Category: Photos

From Microsoft of all places, actually…

MS is apparently trying to encourage us developers to work on PocketPC programs, so as part of a new promotion they sent free Viewsonic V37 PocketPCs out to those of us who filled out all the paperwork and such early enough. (No, I can’t get you one. MSDN members only and they’re probably all long gone now.)

Not my first choice of PDA due to the general crumminess of Windows CE, but it’ll suffice for the few things I’d want it to do. It’s not like I’m looking for a high-reliability server here. And hey, it was free, so I can’t complain too much.

Behold, the first new keyboard I’ve bought in nearly 10 years:

It’s the same design as the older IBM keyboards (it’s made by a company spun off from IBM’s old keyboard/printer group, Lexmark), with the ultra-noisy solid tactile feedback. And no freaking Windows keys.

There isn’t really anything wrong with the old one, it’s just not as cool as this one. It was getting rather filthy anyway.

Well enough of the old, here’s the new…

Okay, it’s not nearly as spiffy as the custom jobs out there, but it’s still better than my old one. Derzon should be back up permanently soon…

I whipped out my calculator recently for something or other, and it only just hit me how old this thing is. I bought it for use in Grade 10 math class, and even then it was at the lower end of the HP line, with the fancy-shmancy calculators with *two* lines of text just coming out. And it would be another few years before graphing calculators would become all the rage among university students.

I’ve only ever had to replace the batteries in it once, too. I wish more things lasted that long…