If you have a few URLS you are constantly going to and you would prefer a quick keyboard based way of going to them without having to type full URLs then this little extension could be for you.

The concept is very simple. You can create an alias word (eg phpmyadmin) which then redirects to your full phpmyadmin URL.

When you first install it you might set up some aliases and try to use them but get redirected to the google search results pages for that word instead. The extension author has worked around this behaviour by requiring you to put an “a “, the letter a followed by a space, before your alias.

Setting up the aliases is simple and I can already see this becoming one of my must have extensions.

Check it out for yourselves:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hnmffkbofelpmfnimaicmkdhimnaegla

I recently installed the latest version of Netbeans (7.1) and decided to have a look through the available plugins at the same time. In there I found one called Quick File Chooser.

This replaces the file selector with a keyboard optimised version, which includes auto-complete and narrowing down a file list as you type.

If you prefer the keyboard over the mouse this is a required extension!

Looking for a fast and easy text entry system for Android?

I have recently been introduced to Swype as an alternative keyboard for Android. The system involves drawing a line between the letters you want to type as opposed to tapping each letter individually.

This is surprisingly intuitive and the speed possible is massively increased in comparison to the standard keyboard.

Currently freely available as a beta though you wouldn’t know, feels perfectly ready for usage to me.

Check it out for yourself at https://beta.swype.com/android/get/

Contiuing my project to get my Mac to feel like a proper PC and not cause me mental strain every time I switch to it from Ubuntu, I have started using a proper UK keyboard and have now found out how to make it have the correct keymapping.

For full details go here:

http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2005/11/20/using_a_british.php

In a nutshell though:

download this file:

http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/resources/2005/11/20/british-windows-3.keylayout.gz

Then unzip it and put it in:

/Users/{yourname}/Library/Keyboard Layouts/

Then go to System Preferences - International - Input Menu

you should see just below british something called British 3. Tick that box and also ensure the box at the bottom is ticked (‘Show input menu in menu bar’)

Then restart the machine and you should have proper UK keyboard, with an easily accessible # key – woot!