Jobs: “No one will be using Flash. The world moves to HTML5″
At a recent Town Hall meeting with Apple employees Steve Jobs made it clear that Flash is not coming to iPhone or iPad. Read More
UI Design & Web Usability Blog
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Jan 31st, 2010
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Jan 31st, 2010
Unicode is used in almost 50% of Internet Documents
Good News! According to Google Unicode is used on almost half of the Internet pages, wich makes it a global text encoding of choice. Google uses version version 5.2 of Unicode, which represents wide range of characters from Egyptian Hieroglyphs, to most of living languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Zulu.
ASCII once dominating the web is down to 20% and it is probably pages that have not been updated in last several years.
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Jan 29th, 2010
Apple’s iPad Cons and Pros
This is what we make of Apples iPad presentation — a new beautifully and smartly designed new device, which is clearly oriented towards education market and execs on the go. Read More
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Jan 27th, 2010
The first image of the real Apple Tablet (apparently)
Engadget posted a very interesting image of what-may-to-be upcoming Apple Tablet. The image looks credible because of many hidden details and the well-designed top menu, which is very simple, and very much in Apple’s style. Anyways, we’ll know for sure in about 4 hours
The first real image of Apple Tablet that looks pretty credible
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Jan 27th, 2010
How Much Time Do We Waste on Badly Designed Apps?
Computer load-time, pop-ups, new apps installation, new user interrelations, lack of intuitiveness, search for drivers, frozen system, reboots, etc. – these are just a few of the things that most of us face on daily basis. Dealing with all these issues takes users up to 30 minutes a day according to Telegraph UK. Read More
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Jan 23rd, 2010
Free Valentine Hearts
Here is a few simple Valentine hearts we designed for our in-house needs. Feel free to download and use for any purpose. Read More
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Jan 22nd, 2010
UPA 2010 International Conference
UPA (Usability Proffesinoals’ Association) 2010 International Conference: Embracing Cultural Diversity – User Experience Design for the World will be hosted in Munich, Germany 24 – 28 May, 2010! Read More
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Jan 21st, 2010
Apple Tablet Confirmed by The Wall Street Journal
It is almost certain a new device is going to be unveiled next week. We’ve heard many name variations such as iSlate and iPad –both are Apple’s registered trademarks– Apple Tablet, etc. It seems like Apple’s plans are big this time; they aim to re-shape the publishing industry (which is in an apparent crisis) as they once re-shaped the digital music industry with iTunes and iPod. Making it easier for people to access media content for an affordable price has proved to be successful. Here is a short recap of what we know so far:
- Apple has been discussing with book, magazine and newspaper publishers possible ways of cooperation.
- NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, when asked about the new devices, said “stay tuned”.
- Orange Chief confirms Apple Tablet With Built-In Webcam
- Apple has been negotiating with TV networks CBS, Walt Disney and ABC for a monthly subscription service.
- There have been rumors that Apple is going to work with Electronic Arts to position the new device as a gaming platform.
- The device will have a web camera and be capable of live web streaming
- Apple has been promoting an idea of backing-up users music online and accessing it on an connected device. This also supports the recent Lava acquisition. Its technology may very well find its way to iTunes 10.
- Apple’s new $1 billion data centre in North Carolina is under construction. MobileMe will most probably have a major upgrade, possibly the “Mobile iTunes” version, and as the name suggests, possibly other things related to “Me”.
Nowhereelse.fr has obtained what it says may be a video of the long-rumored Apple tablet. Whatever it is, it looks pretty cool already:
Last year, Apple’s focus shifted from computer production to content delivery. The turning point was dropping “Computers” from the company name. Since then their devices are just one unified platform that makes it easy to delivery content to end user. And, this strategy pays off very well.
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Jan 20th, 2010
Bing May Become a Default Search Option for iPhone OS 4.0
Business Week reports that Apple and Microsoft have been discussing making Bing the default search engine on the iPhone. In light of accelerating rivalry between Apple and Google over the mobile market it does make sense. Some sources suggest that Apple is working on its own search solution and the Bing deal might be just a move that buys Apple some time. It doesn’t look like any deal between any of these three companies will live long. Each has its own Mobile OS, Mobile Ad agency, and two of them have their own devices.
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Jan 19th, 2010
66% of Government Workplaces Now Use Social Networking Tools
A recent report by the talent management companies Human Capital Institute and Saba says 65% of government employees now use more than one social networking tool.
Interestingly enough, Instant Messaging (IM), which is very popular in the corporate sector isn’t heavily used among government staff. The report points out that a majority of social networking use consist of sites such as FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This is pure speculation of course, but the FB and LinkedIn provide great opportunities for career growth. It may be just an indiction that in the government sector connections are more important than actual results and focusing on the task at hand.
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Jan 18th, 2010
Nexus One and Touchscreen Accuracy
Today Engadget posted an article that claims many Nexus One customers complain about touch screen calibration, which is an important element User Interface (GUI) and User Experience in general. As well, labs.moto.com published an interesting report last week comparing the accuracy of touchscreen of various mobile devices. It would seem that Nexus One has issues.
Touchscreen Accuracy Report - Labs.Moto.com
One of the important things is that Nexus shows much better accuracy with medium amount of pressure compared to light pressure. So, if you are a happy owner of a Google phone don’t hesitate to firmly press the screen. Nexus also excels in near the screen edge performance, which might be important when using features free apps that take entire real estate of the screen.
Here is a video of the test and the full report can be found here
DIY Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo.
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Jan 16th, 2010
Car Dashboard UI Layout Gets Updated
The new Ford Sync App Ecosystem is a promising move toward the long-awaited upgrade of cars’ User Interface. While driving conditions have changed dramatically during in the last 50 years, the dashboard UI has not. Our driving habits and laws have changed but we are still presented with the same basic set and layout of a dashboard. Surely, critical information can be presented in much more efficient way, utilize modern technology and be way more user-centered. Ford and Mercedes-Benz initiatives indicate that automobile industry is trying to close the gap.
Ford Sync App Ecosystem and Dashboard
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Jan 15th, 2010
“Microsoft has No Taste”
The following interview summarizes fairly well why MS products are so hard to use and why Microsoft hasn’t been about to “get it right” for the last 15 years. I’ve never thought of MS as a design or innovation company. For me, it has always been a tandem of engineers and businessmen serving a certain (very successful) business model.
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Jan 15th, 2010
LG Turns to Android UI
LG has announced it will run Android in more than half of its smartphones in 2010. It is a significant change from the company’s current strategy. In 2009, only one LG smartphone ran Android and the rest were running Windows Mobile. It is a big hit for Microsoft as other companies such as Motorola, Samsung and HTC move away from Windows Mobile as well.
About a year ago Balmer dismissed Google as a player on the mobile market. And in 2007 he dismissed iPhone as a threat to Windows Mobile. Now MS obviously is losing its once-dominating market position and doing it very quickly. Both iPhone and Android will likely to dominate mobile markets for the next decade.
Besides the Google business model, which is definitely more appealing to the mobile service providers than MicroSoft’s, user satisfaction is another very important factor. Both iPhone and Android have very well designed, user-centered User Interfaces.
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Jan 15th, 2010
GUI for Easy Web Video application
Contracted by TopNet Solutions, Inc., Rossul Design will be designing GUI for a new version of their Easy Web Video application.
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Jan 11th, 2010
Apple’s Tablet Confirmed.
Stéphane Richard, Orange’s CEO-To-Be, confirms the arrival of Apple’s Tablet with a web cam and live video streaming via 3G.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (the interviewer) : According to Le Point (a french magazine), your partner Apple will be launching a tablet
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: … equipped with a webcam.
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: Will Orange customers also be able to enjoy it?
Stéphane Richard: Of course!, they will actually particularly enjoy it because the webcam will allow live video streaming. It’s a new take on mobile video-conferencing. -
Jan 10th, 2010
Graphic User Interface (GUI) for Toronto Rehab
Rossul Design has been contracted to create an intranet Graphic User Interface (GUI) for Toronto Rehab Read More
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Jan 5th, 2010
Apple’s Rumoured Tablet to Have 3D Interface?
Apple has filed a patent that describes an interface for manipulating “three-dimensional virtual objects” on a touch screen. The technology may be used in future releases of iPhone or in the rumoured Apple tablet (iSlate?). I doubt that simply porting existed OS to a 10” touch screen may take “you-know-who’s considerable undivided attention”. Having an entire event dedicated to the mobile market Apple will most probably try to set a new standard. 3D User Interface may become just the thing to mark a new step in evolution of UX. Apple has been working on various 3D systems for quite some time now: 3D Projection System, 3D Desktop, 3D Displays, etc.
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Jan 5th, 2010
Apple to Buy Mobile Advertising Company
Apple is about to announce the acquisition of Quattro Wireless for $275 million. Apple tried to bid on AdMob acquired by Google not so long ago. With Google’s Nexus launch tomorrow both companies become direct competitors in the smartphone market. From a UI prospective, it is interesting to see how Apple’s User Experience dedication and strict App Store approval rules will stand against Google’s users-know-better-what-they-need approach.