Some Brisbane Guy

Ever been using Windows and you stop to think for a minute resting your finger on Shift, then the computer makes a weird squeaking sound and then it says some crap about StickyKeys and you can’t type in lowercase anymore? Or use the numbers in the top row along your keyboard? Mm, yes you’ve been struck by StickyKeys or FilterKeys.

You should be able to turn off StickyKeys by pressing Shift for 8 seconds or more, then a dialog will pop up and you can press Cancel and you will be cured of your StickyKeys woes. If, however you have somehow turned on FilterKeys, it’s a little bit more tricky than that.

To turn off FilterKeys, hold down shift, press F7, then push they other shift key three times. Thanks to Fred Taylor who kindly left a comment and his phone number (!) on David Weinberger’s blog.

Good luck and be kind to your keyboard.

Computers in real life are such a let-down. There’s no firearm-to-the-head augmented fellatio like in Swordfish, and there’s no animated 3D wireframe cities like in Hackers. If you’re looking at your digicam happy snaps you can’t just say “enhance” in the general direction of the computer to zoom in and identify the DNA signature of the white stain on your t-shirt. There’s not even beeping and blooping from the stupid computer, it just huffs and puffs away with its little fans.

But tonight I’ve found something to remedy this disappointment being endured the world over. It’s called Beep and it’s written by the crazy kids at Nullsoft, the creators of Winamp, and it makes a low pulsating hum with bleeps and bloops galore whenever text gets added to the screen. It’s pure gold and makes you feel like your computer skills are top shelf.

Go get it now before boredom destroys your soul.

This video is apparently staged and wasn’t really put to air, but it’s still amusing. Watch Chris Taylor’s staged live TV stunt of breaking up with his girlfriend on the Australian morning show, Sunrise. I wish his message was for the show’s hosts, they’re horrible.