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My MS Natural Keyboard is grimy. Not just the key surfaces (which I haven’t cleaned in a while, now that the ‘board lives at the office and not at home where I have numerous surfactants close to hand), but the keypress mechanisms. The more force I have to use to push each key through its accreted gunk, the less “natural” the keyboard becomes, veering instead into the general milieu of “tiring” and “painful.”

I’m not sure how effectively I can repair the key action. I suppose I could do the old keyboard-in-the-dishwasher trick to get it all soapy clean, but I’m afraid the end result will be even stickier keys (the detergent having stripped off whatever magic lube is supposed to be in there).

While I mull my keyboard’s prospects for recovery, why don’t you all tell me why I’m using the wrong keyboard and what I should really get is some expensive Keyboard From The New World (Op. 9). Humbly proffer your suggestions in the comments.

I put a new version of Pyrothèque out yesterday, just in time for the 4th. Lots of fun new features (including snazzy new splash screens—see above). Read all about it over on the toastyblog.

The Universal Music Group of Vivendi, the world’s biggest music corporation, last week notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes […] Instead, Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, a move that could allow Universal to remove its songs from the iTunes service on short notice if the two sides do not agree on pricing or other terms in the future.

Much has been said about the general state of affairs between Apple and the music labels (who needs whom, who’s exploiting whom, the impact of iTunes on the various bottom lines, etc.), so I’ll skip all that and put this very plainly.

Here, in order of increasing cost to me (annoyance + time + money), are the ways in which I am prepared to acquire new music:

1. Purchase from iTunes.
2. Other methods of acquisition. (Sharing disks with friends, or in rare circumstances, p2p file sharing.)
3. Buy a physical CD.

Something for you to think about, Universal.