Web Design and Development In 2015

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It’s now a quarter of a century, ever since the emergence of the internet what obtains today is a powerful tool that is being leveraged by business, organizations and individuals for various ends. Whatever the entity behind every website, the primary goal remains the attainment of visibility and a distinct ability to connect with your target audience. This wonderful story starts with web design and development to establish a presence in this global arena. The technology, tools, and considerations that go into the design and development of every website have changed immensely since the days of websites which resembled magical lands of casinos and unicorns.

What Do These Changes Mean?
The most significant implication that these changes have is that you can no longer go with just any design and development service provider. You also have to take into account the fact that it’s no longer just a case of being there online. Almost every business is taking to the web and the most important thing now is being able to stand out and outsmart your competition in a lot of dimensions.
There are a lot of tips that can help you in making the right choice of design agency and ensuring that your website is a potent weapon in pursuing your objectives. The first thing that you need to do is ensure that you present your value proposition your visitors in 5 seconds. This is known as the 5 second rule and is designed to address the problem of visitors quickly exiting your website d lowering your conversions. Give the visitor reason to stay and this goes to content and appealing design. Another factor which must never never be forgotten is the time it takes for your websites to load and open pages.
The home page is the gateway to your website and need not be saturated with information. Your content should also make proper use of calls to action as and when required. You must make use of social share buttons to allow users to share your content and ensure that the content is always fresh. It is also vital to build the trust of your target market through initiatives such as guaranteed return policy, availability of certifications, free and timely shipping, and communication channels that enable consumers to speak to a human being when needed.

Source Site :: https://bdaily.co.uk/technology/26-05-2015/web-design-and-development-in-2015/

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Installing GPS trackers in Pawtucket vehicles presents a challenge

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Signing off on buying new GPS trackers for all city vehicles was the easy part. Now Pawtucket officials begin the difficult task of ironing out the details of their move to create greater accountability for public employees.

City Council President David Moran said that Mayor Donald Grebien and his administration will be responsible for implementing the tracking systems, but council members plan to be involved each step of the way.
There are a number of questions and challenges to be resolved, said Moran, including deciding what kind of GPS trackers to install, how the trackers will be monitored, who monitors the system, when the system is monitored, what happens to those who are caught using their vehicle in an inappropriate way, and how to make the system immune to tampering.

Moran said he expects "open communication" between the mayor and council.
Grebien said this week that his administration will work together with the council to implement the GPS system. Public Works Director Lance Hill will lead the effort, he said.

He and his team will be looking to make this GPS system more than just an accountability tool, but a useful resource on such things as tracking which streets have already been plowed, said Grebien.
Hill will be looking at everyone's "needs and wants" on GPS, seeking proposals from companies based on different scenarios, said Grebien.

Grebien said he agrees with the council's stated desire to create greater accountability for city workers, even though he didn't see it as a big enough priority this year to spend the $118,000 that the council added to his budget. He said he understands there was some "political pressure" from the outside to get GPS devices in place.

Grebien said some of the biggest questions officials will need to figure out is who monitors the GPS systems and how. He said he imagines that someone within each of the public safety departments and public works will be able to monitor, and a member of his administration will probably have access to all departments.

The mayor said he doesn't expect a huge amount of savings from adding GPS, as he believes most city employees are using their vehicles only for work, but he said he agrees with the council that this is a "moral issue" that should be resolved for taxpayers.

Moran said he too believes that there are "many honest workers who are doing it by the book," but "certainly there are some people who may be abusing the system." Some people might be caught using their city cars inappropriately, said Moran, but the hope on the council's part is that adding GPS trackers will be more of a deterrent. If that happens, the initiative will prove a success, he said.

No one would be exempt from having a GPS tracking device on their vehicle unless there isn't enough money allotted to get all vehicles done, said Moran. The city will have to put the GPS system out to competitive bid, he said, and if the bids come back higher than $118,000, then they'll have to prioritize who gets the trackers. The $118,000 figure was just the number council members were initially told, said Moran, but the task could prove to be more expensive.

He said if the bids come in higher than expected, he'll want the council to hear a clear rationale from Grebien on who should be excluded from having a GPS tracker in the first year of the new system.

Officials estimate that there are about 300 city vehicles.

The Breeze reported last week that the City Council voted to add GPS to all city vehicles, including those taken home at night and the ones that stay in city lots. The key impetus behind finally adding GPS was the case of Maj. Bruce Moreau, who was caught by reporter Jim Hummel using his city vehicle for personal business, including numerous rounds of golf.

For the new GPS systems to be a success, said Moran, city residents will need to be sure that there are "safeguards" in place to make sure no city employee is able to tamper with the new system or find a loophole to continue acting inappropriately.

"We need to make sure it's not abused to protect the integrity of the system," he said. "Otherwise it will be a complete waste."

Source Site :: http://www.valleybreeze.com/2015-05-26/pawtucket/installing-gps-trackers-city-vehicles-presents-challenge#.VWmeEc8irIU

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Understanding the hybrid technology of mobile application development

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If you are confused between hybrid and native applications, this post may help you reach to a conclusion.
We all are aware of the term hybrid.  It’s mixture two or more. In mobile application development, hybrid means the same.
An application based on hybrid technology is the blend two technologies known as web development and native mobile application development. Major technologies used are HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 for the web part and a platform specific language for the native part. An Android based hybrid app is created using Java, for native part, and HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3, for the web part.
Objective C is used for iPhone based hybrid app and the rest web technologies are as same as mentioned above.
Let us understand the hybrid mobile app development approach in a deep manner. The front-end part of such app, or what we download from the app store, is a native application.
It is a tiny application or you can say a container which developers build using platform specific app development language. They need to create different versions of this container for different platforms.
For the Android platform, developers will need an app with the extension called apk. iOS supports applications with extension called ipa.
Windows Phone powered phones support apps with xap file extension. So developers need to make different front-ends of the same app for multiple platform support.
Then there is the back-end part. This part is purely a web application developed with various web technologies as mentioned. 
To support multiple platforms, the web part is supposed to be compatible with all the mobile browser engines in use. Hybrid applications are created to use web view control to render the files of HTML5 and JavaScript in full screen.
They use the web engine of devices. Most of the popular operating systems such as Android, iOS and Blackberry do use the same web engine called Webkit.
The reason of preferring hybrid apps over mobile web apps is that they can use most of features of device. These apps can use offline storage, camera, geo-location, notification, calendar, etc.
A hybrid app can also be made to support the display features like pinch, spread and swipe that are generally supported by native apps. When designed by expert mobile application developers, hybrid apps can also replicate most of features of native apps.
Hybrid app technology has just solved a common problem of mobile web app. It is distribution. There is no easy way to distribute a pure mobile web app.
But hybrid app can be distributed on stores like Google Play and the App Store. As mentioned above, developers can make platform specific native containers of the app and publish them on different stores.

Source Site :: http://www.whatech.com/mobile-apps/press-release/62289-understanding-the-hybrid-technology-of-mobile-application-development

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Android app support could be about to give Firefox OS a boost

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CNET has seen an email from Mozilla Chief Executive Chris Beard that sets out some of the non-profit's new targets for Firefox OS. In particular, it sounds like the organisation's $25 smartphones could be abandoned.
These super-budget smartphones are aimed primarily at developing nations but Beard says they haven't seen "sufficient traction" so far. "We will not pursue all parts of the [$25 phone] program," he writes in the email.
Under a new initiative called Ignite, Mozilla wants to focus on compelling features rather than rock-bottom prices. "We will build phones and connected devices that people want to buy because of the experience, not simply the price," says Beard.

If the app fits

Android app support is an option that Mozilla is going to "explore" according to Beard. It could help increase adoption of Firefox OS as it looks to offer a genuine alternative to Android and iOS.
The organisation's focus will remain firmly on web apps and open software development, however. The leaked email mentions improved offline support for these online apps as well as Firefox OS for other devices besides smartphones.
It's already on a number of smart television sets and the more exposure Mozilla can get the better. Whether or not you actually end up using Firefox OS, competition and innovation are vitally important for the mobile landscape as a whole.
Ref :: http://www.in.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/Android-app-support-could-be-about-to-give-Firefox-OS-a-boost/articleshow/47396867.cms

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How to make your website a mobile-friendly one

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These days, eCommerce is at its peak. Most of the companies are boarding online. Many companies also have mobile phone applications so that they are at reach on a customer’s finger tip. Let’s find out how can one make a website mobile phone friendly one.

 Website fits in the size of a mobile phone

 Sandeep Koujalgi cofounder for Kyash a start-up that works as a platform for offline payments anywhere in India says, ”Whenever somebody creates a website he or she must ensure that it should be a “Responsive website”. Here, the word “Responsive” means the website should be mobile phone friendly. If the customer is accessing the website, in that case, the website should be able to fit in the size of the mobile phone. The display should be responsive whether on laptop computer or a smart phone. ”
Loads & displays well on mobile

To make it mobile friendly, one can seek help of experts or can approach platforms like Kart rocket. Vishesh Khurana cofounder of Kartrocket says, “As you’re creating your website on a desktop computer, keep in mind that many of your visitors will be visiting your site from their mobile phones. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly—one that loads and displays correctly on a mobile device so visitors can have the best user experience.

Take the Mobile-Friendly Test

Use these resources to ensure your site is mobile-friendly: Take the Mobile-Friendly Test to see if pages on your site are already mobile-friendly. If you’re using a content management system (CMS) such as Word Press or a platform offered by your hosting provider to build your site with themes, designs and templates, see if the software or platform is listed in our Customize Your Software tutorials. Each tutorial has step-by-step instructions on making your website themes and templates mobile-friendly.” He has further added that all of this is mostly done while creating a website itself and people can go to various platforms.

Ensure applications are light weight

Mangesh Stavyah the Director of Stavyah technologies says “There are two things. It is very easy to make mobile-friendly websites. One is, during the making of the website itself, you make a responsive website. The second is, the light weight applications we build for mobile apps. They are light weight applications.”

Ref:http://www.indianretailer.com/article/technology/ecommerce/How-to-make-your-website-a-mobile-friendly-one-3363/

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GPS helps parents keep track of kids driven in car

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Parents worried about their children’s whereabouts while being driven to and from school are increasingly turning to high-tech devices to keep track of them.
Umm Khalid was so concerned about the safety of her seven-year-old that she had the device 
installed in the car without the knowledge of the driver, according to a report in a local publication recently.
She can now monitor the location of the vehicle and the distance traveled in real time as the driver travels to her child’s school and back.
Mamdouh Izzat, who sells these devices, said they are usually used to track vehicles that are stolen and by companies wanting to monitor their employees, but many parents have now been snapping them up.
Most of his customers are women who send their children to school with private drivers. The device has a chip valid for one year that can be renewed. It is password-protected and can be accessed from a mobile phone, laptop or a desktop computer from anywhere in the world.
It uses global positioning system (GPS) technology and has an internal memory. If GPS is not available, the device sends information through SMS. 
Izzat said these devices have been designed according to international specifications and uses modern tracking systems. It can withstand high temperatures and lighting.
Some advanced GPS tracking devices capture location information apart from other vehicle information at regular intervals to a central server. The other information can include fuel amount, engine temperature, altitude, door open/close, tire pressure, and odometer readings, according to Wikipedia.
Vehicle tracking systems are commonly used by fleet operators for management such as tracking routing, dispatching, on-board information and security. Along with commercial fleet operators, urban transit agencies use the technology for a number of purposes, including monitoring schedule adherence of buses.

 Ref :: http://www.arabnews.com/science-technology/news/744376 

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What skill is most essential for a web developer?

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Most people have a general idea of what it takes to be a web developer, but which skill is most essential to the profession? The answer might surprise you.
Pretty much everyone knows that in order to be a successful web developer, one needs to possess a great deal of technical knowledge and programming expertise.  One must possess formidable critical thinking capacity, and enough of a passion for the field to keep appraised of current events.  One must also be a hard worker, always hungry for knowledge and searching for the next big project.  Last, but certainly not least, every successful web developer must be able to manage their time to great effect.
Together, the skills I mentioned above form the core of web development. If an individual possesses all of them, they should have no trouble breaking into the field and becoming successful…right? Well…not exactly.
There’s one thing missing here. A skill which – though it seems far more at home in the world of marketing or public relations – is arguably the most essential web development skill of all. I am speaking, of course, about the ability to communicate.
Perhaps I should explain.
To some degree, communication has always been an important aspect of web development. After all, a developer isn’t always going to work alone – sometimes, they’ll have to operate as part of a team. That’s something which is effectively impossible if one lacks social skills.
Said skills are even more important today than they were in the past, however: web development has changed. Web design and optimization today are almost entirely centered on the user: what do they want? How do they think and browse? How do they use social media?
Not surprisingly, these questions aren’t exactly easy to answer without understanding how people interact.
It’s not just web development that’s changed, either – it’s the whole web. As you’re no doubt aware, we’re living in a marvelously connected world. Thanks to technologies like social media and the smartphone, our world is more closely-knit than it’s been at any point in human history. We are living in the age of the global village; an era in which knowledge is constantly exchanged through blogs, vlogs, podcasts, social networks, and conferences. Our civilization is growing steadily more social.
This is manifesting in a few ways. First, we’re starting to see web communities devoted to pretty much every profession. Web development in particular plays host to a positively staggering array of different social networks, web-forums, and blogging communities; powerful resources that no developer should hesitate to tap into.
Of course, in order to do so, a certain level of social acuity is required.
Second, our expectations are changing as to how we interact with one another. On today’s web, everyone has a voice. As a result, it’s becoming steadily more important that one knows how to market oneself; that one know how to communicate with both clients and colleagues and drown out the noise of those who don’t. After all, who would you rather hire – a skilled web developer who doesn’t know how to carry on a conversation, or an equally skilled developer who’s also a joy to be around?
Lastly, the clear importance of the web to the everyday has somewhat romanticized the web development field. With the runaway success of websites like Facebook, it’s suddenly become “cool” to be a developer of any creed. The stereotype of the quiet, unkempt, quite-possible-socially-incompetent development professional is the product of a bygone age. Those who still fit that stereotype are going to be shoved aside in favor of those who don’t.
Everyone knows that developers are technically proficient, logical, organized, and knowledgeable. While it’s still important that one possesses all these core traits, they’re nothing without the ability to communicate them to clients, employers, and colleagues. It’s a side effect of the modern web: our world’s becoming more social, and those who aren’t developing their skills in tandem risk being left behind.
Ref :: http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/technology/what-skill-is-most-essential-for-a-web-developer.html
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Does Your Company Need an App, a Website or Both?

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In a recent episode of the “StartUp” podcast, members of the Gimlet Media team discussed whether they should develop a native app for their network. 
It was a timely conversation, considering that mobile app usage numbers continue to soar and almost every company is developing trendy technology.
But there's much more to this conversation than deciding to jump on the bandwagon.
An app, in some cases, might not provide any benefit to your audience or even help you meet your business goals. For example, an independent consultant would probably do best with a responsive website. A big-box retailer, however, likely would lose competitive ground without an app.
Whatever the size of your business, when you face a technological crossroad, you have to ensure that you're targeting the platforms that best serve your product and your audience.

Do not waste time and money.

Do your research to avoid wasting time, money and energy building out the wrong platform.
Reaching your customers with a native app can be a terrific approach. However, if you hire a firm to build an app and later realize that your customers prefer to engage on your website, you’ll have wastedthousands of dollars.
Additionally, it's illogical to build a responsive site if your customers only use your product on mobile devices. For instance, the most popular mobile games have bare-bones websites that direct you to the App Store or Google Play. Instagram is another good example -- you're prohibited from signing up on the website.
Conversely, we recently had a client launch a responsive site but request an app a few months later. The client discovered that the majority of users were connecting via mobile devices. 

Evaluate your needs, and choose wisely.

Above all, nothing looks less professional than a partially built website or app. Before hiring a development team, determine which piece of technology is most relevant to your audience, and build from that point.
Google Analytics can help you segment your audience and observe which platforms your users prefer. Allow the data to dictate what you build and where you devote your resources. This infographic details a series of questions that will assist you in determining which type of technology you build. It takes into account your company’s goals and budget, content, SEO needs, interface complexity and accessibility.
You'll see that a responsive site makes sense if you have a tight budget, rely heavily on SEO, need universal accessibility and plan to make frequent updates.
Apps, on the other hand, are preferred if you have a complex user interface, if you send and receive a great deal of data and if you want to take advantage of smartphone functionality. Apps also are good if personalization is important and if you’re trying to monetize content.
Even if you have multiple priorities or a diverse user base, it might not be essential that you have both an app and a responsive site, but your unique needs should dictate your decision. We recently had a client who wanted to enable his users to remotely reserve boat slips in marinas. In his case, a responsive website was unnecessary because his users were originating from mobile.
Your target audience’s needs should always drive platform development decisions. Be willing to adjust in response to their needs and usage patterns. Research their habits and desires to ensure you’re making informed decisions, and above all, only spend your precious time and energy on necessary endeavors.
Ref :: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245704

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DEVELOP MOBILE APPS USING EXCEL

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Anyone can Create an App With Excel Knowledge Without Coding - Use Functions in Excel to Define Application Logic - Applicable to Unstructured Processes That Traditionally use Excel - XLApp was Selected for InTech50 2015 GoDB Tech.
A software product firm specializing in mobility solutions for enterprises, has now innovated a product for the latest mobile platform - smartphones. An app that can be created by anyone using a basic Excel knowledge.
Excel is the most widely used business software in the enterprise space with over 750 million+ users worldwide. Excel is used for basic calculation, budgeting onwards to complex financial modeling.
GoDB Tech has conceptualized a product that can convert any Excel file into an App, without coding. Business managers can now use their Excel knowledge for developing mobile apps and reduce the development time from weeks to a few hours.
The process is as follows Step 1: The user can model/design the app in Excel using the existing functions of Excel and also can define custom cells to capture image, GPS, Barcode, etc., by just naming the cells in Excel.
Step 2: Upload the file into XLApp server, which will convert it into an app.
Step 3: Share the app via Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, mail etc. XLApp supports all leading smartphone OS like iOS, Android, Windows and PCs and is available for download from respective app stores. With one click, the apps developed with XLApp could be social enabled.
People are more comfortable with using mobile apps, but most business processes are in Excel. With the number of smartphone users growing exponentially, it has become increasingly important for businesses to enable these processes on mobile. XLApp is a cloud-based service. With XLApp, anyone can develop a mobile app with just Excel knowledge. It is the fastest way to develop a mobile app without any coding.

Ref::http://www.sakshipost.com/index.php/lifestyle/editor-s-picks/56441-develop-mobile-apps-using-excel.html?psource=Home-Latest

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10 Factors for Developing a Top-Ranked Mobile App

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It's All About the UI: Focus on the User Experience

As mobile application usage continues to grow, it comes at the cost of the mobile Web. Apps provide a richer interface and additional functionality when compared with mobile Websites. In fact, the mobile browser has been described as a single application swimming in a sea of apps. Building a custom application is becoming more important to providing the experience that users are now demanding. With mobile apps consistently and persistently outperforming the desktop market, there is no second chance for a bad mobile user experience.

Account for Unreliable Networks

Eventually, every mobile user will experience a dropped phone call, a lost signal or not getting an important update due to an unreliable mobile network. If you think the area you live in is safe, check out the latest metrics on which U.S. cities have the best performance. San Jose, Calif., the tech capital of the world in the heart of Silicon Valley, doesn't even make the top 50. App developers need to be acutely aware of these intermittent problems and the impact they have on user experience and performance.

Plan for Explosive Growth

What would happen if your application went viral tomorrow, and you had to scale from a customer base of a few hundred to an active user base of 100,000 or even a million? In a world that stays connected 24/7, apps can go from unknowns to global sensations in a very short timeframe. To ensure optimal user experience throughout that expansion in user base, app developers need to plan for growth. Taking a real-world example, if Uber had not been able to expand quickly, would it be the successful $19 billion company it is today? Utilization of libraries that focus on low-latency data distribution at scale can help developers intelligently grow their apps' user bases without changing core architecture.

Security Is Never an Optional Feature

When asked what the main issues were in the adoption of mobile applications, 77 percent of enterprises put security at the top of the list. As users move toward a mobile-centric lifestyle, personal data and the security of that data should be a top concern for mobile app developers. Although general awareness and concern about security and data privacy have gone up in recent years, more than half of adults are unaware that security solutions exist for mobile devices. The Internet has become the new "Wild West," and developers are the gunslingers, vigilantly fighting off the constant threat of outlaw hackers.

Don't Forget the Underdogs

In today's world, it is amazing how many applications only support iOS or Android. In a global world, whether or not an app supports all of the mobile platforms (Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows) can be the difference between mass adoption and being a "flavor of the week" app. On a global scale, Android is a dominant player, but in the United States, iOS is a much fiercer competitor. Alienating a large part of your market can lead to slower or no adoption, so be sure to find solutions that can help you create apps quickly and natively for all mobile operating systems.

Be Consistent Across Platforms

It is not enough to simply support multiple platforms; it's critical to have consistent behavior and features across them. With more focus on security in the workplace, companies are often providing their own mobile devices that typically don't match what users are using in their personal life. This means that users are more platform-agnostic but still expect each platform to behave similarly. This takes the first focus on the user experience and ties it directly with a multiplatform approach to make users happy and ensure development teams are contiguous and well-structured.

React Quickly to the Market

As mobile becomes mainstream, relevance and functionality have become constantly changing goals. Every app needs to focus on relevance minute to minute and week to week. Ensuring that every app can be tweaked to include new functionality, features and methods should be a cornerstone of app development. This is why major apps like Facebook and Gmail are updated constantly. These updates may consist of minor fixes to basic issues or slight functionality adjustments, or they may be major updates to address changing utilization and user journeys. Just as users are becoming more real time, so must applications in order to ensure optimal user experience.

Be Kind to Devices

Applications that deal with real-time data can be detrimental to a user's data plan, especially if they are running and continuing to update in the background. Users today are also more focused on data consumption as they are being charged for even the slightest of excesses. Mobile carriers are struggling to provide physical infrastructure to support the wave of new devices, and have passed that cost and restriction onto the consumer. Apps that pay attention to every byte they send, make the data consumption efficient and ensure that the battery life and processing power of a device are preserved naturally will float to the top of user preference.

Test, Test, Test!

A single bad customer experience with Web-connected performance could mean that creators can lose about 80 percent of their customers, which makes getting it right the first time so critical to growing and retaining the customer base. Even knowing this, half of all mobile app issues are found by customers, leading to bad user experiences and shrinking customer bases. Additionally, there is a growing need to automate and perform functional and integration tests.

Mobile devices and their use are rising at unbelievable rates, bringing with them a flood of applications to solve hundreds of problems that users may or may not have realized they faced. The move to mobile has simultaneously brought an increasing demand for real-time data, information and updates–and generally, without adequate physical network infrastructure to deliver on that promise. As a result, developers are faced with fierce competition, low margins and temperamental users who are not afraid to quickly and indefinitely change their app allegiances if they don't experience optimal performance or app response times. Let's face it: Users are spoiled, but developers have to work around that fact. These issues make finding a unified solution that can easily be integrated and scale rapidly a necessity. This slide show, based on eWEEK reporting and professional industry insight from Sean Bowen, CEO and founder of Push Technology, explores what developers should consider to provide an app that meets user expectations in this increasingly fast-paced world.

Ref:  http://www.eweek.com/mobile/slideshows/10-factors-for-developing-a-top-ranked-mobile-app.html

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5 hot trends in software development hiring

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5 hot trends in software development hiring
 Technology hasn’t only changed the way we communicate, exchange information and consume media, but it has also created jobs in fields we couldn’t have imagined 10 years ago. Five years ago, a software engineer might have been comfortable understanding Java and perhaps a second language, like C++. But today, the number of programming languages you can learn has grown to include Python, Ruby, Swift, and Objective-C, to name just a few.
As a job seeker in the tech industry, how can you keep your resume competitive to ensure you are top of the list for new job openings? According to John VanderSande ofWinterWyman, a recruitment firm with offices in the Northeast, here are five of the most popular and fastest-growing areas in tech.  

Mobile
Mobile has become increasingly important with the rise of the smartphone, and even more recently with Mobilgeddon. As of April 21, Google changed its algorithm to prioritize websites with a strong mobile experience. This left a number of companies scrambling to optimize their Web design for a mobile-friendly experience, or suffer the wrath of the almighty Google algorithm’s search ranking. Google also recently announced that in 10 countries, mobile searches have surpassed desktop.
With all this focus on mobile, the need for iOS and Android application developers has grown. And it’s not just for consumer-focused companies, a strong mobile presence is important for any company that has a website. And it makes sense, because most people can probably think of a time they visited a website on a mobile device, only to be frustrated by the experience.
Mobile is an interesting and diverse market, as VanderSande points out, “While most companies prefer to hire people with professional mobile development experience, the market will continue to open up for those with side (hobby) projects in iOS or Android.”

Big Data
Data is king, but it's also a behemoth. Companies are collecting massive amounts of data, but many are strapped for resources when it comes time to organize data in a practical way. There is a growing need for positions such as data analysts, computer systems analysts and data scientists, to name just a few. In addition to creating new jobs, data is becoming a necessary skill for those working in information technology. In 2014, the demand for big data skills increased over 123-percent for IT project managers and just under 90-percent for computer systems analysts.
VanderSande says that big data “will continue to be an area of growth over the next year and experience with Hadoop, Storm/Spark, NoSQL, Cassandra, Hbase, etc., will be highly sought after. Language isn’t as important here, but most companies are using Python, Scala, or Java when building/processing large data sets.”

Cloud
You can’t fire up a new device without being prompted to opt into some form of cloud storage, whether its iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox. And it’s becoming a hot topic in the enterprise as well, with adoption of cloud storage also prompting the need for more data analysts and security professionals. It makes sense that with the rise of mobile devices, we all want to access our content seamlessly across devices, be it personal or for work.
As cloud continues to move into the enterprise, there will be an even greater demand for workers skilled in cloud computing as well as cloud security. “There are 3.9 million jobs in the U.S. affiliated with cloud computing today with 384,478 in IT alone,” says Louis Columbus in a Forbes article on the future of cloud computing jobs.
While Amazon remains the leader in cloud computing technology, there are emerging software trends to keep an eye on. Software platforms such as OpenStack have been gaining momentum as more companies clamor to move their data into the cloud, according to VanderSande.

DevOps Software Development Hiring
Companies have been trying to close the gap between developers and operations to help better serve customers and clients. Traditionally, once software left a developer’s hands, it was up to operations to deal with the fallout if it fell flat, didn’t function properly or disappointed customers. For a business, bridging that gap and instilling communication between all pertinent teams from conception to delivery can result in faster delivery of higher quality products.
It has its roots in a 2009 conference in Berlin and has since taken the tech world by storm. In fact, a 2014 survey of IT managers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia found that of those that hadn’t yet deployed a DevOps strategy, 79 percent planned to do so by the end of 2015. 
With such quick and widespread adoption, DevOps engineers are in demand, especially those dealing with software in the cloud. “Any opportunity to pick up Ruby or Python (or any modern scripting language) as well as cloud management/monitoring tools and technologies can help differentiate your resume from the pack,” says VanderSande.

Source Link :: http://www.cio.com/article/2923453/careers-staffing/5-hot-trends-in-software-development-hiring.html

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Fleet Management for Your Business

02:03 | Posted by | | | Edit Post
If your company has a lot of employees out in the field, you may be in need of a tracking system. 
There is no really way to see what your employees are doing at all times, but you can see if they are where they are supposed to be with the right system. This is the first step to managing your fleet.
You may be in need of a mobile tracking system.The mobile tracking system can be designed to fit the size of your fleet, no matter how big or small it is. If you decide to develop a fleet management system, you can better manage your vehicles and other valuable business assets. It is important to keep track of them to ensure that your investment is safe and being well maintained. It is an easy program to set up. All you need to do is install a GPS tracker in each of your company vehicles. The tracker can tell you where the vehicle is at all times as well as how fast it is moving, which is beneficial if you have a company speed limit that must be followed.
It is a good way to ensure that your employees are following the company rules as well as going where they are required to for their position. Not only it is a way to monitor your employees and ensure they are doing their job, but a tracking platform can also help you with your productivity. The GPS tracker can give you reports such as fuel consumption, engine start times, miles that are driven by certain vehicles, and speed reports on your employees. It can help your business optimize its production and increase productivity of your employees. These are valuable tools that cannot be delivered without a tracking platform.If you are looking for a tracking solution, you should contact Track Platform.
Our company specializes in fleet management and mobile tracking solutions, already implemented by many companies. It is easier than you would think to set up the system for your company. It takes almost no time at all for the company to get up your system and install GPS trackers in the company vehicles. It does not matter the size of your company. There is a plan and package for every company, even if you are very large or just starting out.There are many benefits to having a tracking platform in place. It will help to not only improve your business but can help you ensure that you can trust your employees and that they are performing their duties.
Even if you do not have doubts about this, you can ensure that your company will be better because of the tracking solution. It will help you improve on things that you may not have considered in the past. You should contact Track Platform today to see what they have to offer and see how easy it would be to set up your new system. Once you have a tracking platform, you will wonder how you ever went without.

Source Link: http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=197752

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5 skills employers want to see when hiring software developers

05:39 | Posted by | | | Edit Post

Hiring trends are always in flux. A recent article at CIO took a dive into five of the most in-demand skill sets in software development that IT employers are looking for in potential employees.
Mobile continues to be in high demand, as companies such as Google and Bingbegin to prioritize mobile-friendly sites.  As important as mobile development experience in the workplace is, John VanderSande of WinterWyman told CIO that the "market will continue to open up for those with side (hobby) projects in iOS or Android."
Big data just won't stop growing, creating demand for data analysts who can handle the massive amounts of data companies are collecting. Experience with Hadoop, Spark and others will be "highly sought after," VanderSande noted.

Cloud computing will be another skill needed in the enterprise, as will cloud security. Breaches like those seen by iCloud are reason enough to ensure your cloud-stored information is safe. Skills in platforms like Amazon's and OpenStack's cloud tech will be desired by IT teams.
DevOps software development will help "to close the gap between developers and operations to help better serve customers and clients," the CIO article noted. DevOps is still a relatively new concept, though it's been quickly adopted into IT functions within the enterprise. "Any opportunity to pick up Ruby or Python (or any modern scripting language) as well as cloud management/monitoring tools and technologies can help differentiate your resume from the pack," explained VanderSande.
VanderSande also expressed that user-interface engineers are in-demand, who help ensure a smooth experience with end users. This is important in the creation of enterprise applications, software and mobile apps. Skills needed include "the latest Javascript MVC framework as well as Angular.js, Ember.js, Backbone.js and other related languages skills," the CIO article explained. 

Ref: http://www.fiercecio.com/story/5-skills-employers-want-see-when-hiring-software-developers/2015-05-19

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‘Front-door’ GPS tracking in the palm of your hand

02:49 | Posted by | | | Edit Post

New centimetre-accurate GPS to revolutionise drone delivery, vehicle safety and gaming




GPS is great. It has allowed for innovation in areas as diverse as astronomy, cartography, telephony, robotics, space exploration and sports etc.
Critics complain it has damaged humanity’s natural compass. A small price to pay, it would seem, for turning a generation of incompetent pizza delivery boys into location demigods.
And yet, despite being around since the second World War, it’s still not great (at least for civilians, it’s not).
The pizza delivery boy still needs to call when he is almost there to get the exact address.
There lies the problem within. GPS (Global Positioning System) will ‘almost’ get us to our destinations. In 2015, that doesn’t cut it.
The accuracy of commercial systems is negatively affected by a number of variables. Some are unknown and unpredictable to some extent, while others are difficult to control. The ionosphere disturbs GPS signals as they travel from space to earth. Solar weather can also affect accuracy.
GPS in a smartphone might also be affected by interference from other applications, frequent movement or our sweaty hands getting in the way.
The main culprit, however, is low-grade antennae, according to research conducted at the Cockrell School of Engineering in the University of Texas (UT), Austin.
“Smartphone manufacturers pay about two cents for the ‘crushed paper clip’-style antennae they place into their devices,” says Ken Pesyna, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at UT and researcher on the team that has developed a new, low-cost centimetre-accurate GPS system.
“So they should,” he adds. “They are trying to keep costs down and current GPS systems are perfectly adequate for most consumers.”
But more accurate, low-cost GPS systems would have a significant impact on industries such as virtual reality (VR) gaming, car manufacturing and retail delivery.
After six years of research, a team of UT engineers are developing this software technology.
Now industry is lining up to get involved. “The technology was already in existence,” stresses Pesyna. “Centimetre-accurate GPS is widely used in surveying and in farming. But the receiver and antennae could cost around $6,000 (€5,300).”

 Current parameters
The researchers knew they had to work within the parameters of current smartphone technology levels.
So they developed a sensitive software-based GPS receiver that can obtain more accuracy from the cheap antennae found in mobile devices.
The research team, led by assistant professor Todd Humphreys from the aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics department at UT, has developed a device costing around $100 (€88) which could be attached to any smartphone, thereby allowing for low-cost centimetre-accurate tracking in the palm of one’s hand.
People are excited. The technology would enable drone-type vehicles to deliver packages to a consumer’s front door, vastly safer cars with built-in collision-avoidance technologies and VR headsets that could be used outdoors.

 Gaming
“Imagine games where, rather than sit in front of a monitor and play, you are in your backyard actually running around with other players,” said lead researcher Humphreys in a recent interview.
“To be able to do this type of outdoor, multiplayer virtual reality game, you need highly accurate position and orientation that is tied to a global reference frame.”
The team at Humphreys’s radionavigation lab in Austin has done just that: built a system that cuts location error from the size of a Texan pick-up truck to the size of a penny. This means it is 100 times more accurate.
“Our new GPS system, hooked up to a smartphone camera, could be used to build a globally referenced 3D map of one’s surroundings which would significantly expand the radius of any VR game,” says Pesyna (VR currently does not use GPS, which limits its use to indoors and usually a one- to two- metre radius).
The team at UT has started a company, RadioSense, to help commercialise their research. However, there is still a way to go.
While they have developed a snap-on external module that could be attached to any phone, the ultimate goal should be to make it small enough to fit into a device.
Riding the wave
“We’re only dealing with the software,” says Pesyna. “But the aim would still be to develop technology that could be built into our smartphones.
“We’re basically riding the wave of current smartphone technology. They’re the ones increasing power and reducing costs and we can continue to innovate and evolve our offering as long as they continue innovating also.”
Ref: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/front-door-gps-tracking-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-1.2214197

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