Steno Article on SFWA.org!

JD Henning just wrote a wonderful article for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association called A 23-Button Stenography Keyboard: All Gain, Zero Pain! As someone who's in the process of revising a 130,000-word science fiction novel, entirely written via steno machine, I was so happy to read this! I hope it brings a lot more people to steno!!

Javelin Update

Tharelia writes:

**Mid -2026 Javelin Update**

Firmware Updates

* Added support for Leversteno and Jaffle

* Added support for amplified piezo speakers and waveform audio playback.

* Added support for split cable detection on Jaffle

* Added support for trackpads, including Visual Editor support.

* Added support for Matsushita, Mitsubishi and Pioneer Infrared protocols

* Added support for time function on all boards, and support for RTC chip in Jaffle.

* Added support for Bluetooth beacons.

* Added support for accessing all consumer page scan codes, including Fn (Globe) on macOS. In Script, these are scancodes 0x10000 + consumer page usage code.

* RC5/RC6 Infrared encoding handles toggle bit automatically so scripts do not need to.

* Improved efficiency of data transfer for web tools.

* Improved efficiency of split BLE protocol

* Improved performance of serial console on Jarne/Jarne Blade by over 50%.

* Other general improvements to performance and power consumption

* Separated \r in host layouts to default to shift-enter

* Fixed RC6 Infrared encoding. This affected controlling Philips TVs.

* Fixed multiple issues in jeff-phrasing

* Fixed WebSerial buffering on pico

* Fixed sendText not using host layouts scripts properly.

Web Tools

* Reorganized Firmware Tools into Stenography and General sections

* Added Beacon, Clock and Writing Log Tools

* Asset Tool can now convert .wav files for use with Javelin and trigger playback.

* Added timestamp option to Paper Tape Tool

* Deleted strokes/suggestions are now dimmed in Paper Tape / Suggestions

* Default firmware files are now compressed to reduce download size.

* Added drag handles to all re-orderable lists

Note that if you're using javelin over Bluetooth and are updating to the latest firmwares, you'll need to unpair the device *on the host* (Usually a "forget device" button) due to the change in HID protocols used to send Fn and other consumer page keys.

Cool Rig

CashewGuy says:

I put some time into fiddling with my vial settings and plover and got the kyria quite workable, at least such that I can practice and get a feel for some stuff! Pretty cool. Rather lowtech.

The Leversteno!

The Leversteno is now available for preorder from Nolltronics! They sent me one to review and I'll definitely be doing that soon, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. It's such a cool and ingenious device!

Mejiro31 Now On Sale

The Mejiro31 steno keyboard is now on sale in Japan. Looks super cute!

Answer Not in Progress

 So last spring I did an interview with the website Answer in Progress, which makes explainer videos on various interesting topics, because they said they were doing a video on stenography. Exciting! I thought the interview went really well. But the video never came out. Today I finally got curious about why, and found a podcast episode on their Patreon about all the videos they wound up canceling in 2025. Stenography is one of them. It starts at 19:00, but the short answer is that the video producer bought a non-ergonomic steno keyboard and wound up getting a repetitive stress injury from trying to learn steno. NOOOO! Let this be a lesson to all steno newbies! Ergonomics are incredibly important. Try to use a tentable machine whenever possible. Use a tripod if you can. Put the machine low enough to keep your shoulders down and your forearms parallel to the ground. And use springs that as light and shallow as you can find. That should help prevent RSIs! I'm really sad to hear about the injury, and secondarily sad that the video won't come out. Ah, well. 

Five Steno Machines in a Backpack

It was so good to see everyone at PyCon and to get to talk steno with a few of you! I thought it might be fun to show you the five steno machines I brought to the conference (Infinity Ergonomic, TinyMod, Jarne, Jarne Blade, and Asterisk) and what my backpack looked like with those machines plus three computers and all my other steno gear in it. The gray backpack was pretty much all clothes and the black backpack was pretty much all steno stuff. Strapped together, they made a pretty efficient travel bundle, and they were both able to go on the plane as carryons, which was convenient.