They are probably using a software called iTap, T9, or XT9 depending on your phone.  Any of these allow you to quickly enter words.  You don’t have to press so many keys, words are predicted based on a dictionary, and previous words entered are remembered.

Here’s how it works.  If you don’t use one of these, and you wanted to enter the word “HELLO”, you would have to press 4 twice, 3 twice, 5 three times, 5 three times, and 6 three times.  That’s 13 key presses for just one word!  With iTap, T9, or XT9, you press 43550 (once each for each number) - just 5 key presses!  The software then predicts the word you want to enter based upon the keys pressed.  The software also “learns” over time by the words that you use most often.  If there is more than one word that can be used with the keys you pressed, you simply scroll to select the word you want.

I was really confused by this setting at first, because I didn’t understand what it was doing (I had never heard of this software before).  It took my 12 year old (who was completely dumbfounded why I wasn’t using iTap) to explain what it was.  Once he did, it was so easy!  I’m never going back to all that key pressing again!

If you’d like to get a bit more information on the software, here are the wikipedia links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITap or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_%28predictive_text%29.

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Well apparently some people didn’t get the memo that we moved into the next millennium, and these sites are still out there. At least the one that I came across today. Heres what it looks like:

The page is complete with all the trimmings, horrible background, animated icons (including the moving waterfall) and lame midi music.

This is an example of what not to do with a web page. If your site looks like this, please do us all a favor and remove it from the Internet. To be honest I have no idea what the page covers. I could not get past the horrors that burnt my eyes (and ears) on entering.

I refuse to provide a link to the site, so If you want to check it out just Google “jansjoyousjungle”, its top of the results. Good luck!

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While I would not go as far as saying I am an Apple “fanboy”, I would consider myself an Apple fan and own multiple Apple products including the iPhone, Macbook and Apple Hi-Fi. My history with Apple is only a few years deep dating back to a 2nd generation iPod.

One of the things that draws me to Apple is the simplicity of its products. The greatest example of this is the Apple remote. Look at any modern day remote control, whether it be for a TV, stereo, cable box, etc., they are filled with 30-40 buttons which on a daily basis you maybe use 10-15 of those. It’s just far too complicated.

The Apple remote has a total of six buttons, menu, play/pause, forward, back, volume up and volume down. That’s it! It does everything I want it to do, either when I’m controlling my Hi-Fi or frontrow application on my macbook.

It works, it works well and most importantly, its simple!

The Apple remote was long bundled with macbook purchases but is no longer. The Apple Hi-Fi, which also included an Apple remote was discontinued. The remote is now available as a separate purchase for $19.00 or less.

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Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. Usability can also refer to the methods of measuring usability and the study of the principles behind an object’s perceived efficiency or elegance. [Wikipedia]

Usability is the measure of a product’s potential to accomplish the goals of the user. In information technology, the term is often used in relation to software applications and Web sites, but it can be used in relation to any product that is employed to accomplish a task (for example, a toaster, a car dashboard, or an alarm clock). Some factors used in determining product usability are ease-of-use, visual consistency, and a clear, defined process for evolution. [SearchSOA]

Usability is the quality of being able to provide good service [Dictionary.com]

We plan on covering usability from all angles whether it be software, hardware, web sites, web services or how usability plays into your everyday life.

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