Haiti

One hour before dark, the earth starts to vibrate. You and many others don’t know what to do. You try to escape the building before it crumbles down on you. You are one of the few that succeed. Unfortunately, your mom is trapped under the cold brick, heavy concrete, and stiff metal. She died.

On the twelfth of January, the largest earthquake recorded hit. It destroyed almost every part of Haiti. The quake had a magnitude of eight, and the heavy shocks following were gargantuan. Communication facilities were stopped and complete information has been bounded. The first news report told that 1000s of buildings had been destroyed, resulting of undiscovered citizens that were trapped. Tens of 1000s of citizens became homeless, hopeless and helpless. They have nothing to eat, wear, or to sleep on.

Approximately forty-five thousand US citizens reside in Haiti, and the Embassy has been required to assist. Depicting circumstances in this land are unthinkable. Many people have been doing their best to make the world contribute in every way to help the people suffering from Haiti’s earthquake disaster.

Imagine that you lived in a world that wanted to be free from disaster, but is incapable. Please help the people of Haiti, and make a donation to a charity like Red Cross. Assist the people whose family members died.

Apple vs. Microsoft Website

The two giants that pride themselves for producing cutting edge products are Apple and Microsoft. They are leading developers in software and hardware, but what about their websites? How do they both compare, and more important, which one is better and more usable? 
Well, in this blog, I’ll take a look at both websites for closer examination from a usability point of view.


Apple knows the importance of getting the customer’s attention. They know that a clean site really helps. One other thing to note is the lack of content. You’re not distracted by sidebars or extra navigation items. This helps you make the decision of where to go next easier.

Now lets look at Microsoft. It’s certainly good at finding what you’re looking for and getting the results wanted. However, the look and feel of their pages are different. It almost looks like you’re browsing at a different website.

So which site is the winner? If you’re looking at usability alone, Apple comes out ahead. They have a better designed homepage that offers less choice, which means the user needs to think less. 
They also have consistent navigation across all of their pages. The Apple site is generally more user friendly and offers a much better experience to consumers. 
Having said this, the Apple website is much smaller than Microsoft’s site. Unlike Apple, Microsoft hosts many different sites and sections under the Microsoft.com brand. The biggest problem for Microsoft is consistency.
 Every section looks and feels different. There is no global navigation and there are not many visual clues that tell the user that this is a Microsoft site. For these reasons, I think Apple is the clear winner here.



What do you think? Have I got it right?

Please post your comments.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004! How would you feel if the job you've been doing for most of your life just moved offshore without any warning? What if you just spent several years getting an education for what you thought would be a very hot job but later turned out to be a very bad choice? I’ll gladly tell you that I would feel frustrated and very annoyed.

Just a while back, people have been very disappointed with the unanticipated, and instantaneous change of hot and coming jobs. It shows us that in our society, anything can happen and we have to keep our options open. Students studying in high schools and universities now have to be very carful in the career they are planning to pursue because of all the new technology. Before Apple and Google, where all the employees working? Most recently, there was a new job title involving software engineering. Again, very tech oriented.

For all the viewers out there I don’t want you to be facing questions like: “Why did I get myself into this?” and “Can I go back in time and change my career?”

Call to mind that there are many opportunities and one decision can change your life, so make it a good one.

-Alexandra Garcia