Many of us type on keyboards on a daily basis without giving any thought to its layout. It just works, but why exactly do we use this layout? If you think it’s a carry-over from days past to slow typists down or the result of research to group commonly used keys together, it’s not true! Read on.

Most English keyboards used today use the QWERTY format, which takes its name from the first six letters appearing on the keyboard. Its design is based on a layout originally created by Christopher Latham Sholes for the  Sholes and Glidden typewriter in 1873. Sholes actually began with an alphabetical layout spread across 2 rows, but jams became a major issue. When pressing certain two letter combinations (e.g., “St”) together or in quick succession, the metal arms mounting the characters would collide or become jammed.

Contrary to popular belief, no one wanted to solve this problem by slowing typists down. Rather, Sholes rearranged the layout so that commonly-used letter pairs were not close together on the keyboard, avoiding jams of the connecting metal arms, and thus allowing typists to continue typing fast.

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Quick! How many countries are in the world?

It’s not something we think about every day, but the best answer for the number of countries in the world is 195.

Don’t tell that to Ma Bell though. Most of the Canadian cell phone companies promise coverage in “over 200″ countries. In the United States, it gets even worse.

Need proof? Let’s start with the Canadian companies, best known for having some of the highest profits and highest prices in the developed world.

Given that TELUS has already gone the extra mile with 5 extra countries, I’m not sure how they plan to add new roaming destinations.

As if most of the 200 countries can be reached by road from Canada!

Fido and Bell also make similar claims, while Rogers is conspicuously quiet with specific numbers on their web site. Maybe it’s because everyone knows they don’t really provide widespread coverage in any countries, including Canada.

In the United States, the empty promises get even weirder. Verizon has a page for  Antarctica, along with a useless coverage map!

I guess there’s no coverage in Antarctica, not even for the research bases.

Then there’s AT&T, an extra special American mobile carrier.

They are clearly the best, with coverage in over 25 imaginary countries that don’t exist.

While the definition of what a “country” is contested in some areas, most experts would agree there is only 195 countries give or take a few. Assuming all of the countries in the world actually have mobile roaming coverage, claims of 200 and 220 are definitely pushing it.

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.