I recently visited the Google Labs page, which is where Google engineers showcase their pre-beta software and other experiments. While there I accidentally came across an interesting cursor-intensive project buried in one of the back-rooms. The idea is that instead of scrolling and selecting Google search results with a mouse, you can use, ahem, the keypad.

I was reminded of a long-ago time when ASCII console editors ruled the computer screen.

Google chose the “k” and “j” keys to let users scroll up and down. It’s exactly the same shortcuts used by that antique UNIX editor vi. (Of course, it’s still a valid and marginally useful editor when working with emulated consoles.) I immediately signed up as a test user, and I was delighted that that my finger memory quickly relearned the up-down sequence.

The Googlers also re-purposed vi’s “o” key to  allow you to land on a  search entry’s URL entry.

I don’t miss my mouse at all.  My hunch is that someone’s already making good ROI arguments for cursor-ing through search results.

I just hope no one decides to sue Google.

There’s a new visual design we code named Metro…Metro actually has it roots in Windows.  Media Center on Windows was the first place we did this typographically intense, high motion UI. Then it moved to Zune. …  And now you’ll see it on Windows Phone.

Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone Program Management, Channel9.MDSN.com, February 15,2010

image courtesy of Gizmodo

I’m over my winter malaise, and ready to look at the new Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S) in a fairer light. I was helped with my MS aversion condition by a friend who happens to be a  skilled smartphone therapist. His treatment regimen involved viewing the 22-minute Joe Belfiore walk-through and doing some comparative analysis with a few mobile devices that just happened to be lying around. OK, WP7S is quite good.

In fact, the sub-pixel rendering of fonts, _may_ be on its own enough to pull you out of the Apple orbit. With its text-centric design, the Microsoft team has shown that the written world can be worth a thousand icons—the fonts appear to be that crisp and readable.

Overall, the text is used in ways we’re all familiar with on the bigger screens—guiding you to relevant functions and showing recent activities. It’s just nice to see this done on a gadget. There’s also a great emphasis on aggregating messaging text from SMS,  MMS,  twitter, and Facebook, which will make this phone very convenient for any social media-aware human.

The OS assumes a touch-centric WVGA device that has GPS, so they’ve set the hardware prerequisites fairly high. They’ve also made it  easy on your fingers to move between the six theme areas or hubs–people, pictures, games (Xbox Live), music/video (Zune), Office, and Marketplace. While the total experience may not be as smooth as the iPhone, it is more than adequate, especially for non-gaming business users.

For business users, the calendaring is ….blessedly un-Office like (to get a peek, skip to around 11:17 on the Belfiore walk-through). And yes, you get Microsoft’s version of push email with the Wp7S. (Editor:cheap shot.)

The big shift is that this is a Microsoft mobile software that is both friendly to businesses and very attractive to consumers.

Apple and RIM should be more than a little concerned. (Editor: True, but Microsoft faces a very steep acceptance curve.)