Can you drop that menu down with keystrokes?

Various items in the Services menu have keyboard shortcuts. Google search is Command-Shift-L. (I think, I'm not in front of a Mac right now)

My perfect widget would be a translucent window that's displaying information from somewhere else that's changing--time, weather, whatever. I want to be able to have that floating over the window I'm working with, but not obscuring it.

You know what? I had never actually tried to put a widget on my desktop, so I did it just now. And the widget DOES float over the window I'm working with.

Well, actually, it always floats above ALL windows and menu bars, so it's a toss-up as to whether I'd use it enough to deal with the annoyance of it just sitting up there, looming over everything.

t edit It's super-easy to undo, though.

ita, I used a Windows Mobile phone for a little over a year. It was made by HTC (The cingular 8125) and the build quality was total ass. About 8 months in the touch screen stopped working in landscape orientation. About a month ago it stopped ringing and would only vibrate.

I also found that I had to reboot the phone about once a day or parts of the screen wouldn't redraw correctly when I changed screen orientation. It would also refuse to make a data connection at times, also requiring a reset of the phone.

All in all, it had a nice feature set that seemed to work well for a few month, but by the end of the time I had it I would consider it one of the worst phones I've owned.

Thanks, ND.

Does the iPhone need a keyboard?

I have to admit--the idea of spending that much money on a phone without a keyboard is my main hesitancy.

Currently leaning towards a Blackberry. Must investigate prices.

It has a keyboard, it's just touchscreen.

Some people will hate it, others will shrug and adapt.

People used to think that we wouldn't adapt to not plunging our fingers like mechanical typewriters. some people like the feel of clicky-type keyboards vs soft touch.

I am surprised now that I deal with helping people with touchscreen tech on a daily basis just how easy it is to get into the habit of touch.

I have accidentally touched my non-ts monitor at work a couple of times....

It'll be interesting.

It has a keyboard, it's just touchscreen.

I apologise for my lack of clarity. My Palm has a touchscreen keyboard too, but I don't consider it an actual keyboard. Those have keys on them, in my book, hardware keys.

the habit of touch

Well, it's not touch that's my problem--it's the lack of tactile feedback. It's part of my errorchecking mechanism as I type, and the smaller the keyboard is, the more use the feedback is in me being able to maintain a good speed.

I've used touchscreen keypads half the size of a standard qwerty, and waiting for my eyes to tell me I've made certain mistakes is much slower than my fingers.

I'll be interested to see what fast typing on an iPhone looks like. I'm used to the Blackberry/pager two thumbed tarantelle. But I can't do it without feel.

I'm planning on getting an iPhone when they are released, so I'll be sure to report back about the keyboard.

ION, I'm typing this from my new 17" Hi-Res MacBook Pro. Wow, this screen is amazing.

I'm still looking at phones and such. Does anyone here have any experience with Helio? Their Ocean looks pretty sweet (it has GPS), and while the purchase of the phone is a little expensive, the actual monthly charge is cheaper than most....but I'm very skeptical about their coverage, since they're so not a major player.

(Edit: Hmm, googling seems to indicate they're just using Sprint's network. Which isn't perfect or anything, but is what i already have, and works OK for me mostly)

Anyone used Swivel Search on TiVo yet? I haven't paid attention to find out the ramifications of this "opt in" thing they ask for, but just sampling the functionality off of "Rescue Me" was interesting.

Basically, it lines up searches--other broadcasts with the same actors, and other ones with the same tag.

Not sure how often I'd use it, since I tend to be either less directed or more focussed in looking for a new fix. But decent offer--and I'm curious to see how the promise of finding downloads with the same criteria pans out. So far their show downloads involve Amazon.

Speaking of tactile feel, how surprised was I when the Wii controller that I picked up at a friends' house not only made noise but also gave vibrational feedback cued by what was happening onscreen. I've never been much of a fan of computer/console games, but this instantly converted me to wanting one of those Wii thingies.