Fingertap Dance

When I started travelling as a consultant, I very quickly started to find a need for a portable “blogging” solution.  I had my laptop, sure, but 10 years ago, a laptop sucked that little battery dry almost before the drink service on the flight had come out.

After a few years, I had it down to a folding keyboard and my Palm PDA.  The keyboard was great, folding to something only slightly larger than the Palm, and the two together could be up and running a text editor within seconds of the seatbelt light going off, and I got four or five hours before the batteries died.

The setup was beautiful in its compact simplicity.  It fit on an airline tray table.  I could share a table in a coffee shop.  I could set up anywhere, and I’d write, back then.

Now I go out, and when there’s time to kill on an errand, I have note cards, but they’re slow and analog.  Give me a keyboard where I can spill out my words at the speed of my thought.

I sat at the mall today and read where I’d rather have written.  Because I didn’t have the laptop.  And my phone has a keyboard, but it’s not really much fun for anything serious.

If the iPhone supported one of the old stowaway style fold up keyboards, I’d get one in a heartbeat.  My phone actually *does* support bluetooth keyboards, but there are no drivers for the old models that are out there and for whatever reason, the last time I looked, I didn’t find any.

So where has this segment gone?  Granted, I’m the only one I ever saw, but am I actually the only person who ever used this?  I don’t believe it, seeing the mockups of iPhone keyboards that I’ve seen.  And yet, the animal exists only as hacks.

I’m considering a netbook as a poor substitute for my old ultramobile setup.  A 10″ block isn’t going to fit in my pocket the way the 5″ diagonal of the Palm.

But something is better than nothing.  Right?

Photo by alles-schlumpf