Hexgears X-1 Keyboard Review

I’ve been in the market for a new keyboard for a little while now, and finally decided on the Hexgears X-1 mechanical. It had the features I needed - Bluetooth connectivity for multiple devices, usb connectivity, media keys, chicklet keys and decent key travel, while still being in a compact, portable size. So, I decided to toss up a review of the thing, because why the hell not? This was entirely typed using the keyboard, and has been a vessel to acclimate myself to the deeper key travel.

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Hexgears X-1 Keyboard

Model Ordered: White with brown switches.

Shipping & Packaging

I ordered a model that was in stock, so I didn't have to wait on manufacturing. I'm in Sweden, so I expected to have a long wait for the keyboard to be shipped out. But it actually arrived ahead of schedule, arriving 4 days after my order date. The cardboard packaging was pretty substandard, but that's not really much of an issue. The case for the keyboard is what I would consider mid-range. It's not flimsy, but the quality isn't great. The zipper is questionable, and some of the foam inside the case has already started to come up. That said, the case is perfectly serviceable, and will clearly protect the keyboard from wear. My biggest complaint with the included case is that it’s way too long to fit just the keyboard. Hexgears included a really big space at the end that’s meant to hold the USB-C charging cable, but it actually makes the case unable to be used to fit inside a backpack because of the length. Sad.

Look & Feel

After years with low-travel keys, it's somewhat difficult to get used to the longer travel of the X-1. This obviously isn't an issue that everyone will have, but it's something to keep in mind if you're someone who, like me, is coming from a years of using a regular Apple extended keyboard or similar.

The brown switches are nice. They have a good press feel without being too loud for an office environment. They have a nice spring to them, but do feel maybe a teensy bit mushy. If you're someone who wants a very clicky response, maybe don't get the browns. That said, the brown switches that I have definitely don't have the issue with key presses not registering properly, so if you're at all worried about that, have no fear if you select the browns.

Color Modes on the Hexgears X-1 keyboard

The lighting works exactly as advertised. It's really enjoyable, but can be completely turned off if it's not your bag. Then again, if it's not your bag, there are probably better options for keyboards for you. Who doesn't love their fingers shitting rainbows?

The key spacing is a little tight, particularly for this much key travel. If you have fat fingers, you will probably end up with quite a few typos. Even if you don't have fat fingers (I don't), you'll often feel other keys, either below or to the side, because depressing keys with a moderate amount of travel allows your fingers to briefly touch neighboring keys.

A look at the color hues on the Hexgears X-1 mechanical bluetooth keyboard.

Some people have mentioned Bluetooth connectivity issues, but I haven't yet experienced any issues. I haven't tried connecting it to my Mac yet, but it flawlessly works to switch between USB wired connection on my work Windows PC and Bluetooth on my iPad. In fact, that's one of the best features is being able to hot-swap between the two devices simply by pressing Fun + Backspace. Also, swapping between multiple Bluetooth devices is fantastic. I don't have enough good things to say about this feature. The one thing that I'll say is that the Bluetooth connection is a little bit strange when looking at it on the iPad - the battery life doesn't always seem to display properly.

The delete key kills me. It's placed just strangely enough that I don't know where to go to get to it when I reach for it. I really think I'll probably have a hard time getting used to this, but we'll see.

I'm not sure what the three pin point LED lights are for at the top edge of the keyboard, and nothing in the quick start guide seems to tell you what they are.

Areas for Improvement

- Keys for iOS/Mac. It would be nice if Hexgears could ship/sell keys for alternative operating systems (replacing the windows key with the Apple command key, for example).

- Programmable key layouts. Would love it if some of the keys could be set up with alternative functions, or if it there was a way to make the media keys the default instead of the F-keys, particularly for non-Windows users.

- Layout for the NumPad. Though I'm aware that shrinking the layout for the keyboard footprint means dealing with some sacrifices, I think some of the choices for the layout are sub-optimal. Squeezing the keyboard this much meant that the delete key and numlock keys are out of place, and there isn't enough room for a longer zero key, so some people who do any kind of number entry on a regular basis may have some getting used to. I almost question the inclusion of the numpad at all, maybe instead simply giving that positioning to a bank of keys that could be programmed with other functionality, and maybe giving a little bit more finger room to main keyboard.

If you want one for yourself, you can pick one up on the Kono store.

Silicon Valley Tech Wage Suppression

Some of the scope of the Silicon Valley tech wage suppression agreement has expanded recently, and now covers a much more vast section of the tech industry.

"Confidential internal Google and Apple memos, buried within piles of court dockets and reviewed by PandoDaily, clearly show that what began as a secret cartel agreement between Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt to illegally fix the labor market for hi-tech workers, expanded within a few years to include companies ranging from Dell, IBM, eBay and Microsoft, to Comcast, Clear Channel, Dreamworks, and London-based public relations behemoth WPP. All told, the combined workforces of the companies involved totals well over a million employees."

– Mark Ames, Pando.com

I'm going to pick on Google here, because they represent themselves as a company who bears the unofficial motto of "Don't be Evil". By doing so, they justify people calling them out on it when they do something which is absolutely, 100% evil.

"Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."

– Google in 2004 IPO (page 32, near the top)

I'm not saying any of these other companies come out clean here. Far from it. But the hypocrisy and deception employed here is astounding. I think the only solution is to do the same thing with employee salaries as we've done with CEO salaries: make them more transparent. I think efforts like Glassdoor help to allow employees to more adequately estimate their own worth in a very complex job market. Pay transparency has been shown to account for the rapid increase in CEO pay over the last 20-30 years.

"the drive for [CEO pay] transparency has actually helped fuel the spiraling salaries. For one thing, it gives executives a good idea of how much they can get away with asking for. A more crucial reason, though, has to do with the way boards of directors set salaries. As the corporate-governance experts Charles Elson and Craig Ferrere write in a recent paper, boards at most companies use what’s called “peer benchmarking.” They look at the C.E.O. salaries at peer-group firms, and then peg their C.E.O.’s pay to the fiftieth, seventy-fifth, or ninetieth percentile of the peer group—never lower. This leads to the so-called Lake Wobegon effect: every C.E.O. gets treated as above average. With all the other companies following the same process, salaries ratchet inexorably higher. "

– James Surowieki, The New Yorker, Oct. 2013

TL;DR version: Transparency in pay gradually forces salaries higher, because as the average pay rises with talent, average workers get paid more to account for the rising median pay.

Tech companies of this magnitude are pulling in money hand over fist, and rather than putting that money back into the pockets of the employees who are working to make it happen, they're busy holding it in off-shore accounts, likely hoping for a "repatriation tax holiday" as employed by the Bush administration in 2004. 

Here's the thing, though. If they were to put those funds to work paying their employees more, those same employees would be able to afford more purchases, which grows the economy. The more money employees have, the more they can spend. The more they can spend, the more companies make. The more companies make, the more they can pay their employees. It's a virtuous circle that works to increase everyone's living standard, from the CEO to the janitor.

Intelligence Agency Data Collection

The White House has a new survey up that asks us some pertinent questions about how we feel about our data and privacy. It's worth taking a few minutes to fill it out, because this is probably one of the few chances you have to directly put forth your views on the matter in a way that might be taken into account by a branch of our government.

My problem with government surveillance is this: Intelligence agencies are misrepresenting (or flat out lying about) their use of data to Congress and the Senate, but drawing their funding from us, the American people, through the budget created for them from the legislative branch. 

In essence, this creates taxation without representation – if our representatives aren't properly informed as to what our money is being spent on, then how can we be assured that our Congressmen and Senators are able to do the job we elected them to do?

We don't vote for the NSA or the CIA chiefs, so we have to be able to trust that our elected representatives can do that, both by selecting appropriate choices to head these agencies (the President), and by holding the purse strings (Congress). But when intelligence agencies aren't answerable to either their appointer or funders, then we are no longer able to call ourselves a democracy. Our elected officials are no longer able to effectively govern the unelected officials.

The government must be accountable to the people, yet bulk surveillance means that we, the people, are forced to be accountable to the government, regardless of whether we are criminals or law abiding citizens.

No matter what you feel on the subject, I recommend weighing in and filling out the survey – if you don't speak up, you can't complain when bad things happen. Or at least, you can't complain without looking like an idiot.

When Companies Profit from Users' Misery

One of the employees of RealNetworks (you remember them, right? RealPlayer?) put up an article on Medium talking about what happened when the company tried to do the right thing.

One day my manager showed me a horrible graph. It was pretty simple: the graph was steady, then it dropped straight down, then after a short period, the line shot straight back up and stayed level again:

“That’s what happens when we do the right thing”, he said while pointing at the drop, “and that’s how much money we lose. We tried it just to see how bad it was for our bottom line. And this is what the data tells us.”

When you build a business, you absolutely have to think about what your revenue model is going to look like and how your users will react to it. That's why I don't feel that much of Silicon Valley is geared for anything more than short-term success - they're companies fundamentally built on giving users one thing to start out (great, free products), and then slowly shift over time into something completely different (bloated products subsisting on ad-supported revenue or worse).

It's like Yoda said, "...once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

An Interesting Analysis of Google's Nest Acquisition

The Verge has an interesting article up on Google's acquisition of Nest.

Sad Nest via http://www.wiredprairie.us/

"But outside of the players directly involved in the deal, there was a second, more visceral reaction: disappointment. Nest was the first in a new wave of hardware startups built by engineers and executives eager to apply their experience building smartphones to new markets — a mission captured perfectly by Fadell's irrepressible upstart spirit in interviews and appearances. But by selling Nest seems to have undercut the optimism those companies represented, and perhaps not coincidentally, underlined a growing distrust of Google itself — a distrust shared by regular consumers, tech investors, and privacy advocates alike."

We tend to root for the underdog. It's in our DNA that we, as humans, prefer to see David defeat Goliath. There's something about the 'against all possible odds' style story that resonates with us, makes us feel engaged, and gives us hope. Perhaps because we tend to feel powerless so often when it comes to our daily lives we appreciate it when someone or some group prevails against the big guy.

Google's purchase of Nest for 3.2 billion turns that on its head. The big guy wins. Again. It's a story that almost nobody likes, unless they're the big guy (and in this case, the small guy). From the outside looking in, fans of Nest feel like they've been cheated out of seeing what this little startup can do, and that's going to sting.

It probably also doesn't help that there's a valid reason to distrust a company that sells consumer data having access to data about your home.

Pebble Steel

I've been checking out some of the new stuff coming out of CES this year, and the Pebble Steel is probably the first smartwatch that offers reasonable functionality while still maintaining marginally decent looks and great battery life. Certainly, it's the first that I'd consider wearing (unless you count the Fitbit Flex, which I do wear).

 The Pebble Steel in matte black.

 The Verge has a brief write-up, but check out the video on the Pebble Steel site as well.

Life on an iPad

Apple launched a site that shows how people use the iPad in their daily professional lives.

Not only does it showcase how people like professional speed skater Bridie Farrell use the iPad, but it also highlights some of the apps (like Dartfish Express) that they use do do so. I'm particularly fond of Dr. Itaru Endo's story. It highlights not just how transformative the device is for the user, but also the people who directly benefit, the patients.

"The iPad app [co-developed by Dr. Itaru Endo], which is moving through clinical evaluations, provides comprehensive access to three-dimensional surgical data. The app uses augmented reality to overlay complex vascular systems during operations. This reveals liver perfusion patterns that are invisible to the human eye, giving greater insight into the exact location of certain blood vessels."

To me, this is the way to sell products - show what the product will do for you, what it will do for your business, and what it will do to make your life better. Though the iPad Air and new Mini are ridiculously fast and have gorgeous displays, advertising them isn't about the specs, it's about how you will use them.