Pixelhum

There seems to be an increasing trend for media players (both hardware and software) to leave out the ‘stop’ button. They have a ‘play/pause’ button, ‘next’ and ‘previous’ track buttons, but no stop. iTunes, iPods, and my new iAudio5; none of them have a ‘stop’ button. I know the pause button does pretty much the same job, but it’s still different. It’s not quite as final ‘stop’ is it? It gives the impression that the music will start up again at some point in the future. What if I don’t like what’s playing? What if I just don’t want to listen any more?

So come on, stop leaving out the ‘stop’ button and put it back in it’s rightful place. Next to ‘play’.

The Optimus Keyboard is a keyboard in which every key has it’s own little LCD display, which means that each key can show exactly which function it will invoke when pressed. It can show any keyboard layout - such as qwerty or Dvorak, Russian or French - or it can show tool shortcuts for Photoshop or key layout for a game. It also has a group of ten configurable buttons to the left of the main keys.

I think it’s a fantastic idea and would probably buy one in an instant.

(from Engadget)

Well, the parts for my media box project arrived last week so I spent the weekend putting it together and configuring Ubuntu Linux to perform media box type duties. The Software side is far from complete, but the machine build went smoothly and is documented here.

Yay! The parts have turned up for my media box. I’m building a machine to sit next to the TV and Hi-Fi, solely to store and play music and video. At some point I’ll add a Digital TV card so the machine can do TiVo like duties for us.

I like my Sony Ericsson T630, but, as I’m due for an upgrade, I’ve been scouting round to see what I can get instead.