Das Keyboard Supports Gamers at the Million Man Lan 10

August 8, 2011 in Community, Das Keyboard with 3 Comments

Das Keyboard Booth at Million Man Lan 10We know many of our biggest fans spend hours on their Das Keyboard, fragging the competition. Because of this, and the fact that we love gaming,  Das Keyboard is a big supporter of gamers.  This past weekend (Aug 4-7), Das Keyboard was one of the sponsors for LanWar’s Million Man Lan 10 held in Louisville, KY. We brought some Das Keyboards with us and set up a booth to talk to attendees about our keyboards. We also staged races with our app, TyprX, each day to give people the chance to win a free Das Keyboard.

Fierce competition in the TyperX races at the Million Man Lan 10As always, the wining typists impressed with their fast typing skills. Day 2′s winner earned their keyboard by typing 128wpm, but the big winner of the weekend blew everyone away typing 141wpm. These races are always so much fun for us, and apparently, people loved the races so much the participants wanted to make the typing races part of the big event as they felt it was one of the best tournaments there. Big thanks to all the participants, we can’t wait until next year!

We posted a few more photos on our Facebook page. Go check them out and if you recognize yourself in a photo, tag it so we can put a name to your face.

Mechanical Keyboard Guide: Key Shapes and Key Printing

August 5, 2011 in Das Keyboard with 0 Comments

Cutaway of injection molded keyboard keyKeyboards vary widely in their key cap design. Whether it’s the shape of the keys or how the letters are printed on them, these elements can have an impact on the durability and comfort of a keyboard. Today most desktop keyboards have either cylindrical or flat keys, but initially spherical keys were the standard. Key shapes and key printing are a matter of personal preference. The average keyboard user might not ever notice fading with a keyboard that has pad printing; however, serious typists or anyone using a keyboard for long periods of time might find the labels wear away resulting in faded letters or no letters at all.

Learn more about both of key shape and printing options in Part Two of our Mechanical Keyboard Guide.

 

Replacing the Keys on Your Mechanical Keyboard

August 4, 2011 in Das Keyboard with 2 Comments

If you’ve wondered how to replace the key caps on your Das Keyboard, we created a video to answer all your questions. Using our WASD kit as an example, we show you how to remove the current key caps on your keyboard, how to recognize the different replacement keys if you bought the Ultimate key set with no key inscriptions, and how to pop the new keys into the keyboard. If you are ready to mod your keyboard with special key caps, this is the tutorial for you. Just remember, we highly discourage you from attempting to remove the larger keys on the keyboard, like the Enter key or the Spacebar. These keys have stabilizing bars underneath them and are incredibly tricky to replace.

 

Viewing Week Numbers in Google Calendars

August 3, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

It is very helpful to know week numbers when planning projects, or creating a schedule for the year. The week number indicates a specific week of the year. For example, week 31 in the year 2011 is from Monday August 1, 2011 until (and including) Sunday August 7, 2011. Many companies use the week number to indicate when events occur, or deliverables are expected in projects. If you have a plan to launch a product on week 35, you could schedule meetings for week 34 to prepare for launch.

If you are using Google Calendars, you may not know how to do this. We wanted to add this feature to our work calendars and found out it’s really simple. Go to your Google Calendar page. Look on the left-hand column for “Add” under the other calendars box. Click on it and select “Browse Interesting Calendars.” You will get a page of interesting calendars. Find the tab called “More”, click the link and subscribe to the calendar called “Week Numbers.” Once you’re done you’ll see a little blue box every Monday with the week number in it, just like the screen shot below.

Week number in Google Calendar

Caption This Das Keyboard Photo

July 26, 2011 in Das Keyboard with 10 Comments

One of our fearless employees took this photo while on vacation. As you can see T-Rex is enjoying his Das Keyboard. Come up with your best caption and post it in the comments. We’ll share our favorite caption on our Facebook page at the end of the week.

T-rex using Das Keyboard

Introducing- Typing Through Time: Keyboard History

July 22, 2011 in Typing with 0 Comments

We are excited to bring you a new series of installments on this blog, titled, ‘Typing Through Time: Keyboard History.”  This page will be published in a series of  chapter installments, and begins with the Evolution of the Typewriter.

Typing Through Time is in the format of a research paper, and focuses strictly on the history of typing devices. Please comment with your input, thoughts, and/or anything you feel we left out. This is a draft that we will continuously be adding to and are open to revisions, so please comment your feedback.

Read our first chapter and let us know what you think. Visit regularly for more chapters and updates.

(Above Image: Remington’s First Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer. Image source: from the Early Office Museum)

Recycling Old Keyboards and Electronic Equipment

July 22, 2011 in Das Keyboard with 0 Comments

recycle your keyboardYou just got your Das Keyboard in the mail. Now what are you going to do with that old keyboard it’s replacing? Whatever you do, don’t throw it away! Many consumer electronics contain materials that can negatively impact the environment if just tossed in the garbage. Almost all electronics can be recycled and sometimes re-used. If neither of these is an option, there are plenty of places that will properly dispose of your equipment. So what can you do to responsibly dispose of your keyboard, and other electronics?

1. Go online to find the nearest recycling center.
Check EcoSquid. This is a great place to check for not only nearby places to drop off your equipment and local programs to recycle your gear, but also possible trade-ins or purchase opportunities you might not have known about. There are also several companies that offer discounts when you trade-in an older model, which can really help when upgrading your tech.

Earth 911 is a similar site that will help you find the nearest local recycling center for your electronic gear. They even have information on why you should recycle electronics and how they are recycled.

2. Donate functioning equipment.
Goodwill is a great local place to donate equipment. All donations are either refurbished or recycled. Either way you are helping put people to work and benefiting your community. You can find the nearest Goodwill on their site.

Check to see if there is a nearby World Computer Exchange. All donations are delivered to developing countries that desperately need them. You not only get to clear that old equipment out of your house, but also feel good about doing it!

3. Sell your equipment.
If it’s still functioning, sell it! Whether you decide to throw a garage sale and include your equipment in the sale, or use Craigslist or Ebay, you might find someone wanting to buy used equipment to save money. Either way you can help pay for that new keyboard by selling your used one. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Mechanical Keyboard Guide: Introduction

July 18, 2011 in Das Keyboard, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Being someone who went from being obvlivious of mechanical keyboards to a huge fan, I have to say that the only true way to understand what makes them special is to use one. Whether you physically seek one out to test for yourself or just dive in and buy one, you will see, hear, and feel the difference. Guaranteed.

Because there is a general lack of knowledge about mechanical keyboards, I felt it was important to write a guide about them. Not only are they made to last longer, but there are some distinct advantages in both typing speed and typing comfort. Learning about the different elements that go into making a keyboard will help you make a more educated decision when purchasing your next keyboard.

Check out our first installment of The Mechanical Keyboard Guide. The guide begins with a comparison of membrane and mechanical keyboards and includes a list of terminology so you’ll have a clear understanding of what goes into keyboards and makes different types really stand out.

mechanical keyboard

Great Free Resources to Improve Your Typing Skills

July 8, 2011 in Das Keyboard, Typing with 4 Comments

Improve Your Typing SkillsWe all want to type faster than our current words per minute (wpm). Whether it’s just to get your ideas into the computer quickly or increasing your reaction time in an online video game, how fast you type can have a serious impact on your success with both. But what do we need to do to improve our typing speed? While our keyboards can help you to type faster, and they do-I went from an average of 80wpm to about 98wpm in 3 weeks, there are so many other ways to build your typing speed outside of a keyboard. If you are looking for some great resources to get your fingers flying, I have dug up a list that will get you started.

I’m a firm believer of start at the beginning when learning a  new skill. First things are first, If you don’t know where to place your fingers on the keyboard, you are never going to get up to speed with typing. So, one of the first resources I found, Custom Typing, will show you the proper finger placement on the keyboard. What’s really nice is that the finger placement page is interactive, allowing you to type and see what fingers press each key. Believe it or not, you can save serious time by learning proper finger placement on the keyboard.

If you want to continue learning about typing, including a review of finger placement, there are a few free online typing courses that will help you:

Typing Web is a free online typing tutor that will help you learn to type with interactive lessons. The lessons give you feedback on your accuracy and wpm. You can even get your typing speed certified to show employers and friends you aren’t exaggerating about your amazing typing speed.

Peter’s Online Typing Course offers a series of lessons to get you used to typing including several typing exercises.

Once you’ve learned how to properly type and thrown the hunt and peck out the door, practice is the best way to increase your typing speed. You can always practice by typing a daily journal, writing a blog, or whatever you want to type. However, there is another alternative and that is typing games.

One of my favorite is TyprX. You’ll get a blurb to type and compete against other typists or a computer bot. The site displays the highest speeds for the day on the front page and I am always working to put my name on this list. I love the competitive aspect of the game, whether I’m racing someone or attempting to beat one of my high scores.

Fun to Type has a good variety of typing games for practice as well. They are all very nicely designed and even the simplest of them will help improve your touch typing skills.

And finally, for those of you with children, the BBC has a typing program for kids called Dance Mat Typing. I’ve used it and I think it’s a pretty fun way for kids of all ages to learn typing. It’s a great interactive tutorial that teaches typing with animated characters and game-like exercises. Nowadays it pays to learn to type early as it is definitely a life-long skill.

Now that you’ve got several options for improving your typing skills, it’s time to learn touch typing and improve your typing speed! Not only will it improve your productivity, but you might enjoy your keyboard even more.

Mapping Your Das Keyboard’s Keys on the Mac

June 28, 2011 in Das Keyboard with 14 Comments

I’ve used the Das Keyboard with my MacBook Pro the past few weeks and it’s been a great experience. I had never used a mechanical keyboard before, and like most people, I thought a keyboard was just a keyboard. But after just the first week, the differences between the Das Keyboard and the other keyboards completely blew my mind. Whether it is the audible clicking sound as I type or the tactile feel of pressing each key, I really enjoy typing on it and have seen my typing speed significantly increase.

If you’ve hesitated because you own a Mac, there’s no need. Das Keyboards work fine on Macs. I haven’t had any problems with mine but I also took the time to set up my keyboard preferences correctly. On all PC keyboards the option and command buttons are inverted from the normal Apple layout, which can really mess you up if you aren’t ready for it. Luckily, it’s an easy process to fix this. Go to the system preferences, open keyboard preferences, and change which actions are set for the option and command keys to remap your modifier keys.

In order to make things easier, we created a video to show you step-by-step how to set these keys up in the Apple layout. These changes will ensure you get the greatest enjoyment out of your Das Keyboard.

 

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