Happy Easter Everyone!

(And now onwards with the posting)

I have been having a buttload of fun with technology lately, both at work and at home; I’m a happy boy. I’ve been able to play with tech I didn’t have access to at home and the new experiences, problems, solutions and good people I’ve met there keep me from sitting in a rut wondering when the danish I’m staring at will evolve, grow legs and skitter off the table…

As readers here already know, thanks to their high attention spans (according to a recent CNN poll) and the fear of my righteous wrath, I have a KVM switch (a device that allows me to share a monitor, keyboard and mouse amongst 4 computers). KVM switches are wonderful beasties (thanks pal!); they make owning more than one computer and using them at the same time easy and effortless. Of course with an additional piece of hardware there is usually potential additional quirks, weird problems and incompatabilities.

My $6 multimedia keyboard (EZ 9910MP) fell prey to one of these incompatabilities. For some reason the developers made it without paying attention to the well-known simple, basic specs of a PS/2 keyboard and it wouldn’t work plugged into the KVM. So either I found another keyboard I liked (after I went on a religious quest to finally find that keyboard) that would work with it, a hit and miss blind endeavor or I get geeky-creative in the mean time and maybe quest later for a compatible keyboard I liked. So what to do?

Hint: always go with geeky-creative solutions. It turns geeks into chick magnets.

The reason I like multimedia keyboards is for volume control, that’s the most used feature for me and the one I can’t live without. Yet here I was with one multimedia keyboard I can’t use and a bunch of regular keyboards. What to do? Answer: Hack the planet!

I grabbed a regular keyboard that worked with the KVM that had a feel I liked and re-mapped the Windows Keys to Volume Down/Up and the Windows Menu key to MUTE using a cool little program called Sharpkeys and viola, I now have a multimedia keyboard that works with the KVM! Taaa-daaa!. BTW any key in Windows can be remapped with a registry hack but the reason I used Sharpkeys is that this small utility can keep track of all keyboard modifications, reset them at will and you don’t have to look up the scan keycodes to make it all work. Remember kids, you can be geeky but you don’t have to always make more work for yourself to keep being a geek. Lazy geeks are cool. Endlessly laborious geeks aren’t. Be cool; be a lazy geek.

CSS Photo Zoom Thanks!

Also, I thought I’d pass a nod at this point to a wonderful gentleman, Scott Kimler who unknowingly breathed fresh techy joy into my blog by developing the Photo Zoom code I started using on my site. It’s a real terrific, easy to use addition that makes pictures leap off the page yet let articles retain their layout. The code I used can be located following the Kimler Caption no.2 link , as Scott recommends; it’s the best choice. A pure HTML/CSS solution that will be sure to spice up any website you add it to. Why now with a little code insert you can amaze your friends, impress women, beat up the school bully and reach for the stars!

Disclaimer: If you’re not satisfied, we’ll give you your money back. Warning: Batteries not included. Do not take CSS Photo Zoom code if you’re pregnant, allergic to mouse-droppings, have asthma or are prone to night terrors or seizures. If you suffer from ADDHD, wet the bed or have had any kind of training to be a mime, this code will certainly kill you faster than a Supreme Court intervention.

Happy Easter Everyone!