iPad with Neo as keyboard. Maybe a folding Matias would work too? It will? Uh oh.

Clickety clackety click. Yes indeedy, I’m firing on all cylinders here, and the room resounds to the rat-a-tat of my spiffy new keyboard. It’s a Das Keyboard Model S Professional UK and I love it to bits. As a typewriter, it’s the best. Not just the noise but the spacing, pitch and feel of the keys is just lovely. The big problem is actually getting the keys to do what I expect them to do. I knew the layout would be the one favoured by all those other computer manufacturers, but I figured it would be reasonably easy to bend it to the will of my muscle memory. Not so. Getting the £ instead of the # was a doddle and I still need to swap @ and ” around. But it has taken me forever to figure out how to get the keys in the bottom row working the way I’m used to, even with the help of a nifty little thing called DoubleCommand.

One problem is the names for the bloody keys. The DoubleCommand innards don’t make it easy to work out which key you want to act as which, but I did eventually get the ones that really matter sorted out to my satisfaction. Couldn’t they just give some simple options, like change this picture to that picture? That would work for me. I had no idea the Application key was even called that. I’ve never used it on the PC at work, and I can’t think of anything to use it for here. Suggestions? And while I’m about it, will I ever get used to the media controls being where they are? Indeed, will I ever get used to even having media keys?

But you know, those really are niggles. I’m actually glad that my old iMac keyboard gave up the ghost. Now what I really want is two more of these suckers at work.

Alan Siegel swam into my consciousness with a Tedtalk on simplicity. I was intrigued enough to seek out his company blog, one of the least corporate blogs I’ve ever seen, which makes sense. There, today, I read a great post about unpacking text to get rid of complexity. Here’s the sequence:

1. “We bring innovative ideas to maximize your efficiency with flexible solutions that adapt to your evolving needs and consistently give you detailed performance data so that you can have transparent control over costs at all times.”
2. “We make you more efficient, and give you more control over your costs.”
3. “We save you time and money.”

And here’s the bottom line:

Original? No. Human needs are not original. Human needs are eternal. Human needs are simple.

There’s a little bit more analysis that makes reading the whole post worthwhile. It sang for me, and may for you. I’ve lately been involved in the exact reverse of that process, doing it as well as I can because if a job’s not worth doing, it’s not worth doing well. But how I wish I weren’t.

I’m still reeling from a purchase last night: a 1Tb hard drive for 109 euros. First, who would ever have thought that I would need a 1Tb hard drive? And secondly, who would ever have thought that I could get one for chump change?

Start: 95.4 Last week: 89.5 This week: 89.3

New(ish) year, new approach. No more attempting to number by week, and no more beating myself over the head if I miss a week.

the Art of Eating is my unmissable periodical, the most intelligent, informative, well-written publication on food available anywhere. It looks good too. I’ve been a subscriber almost forever, have never even been tempted to let my subscription lapse. Wouldn’t it be nice to give something back, I thought.

Here it is: a Google map of all the establishments listed in the round up of néo-bistros in Paris by Bénédict Beaugé and Edward Behr in issue 82, the to reach me. Ten establishments, a solid week’s eats.

See the map of Neo Bistros bigger. Use it to plan your visit. I know I will.