For the past year or so I have been using the older style wireless keyboard from Apple.  I have been quite pleased with it, but after a year of daily use it seemed it was time to replace this.  Since this keyboard is used with my Mac Mini, I headed out to our local Best Buy and picked up one of the new wireless keyboards.  Looking in the aisle you really wouldn’t imagine a keyboard was in a box this this small, but hey, small is what this keyboard is. 

I was a bit hesitant getting the wireless version because I often use the numeric pad and the wireless version doesn’t have that, but the wired version does.  However, I like my desktop to be as clutter-free as possible, so wireless it is!  As usual, Apple keeps it’s packaging to a minimum with the contents just being the keyboard itself, instructions, and a pack of batteries.  The first thing you notice is how thin and light this keyboard is.  Comparing this to my previous Apple keyboard was one of the first things I did, and as you can see in the images below there is quite a difference in size.

The keyboard itself looks like it was pulled right off a MacBook, and feels the same way as well.  It was a bit awkward at first using this keyboard, as my hands seem to cover the entire board, but after a few hours of us that was all behind me.  The keys are smooth and very easy to type with.  One of the things I especially like is the fact that this keyboard is quiet.  Even during a heavy typing session, nobody else in the room would have known I was typing.  Using this with Leopard, the only other thing I had to get used to is the keys for items like activating the Dashboard are now mapped in different locations, but they are clearly marked so it really wasn’t that big of a deal. 

Overall I am very happy with this keyboard.  There really isn’t anything I can complain about other than the lack of a numeric pad.  If you are looking for a compact and light keyboard with Bluetooth capability, then I can highly recommend this product.

Link: Apple Wireless Keyboard

For anyone who has an iPhone, or an iPod Touch for that matter, I’m sure you know all about web applications that were designed specifically for the iPhone.  Apple.com has a dedicated section of web apps where people can submit their own, and it’s a great place to find some of the best.  The list is growing day by day, so I wanted to take you through my 5 favorite iPhone web apps.

1. Accuweather

The included weather widget with the iPhone is nice, but it’s not very informative.  That is why I turn to the Accuweather web app.  It has a simple interface that you either switch to a 15 day forecast, or an animated radar image of your selected area.  It also has your daily forecast, along with a 4 day outlook.  One feature that really stands out is that Accuweather will display weather alerts for your area.

2. Tic Tac Toe

If you ever get tired of waiting for your dinner to get to the table at your favorite restaurant, no worries, just fire up the Tic Tac Toe web app and have at it.  The kids really enjoy this one, and it has a very simple interface where you just take alternative turns at tapping the area you want to mark.

3.  BeeJive

One of the things that really aggravates me is the fact that the iPhone doesn’t have any native IM application.  Hopefully that will be resolved in the future, but for now BeeJive fills the void quite well.  BeeJive connects to several of the popular networks like MSN, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, and more.  The interface, where has different themes you can set, is beautifully done and you will easily forget this is a web based application.

4.  Tip Calculator

Ever been to a group dinner, and have to sit around for 20 minutes trying to figure out how much everyone owe’s for a tip?  Well I have, and that is why this web app is in my top 5.  The Tip Calculator lets you enter the bill amount, tip percentage, and how many people it needs to be split with.

5.  Facebook

If you like to check your Facebook account several times a day, then this streamlined version made for the iPhone will suit your needs perfectly.  You can view your friends list, profile, wall, and even update your current status from this web app.  It still needs some work, but it’s far easier than trying to navigate the full site.

I recently wrote about the Election Countdown gadgets I made for Windows users, so today I wanted to share the dashboard widget that Mac OS X users can use.  Just as it’s Windows counterparts, this widget will count down the days until the 2008 Presidential Election.

Download: Election Countdown 2008

The latest iPhone and iPod Touch updates brought us a new feature called WebClips.  Basically, you can save a web page, or a part of a webpage to the iPhone/Touch home screen.  It’s a very convenient way to save websites you visit often.  If a website does not have a specific WebClip icon then it will take an image of part of the site and use that.  Well, creating your own custom icon for your website is pretty easy, so I wanted to tell you how to do it.

1. Create your icon using your image editor of choice.  The image must be 57×57 and be in the .PNG format.
2. Name the image “”apple-touch-icon.png”.
3. Upload the file to the root directory of your website.

That’s it!  When you add the icon to your home screen it will automatically be updated with the “glass” overlay to make it match the rest of the icons on the screen.

To see an example, go to my page and create a WebClip of it.

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