The online extract includes some of the footnote links slightly out of context. Nonetheless, it’s kind of good that they’re there, because Punchcut and Barbara Ballard have always been great references for me.

Gerry Gaffney was a great editor; he patiently helped me forge something coherent and focused.

The Motorola has a pretty ordinary web experience, so it’s not the strongest contender the regular mobile device world could have offered up in this unintentional side-by-side, but the improvements apparent in the screenshots probably have pretty wide application across smartphones.

The iPhone layout is consistent and logical, it’s seems easier to know where you are, what actions are available and what information is available. The Motorola squanders alot of screenspace on browser info and soft key labels and there appears to scrolling for all but the most basic of screens.

The difference in the readability of text is remarkable, and the form buttons look like buttons, and so benefit from people not having to learn a visual language different to large-screen web conventions.

And at a glance you’d surmise that the above would mean the propensity for errors – be it entering your password, or adding a transaction, or navigating to the page you need – would be lower for the iPhone. If you were thinking about where to devote your energies in mobile web platforms, getting a sense of the difference in experiences is really useful alongside knowing your audience and what they like.

Wesabe Mobile

On Thursday, the reference department initiated service via txt messaging. By doing so, we’ve joined a small handful of academic libraries making this format available to patrons.

In order to txt the reference desk, patrons should dial 265010, enter our IM screen name “azkzaklive” followed by their question and press enter. The question will arrive at the reference desk computer in an instant message window, and the librarian will enter her response as with any other IM.

Sounds cool. Do you have to enter “azkzaklive” from your mobile though? That looks like a painful bit of text entry.
ZSR | Library Gazette » cn i hlp u? The reference desk initiates text messaging service.

The $265 million that Nuance Communications is paying for Tegic is a sign that predictive texting (like Tegic’s T9 protocol) can complement, rather than compete with, automated speech-based dictation. When the leading automated speech processing technology provider makes a point of acquiring a company who’s core product had long been trying to make dictation systems unnecessary, there’s obviously more to it than meets the eye. >>

Two apps on his radar: navigation and dictation. “Nuance Voice Control supports a broad set of applications including the ability to do short email dictation, but combining that with some of our open-ended broad dictation technology will allow people to not only do short email dictation, but …complete very long, open-ended dictation on their mobile devices for everything from email communication to mobile blogging. We think – because consumers are so focused on content creation these days – it’s a great opportunity.” >>

Enter three zeros on the keypad while in the text message (SMS) editor.

via Business 2Go

My recollection of being able to blindly type on its keyboard was also simply a false memory. I had to watch the keyboard just as closely as the iPhone, if not more. Part of the reason for this is because the iPhone corrects words behind the scenes, making it easier to accurately enter text at dangerously sloppy high speeds.

Using iPhone: Text and Data Entry vs T9, Graffiti, Thumb Keyboards.