kmiyer

Exactly. I should probably have referred to them as emacs-style as readline can be configured to have vi-bindings as well.

I use a Lenovo X220 with an SSD and a 15" MBP (also with an SSD). They're both fantastic machines. The Lenovo lets me use Linux with pretty much perfect compatibility and has the best keyboard I've ever used. The MPB similarly has the best trackpad I've encountered. The main unexpected advantage of using OS X has been the presence of readline-style keyboard shortcuts at an OS mediated level (in any text field). Once you get used to that, using any other OS for incidental typing (in search fields or forms) feels slow.

That's pretty true. The DX is slightly better (mainly due to its size), but for the kind of reading you describe you ideally want something more ipad-esque (which I suspect is why med schools decided to go with ipads instead of kindles)

I ran into the same problem myself and started using my left hand for my mouse -- less travel and surprisingly convenient for most of my normal mouse interaction (which is primarily scrolling, I tend to use keyboard shortcuts for most active interaction with content).

Ras Bodik's CS 264 ends fulfilling a similar purpose if you're still at Cal and interested in the programming language design side of things.

Note however that different types of input systems were used. Refreshes show the following different types:

  * A slider that need to be dragged to choose a value.
  * A list of numbers shown with highlighting on hover.
  * An input cursor that on hover changes to a list of numbers (within a curved border this time).
  * A text field (enclosed in a circular border), allowing manual input.

I'm quite interested in how results varied depending upon input type (possibly more interesting than seeing how they vary by referrer).