Checking Gmail On The Wii

Santa was nice enough this year to surprise the family with a shiny black Wii. One of the first things I started tinkering with over the holidays was the ability to use the Wii to check Gmail through the internet channel. I quickly found using the virtual keyboard screen exclusively was unbearably slow going. A real keyboard was an absolute must to reply to emails.

With the Wii I found there are two ways to connect a physical keyboard. You can either use an old keyboard and then buy a male to female Usb extension so that you can use it infront of the Tv .... The back of the wii console has 2 Usb ports to connect to. Just insert one end to the console and the other to your keyboard.

USB Extension Cable

An even better solution is to go out an get the Logitech wireless keyboard for $30. This ships with a USB dongle for the back of the Wii and is quite nice and operates with 2 AA batteries. t It runs on 2.4GHz wireless technology up to 30 feet of range. Also features full-size keys with navigation keys specifically designed to help you navigate the internet and system through your Wii console. Its about an inch wide than the Mac Wireless keyboard (which unfortunately is not compatible) The wireless is the way to go for a small investment. Click to check out the keyboard below.

>>> Wireless Keyboard for the Wii <<<

Theres a few keyboard shortcuts that you will need to learn to speed things up.

Alt Enter ="OK" in Wii
Alt Backspace = Select "Quit" in Wii
Backspace = Previous page
Ctrl Left Arrow = also Previous page
Ctrl Right Arrow = Next page
Up Arrow = Scroll page up
Down Arrow = Scroll page down
Left Arrow = Scroll page left
Right Arrow = Scroll page right
+ Sign = Zoom in (or use num pad)
- Sign = Zoom out (or use num pad)

One of the big advantages of using the Wii to check Gmail was the fact I can use the large screen on my Tv and view my new mail from my couch (great when your feeling lazy). Another advantage is I dont have to wait for my laptop to boot up and login. Overall its quite productive if you've got a good keyboard setup.

Gmail may be a bit slow-going or may even stall at times depending on your connection. You may need to load Gmail using Plain Html only. A small link (basic HTML) at the bottom of the inbox allows you to convert between the standard and basic html versions. I have found using this will always repair any problems connecting to Gmail. If you have other problems you may want to disable some of your Labs settings to see if it resolves any issues.

Another tip may be to experiment checking your unread Gmail using feeds. This could be a good alternative if you've got multiple Gmail accounts. You'll need to find a reader that will support password protection. You may want to check out Google's Feedburner to get the job done.