Still in ramp mode at the new digs so I'll review the recent keyboard and mouse I bought. Choices were limited to what was available at Staples because I'm not exactly what you would call an ambitious hillbilly when it comes to peripheral shopping.

Microsoft's Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000
The packaging claims it is Microsoft's most comfortable mouse ever, which is why I chose it over Logitech's VX Revolution, a mouse that has a lot more buttons and that purty hyperscroll wheel but still forces your hand into carpal tunnel territory.

Alas, the Natural Wireless Yadda Yadda Yadda still requires some conscious effort to force your hand into the vertical position they want you to use. I suspect the Evoluent VM is a better choice in this regard.

It's not so bad if you rest your hand with the index and middle fingers on the two mouse buttons, which I think is how they expect you to work it. But I prefer using my index and fourth fingers for them leaving my third free to work the scroll wheel. And when I do that, my hand has a tendency to revert into a more horizontal (i.e. less wrist-friendly) position. And when I do use the "correct" fingers, the scroll wheel is not nearly as accessible due to the mouse's sheer (but necessary) bulk.

This one also features the new horizontal scrolling on the mouse wheel. It makes a nice demo but after playing with it for a while, I can't help wondering why they didn't just replace the whole thing with a miniature joystick instead. Scrolling a vertical wheel left and right doesn't feel right and it takes a lot to make a hillbilly feel unnatural.

Final verdict: More comfortable than a regular mouse but not as ergonomic as I would have hoped. It's cheaper than the Logitech one but, and this is pure speculation, probably not as comfortable as the Evoluent.

Not reviewed: The Data Hand

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
The main competition with this was another keyboard that wasn't "natural" but had a Win key on either side of the spacebar, as opposed to only on the left on this one. I use WinKey a lot so this was actually a fairly big factor in the decision. Alas, I chose comfort over function again and now I am forced to use two hands to lock my screen instead of one (Win + L). The reason I decided against the other one was that it included a mouse I didn't like but on reflection, it wasn't that much more expensive...

Not that I'm disappointed with the one I bought. It has all the buttons where they're supposed to be, and the more useless ones that keyboard manufacturers seem eager to add (like the Search and Calculator buttons) don't get in the way. I haven't put the split keyboard through it's paces too much yet but early indications are very positive. There's a little "zoom" mechanism between the two keyboard sections that lets you increase or decrease the font-size in IE. Again, not a feature I imagine gets used a lot and given it's position, it would have been a perfect place to put something more practical there, like a couple more buttons for favorite applications or better yet, macros.

Other nice features include a wrist rest that's slightly more comfortable than one would expect and more keys above the number pad (for equal sign, left and right parentheses, and backspace). It also comes with a little stand that raises the front of the keyboard which can be detached and used for snagging cords behind your desk that are out of reach.

So apart from the fact that the right-click key (which I have yet to see being used at all, let alone actively enough to warrant such a prominent position on they keyboard) is occupying the space where a more useful second Win key could go, it's a keyboard I can be proud of.

Kyle the Critiqued

Maybe it's because I'm getting on in years but I'm not much of a gadget person, especially considering my chosen profession. I've been able to get by quite nicely on Mrs. Hillbilly's cast-off devices, which come more frequently than you might imagine. And, being a technically-minded and gracious hillbilly, I'm often called upon to swear and curse at the UI designers of her latest gizmo.

Recently, that included a new Zune and a new Treo. I'll start off with the Zune because my major complaint with it is pretty easy to explain.

I can't create a playlist on it.

Oh I can transfer a playlist to it from my computer. Very easily actually. The software, which I'm guessing is a branded version of Windows Media Player but I'm too lazy to look it up, is intuitive enough. I just can't select a list of songs that are already on the Zune and create a playlist from them.

Here's the scenario: It's a 30Gb Zune and given that it could accommodate both the missus' collection and most of mine, she graciously allowed me to use some of the excess space. So I stumbled my way through and added all my songs.

Cut to a few days later: The ol' lady comes home and says to me, she says, "Codin' Hillbilly, ya gotsta git yer musick off'n this har Zoon! I canst get it to play just my songs without yer Tribute to Yodellin' mixin' it up with mah Il Divo!"

"You got it, Cabbage," says I, "I'll just add mah toons to one o' dem playlisties and you kin listen to them big throaty guys all ye want!"

So boot up the Zune and lo! All the songs I've recently added are nicely listed in a Recently Added list so I don't have to go hunting for them. But no! you are not, to the best of my knowledge, able to create a playlist on the Zune without creating it on your computer first. And when you do that, it wants to add all the songs in it to your Zune all over again.

The solution I am currently implementing (which is not to imply it is the correct one):

• Delete all my music from the Zune (using the handy "Recently Added" list)
• Copy all the missus' music to my computer
• Delete the missus' music from the Zune
• Create two playlists on my computer, one for her and one for me
• Copy both playlists back to the Zune

Thankfully, the Zune copies things wicked fast otherwise I'd be in a pretty skunky mood right about now. And before I move on to the Treo, I'll just point out that my three-year-old Dell Digital Jukebox has an awesome interface for this. To wit: it shows up in Windows Explorer and I can drag and drop songs at will. Into both the device itself and playlists that I create on it (also directly from Windows Explorer).

The scenario for the Treo 650: Cabbage has a romantic streak in 'er and thought it'd be nice to have a certain song play whenever I called her on it. The song is not nearly as interesting as what your collective imaginations are dreaming up so let's just say for the sake of argument that it's Whistle Stop by Roger Miller. So the task is: Get a fragment of a song on to the Treo and assign it to a specific number.

I gotsta tell ya, it's easier to skin a raccoon with dull machete.

After a LOT of trial and error and at least three pieces of trial software for various tasks, none of which I eventually actually needed, it was done. Here are the trimmed down steps I performed (and again, I don't want to imply that this is the correct answer):

• Edit the song in whatever MP3/wave editor into a clip that makes sense as a ringtone.
• Save it as a wave file unless you want to deal with third-party software because the Treo, out of the box, doesn't support MP3 files as ringtones.
• Make sure your Treo is set up to receive e-mail (using VersaMail, not MyMail and not Messaging; and on that note: why are there three ways to get mail on this thing?!?)
• E-mail the wave to yourself. I kid you not, this is the ONLY way I found to copy a wave file on to the Treo using the software that comes with it.
• Try several times to download the e-mail before it times out
• Click on the little file icon next to the attachment name (NOT on the attachment name itself)
• There are three options: View, Save to card..., and Select viewer... Click on Select viewer... (ya, that was MY third choice, too)
• In the Select Viewer screen, change the Viewer to Sounds. I shouldn't need to explain this because it should be pretty obvious but just in case you aren't picking up on the sarcasm, this will copy the file to your Sounds folder (or area or whatever).
• Click View
• Now press the Home button to go to the main screen
• Go to your favorites (by pressing the green Call button which was NOT easy to figure out)
• Scroll down (again, not obvious that you can do this) and select an empty slot
• Leave it on Speed Dial
• Enter the phone number you want to apply this to (or select an existing contact by clicking Lookup)
• Change the ringtone to the one you just saved
• Click OK

I could comment further but I think the list of steps involved speaks for itself.

Kyle the Luddite

Thanks to honorary Hillbilly Martin M for pointing out that my Search button didn't actually work. Let that be a reminder to all you Atlas-ers that your UI shouldn't just look good, it also has to work.

The migration to the new laptop continues. I shouldn't be too surprised at the level to which I bastardized my old laptop (I *am* the Coding Hillbilly, after all) but every day brings a new "oh yeah" moment.

Today's changes to the laptop:

• Imported IE favorites from live.com
• Installed Scott Guthrie's Web Application Project for VS2005
• aspnet_regiis'd my default web site (for some reason, I didn't have an ASPNET account)
• Default settings in Word and Outlook (I do like me some Century Gothic; it's the way the a's harken back to my childhood printing classes)
• Downloaded the Consolas font