Tag: mobile apps

Article

The smartphone as a companion to one’s TV watching

The Couch Potato is Extinct | The Digital Den (Seagate)

My Comments

When we watch TV or video content, we keep our smartphones or tablets with us and, in some cases, use them. A very common time when this happens is during the commercial breaks on real-time TV, which isn’t just a time to go to the kitchen or bathroom.

Why do we do this?

Communications with other people

We would use the smartphone to check on email or social-network activity; or place one or more phone calls. This may be including the idea about giving our friends a running commentary about what we are watching, something that would happen a lot with reality TV or a drama series.

A resource to verify facts

Check out which other movies or TV shows they starred in

During a sportscast, we could use a scoreboard app to verify sports scores or use apps like that scoreboard app, Google or Wikipedia to chase down facts about the contestant who is participating in the game itself or facts simply about the game. This may include the rules of the game, where everyone stands in the game or the league itself.

During other entertainment, one could use Google, Wikipedia or IMDB to find out more about an actor such as what other TV shows or films they appeared in. This may be a way for one to settle an argument with someone who thinks they are the armchair expert on the particular kind of content. You may also want to know more about a particular concept that is being featured in the show. For example, you may want to use Wikipedia to find out about a legal concept that is applied in the country where the show is but isn’t applied locally or applied in a different manner, or a medical condition or procedure highlighted in that TV drama.

How did that match go?

Even during the advertisements, we may want to check the veracity of an offer that is being advertised. This may include finding out where there are better offers or learn more about the products and services that are being touted by the barker on the commercial.

In a lot of cases, some of us may want to “make hay while the sun shines” in relation to the advertisements. This could be to claim a coupon, enter a sweepstakes that is part of the advertising campaign or simply take up on the offer being advertised.

How is this trend being capitalised on by the TV industry?

Shazam now used by some TV advertisers as a gateway to offers

Increasingly the TV industry is exploiting the mobile device as a “second-screen” to provide varying levels of interactivity in relation to the content. This is because most TV-viewing setups aren’t conducive to interactive-TV because of factors like inconsistent implementation or restriction of users’ control experiences.

One path that the TV industry are using to capitalise on us using mobile devices while watching TV is to interlink social media with TV shows. This is typically with public affairs shows, panel shows, reality TV and the like where selected comments from one or more social-media feeds are read out by the compere or shown on screen either as a dedicated slide or, more often, as scrolling text at the bottom.

Another path that is being exploited by cooking-themed TV shows, whether they be magazine shows of the “Better Homes And Gardens” ilk or competitive reality shows of the MasterChef ilk is to make the recipes and other information available on the show’s website. Here, people can then read further on that show or obtain the recipe’s details so they can cook whatever tantalised their tastebuds.

Other shows exploit this by providing such resources as extended-length interviews, factsheets, resource lists and the like to benefit the viewers who want to follow up on the show and what it was talking about. Even drama and comedy shows make use of their Webpages to provide a way for users to become familiar with the show’s characters and main storyline or simply for fans of these shows to link with it.

Some advertisers are exploiting Shazam and similar software as a tool to link the mobile display to the ad they are running at the moment. It would include such things as access to downloadable resources related to that campaign or simply a persistent “show-more-details” Webpage. This is to ascertain the effect of their campaign and which market segments it is touching. This may also be used be people who are watching broadcast content that is recorded on a PVR and may choose to act on certain campaigns that were recorded as part of the TV show.

Conclusion

The smartphone and tablet are now considered as companion devices for your TV viewing even if you are viewing it on the big screen.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Panasonic

The wonderful world of Wi-Fi supercharges our latest cameras and camcorders (Blog post)

My Comments

Panasonic is pushing the idea of apps as a Wi-Fi-linked control surface for cameras and camcorders

When Wi-Fi is added to a digital camera or camcorder, it is typically about being able to download the images or footage to a regular computer for editing and post-production.

But Panasonic is using Wi-Fi wireless networking for more than that thanks to the app-cessory model. Here, they provide a downloadable app that works as a control surface for the camera and can use the smartphone’s abilities to increase what the camera or camcorder can do.

For example, they have a “Jump Snap” feature which uses the accelerometer in your phone to detect the peak in a jump to cause the camera to take the picture as you jump. It also exploits the smartphone’s GPS so you can geocode your photos that you take with your camera. Let’s not forget the ability to use the smartphone’s screen to set up and take your photo, as what a control-surface app would do.

Your smartphone could control one of these and add extra capabilities to it

For camcorders, the Wi-Fi ability allows for multi-camera filming like what the TV producers do in the studios. Here, the smartphone’s camera works as a second camera. This would lead to practices like picture-in-picture or real-time cuts/fades/dissolves being part of your videography. There is even the ability to purpose the camcorder as a network-capable video-surveillance camera with your smartphone or tablet serving as a monitor.

What I see of this is these apps could allow Panasonic and other camera manufacturers to add capabilities to their cameras and camcorders using a mobile-platform app.  The multi-camera filming could be improved upon by allowing multiple camera devices, especially digital cameras or camcorders with the good lenses, to work together for creating multiple video tracks or multi-camera views.

The current limitations with anything that will use a smartphone to add capabilities to a digital camera or camcorder is the fact that the software will only work with a certain range of products supplied by a particular manufacturer. Typically this could be limited to mid-tier and high-end products made since a certain model-year or generation.

Who knows who else will be turning out “app-cessory” setups for their camera and camcorder ranges?

In Case Of Emergency opening screen

I am highlighting the emergency-notification apps like “ICE In Case of Emergency” which are available for most smartphone platforms along with other techniques to make your smartphone work with you if you are caught up in a medical emergency or disaster.

What are these apps?

These apps provide access to information that is essential for others to know if an emergency occurs. Typically the apps work with a lock-screen that provides immediate access to this information along with the necessary space to store that information on our smartphones. As well, they keep the phone’s security functionality in place by providing “sandboxed” access to the emergency information but you can gain full access to your phone using the regular passcode that you have for it. This “sandboxed” access may only allow you to dial the contacts listed in the app’s contact list from that app when the phone is locked so you can still contact them in case of emergency.

In Case Of Emergency app widget on lock screen

They store information about whom to contact in case of emergency, illnesses or other conditions that others should be aware of, medical contacts along with information about the medicines that the person on the file is taking. They may even have the ability for you to directly dial the emergency contacts from their user interface. Some more sophisticated variants may work with a cloud service and your phone’s location identification features to transmit your location to loved ones in case of emergency.

Most of these apps are available from the mobile app stores for pennies’ worth or, in some cases, for free. On the other hand, you can add text to your phone’s lock-screen wallpaper with your emergency-contact information so this is available at all times even when your phone is locked. There are apps that can facilitate that by “mixing the text with the pictures”.

Who are they useful for?

One group of people they are essential for are those of us who have chronic illnesses which can result in an unpredictable emergency situation like a coma, seizure or asthma attack. This includes elderly people who are at risk of a stroke or something similar that is brought on by the ageing process.

Here, it means that when they are out and about, they are sure that the people they are with are able to contact someone like a close friend or relative or their doctor to find out what to do in relation to helping them through the situation. As well, they can convey the critical information to the paramedics or safety / security staff who are managing the situation.

I had one of these apps on my phone because of the fact that I have epilepsy and am at risk of the seizures associated with that illness. This came in handy recently when I had one of these seizures during a group get-together at the church I attend and two of the fellow congregants were able to know whom to contact and what to do by the easily-accessible information that the app was able to provide. This was even though they had called an ambulance to attend to this situation.

Another group of users that would benefit from these emergency-notification apps would be those of us who do activities like bushwalking, long-distance running and long-distance cycling. Similarly people who do a lot of travel can benefit from these apps. These kind of activities may require others to know whom to contact if something untoward happens to them.

In all these situations, a hard-copy card that you keep in your bag or wallet and carries the same essential information does work well as a backup in case your phone runs out of batteries or “freezes”.

What to look for with these apps

These apps should have the ability to retain all of the essential information like your name, the phone numbers for at least a few contacts including your primary-care and other-care doctors, along with identity numbers for national / universal health (NHS, Medicare, etc) or other coverage. As well they should be able to keep information about your blood type and other general medical particulars along with information that is essential to treating and managing your illnesses.

As well, they should be able to have the ability to provide off-device backup storage of this information, whether on removable media or a cloud-based storage service. This is to cater for situations where you may upgrade your phone or your phone plays up and destroys the data. To benefit international travellers, the software could keep information like your passport number and “home country” details along with travel insurance contact details.

Another feature that a good emergency-information app should have is the ability to be dynamically switched between different languages. This can be of importance in countries which maintain multiple tongues or have a multicultural society, or for travellers who are travelling in to countries or territories where their home tongue isn’t spoken.

Conclusion

Your smartphone can work as an emergency reference book for others to use if you are stricken through some situation. All it just requires is the use of an emergency-info app and / or using a customised lockscreen wallpaper with the critical information on it.

This is the first of a series of posts to celebrate the last five years of the connected lifestyle which has been covered on this Website.

Laptops

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro convertible Ultrabook

Over the last five years, the 15”-17” clamshell-style laptop computer has overtaken the traditional “tower-style” desktop computer as become the preferred computer style for most households.

There are even users, some of whom I know, who will operate these computers in conjunction with an external screen, keyboard and mouse for their primary office-based computing locations while being able to use just its built-in screen, keyboard and mouse for computing while “on-the-road”. In other cases, the laptop bas brought with it the appeal of the dining table or kitchen bench rather than a home office or a desk in the corner of the family room as a workspace due to the ability to stow it away when you are using that space for other activities like meals.

Dell Precision M2800 – an example of a mobile workstation

With this class of computer, there has been the rise of “workstation-grade” and “gamer-grade” laptops that are tuned for increased performance, especially with graphics-intensive tasks or even “full-on” games. This has also displaced the desktop workstation computer or “gaming-rig” for these applications and allowed for increased portability when dealing with CAD, multimedia or games.

Windows 8 with its tile-based “Modern” user interface has legitimised the touchscreen as a control surface for the computer and has opened up a plethora of touchscreen-enabled laptop designs. For example, the Sony VAIO Fit 15a that I reviewed last year underscored the concept of adding touch abilities to a 15” mainstream laptop even as I let a friend who works in enterprise IT play with this machine when I had visited him.

This has also led to the arrival of convertible and detachable computer designs that switch between a traditional laptop design and a tablet design. There are even these convertibles that have 13” or, in some cases, 15” screens which may be considered too large for tablet use by one person but are the right size for creating content. In some cases, this size can appeal to those of us who want to let another person have a look at the same content.

The trend has led to a fusion of regular desktop-style computing and mobile computing with some laptops running Android whether standalone or on a dual-boot method. As well, some small tablets are being sold with Windows 8.1 as an operating system and it is being harder to differentiate between mobile and regular-grade computing capabilities.

Mobile computing

One main trend over the past five years has been the arrival of platform-based mobile computing, which was commercialised by Apple with their iPhone platform.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – an up-and-coming Android smartphone

It is where devices like mobile phones and tablets are built around an operating system which has many third-party programmers writing software for these devices. Typically the software is supplied through “app-stores” operated by the company who develops the mobile-computing platform and these “app-stores” are typically one-touch away from the user. The software, which is referred to as “apps”, typically ranges from productivity software like email clients or note-taking software, through utility programs like calculators or unit converters, and mobile front-ends for online services to games for whiling away those train journeys.

Google Play Android app store

If the programmer wants to monetise their creation, they have the ability to sell it through that app-store which has an integrated e-commerce setup, sell modules for that software through “in-app purchasing” where the user can buy the option within the app’s user interface but via the app-store’s storefront or make use of an in-app display advertising setup.

Some of these app-stores or the apps available in them provide access to content-retail services where you could buy music, audiobooks, e-books and videos to enjoy through your device. For example, the e-book has appealed mainly to women who like to read romance fiction without that “tut-tut-tut” from other people about what they are reading.

The performance calbre of these mobile-computing devices is approaching that of the regular computing devices, especially when it comes to playing hardcore games or watching multimedia content. Here, we are seeing mobile devices being equipped with 64-bit ARM-microarchitecture RISC processor units or some Android devices being equipped with IA-64 microarchitecture chips similar to what most laptops are equipped with.

Smartphones

These devices have changed since the arrival of the iPhone with customers being spoilt for choice in device capabilities, operating systems and even screen sizes.

Firstly, you can purchase smartphones with a screen size of up to 6 inches and these are the same size as an advanced-function pocket calculator such as a scientific or financial type. As well, some of the premium smartphones, especially those from the Samsung stable, even implement the OLED display which is a different self-illuminating display technology to the LCD display which requires LED backlighting to illuminate it.

As well, there are smartphones that run Android or Windows Phone operating systems available from many different manufactures. For that matter, the smartphones that are considered “cream of the crop” nowadays are most of the newer Android phones made by Samsung, Sony or HTC.

Tablets

Toshiba AT1S0 7″ Android tablet

The mobile tablet has been made commercially viable thanks to Apple with their iPad lineup. Here, we are now seeing tablets at various different price ranges and screen sizes courtesy if intense competition. Some of these units, when paired with a Bluetooth or USB keyboard have been able to become a viable alternative to “netbook-size” small laptops.

Firstly, I had seen the arrival of the 7”-8” mini-tablet that could be stuffed in to one’s coat pocket. These have appealed as units that can be useful for reference-type applications when you are out and about and have effectively displaced the e-reader as a device.

Secondly, the 10” tablet has become more of a household content-consumption device especially with video but also has served some basic computing tasks like checking email or Web browsing. Apple and Samsung have raised the bar for this product class by improving the display calibre with the former using a high-resolution “Retina” display on their 3rd-generation iPad lineup and the latter offering an AMOLED display on a 10″ mobile tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10″ tablet

But, as I said earlier, the tablet and laptop are bridging together as a portable computing solution. This has been brought about with the convertible and detachable computers that can be a tablet one moment or a laptop another moment. Similarly, Intel and Microsoft have pushed the classic desktop microarchitecture and Windows 8 in to the field of the small-sized tablets with chipsets optimised for portable computing and the availability of Windows 8.1 for free with small-screen tablets.

Moble-Platform apps

The mobile platforms have seen a cottage industry of developers write programs or “apps” for these devices that can fit in with our lifestyle. Some of these apps have become mobile “on-ramps” to various online content services like social networks. As well, the e-reader has been displaced by the “e-bookstore” apps written for the mobile platforms so one can use a tablet or smartphone for reading whatever they want to read without worrying.

Recent controversies have arisen regarding how these apps are sold such as the issue of “in-app” sales of downloadable content or virtual currency for games that appeal to children or ad-funded apps that may host advertising that “commercialises” childhood like the sale of toys or junk food. As well there have been issues raised about the quality of apps sold through the app stores with computing “old-timers” relating them to the download sites, bulletin boards and magazine-attached disks of yore.

Wi-Fi an important part of the home network

For that matter, the most important feature of any network, including a home network, is a Wi-Fi wireless-network segment. This has enabled us to do more around the house with laptops, tablets and smartphones yet use cost-effective fixed broadband Internet.

These networks have increased in speed and security courtesy of newer technologies like 802.11n, 802.11ac and use of both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The setup procedure has been simplified for these networks courtesy of WPS-PBC “push-to-connect” setup and the upcoming NFC “touch-to-connect” setup technologies.

Increasingly more networked devices are being designed to work primarily or solely with the Wi-Fi network segment because of the “no new wires” concept that this technology provides. This technology also appeals to the mass-market retailer as an easily-saleable “backbone” for the home network even though there are issues with the radio-network performance.

Mi-Fi devices and the portable Wi-Fi network

Another class of device that is becoming popular is the “Mi-Fi” router which is a portable battery-operated Wi-Fi router for a mobile broadband service. These have appealed to those of us who use temporary network setups with Wi-Fi-only tablets and laptops or simply want to run a mobile-only communications setup.

This has also extended to the arrival of portable NAS units that work as extra storage for smartphones, tablets and laptop computers but work as their own access points for these devices. Manufacturers are even pitching them as a way to store video content on the mobile NAS unit and having people like children view the content on their tablets via the small network that is created by these devices.

The next part of this 5th-anniversary series will liook at the concept of “connected” communications and entertainment and how the home network is playing a strong part in these activities.

Article

Hacking the friendly skies: creating apps for wearables at 36,000 feet | Engadget

My Comments

There are some efforts taking place to make the wearable devices and sensors become relevant with air travel which is part of our business lives. This has been underscored by a recent “hackathon” programming contest sponsored by American Airlines to encourage the development of apps to bind wearables with the air travel experience.

The goal with this challenge was to make apps that are relevant to the passenger through the various phases of the experience i.e. checking in, passing through a security checkpoint, boarding the plane, flying using the newer inflight Wi-Fi system and having an Economy class seat as your workspace then arriving and collecting your luggage.

One application that won “first prize” in the challenge was a push-notification system that was able to let you and family / close friends know where you were in your air journey. Here, this could push messages to your phone or smartwatch or the device owned by your friend depending on where you are, and could show up electronic boarding passes as required. For your relative or friend, it would mean, for example, when to start driving out to the airport to pick you up. This application would be driven by GPS and iBeacon technology in order to get its bearings.

Another application that won the challenge was an “area social network” that applied to your flight. Here, this would tie in with Facebook and LinkedIn and the in-flight Wi-Fi to indicate whether you have “bumped in to” someone in your personal or business network by the fact that you are on the same plane. This could also work with groups that are likely to be “split up” due to travelling different classes on a long-haul jet or simply for solo travellers who are heading the same direction to do things like share cabs at the destination.

Someone even tendered a personalised proximity-signage setup which can show things like gate information for connecting flights or directions to a particular baggage carousel. I also see this application work with the hire-car scene by avoiding the need for drivers of these cars to show signboards relating to their pick-ups in the arrivals hall. This application assures privacy by deleting the information on the signs when you walk away from them.

Even the idea of travelling with your four-legged friend interstate or overseas by air on the same flight is catered for with a special collar that lets you know how they are. This could be augmented with a system that allows you to know how they are if you and the pet are on different transports once suitable technology is implemented as part of the “Internet of Things”.

This is a situation where innovation is taking place by encouraging situation-specific software development goals through programming challenges focusing on that situation.

Article – German Language / Deutsche Sprache

Zollverwaltung plant Smartphone-App | Netzwoche (Switzerland)

Verzollung per Smartphone geplant | PCTipp.ch

From the horse’s mouth

Swiss Customs Authority (Eidgenössische Zollwerwaltung EZV)

App download site

My Comments

The country who turns out the most precise and most premium traditional watches has taken anther step further with e-government. Here, the Swiss customs authority have worked on a mobile-platform app that overseas travellers use for calculating customs duty and VAT on goods they intend to bring back to Switzerland or registering these goods. This is also part of a simplification effort concerning how Swiss citizens have to deal with importing goods privately such as part of online shopping.

There are questions on what level of functionality this app will provide such as provision of other customs-related information or whether this will work just for private importers only with different software for businesses.

But at least it is an example of a customs authority implementing their e-government goals to more than just large importers. It also is a government department implementing the mobile platforms like smartphones and tablets in this role rather than just using a Web view on a desktop computer for this kind of e-government application.

A cafe who can benefit from DLNA network AV technology

Spotify, Shazam and similar programs are music programs that can come in handy with people who have a café or bar as a favourite watering hole. This is whether through creating a playlist that relates to this location or identifying songs that are playing on the music system there.

As a café or bar owner

A café or bar can make Spotify work with their Website even if they can’t legally play content from this service through their music system. The manager could create a Spoitify account which is a so-called “public account” and use this just for sharing the playlists. Here, they identify tracks that are in the current playlist or on the music system and create a Spotify playlist based on these tracks.

Shazam song-identification for Android

This is then inserted in to their Website using the code that Spotify supply for inserting playable playlists in to a Website. Customers who visit the Website can have these songs playing through their computer which should be connected to a hi-fi or a pair of good speakers. They can even “subscribe” to these playlists to have them play through their Spotify-Connect-enabled equipment or their mobile devices.

As a “regular” customer

Customers can put Shazam, MusicID or similar music-recognition apps in to service to identify tracks that they like playing through the venue’s music system. This is more important with venues that have music systems that don’t readily show details about what’s currently playing but can be a problem in crowded venues where there is a lot of noise contesting the music.

These apps keep a record of what you have identified using them and have a link to various apps and services. For example, one could share the track names through Facebook or other social networks or play the tracks on Spotify or buy them through iTunes or other affiliated “download-to-own” online music stores.

Spotify, one of the most popular online music-streaming services

What I even do is create a “favourite places” playlist on Spotify which is comprised of songs that I have identified at my favourite cafes and bars. Here, I can then play this playlist on Spotify or use this as a reference for purchasing music or syncing it to my phone.

iOS users simply buy the songs from iTunes Music Store and download them to their to their iPhone or iPad “as they go”. Then they sync them to a Macintosh or Windows computer using the iTunes desktop software. Android users use a music store that supplies music as MP3s on a download-to-own basis like Amazon or Big Pond Music. If you aren’t comfortable with downloading the music to your device, you can use the store’s “wishlist” function to create a memo list of the music you have liked when you trawl around Amazon to buy CDs online or visit your favourite music store.

Once you have bought your music, you could then work on a playlist or compilation CD/MiniDisc/cassette that focuses on these songs in a similar vein to what can be done with a subscription music service like Spotify.

Conclusion

Once you use Shazam, Spotify and similar software on your mobile computing environment, you can be able to get more out of your favourite watering holes.