Mobile Application


Mobile app              

           A mobile app is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers.Mobile apps are designed with consideration for the demands and constraints of the devices and also to take advantage of any specialized capabilities they have. A gaming app, for example, might take advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer.Mobile apps are sometimes categorized according to whether they are web-based or native apps, which are created specifically for a given platform. A third category, hybrid apps, combines elements of both native and Web apps. As the technologies mature, it's expected that mobile application development efforts will focus on the creation of browser-based, device-agnostic Web applications.

Related Terms

  1. Facebook Messenger - Facebook Messenger is a mobile app that enables chat, voice and video communications between Facebook web-based messaging and smartphones.
  2. Telecommunications - Telecommunications is the transmission of data, voice and video over significant distances by electronic means that use a wide variety of networks and media.
  3. phase-locked loop - A phase-locked loop (PLL) is an electronic circuit with a current-driven oscillator that constantly adjusts to match the frequency of an input signal, often used in wireless systems

Responsive Web Design (RWD)

Defining Responsive Design

                                                 
                     Responsive web design (RWD) is a web development approach that creates dynamic changes to the appearance of a website, depending on the screen size and orientation of the device being used to view it. RWD is one approach to the problem of designing for the multitude of devices available to customers, ranging from tiny phones to huge desktop monitors.RWD uses so-called breakpoints to determine how the layout of a site will appear: one design is used above a breakpoint and another design is applied below that breakpoint. The breakpoints are commonly based on the width of the browser.

                     The same HTML is served to all devices, using CSS (which determines the layout of webpage) to change the appearance of the page. Rather than creating a separate site and corresponding codebase for wide-screen monitors, desktops, laptops, tablets and phones of all sizes, a single codebase can support users with differently sized viewports.In responsive design, page elements reshuffle as the viewport grows or shrinks. A three-column desktop design may reshuffle to two columns for a tablet and a single column for a smartphone. Responsive design relies on proportion-based grids to rearrange content and design elements.

                    While responsive design emerged as a way to provide equal access to information regardless of device, it is also possible to hide certain items — such as background images, as in the Transport for London example above, secondary content or supplementary navigation — on smaller screens. Decisions about hiding content and functionality or altering appearance for different device types should be based on knowledge about your users and their needs.RWD has potential advantages over developing separate sites for different device types. The use of a single codebase can make development faster, compared to developing 3 or 4 distinct sites, and makesmaintenance easier over time, as one set of code and content needs to be updated rather than 3 or 4. RWD is also relatively “future-proof” in that it can support new breakpoints needed at any time. If a 5-inch device or 15-inch device takes off in the market, the code can support the new devices. RWD doesn’t tie design to a particular device.

Because elements need to be able to resize and shuffle, it is often easier to implement a responsive design on a site that is focused on content, rather than functionality. Complex data or interactions can be hard to fit into modular pieces that are easy to shuffle around a page, while preserving clarity and functionality.

Creating Usable Experiences

                        Because responsive design relies on shuffling elements around the page, design and development need to work closely together to ensure a usable experience across devices. Responsive design often turns into solving a puzzle — how to reorganize elements on larger pages to fit skinnier, longer pages or vice versa. However, ensuring that elements fit within a page is not enough. For a responsive design to be successful, the design must also be usable at all screen resolutions and sizes.

                       When elements move around the page, the user experience can be completely different from one view of the site to the next. It is important that design and development teams work together not to just determine how the content should be shuffled around, but to also see what the end result of that shift looks like and how it affects the user experience.
Many teams look to popular responsive-design frameworks, such as Bootstrap to help create designs. Such frameworks can be a great help in moving development along. However, carefully consider how the framework will work with the content and functionality of your site, rather than how it works in general.
            
                  We always recommend conducting usability testing on designs. For responsive designs, we recommend testing across platforms. It’s tricky enough to design a website that is usable on a desktop. It is even trickier to design a website that is usable in many rearrangements or configurations of its elements, across various screen sizes and orientations. The same design element that may work swimmingly on a desktop may work horribly on a smartphone, or vice versa.

Focusing on Content

                       Content prioritization is one key aspect to doing responsive design well. Much more content is visible without scrolling on a large desktop monitor than on a small smartphone screen. If users don’t instantly see what they want on a desktop monitor, they can easily glance around the page to discover it. On a smartphone, users may have to scroll endlessly to discover the content of interest. Smart content prioritization helps users find what they need more efficiently.
                       
Considering Performance
          Performance can also be an issue with responsive design. RWD delivers the same code to all devices, regardless if the piece of code applies to that design or not. Changes to the design occur on the client-side, meaning each device — the phone, tablet or computer — receives the full code for all devices and takes what it needs.


A 4-inch smartphone receives the same code as a 24-inch desktop monitor. This can bog down performance on a smartphone, which may be relying on a slower, spottier data connection. (This is why some sites turn toadaptive design, where the server hosting the website detects the device that makes the request and delivers different batches of HTML code based on that device.)


To truly assess the user experience of a responsive design, do not test your responsive designs only in the comfort of your own office, on your high-speed connection. Venture out into the wild with your smartphone— between tall buildings in a city, in interior conference rooms or basements, in remote areas with spotty connectivity, in known trouble spots for your own cell-phone’s network connection — and see how your site performs in varied conditions. The goal of many responsive designs is to give equivalent access to information regardless of device. A smartphone user does not have an equivalent experience to a desktop user if download times are intolerable.
Conclusion           
               
              Responsive design is a tool, not a cure-all. While using responsive design has many perks when designing across devices, using the technique does not ensure a usable experience (just as using a gourmet recipe does not ensure the creation of a magnificent meal.) Teams must focus on the details of content, design, and performance in order to support users across all devices.

Summary: Responsive design teams create a single site to support many devices, but need to consider content, design and performance across devices to ensure usability.
HTC will announce its next flagship phone on April 12
HTC will unveil its next flagship phone on April 12.
The company teased the new device — rumored to be called the HTC 10 — ahead of Mobile World Congress. On Tuesday, HTC sent out invites for the April 12 unveiling.
The announcement comes a week after HTC hinted at new cameras for the phone.
As for the device itself, we have a pretty good idea of what it will look like — and of its specs, thanks to numerous online leaks.
The phone is reported to have a quad-HD display, Samsung 820 processor, Adreno 530 graphics chip, 5GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a USB Type-C connector.
We'll find out more on April 12.
This smart umbrella will tell you when it's going to rain before it starts
Tired of leaving your apartment only to find it starts raining minutes later? Or are you always buying umbrellas and leaving them under tables in bars? There's a new umbrella that could solve both of those problems.
Oombrella, a smart brolly from Paris-based Wezzoo, launched a campaign on Kickstarter Thursday to bring the clever gadget to life.
The team behind it claims the umbrella will notify you via an app on your smartphone if it's going to rain in the next 15 minutes as well as let you know on your phone if you've left it behind.
The product also collects weather data on the go — such as temperature, pressure and light — and has a screw thread on top if you want to attach a GoPro.
Designed to be robust in windy conditions, the Oombrella has ribs made from kevlar, which the company says can withstand rainstorms, snowstorms or even hailstorms. It also has a waterproof, ergonomic handle and a UV-resistant canopy.
For people who already have a favorite umbrella, Oombrella is also launching a sensor-packed capsule that attaches to any "dumb" umbrella, turning it into a smart brolly.
As umbrellas go, these are not cheap. A super-early-bird offer will set you back €59 ($66), while the capsule-only option is €29 ($32). There are three designs to pick from: white, black or shiny.
At the time of writing, the project, which is the first from Wezzoo on Kickstarter, had €15,478 ($17,458) of its €59,000 ($66,547) goal, with 32 days to go.
Last month, umbrella company Davek launched its Davek Alert Umbrella (after a successful Kickstarter campaign a year ago). Priced at $125, it has a Bluetooth chip, which notifies you before you leave your umbrella behind.
Samsung's new headphones for VR trick your brain into 'feeling' motion
AUSTIN, Texas — Samsung's latest virtual reality accessory makes VR way more realistic. The company is showing off new headphones at South by Southwest that tricks your brain into feeling like you're moving, even when you're standing completely still.
It's called the Entrim 4D headset, a newly unveiled project out of the company's C-lab innovation program, and it's dizzyingly realistic.
The Entrim, which works with Samsung's Gear VR headset, doesn't look that much different than any other pair of headphones, besides being a bit bulkier. But inside, the headset is sending motion signals to your brain via your inner ear so you feel like you're moving with the images you're experiencing in virtual reality.
It sounds gimmicky, but the technique is surprisingly effective. I felt the difference the minute I put the headphones on — even before I picked up the Gear VR. In fact, this was the most unsettling part of my entire demo. The headphones don't provide vibrations or any type of physical feedback so they don't physically feel different than any other type of headphones. Yet the motion effects were instantly unsettling — like having the spins after a night of drinking.
Luckily, the effect was much better once I started the demo, which was a first person view of driving around a race track. The demo switched between turning the motion effects on and off and the difference was dramatic. When the effects were on, I found that not only did it feel more realistic, I was far better at steering myself around the track.
I also tried a demo where I was on a rollercoaster but the effect, surprisingly, wasn't as dramatic since it was a first person view of watching others on a rollercoaster, rather than a first person view of actually riding it.
Of course, it's still somewhat of an experiment so it's not clear when, or even if, the Entrim 4D will be released as an official accessory. Samsung says that the technology could help alleviate the nausea and dizziness some people experience in VR and the company is also working on a way to add "rotational motion."
The FBI might be able to hack an iPhone without Apple's help after all
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday moved to postpone Tuesday's showdown with Apple in a federal district court, saying the FBI might have discovered a new way to hack into an iPhone even as officials were trying to force Apple to do it for them.
Investigators want to break into an iPhone that was used by Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, attacks that killed 14 people in December.
In a court document filed on Monday, the government says that "an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple."
The government asked that Tuesday's hearing be vacated and promised to file a status report with the court by April 5.
Apple did not oppose the order and the judge in the case granted it.
There was no indication of who the "outside party" might be, but prosecutors said the FBI learned of the new technique only on Sunday. The government then contacted Apple on Monday afternoon — just hours after Apple had finished demonstrating the newest iPhone model at an event led by CEO Tim Cook.
At that very event, Cook addressed the company's fight with the FBI, saying that he believed it was Apple's responsibility to protect its customers' privacy. "We will not shrink from our responsibility," he said.
An embarrassment for the government
This request for a continuance can only be seen as an embarrassment for the government. For more than a month, the government has argued in its filings and in the declarations of FBI officials that "Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search."
In a congressional hearing before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, FBI Director James Comey reiterated the government's position that only Apple could give it access to the iPhone in this case.
When questioned about how much research and investigation the FBI had done on the iPhone, Comey stated, "we have engaged all parts of the U.S. government to see does anybody have a way, short of asking Apple to do it, with a 5C running iOS 9 — to do this, and we do not."
In its assorted filings, the government has claimed that "only Apple" could provide the access that it needs no less than 14 times. In its assorted filings, the government has claimed that "only Apple" could provide the access that it needs no less than 14 times.
And yet less than 48 hours before the hearing over the issue was to take place, the government says a third party has come forward. And although the nature of the third party and the method of getting into the phone hasn't been revealed, on a call with the press, a law enforcement official said that the government was "cautiously optimistic" that this method would allow it to access the contents of Farook's phone without harming any of its data.
So what has changed? Law enforcement officials say that the "worldwide publicity" of the case has brought other parties forward — and that may be true. Still, it undermines many of the declarations made by the government and FBI officials. It also presents challenges for future government requests to access an iPhone.
In a statement, ACLU attorney Alex Abdo, said, “this suggests that the FBI either doesn't understand the technology well enough or wasn't telling us the full truth earlier when it said that only Apple could break into the phone. Either possibility is disconcerting.”
The method of accessing the phone is unclear
The Department of Justice would not comment on the nature of the outside party or the method in which it claimed it could provide access for the phone. On a call with reporters, attorneys for Apple were also unaware of the method in which the phone software could be bypassed.
In the days after the FBI filed its first motion to compel Apple to assist in the unlocking of the phone, security experts openly questioned whether or not a 0-day vulnerability in iOS 9 may allow access without Apple's assistance. Although Apple could not comment on whether that was true, its lawyers admitted it was not out of the realm of possibility that there was a security vulnerability in the version of iOS 9 running on Farook's iPhone that could allow someone else to access it, without Apple's involvement.
An attorney for Apple said that in the event that the government wants to proceed with the case, Apple would want to talk to the outside party claiming to offer access to the phone, to see if it is something that would be feasible or not.
Of course, if the government drops the case — assuming it can gain access without Apple's assistance — Apple may not have the opportunity to get information about the method that is used.
And that, of course, raises different questions about the overall security of Apple's products. For its part, Apple maintains that it is in "an arms race with the most nefarious, smartest and most cunning criminals" who are always looking for vulnerabilities in its products.
Broad implications at work
Apple and the Justice Department have been arguing for weeks over whether the FBI can compel Apple to create a new version of iOS to circumvent the encryption on the iPhone.
The FBI wants Apple to create the software so it can guess the shooter's password without being locked out and says it would be a one-time deal. Apple is refusing to do so as it claims such software could jeopardize the protections of other people's iPhones.
The case has set up a classic battle between national security and digital privacy, but if the FBI is able to hack the iPhone without Apple's assistance, it may allow the two sides to sidestep the broader issues at play — at least for now.
Monday's Apple event wasn't the most interesting because it had bigger things on its mind
interview earlier last month with ABC News, Tim Cook admitted that this battle has been one of the hardest he has faced as Apple's CEO.
After all, the case has put the company at odds with the government and presents very real PR challenges. The company is clearly uncomfortable in the position it is in now. "We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government," Tim Cook said at the event.
But what can you do? The show must go on.
The show went on, but with less of a bang
And the show did go on. Apple showed off its latest products. It dazzled the crowd with LIAM, a 29-armed robot that helps with the company's environmental efforts.
But even that initiative, which has clearly been in the works before the FBI case, had an intersting tone.
Ahead of the hearing, Apple was taking the opportunity to show off a project that illustrates its commitment to the environment and sustainability.
Apple also spent a considerable amount of time focused on Research Kit and its new Care Kit framework for improving healthcare.
I'm certainly not questioning Apple's commitments to these issues — it's something the company has focused on very clearly for several years.
But it probably didn't hurt that the overall message from the event was less about the products and more about a broader message of the core values the company wants the public to associate with it.
It almost seemed as if the company was saying, "there are things more important than new gadgets" — highlight privacy, the environment and health research as some of them.
Of course, that stuff isn't necessarily sexy. Especially for tech geeks.
A post-event reprieve
On Tuesday, Apples was supposed to face off against the U.S. Department of Justice before a Judge in the Central District of California. But less than 24 hours before the hearing was scheduled — about 45 minutes after Apple's product event ended — the Department of Justice filed a motion to postpone the hearing.
Apple didn't object and the judge agreed. Whether or not the case continues will depend on whether an outside party that offered the FBI assistance can successfully get into the iPhone belonging to the gunman.
Now, the case is not over — not by a longshot. The Department of Justice has until April 5 to file a status update with the court. If the outside party cannot provide access to the shooter's iPhone, Apple could wind up back in court fighting the same battle it was supposed to fight Tuesday.
Moreover, the overriding issue at stake in the San Bernardino case is not going to go away. The government is also seeking Apple's assistance in a similar but unrelated case in New York. In that case, one judge has already ruled in Apple's favor but the prosecutor has appealed to a higher court judge.
And this issue over whether the government can compel private companies to offer backdoors to its products in the name of national security is going to be something we discuss long after the public forgets about the newest features in the 4-inch iPhone.
Still one for the books
It's for all of those reasons that I still think this will be one of Apple's most memorable keynotes. It's just we won't think about the products Apple announced — but the circumstances that surrounded that announcement.
For me, Monday's event was a look at how one of the world's most powerful companies presents new products to the public against a backdrop of a fierce debate of security, privacy and public policy.
So no. Maybe the products Apple launched weren't that interesting. But the circumstances in which they were launched sure were.