http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.ergosolo.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/ http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=89 Typing Contest with prizes and awards. Since then it has become a regular event supplemented with extra fun activities. Everyone is welcome to take part in New Year championships free! Regular participation and impressive results will be awarded. ]]> company life http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=89 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:51:49 +0300 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=88 Assolo alla Tastiera before December 25, 2007, we will send you a MultiSolo on the Keyboard CD as your Christmas gift. We like small pleasantries and hope you do too!]]> General http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=88 Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:41:48 +0300 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=87

To begin with, almost no one cares to expose the essentials of the method they use. Some because they don’t have any, some because they just don’t bother or keep it secret.

The latter is especially funny. How can you make progress unless you know how to work? How can you plan your studies if you don’t have any idea what the studies are like and what they should be? How can you follow the method if you don’t know what it’s all about? And who can guarantee the result if you don’t follow the method?

So, the first step in learning is UNDERSTANDING THE METHOD.

Look at the typing tutor you are using. What method is used? Can you sum it up in a logical paragraph or two? If you can, you are probably on the right path. ]]> General http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=87 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:02:57 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=86 French typing tutor starts in a few weeks! All the features of SOLO on the Keyboard for the AZETRY layout. ]]> company life http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=86 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:30:17 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=85
Let me start with excellent finds.

First of all, I was pleasantly impressed with audio directions for the new users. It does create this intimate atmosphere the authors were obviously looking for.

The most evident power of the tutor is evaluation of the typist's level and work on problematic keys at all levels. A good trick is setting the speed you would like to reach and contrasting your results with the target speed.

The results are shown quite vividly, with visual graphs but only if you manage to find them in the menu.

The tasks are well-made and give you a chance to relax, to concentrate and to relax again. It sure works.

The drill-test structure is pretty smooth. The program even makes you practice until you reach a certain speed or accuracy limit. It proves to be very effective.

The features of custom exercises and digit drilling make a very good impression.

Now let's turn to the things that mar this picture.

The first thing to be mentioned is the design. Calling it dull and obsolete is no exaggeration.

The messages which follow each completed task are too monotonous and boring. It is a serious blow to the user's motivation and progress.

A slight attempt to make the whole process a bit more entrtaining is the games, but they can't boast of high gameplay either.

Whereas the tasks formed for intermediate or advanced typists are nice and unpredictable, the ones for novices are extremely boring and actually difficult. You feel no progress and have to work hard without any pauses to really advance. You have to make yourself go on with every new task.

Some minor details like 380mb of .exe file and lack of Dvorak support are to be also considered.

To sum up, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is a good set of excellent features which failed to become a METHOD. However, it can be successfully used by highly motivated students, especially those who want to increase their typing speed and not start learning from scratch.

All the ideas here are my personal opinion probably not shared by other students and obviously not shared by the authors of http://typing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/]]> General http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=85 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:20:24 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=84 http://typing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
Do you know why? Because loads of users who download YESolo on the Keyboard have already tried these top ten and... are still searching for THE typing tutor.
I am actually impressed with the number of features listed. All of them are really useful and cute. Obviously, the success of touch typing training is hidden somewhere else.
However, the choice is left for the users. ]]> General http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=84 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:32:14 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=83
Patients with CTS experience hand numbness, and eventually develop weakness and atrophy of some of the small hand muscles that control the thumb. "Another common misconception," said Ring, "is that patients with carpal tunnel syndrome present with complaints of activity-related wrist pain. In fact, the hallmark of CTS is numbness that wakes you at night or is present when you wake in the morning. The numbness can be so intense that it's painful, but pain without numbness is not characteristic of CTS."

Carpal tunnel syndrome remains poorly understood. Pressure in the carpal tunnel (a tunnel formed by the small wrist [carpal] bones and the transverse carpal ligament) is involved in the pathophysiology, and release of the pressure by dividing the transverse carpal ligament stops the process. The cause of the increased pressure, however, remains unknown in the vast majority of patients.

Researchers evaluated data for the cause of CTS by a quantitative scale, based on the Bradford Hill criteria (widely accepted by the scientific establishment), which determines a causal relationship. Average scores for biological factors (genetics, race, age, etc.) were double those of occupational factors (occupation, repetitive hand use, vibration, etc.). In addition, the average strength of causal association (odds ratio) was about three times as strong for biological factors as it was for occupational factors.

"This application of stringent science to theories of causation may affect claims of disability, workers compensation and personal injury," noted Ring. "It should also influence the information that physicians are providing their patients about carpal tunnel syndrome. Physicians have the power to increase or decrease illness and disability with their words. In my opinion, we should provide patients with the most optimistic, positive, practical and enabling illness concepts that are consistent with the best available scientific data."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/63324.php]]> General http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=83 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 01:27:16 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=82
So, VisiKey keyboards claim to reduce eye strain of "lazy" typists with the help of 430% larger print of the keys on the keyboard. Moreover, "high contrast (white on black) lettering is generally easier for most people to distinguish at a glance".



VisiKey website]]> keyboard news http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=82 Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:38:46 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=81 Now you have a chance to design a keyboard of your own. With the help of a customizable computer keyboard called DX1 keyboard.

“These keys are like blank tapes,” said Pankaj Garg, a software architect at Mountain View, Calif.-based Ergodex, which developed the product. “You can make them whatever you want them to be.”

You can, for example, assign the keys sets of macros for complex and repetitive software commands in any application that uses a keyboard for input. That includes video editing, word processing and graphics packages, as well as games, e-mail programs and Web browsers. What’s more, you can easily juggle from macros in one application to macros in another. Toggle between Photoshop, Excel and “Counter-Strike.”



http://www.compkeyboard.com]]> keyboard news http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=81 Fri, 7 Sep 2007 09:12:11 +0400 http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=80
When the office temperature in a month-long study increased from 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, typing errors fell by 44 percent and typing output jumped 150 percent. Hedge's study was exploring the link between changes in the physical environment and work performance.

"At 77 (25C) degrees Fahrenheit, the workers were keyboarding 100 percent of the time with a 10 percent error rate, but at 68 (20C)degrees, their keying rate went down to 54 percent of the time with a 25 percent error rate," Hedge says. "Temperature is certainly a key variable that can impact performance."

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Oct04/temp.productivity.ssl.html]]> touch typing news http://www.ergosolo.com/blog/index.php?itemid=80 Thu, 6 Sep 2007 15:37:36 +0400