with moving parts. But I have hard drives in very old computers that are still working, and I bet many of you do, too.

I do concede that every computer hard drive will eventually fail (second law of thermodynamics: entropy increases). I also strongly believe that all data should be backed up, because any hard drive might fail at any time. But I think there's no point in spreading fear by implying that every hard drive will definitely fail while it is in active use. It's crying wolf. It's almost as irresponsible as claiming that hard drives never fail.

When I can, I'll write about the new backup product, which I hope was designed by different people than those who wrote the press release.

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April 11, 2006, 12:51 PM PDT
JVC introduces new MP3 players
Posted by: James Kim

Certainly not a heavy hitter in the U.S. MP3 player market, JVC has announced two new models: the 512MB XA-F57 (white, pink, or silver) and the 1GB XA-F107 (gray, pink, or black). Both models play MP3 and DRM WMA files, and they include line-in recording capabilities. The players will be available in late April. Watch for our review. We have previously reviewed JVC's headphone-style player, the XA-A50CL.

Initial take: these players don't bring anything new to the table, and their list prices of $99 (XA-F57) and $149 (XA-F107) aren't exactly bargains. In comparison, the 1GB Cowon iAudio U3 lists for $140.

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