Most of you may know of, or may even be using, The Synergy Project. The Synergy Project is a nice bit of software developed to share one keyboard and mouse over remote access. This access may come in the form of Ethernet of wireless and give the user the ability to copy/paste while sharing one keyboard and mouse between two, three or even four or more PCs. SO when you think of Synergy Project it is not hard to think of Ultra-Mobile PC. Until now that is.
One thing about Synergy Project that always bugged me was the lag, drag, and delay associated with the remote connection. Obviously when moving one mouse from left to right and back again it is software like the Synergy Project that sometimes experiences intermittent laziness. Admittedly I was a big fan and have been promoting it often. Until now that is.
My new favorite friend is my Clixon VCC-300. It is a hardware based keyboard and mouse share and best of all it is clipboard share, Internet share and all bundled in a USB to USB dongle. So when you ask what else is in my gadget bag, you know what I will answer, my Clixon VCC-300. I know they will be available in Australia soon via Tegatech Australia but I do not know who else or where else you can get them. Here is a link to the Clixon Website. Vista drivers are available too.
Oh, that reminds me. Happy Birthday Dr. neil! We hope you liked your Clixon VCC-300!
Before time got away from me I wanted to post a first-look at the Audi Keyboard solution I recently spearheaded for the Melbourne Motorshow (02 March to 12 March 2007). The basic concept involves a Samsung Q1 UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) as a device used to capture details of visitors to the Audi stand.
A custom made software keyboard was developed in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and designed using Expression Blend. Its purpose was to allow stand attendants to enter information in a natural way (with a QWERTY keyboard) and with the added benefit of custom functions like a key for ".com.au", and Audi branding. Tegatech Australia (the Tablet guys), Dr Neil Roodyn and UK interaction design firm Tricky Business collaborated on the project to bring it to fruition.
This is a great example of how XAML provides the glue to allow developers and designers to work together - exactly why Microsoft came up with it in the first place.
How it looked on the Samsung Q1.
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