Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard Eases PC-TV Link

So, you've hooked up your PC to your TV a few times, maybe to watch TV shows and movies you've downloaded or to listen to music through a home theater system. It works well, but you need to access media through your laptop keyboard.

What if you had a keyboard to run your PC through the TV from anywhere in the room? You'd be able to do so much more: browse the web, check email, play PC and online games. Great idea, but you may not want another bulky piece of gear for the family room, and the wireless range would be limited.

Logitech has an answer: The diNovo Mini palm-sized keyboard, which it unveiled today. Using a Bluetooth USB connection, the handheld keyboard, about 6 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches, makes simple work of navigating your PC on a bigger TV screen. A scroll wheel that doubles as a touchpad controls the cursor on the screen; click it with your thumb when you want to select an option. 

There's a full, nice-sized QWERTY keyboard that makes typing emails or IMing simple and fun for nimble hands. Backlighting makes seeing the keys easier in dim lighting.

Slide a switch, and the keyboard goes into media-remote mode (green indicator). The scroll wheel becomes a directional pad, which allows you to choose which media to access. Volume, channel, and play controls allow you to watch and adjust DVDs and recorded shows.

There are just the right amount of keys on the compact keyboard—one of Yahoo! Tech's Last Gadget Standing finalists—including some blue-outlined function keys that serve as shortcuts to Internet Explorer, iTunes, and some oft-used symbols. Of course, it's best for younger eyes but not impossible for older ones, either. I liked using it.

For Sony PS3 owners, there's a switch in the battery compartment that allows you to move between PS3 and PC controls. The keyboard works with Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center PCs. Alas, it does not work with Macs nor Xbox 360s.

It is plug-and-play easy. It worked from every angle in our family room, and Logitech says it will work up to 30 feet away from the PC. A rechargeable Li-ion battery provides up to a month of battery life, Logitech says. It makes the PC-TV family-room connection far less clunky. If you're not ready for wireless room-to-room streaming of PC media to your big-screen TV, this little $150 keyboard makes the physical PC-TV connection everyday viable.