keyboards - page 3

Finally, an emoji keyboard that’s better than Apple’s

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Screenshot: Alex Heath/ Cult of Mac

It’s not that Apple’s emoji keyboard is necessarily bad, but it could be better. If you’re a hardcore emoji user, you know that it’s a pain to scroll through and find the perfect emoji in the moment.

Maybe you’re looking for the perfect funny face or food item for the conversation. To take your emoji game to the next level, you need a third-party keyboard called Emoji++.

Clickety keyboard without the clack is perfect for stealth missions

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Beautiful and functional. And no frikkin wires. Photo Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The Matias Secure Pro is beautiful and functional. And no frikkin' wires. Photos: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

If you like mechanical keyboards, but those inconsiderate jerks in your office or home can’t stand the clackety racket they make, then you might consider something that uses “tactile” keys instead, which look and work like clicky keys — only without the click.

And if you’re into wireless keyboards, but you don’t like the NSA van parked outside snooping the connection and recording your keystrokes, you might like something with an encrypted wireless connection.

Well, guess what? We have just the thing. The Matias Secure Pro, a tactile keyboard with 128-bit AES Encryption.

Filco MiniLa Air Bluetooth: Clackety keyboard on the go

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filco keyboards
The Filco MiniLa Air Bluetooth, alongside my own tenkeyless Filco Majestouch. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I took the Filco MiniLa Air Bluetooth keyboard with me on vacation this year to use with a MacBook Air propped up on the fantastic Roost stand. I use the tenkeyless Filco Majestouch at home, and I was hoping for the same super-accurate, clicky-key action in this battery-powered, portable wireless version.

And I almost got it. But for one major flaw, the MiniLa is almost as good as the desktop version. The good news is, that flaw might just be a personal quibble.

Logitech’s updated Ultraslim Keyboard Cover is worse in almost every way

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Old versus new: Logitech takes several steps backward with its next-gen Ultrathin Keyboard Cover. Photos: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Logitech’s updated Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air replaced its predecessor mere months after the original’s launch. The most obvious difference between the two is the flip-out hinge that joins the keyboard to the iPad like a cover to a book, but in reality the two devices are completely different.

Is the new one better? In one way yes. In others? Nope.

The first third-party keyboard for iOS 8 is already here

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fleksy

The world’s fastest keyboard is speeding onto iOS 8 faster than Jony Ive’s fabulous Bentley.

Third-party keyboards were only revealed two days ago for iOS 8 but it is taking developers no time at all to piece together some working betas amid the coding-fest at WWDC.

First up to the plate is Fleksy, who has already started teasing their upcoming keyboard for iOS 8, and if you’re lucky, they’ll might let you take it for a spin.

Moshi’s VersaKeyboard is a fantastic case (and a pretty good keyboard)

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This Moshi keyboard is great even without the keyboard.  Photos Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
This Moshi keyboard is great even without the keyboard. Photos: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I’m writing this review on a regular, full-size USB keyboard plugged into the Mac. That should be a warning sign right there — after all, this is a review of an iPad keyboard case. But that’s not the whole story. For instance, the case part of the Moshi VersaKeyboard is fantastic — so good that I’ve been using it as my main iPad case since it turned up for testing.

They keyboard is good, too, with keys as responsive as those on Logitech’s Ultrathin keyboard covers. So what’s the problem? Why am I not typing this review on the Moshi? Size.

Hacking Filco’s Tenkeyless Majestouch 2 To Work With The Mac [Review]

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Majestouch 2 Tenkeyless by Filco
Category: Keyboards
Works With:Anything
Price: $140+

I’m typing this review on the Filco Majestouch 2 Tenkeyless keyboard. It has blue Cherry MX switches, and a standard ISO layout with UK English markings. It is the best keyboard I’ve used, but despite that this won’t be a regular review – a million people have already written about this keyboard.

Instead, I’ll tell you what I like and then tell you how I made this Windows keyboard play well with my Mac. Warning: includes nerdy hacks.

Turn You iPad Into A Laptop For $40

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I’m no fan of keyboard cases that try to pretend that the iPad is in fact a miniature laptop, and I expect that if I used the FAVI Swivel Screen Portfolio Case with Bluetooth Keyboard (iPad Air) I’d hate it as much as any other. But I figure it’s worth a mention becasue of its neat modular design.

Logitech Harmony Smart Keyboard Controls Anything. ANYTHING

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If non-clicky keyboards are what you’re after, and you don’t like the free one that came with your Mac, then Logitech offers some of the best options around. I own two, that I’ve bought with my own cash money, and if I had an Apple TV or Media Center setup, I’d be seriously considering the new Harmony keyboard and hub, which doesn’t work quite how you think.

Rapoo’s Ultra-Slim Keyboard Has A Built-In Trackpad

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Rapoo’s new E2700 looks to be the perfect companion for my iMac, which is sat on a desk at a suspiciously convenient distance from the sofa in my office, letting me kick back and be amazed by episodes of True Detective and, uh, The Mentalist. Aside from being a regular keyboard with all the usual media keys, it also packs a trackpad on the rightmost end, so you can play/pause those annoying browser video players that don’t respond to the spacebar.

Shortcut-S, A 319-Key Keyboard For Photoshop

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Shortcut-S is the kind of devices that is born when engineers get to make whatever they want. It’s a huge monster of a keyboard, with 319 keys all dedicated to separate Photoshop functions. It’s as if somebody took the piano and added a key to play every chord and note of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. Would that actually make it easier to play?

Belkin’s Qode Keyboards For iPad Air Look As Good As The iPad They Fit

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This is pretty hot right?
This is pretty hot right?

 

I wonder just what effect the new iPad Air will have on keyboard covers? The iPads one to four were all big enough that you could pretty much squeeze a full-sized keyboard into a matching cover, but all the keyboard cases I have so far tried for the iPad mini have been unusable, like a netbook keyboard.

Belkin’s new keyboards for the iPad Air hope that physics will continue to favor the former situation.

CODE Keyboard Is Mechanical, Customizable, Awesome

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Jeff Atwood (of Stack Overflow fame) decided that he needed a new keyboard for his coding adventures. So instead of just firing up the Amazon app and starting from there, he decided to make his own. And now you can buy it, too. It’s the CODE mechanical keyboard, and you can use it to clack away to yourself, silently and in the dark.

The Executive, The Perfect iPad Keyboard/Stand For Sweaty, Nylon-Suited Businessmen

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“The Executive.” The very name brings to mind leather cellphone accessories, oversized black onyx desks and “business class” seats on a 737, which consist of a curtain between you and the oiks, an inch of extra legroom and a terrible, plastic-wrapped breakfast to shove into your gullet during the 25 minutes of non-restricted flight time.

And “The Executive” is also the name of a Bluetooth keyboard designed — presumably — for using in those cramped “business class” seats.