I use a lot of key commands daily and most of them have been committed to muscle memory where I just think about what I want to do and I don’t think about how to do it. I use cmd-tab and cmd-~ to change applications and windows. In text editors, I’m always using ctrl or cmd with the arrow keys to jump across words and lines of text. In TextMate I use cmd-T to open files, and I use ctrl-opt-V for pasting from JumpCut. In GMail and Google Reader I use j, k, y, [, and ] to navigate (1) through my messages and rss feeds. Amazingly (to me) I seldom confuse these different commands across different applications because their meaning is tied (in my mind, apparently) to specific contexts.

But today, I experienced some bleed-over.

I was just looking at The short - but eventful - life of Ike on The Big Picture and I tried to use j to move to the next picture, rather than scrolling with my mouse wheel. And when it didn’t advance to the next picture, I tapped it a couple more times before realizing that it wasn’t going to help. I think it would be a good feature to add, but for the most part, I just thought it was funny that I kept trying to advance to the next picture without actually thinking about what I was doing.

(1) - GMail & Reader: j = next; k = previous; GMail only: y = archive, [ = archive and move to previous message, ] = archive and move to next message

The Plastic Logic Reader looks like an amazing device. I’m excited to see one in person. I’ve already heard people bandying about the term “Kindle killer.” To me that seems a pretty bold assertion.

The device itself looks like it could definitely be better than the Kindle - mainly in its use of full-device touch screen. However, if you do much input, the real keyboard of the Kindle might be better (but if it’s truly a “reading” device, the keyboard wouldn’t be used much at all).

I hope the Plastic Logic Reader has wifi, as I’ve mentioned before about the Kindle. To be a “Kindle killer” in the consumer marketplace, however, Plastic Logic will need to be able to get books and documents on the device wirelessly. As easy as it may be, people won’t want to plug this device (or any device) into their computer if they don’t need to.

Personally, even as incredible as the device looks, for me to choose it over the Kindle 2.0 (where are you, by the way?), it will need wifi, a browser, and an easy way to get documents onto the device. Count me still hopeful.