Friday, 27 June 2014

Yo app can be easily hacked. Yo man, what's up?

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 23, 7:31 AM

One of the hottest apps available right now, is called Yo. It's a messaging app, and users use it only to say "Yo" to their peers because that's all the app is capable of doing. While we are still scratching our heads as to why this app has gone viral, the most important thing right now is the security risks that came with using Yo.

According to three students at Georgia Tech, they have managed to hack the Yo app. The students claim that they can hack into Yo and get the phone number of any user.
"We can get any Yo user's phone number. We can spoof Yos from any users, and we can spam any user with as many Yos as we want. We could also send any Yo user a push notification with any text we want (though we decided not to do that.)"
This huge security issue might turn out to be a serious problem for the developers of Yo, as they could lose valuable subscribers in a short amount of time.

The good news is, the developer is working on a fix for these issues, according to Techcrunch.
The idea behind the Yo app came to be from Israeli investor and Mobli CEO Moshe Hogeg. Apparently, he wanted an easier way to communicate with his secretary, and as it turns out, just texting the word Yo, is good enough for him.

Developer Or Arbel worked with Hogeg on the idea and managed to create the app. We understand Hogeg actually found use for Yo and is likely sending a Yo message to his secretary right now,
Hogeg went on to lead a $1.2 million agent investment, with $200,000 coming from his own pocket. All this cash went into the development and future development of Yo. With the success the app is experiencing right now, it is clear that Hogeg made a smart choice in funding Yo.

At the end of the day though, we just want to say one thing to our readers; Yo!

Path joins mobile messaging wagon, rolls out Path Talk

By Nicole Arce, Tech Times | June 22, 9:47 AM

Path has been down the rocky road before, with a layoff and a couple of key people leaving to start their own companies, but the mobile social networking startup is back with a vengeance and this time, it hopes it's on the right path with its own standalone mobile messaging app.

Dubbed Path Talk, Path's mobile messaging app works pretty much like the messaging feature on the core Path app and includes the more than 1,500 stickers that made Path popular with early adopters.
Path has also jumped into the ephemeral messaging bandwagon started by Snapchat and made even more popular by Facebook. Messages sent through Path Talk will be deleted from Path's servers 24 hours after being sent. Users will also find a feature called Ambient Status, which broadcasts to their friends information such as their location, transit status or even the song that is playing on their phones.

"We never thought we'd be in the messaging business," admits Path founder and chief executive Dave Morin. "There was this global realization last year that breaking up the app into multiple apps is the way to go. Our realization was that Path was a pretty good Swiss Army knife."

To encourage adoption, Path also released its limit on the number of friends a user can have, one of the unique features that distinguished the mobile social network from its competitors. But Path, which currently has 23 million sign-ups and 4 million active daily users, needs more users for it to compete with apps that have a bigger user base. Snapchat, for instance, has been installed 60 million times and has more than 30 million active users sending 400 million disappearing messages a day.

But what could be the app's game-changing feature is not available yet. In a blog post written Friday, Morin announced that Path is set to acquire another messaging service startup called TalkTo, which allows users to contact businesses via text. The acquisition, Morin says, will integrate the TalkTo service into Path Talk as a feature called Place Messaging, which users can then use to, for example, make reservations at a restaurant, ask about the availability of tapioca flour at Trader Joe's or schedule an appointment with their dentist.

And Path hopes to go beyond simply allowing customers to communicate with businesses. Morin says he can see a future that combines e-commerce and messaging in a single app. The Path founder cites TalkTo chief executive Stuart Levinson, who said that majority of the messages sent to businesses buying intent. These could count as what he calls "highly qualified leads," and Morin hopes businesses would be willing to pay Path to get a hold of those.

"We want to bring a differentiated and powerful new use case to our users," Morin says. "We want to bring commerce and messaging together in a way that is first-user."

Apple ditches Yahoo for Weather Channel for iOS 8 weather app. Is Stocks app next?

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 22, 10:00 AM

Apple is cutting out the middle man by replacing its Yahoo-made default weather app with one from The Weather Channel on iOS 8. The new app offers more detailed weather statistics and longer forecasts.

The deal comes as a result of efforts by CEO David Kenny, a former Yahoo board member. Kenny started work on a new weather app when he took his position in 2013, hoping to cut Yahoo out of the large smartphone platform. Yahoo's weather app already got its information from The Weather Channel, but by cutting it out of the deal, Apple gets an array of new features for its default app, and The Weather Channel gets a prominent platform to raise the visibility of its services.

"Yahoo had been renting ocean-front property for years and did not realize the lease was up, and the Weather Channel slipped right in and took it," a Yahoo executive told re/code. "It's a high-profile loss."

The Weather Channel app features a nine day forecast instead of five, and can provide more precise information by further narrowing down the user's location over the Yahoo app. The app also contains sunrise and sunset times, precipitation chance, humidity, and wind speed and direction.

Although Yahoo did not profit directly from the app, as it contained no ads, the added visibility to the Yahoo name served to drive customers to the company's other offerings. With the weather app out the window, many at Yahoo are worried that the stock app will be next. The current default stock app on iOS is provided by Yahoo, but with The Weather Channel's subversion showing a possible sign of weakness, other companies could seek to take advantage. Bloomberg, Reuters, and CNBC are all on the short list of companies who could seek to overthrow Yahoo's stock app on iOS 8.

The move undoubtedly represents a big step back for Yahoo. The company is trying to become the default search engine on iOS, a position currently held by Microsoft's Bing, but it seems to be having enough trouble simply holding on to what it already has. Without a hardware business to fall back on, Yahoo will have some work ahead to pull itself up from this defeat.

LinkedIn new job search iOS app is job seekers' dream come true

By Quinten Plummer , Tech Times | June 23, 5:50 AM

The job search doesn't have to end when life's obligations call users away from their desktop computer. LinkedIn has rolled out a standalone version of its job search feature for iOS devices.

LinkedIn Job Search joins the company's five other standalone apps: LinkedIn Recruiter, Pulse, Talent Connect 2014, LinkedIn Contacts and the primary LinkedIn app.

The move to give the job search feature its own pair of legs was decided upon after LinkedIn realized 40 percent of its traffic came via mobile. Referencing a statistic that asserts applying to a job on the first day its posted increases the likelihood the candidate will land the job by 10 percent, Daniel Ayele, product manager at LinkedIn, stated LinkedIn Job Search was released to help the company's users seize the opportunity presented as soon as a new job has been posted.

"Landing your dream job can feel like a full-time job," stated Ayele in the blog post. "So we wanted to make it easier to find, research, and apply for your next opportunity by maximizing your 'in between' moments. The next time you're in a line for coffee or stuck waiting for a delayed flight, why not jump-start your job search from your phone?"

LinkedIn Job Search enables users to customize job searches by keywords, title, location, industry and company. The app will recommend jobs, based on search histories and profile elements, and will deliver notifications whenever a new job matches the user's criteria.

LinkedIn has also stated that activity on the job search app will be kept private and won't appear in the news feeds of other users.

LinkedIn's job search app will keep data on job searches, views, saves and applications private. Users won't appear on a job poster's "Who's Viewed Your Profile" listing when using LinkedIn Job Search and they have the option to enable or disable network notifications with regard to profile updates made via the app.

LinkedIn Job Search has been optimized for iPhone 5 and is compatible with iPads and iPod Touch devices. There has been no word on LinkedIn's plans for rolling out an Android variant of LinkedIn Job Search. The new app so far is only available in the U.S.

Like other LinkedIn apps, users can sync data between the desktop site and LinkedIn Job search. There are no premium features associated with LinkedIn Job Search, but the company said they could come at a later date.

Yo. Yes I'm talking to you. New app draws some unwanted attention to no one's surprise

By Judy Mottl, Tech Times | June 21, 5:06 PM

A million dollars for a software app that lets a user click once to send a "Yo" to a contact.
Yup, that's the state of mobile apps today, and clearly illustrates venture capitalists are so hungry to invest they're not thinking much.

And such plentiful financial support naturally draws a lot of attention, and as usual, it's not all good attention given the hack that hit Yo last week. But then again, as someone once said, any publicity is good publicity.

Yo is the Internet's version of the Pet Rock. For those too young to remember that product, click here. (For those too lazy to click, it was a rock sold as a pet and yes, it sold well. Every parent in America shook his or her head in disbelief as it showed up on birthday and Christmas lists. The 'inventor' sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks and became a millionaire )
So right now hackers are having the big laugh on Yo. They've gotten their hands on data on those who jumped on Yo. Yo's creator Or Arbel, yes, that's his name, claims the security flaw has been fixed. In fact he claims he fixed it in just a few hours. Meanwhile the hacker, Chintan Parikh, says it took just an hour to hack Yo.

"We were actually just messing around," said Parikh. He's a 19-year-old student at the Georgia Institute of Technology and said he figured out how to get Yo users' phone numbers and see contact information. He said he sent Arbel a note about the flaw.

Meanwhile Arbel acknowledges there are other security issues with Yo, which hit the market in April, and which he claims he built in just one work day.

"Some of them have been fixed, and we're working on every one," Arbel said.
Meanwhile Business Insider is offering up a list of 10 ways to use Yo. It's worth a read.
Our favorite? It's this one: Annoy everyone in the office by Yo-ing them all at once. Since the days of taping down a phone's receiver are long gone, you could just also take the batteries out of the wireless mice around the office and then wait for the 'why isn't the Internet working' cries to begin.

LinkedIn Job Search app for iPhone provides 100% privacy, 0% distraction

By Robin Parrish, Tech Times | June 22, 10:24 AM

LinkedIn has launched a dedicated app just for job hunting. It's called LinkedIn Job Search, and it takes everything job-hunters love about LinkedIn's existing app and builds on it. The idea behind the Job Search app is to "maximize your 'in between' moments," meaning LinkedIn hopes you'll use those times when you're stuck waiting to use the new app to look for a job.

"Applicants who apply to job opportunities on the first day they're posted are 10% more likely to land the job," said LinkedIn product manager Daniel Ayele in a blog post . "That means that if you are an active job seeker, your job search can't stop just because you've stepped away from your desk."

LinkedIn says it went to great lengths to streamline the search experience, so it's easier than ever to find, research, and apply for the job you want. New advanced searching options let you filter jobs with greater specifics, including job title, location, company, industry, or even seniority level. Most impressive of all is the new Recommended Jobs feature, which learns from your activity what kinds of opportunities you're looking for and automatically brings them to your attention. LinkedIn says Recommended Jobs analyzes jobs you've viewed, searches you've saved, and your own LinkedIn profile to discern what open positions are right for you. Your profile can be used as your resume when applying.

If all the app could do is find jobs that match up with your skills, that would be useful for only part of the process. No one in today's world applies for a job without learning all they can about the company in question, and LinkedIn has put features into the Job Search app to help with this. Just like on linkedin.com, searching for a company will bring up people you know who work there, or common connections that can bring you together with current employees. Reach out to those connections from right inside the app to get the answers you seek, and you can usually find more information about the company listed on its LinkedIn profile, too. The app will also send you a push notification when a recruiter has viewed your application.

Job seekers want the process to be as easy and smooth as possible, and it remains to be seen if the Job Search app will make great strides in taking some of the bumps out of that road. One thing you won't have to worry about is discretion; the company has vowed that nothing you do inside the new app is ever posted to your LinkedIn activity.

iPhone users can download LinkedIn Job Search now for free. An Android version is expected in the future.

Facebook Android app is now less data-hungry. Good news for emerging markets

By Joseph Mayton, Tech Times | June 22, 10:46 PM

Facebook is moving forward on its efforts to make emerging markets more open to its services and the company has redeveloped and relaunched its Android app that uses 50 percent less data than its traditional app in developed countries. The goal is to deliver new means for emerging markets, where bandwidth remains expensive, to access Facebook on the go from their smartphone or mobile devices.

With over one billion users globally, the social network is looking to make a run at the remaining five billion people who are not yet connected to the network and with most of those potential users living in emerging markets where smartphone have yet to fully take hold, lowering the data used by users could push the company forward into new arenas and new markets.

To get the new app off the ground, the company had a networking team sent to Africa in order to understand how the IT world there functions in order to innovate and change the app in order to make it more accessible to a wider audience and not just those with the financial ability to pay higher fees and use more data.

Facebook engineering manager Alex Sourov wrote in a blog post that the social network had been looking into this for some time and is currently ready to make it a reality.
"We purchased several different Android handsets to test the latest version of the Facebook app -- and the testing process proved to be difficult," he wrote. "The combination of an intermittent, low-bandwidth network connection and a lack of memory space on the devices resulted in slow load times and constant crashes. We even burned through our monthly data plans in 40 minutes."

The overall capacity of the new app is 65 percent smaller and with it using half of the average data usually required to function the Android app, Facebook believes that this will help users in interacting more regularly with their friends in sending messages and especially in photo sharing, which is largely the top use of Facebook .

"Interacting with photos is an important part of the Facebook experience, but it takes a sizable amount of data to download them," Sourov wrote. "If we could optimize the download size, we could improve data savings and perceived app performance."
It is unclear how quickly this new app will make its way into emerging markets, but the overall belief is that it will help to get more and more users who had been unable to access Facebook more equipped to do so going forward.

Amazon Fire 3D phone: Online shopping will never be the same again

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 23, 9:47 AM

Amazon has entered the smartphone arena with the Fire Phone, a device that is built around 3D navigation. However, the most important aspect of the Fire Phone might not be the six cameras found on the device, but a feature called Fire Fly.

What makes Firefly such an important feature is that it is capable of taking business away from traditional brick and mortar stores, and increase Amazon's core business which is online retail. With Firefly, users can simply walk into a store and take an image of a product they might want to purchase online.

Once Firefly recognizes the image, it would then bring up the product on Amazon's retail website with pricing and availability, and from there users can purchase the item. Additionally, users can even take an image of a shirt worn by their favorite actor in a movie and purchase it from Amazon.

Furthermore, the new Firefly feature can also recognize music. If users are listening to this awesome new song on the radio and they have no idea what it is called, they could simply use Firefly to listen in, and from there the name of the song should pop up on the Fire Phone along with the option to purchase.

What Amazon is doing with Firefly could no doubt change the way we shop and place more pressure on brick and mortar stores. However, while we do applaud Amazon for its effort, Firefly is by no means nothing new. We saw it before several times and years ago before now on the Windows Phone platform.

Using the Bing search feature, Windows Phone users can take an image of an item and watch as the platform provides several options where users are able to purchase device, along with price and availability. In addition, the feature can also tell which song is being played on the radio or at a party.

Still, while Firefly is nothing new, it is the integration and seamless of use that counts. From what we can tell, Amazon has done a far better job than Microsoft in that regard, the only downside is, users are forced to see prices from Amazon's online retail stores.

Firefly in its current form has a long way to go, though its success is highly dependent on the Fire Phone being a hit. If that doesn't happen, then we can count on Amazon to create a Firefly app for other platforms.

Yo hires hacker as app hits 1 million downloads

By Robin Parrish, Tech Times | June 23, 5:46 PM

You could say that Yo is having a moment. The popularity of the oddly compelling, ultra-simplistic messaging app is blowing up.

This, despite the app's heavily reported hacking that occurred just days after its launch.

Yo's creator Or Arbel has announced that he's hired one of the three Georgia Institute of Technology students who hacked the app on June 19. Instead of being offended by the hacking of his newly released app, Arbel saw it as an opportunity. He's even gone so far as to say "we were lucky enough to get hacked."

The security holes were plugged by noon on June 22, though Arbel downplayed the severity of the breach. He said that only those who'd used the app's "Find Friends" feature had their phone numbers exposed. Users who never used "Find Friends" had only their Yo username exposed. Arbel learned of the breach on the night of June 19, when he was flooded with Yos sent to his phone, along with a hacked Yo that read "YoBeenHacked." He and his team investigated the situation, plugged the holes, and contacted the hacker personally. The hacker proved so helpful that Arbel was impressed enough to give him a job.

"Yo is a simple app; your privacy isn't," said Arbel in a written statement. "We take your privacy very seriously, we apologize from the bottom of our hearts, and if you have any more questions regarding these issues, you can contact me directly at or@justyo.com."

In related news, Yo has crossed the 1 million user mark, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Celebrating the app's popularity, Arbel says his next step is to get businesses involved with Yo. He imagines users receiving Yo notifications for things like food delivery confirmations, new blog posts, new products for sale, a football team's touchdown, and so on. Context is everything with Yo, so users will instinctively understand a notification when they see who it's from. To that end, Arbel today announced that Yo's API is available for developers who want to integrate Yo notifications into their services.

"Our aim is to develop the ecosystem around Yo," Arbel told the Wall Street Journal. "We're built to last," he added, insisting that the app isn't a fad. He also vowed to never change Yo or add to it. So don't get your hopes up about sending pictures, audio, or video on Yo.

Arbel writes a blog on Medium, where he's providing steady updates about the app.

Africa plays a role in Facebook Android app development

By Quinten Plummer, Tech Times | June 23, 5:59 PM

After setting their feet on the ground somewhere on the continent of Africa and testing its Android app, a group of Facebook engineers and product managers determined there was much work to be done for the company's social network to work for everyone across all platforms.

The excursion was reportedly part of a companywide effort to make Facebook's mobile platform its top priority. On June 19, engineer Alex Sourov released a blog post on the findings revealed by the group's trip.

"We purchased several different Android handsets to test the latest version of the Facebook app -- and the testing process proved to be difficult," stated Sourov. "The combination of an intermittent, low-bandwidth network connection and a lack of memory space on the devices resulted in slow load times and constant crashes. We even burned through our monthly data plans in 40 minutes."

After returning to their home bases, the group determined Facebook's mobile division needed to work on four areas for emerging markets: mobile performance, data efficiency, network reliability and application size. The changes reduced start time and data use by 50 percent.

Realizing the Facebook app overwhelmed mobile devices that had single-core processors, the group determined it needed to streamline the way the app's features loaded. The features would attempt to all load at once, creating a bottleneck at the mobile device's processor.

On the front of data efficiency, the team decided to implement WebP. The compression format reduced the size of images by up to 35 percent, when compared with the widely used and revered JPG format.

The team optimized the resolution of images, making them more suitable for display on mobile devices and conserved the amount of data they consumed on delivery -- before, the max resolution was used. They also reworked the caching of images, so that photos could be recalled more often without have to re-download them.

The Facebook team rolled out the OKHttp on the Android app, an open-source protocol that Sourov said cut down slow or stalled images by close to 90 percent in 2013.

The trip to Africa resulted in the Android app losing a significant amount of weight, reduced in size by 45 percent by Sourov's calculations.

"The most popular mobile devices in Africa have little disk space available, which is a significant barrier to installing app upgrades," stated Sourov. "This means that people in developing countries often use older versions of the app that don't have up-to-date features or take advantage of the improvements described in this blog post."

Sourov said the mobile team in London worked with application programming kits (APKs) available for each version of the Android OS to ensure that users of the Facebook app have only what's required to run the app on their device. That eliminates the download of unnecessary APKs when installing the Facebook app.

While the excursion team has already rolled out some new features for the Facebook app, Sourov said there were more to come. He said Facebook planned to continue to work to improve the Facebook experience in emerging markets.

Amnesty International Panic Button app boon for the vulnerable

By Lori Sandoval , Tech Times | June 24, 10:47 PM

Amnesty International launches a Panic Button smartphone app that aims to provide activists or human rights defenders the ability to get immediate help from their networks in the midst of an attack, kidnap or torture.

The Panic Button mobile app converts the smartphone into a secret-alarm device that the user-activist can activate immediately in case of emergency.
“The aim of the Panic Button is to increase protection for activists around the world who face the ever present threat of arrest, attack, kidnap and torture,” Tanya O’Carroll, Amnesty International’s technology and human rights officer, says in a statement.

By activating the mobile app, the smartphone alerts fellow activists of the danger the smartphone owner or their colleague is faced with, which gives them the opportunity to seek help faster.
“We have long known that the first hours after somebody’s arrest are the crucial window of opportunity for a network to make a difference to their colleague’s release—whether it be flooding the police station with calls, arranging a protest, or mobilizing lawyers and organizations like Amnesty International for a campaign of international pressure,” O’Carroll explains.

Even journalists who are always in the line of fire and are in great danger for the nature of their work can benefit from the app. In fact, both journalists and activists said during the beta testing that the app can bring about a positive difference in alleviating the daily risks of their jobs.

“We hope Panic Button will ensure future cases of unlawful detention in Sudan do not go undetected allowing us to mobilize to help more people,” says Sudan activist Ibrahim Alsafi, who was involved in the testing phase.
Aside from Sudan, app beta testing was also conducted in many other countries such as Brazil and Philippines.

“An application that can possibly save human rights defenders from abduction or illegal arrest is something I wouldn’t have thought possible,” says Miko Mendizabal, human rights defender in the Philippines who was also part of the beta testing.

There is no perfect app, however. Mendizabal says the organizers reminded them that the app might not be entirely dependable in places where telecommunications are limited.
Regardless, O’Carroll says the app is an important tool as well for lawyers and students, and just about anyone who might be in danger for their work or career.

Amnesty International developed the app, which is now accessible at the Google Play Store for public download worldwide, in collaboration with security or tech experts, activists, volunteers, and partners such as iilab, the engine room and Front Line Defenders. It is available in four languages and currently designed for Android mobile phones.

Yahoo takes Aviate app for Android out of beta

By Aaron Mamiit , Tech Times | June 25, 2:01 AM

Yahoo's Aviate launcher for Android is out from an invite-only beta release, now made available to all users.
Yahoo aims to simplify the home screen of users with the Aviate, by replacing the traditional, clutter-prone home screens with clean and organized slates.

Yahoo acquired Aviate, a company that specializes in the development of adaptive home screens for Android devices, back in January. Aviate was then one of the most popular options among the apps in the Google Play store for customizing the home screen.

With the release of the rebranded Yahoo Aviate in the Google Play store, the app greets users with the basics that made it a prime acquisition target for Yahoo, along with a few new designs and features that Yahoo introduced.

Yahoo Aviate includes user habit learning and contextual information to provide users with a dynamically changing home screen experience displays the user's favorite things to do on their phone.

The Spaces and Collections concept of the old Aviate is still present, but just moved to new places. The main home screen is where the user can place favorite photos, some icons for quick launch and some widgets.

The Spaces, which is a list of widgets and gadgets, can be found on the left of the main screen. The number of Aviate widgets being offered has been trimmed down, but the Apps list received an aesthetic change with an inverse color scheme.

The Collections, which automatically groups your apps into categories, can be found on the right of the main screen, but users are still not able to create their own groups.

A new feature for the Yahoo Aviate is the Favorites section, which can be accessed by a swipe on the main screen from the bottom. The section contains circles which represent the user's favorite contacts, along with the contacts that were recently called or sent a message to.

Other new features for the app include swipe access for the alarm clock, weather widget, news reader and calendar.

The launch of the Yahoo Aviate comes at the heels of the release of similar custom launchers for the Android by Nokia and Samsung. Nokia's Z launcher is able to learn the apps and contacts the phone's user accesses throughout each day and puts them at the top of the home screen's list. Samsung's Terrain launcher provides users with an informative sidebar filled with cards, similar to what is used by the Google Now launcher.

The Yahoo Aviate custom launcher is free to install for any Android 2.3 device or later.

Me, too! Yahoo launches Aviate Android launcher

By Vamien McKalin , Tech Times | June 25, 7:36 AM

Another wonderful day, another Android launcher to look forward to, but only for persons who are interested in Yahoo services. This new launcher for Android by Yahoo is designed in such a way to give the company a meaningful presence in mobile without having to create its own device.
Whether or not this will work is left to be seen, but right now, from what we can tell from the design, the launcher looks alright. With this launcher, which is called Aviate, Yahoo is going for a Google Now type experience that is built right into the user interface.

Yahoo will allow Aviate users to get information on the weather every morning before they leave for work. The launcher can even allow users to integrate their calendar and email information to get single-click access to conference calls and other goodies. It can also help users get to work on time, but this is based on random traffic changes in the U.S.

"Yahoo Aviate simplifies everything about your phone. It starts with a clean, new layout and apps automatically organized for you. But it's not just about making your phone simpler - Aviate also makes your phone smarter by offering intelligent information throughout your day. Whether you're on the go, at work, at a restaurant or just relaxing at home, Aviate automatically shows you apps and information that are useful to you based on what you're up to," says Yahoo in the official release.
Since this is a Yahoo based launcher, one should expect some form of new integration. The company noted that a twice per day news summary feature will be a part of Aviate, the company will also list the most popular contacts in a section of the launcher, called Favorites.

Basically, those who are not interested in customizing a smartphone to their own experience could find a home in Aviate.
So far, Yahoo has made a big push in mobile as the company reworked several old applications. The company will continue to look into how best it should approach mobile, and we wouldn't be too surprised to see a Yahoo branded smartphone in the future to come.

Furthermore, it should be noted that Yahoo acquired Aviate earlier this year for an unknown sum.

Box takes on Google, Microsoft with new Notes for iOS

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 25, 5:05 AM

Box announced Monday that it will be rolling out its Box Notes feature on iPhone and iPad apps soon. The app for Android will be updated to work with Box Notes later this summer.

Box Notes is effectively a chatroom that's connected to the documents on its cloud storage service. Users can communicate through text in real time in order to collaborate on project and discuss changes. The service is aimed at business users, with encrypted communication channels and several sharing options.

"At its core, Box Notes is about making it easy to work with others," says Box in a statement. "It promotes the sharing of information and collaboration. Live, concurrent editing lets everyone read and make changes instantly together."

"The real time collaboration allows us to quickly create agendas, follow-up on action items, and with new mobile functionality, I can see it allowing us to reduce time spent on email exchanges," says Bob Flynn, an IT manager at Indiana University.

Box Notes was originally announced for the desktop in September, but wasn't available to the majority of users until May. The feature boasts a variety of options for communication and sharing. Users can select which colleagues to share it with, or send a link to allow those who don't use Box to view the file. Notes are permanently available by default, but can be set to disappear after a certain amount of time.

The simultaneous editing feature of Box Notes brings its level with Google Drive, which has long allowed multiple users to view and edit a file at the same time. However, Box Notes does have some advantages for business customers, users can make notes available to anyone with the authorization to access a certain folder. This negates the need to authorize each individual member of a team separately.

However, Box seems to be lagging behind in the storage race. The service currently offers 10 GB of cloud storage for free, while Google Drive offers 15 GB. Microsoft is also making changes to its OneDrive service that will bring the free storage level up to 15 GB. Box's position as a business-minded service rather than a consumer, may allow it to hold its own against the other options for now, but there's no telling what the future may hold.

It's official: Microsoft Nokia X2 Android smartphone to debut in Europe

By Mark Hawver, Tech Times | June 24, 7:21 PM

Stating they intend to introduce the Internet and cloud services to the "next billion" people, Microsoft Devices Group unveiled the Nokia X2, an addition to the Nokia X line of affordable smartphones. It will be released into select European markets at a price equivalent of $135.

The Nokia X2 debuts the next-generation Nokia X Software Platform 2.0 which blends the Android platform with certain Windows phone features, including the option of a Windows Tiles-like interface. It also includes Microsoft services such as Outlook, Skype and OneDrive, the latter with 15GB of free cloud storage. It also incorporates the Fastlane feature for rapid app switching.

One of the features of the new platform is the presentation of choice of three types of screens for the user - a home screen with familiar-looking Windows Tiles; Fastlane to access recent apps and calendar items; and a new (Nokia) Lumia-themed apps list, from which items can be pinned to the home screen. Dual SIM slots allow the use of multiple accounts.

"Straight off the bat you'll notice that the home screen has been enhanced. Instead of just three tiles side by side, there's now room for four," explained Timo Saari, delivery manager at Microsoft.
The new Nokia X Software platform will not be available on Nokia X, Nokia X+ or Nokia XL due to hardware issues.

The plastic case of the Nokia X2 is a seamless body that exhibits what the company calls an "Inner Glow" design that features exchangeable back covers combined with a brightly colored core and a translucent outer layer. Introductory colors are glossy orange, black/green, with glossy yellow, white and matte dark grey slated for future availability.

The Nokia X2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, that features a dual core 1.2Ghz CPU and 1GB of RAM. The display is a 4.3-inch WGVA ClearBlack screen. A 5MP rear camera with autofocus and flash and a VGA front-facing camera provide the imaging options. Talk time is up to 10 hours on 2G, 13 hours on 3G.

Microsoft will be extending the design and feature philosopy of the Nokia X line going forward. The Nokia X2 is seen as the next step up, according to Jussi Nevanlinna, vice president, Product Marketing of Mobile Phones at Microsoft.

"Through and through, this is the best example of the Nokia X family. The platform is maturing perfectly and this is a true 2^nd generation device," said Nevanlinna.

Google I/O 2014: Will it beat Apple's WWDC by unveiling new hardware?

By Aaron Mamiit , Tech Times | June 25, 8:05 AM

Google's annual I/O developer conference is about to kick off, with the company looking to best Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference held earlier this month.

While Apple focused on software for the WWDC, Google looks like it is all set to unveil a slew of new hardware that the company will power up at the upcoming conference.
The main topic of Apple's WWDC was the company's new versions of the OS X and iOS operating systems, announcing OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. Apple also released Swift, which is a new Apple programming language that looks to keep developers with Apple as Google's Android and Facebook have drawn them away.

For the I/O conference, Google is looking to counter with hardware as the company has made huge expansions in its product lines.
Wearable technology will most likely be a headline topic in the conference, with Google providing more information about the Android Wear operating system for wearable devices. The release of the first smartwatch running Android Wear is being anticipated, whether it is the LG G or the Moto 360. Google Glass, which is expected to be made widely available to the public sometime this year, is also expected to enter the spotlight.

The wearable technology space has become an increasingly important battleground for Google and Apple, as growth in smartphones and tablet computers has been slowing down. However, the wearable device market as "the next big cash cow" may need more support before it takes off.
"Unless an ecosystem of apps is there, it's hard for consumers to justify spending money on these gadgets," said Kantar Worldpanel research chief Carolina Milanesi. "These companies have to create an ecosystem that makes the hardware a necessity for consumers."

Google may also briefly discuss Project Tango, which is the company's interior 3D mapping technology, and Project Ara, which aims to make smartphones modular and cheaper. These devices, however, hold their own events, so details on them may not be as specific.
A new Nexus tablet may also be announced since it has been a year since the arrival of the second Nexus 7. Rumors are pointing to a small-screen version of the device, with reports saying that the new Nexus will be an 8-inch device.

Google is also set to unveil its own television set-top box as it races against Apple and Amazon in controlling the digital content that users receive at home. The device will resemble the Roku, Apple's Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV.
In addition, Google is also rumored to be re-launching the Google TV platform as Android TV, despite the success of the Chromecast device. Android TV will allow developers to create apps for smart televisions, which would differentiate it from the Chromecast.

While the focus is on hardware, software will of course still be present at the I/O conference. Software announcements will be headlined by the next version of the Android operating system, which is expected to support 64-bit processing along with a few tweaks in security and design.
Google, which acquired Nest Labs earlier in the year for $3.2 billion, may also talk about its connected-home vision. Nest Labs just launched the Works with Nest developer program, and there will be sessions in the I/O regarding how to create apps for the company's smart thermostat.
Google may also discuss Android in the Car, in response to Apple's CarPlay which will be released soon.

The Google I/O conference will be the last of the major developer conferences this year, giving Google an advantage as it has seen what its rivals have to offer.
The conference will take place in the same location as Apple's WWDC, in the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

Google will unveil Android Lollipop today

It's official. Google will give us a live preview of Android L at its I/O developer conference that officially kicks off in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The rumor mill was buzzing with reports that Google's latest iteration of its mobile operating system will be unveiled in the fourth quarter of this year. However, in a lengthy profile for Sundar Pichai on Bloomberg, the Android chief discredit rumors and said attendees at the 2014 I/O conference will definitely get first dibs on the next Android version.

"I want the world to understand what we are doing sooner," Pichai says.
He didn't say though what it will be called, but many Android followers think Google will keep up with its tradition of alphabetically naming its Android platforms after sweet treats. People say it's going to be Android Lollipop, but a few other suggestions have popped up, including Lemon Drops, Licorice and Laffy Taffy.

On Tuesday, Reddit users grew excited over an alleged screenshot of Android Lollipop, the name most people think Google will adopt, posted on Google's Chromium Issue Tracker. The photo, which has been taken down, shows a distinctive letter L on the upper left corner of the screen, which suggests that the screenshot shows a debugging version of the next Android OS. Android is known to use symbols for debugging versions of previous Android platform. For instance, it used a slice of pie icon for Key Lime Pie, which was changed to KitKat before its announcement.

The leaked photo , which shows a screenshot of Chrome on what looks like a Wi-Fi only device, confirms one of the major stories going around that Google is taking a page from Apple's playbook and giving its mobile platform a major redesign to provide a more minimalist interface. Reports say the new Android will feature flatter, more colorful apps and cleaner navigation buttons. Sure enough, the image gets rid of the gradients in the notification bar found in previous Android platforms and features flatter, darker icons.

The mute icon has also undergone a makeover from a megaphone to a Chrome browser bell with a slash over it, which indicates Pichai's effort to integrate Android with the rest of Google, a move that has been previously opposed by former Android head and founder Andy Rubin, is taking its roots.

Other things notable about the screenshot include a subtle border around the Chrome app, which makes it look like the app was floating on the screen. The image also shows a navigation soft button bar that floats on top of the app.

Plex-XML – what keeps us busy

Since we are back from Cincinnati a lot of questions about Plex-XML have been asked by the Plex community. In order to make our answers available to all of you we have prepared some new things:
Tutorial:
There is a detailed tutorial in the Plex-XML Wiki. It has been tested by some of our customer and it provides a quick start with Plex-XML to anyone. Start here.
And there is a ready to use tutorial application online also. See http://tutorial.plex-xml.com and feel free to click around in this little demo.

FAQ:
The FAQ section is steadily growing according to your questions and we hope it will answer most of the questions newbies might have about Plex-XML.

Screen shots:
We have also put some screen shots into the wiki. They will give you a first impression of how an out-of-the-box Plex-XML application looks like. For sure you can adjust the CSS and look and feel to your own CI if you like.

Documentation:
Our Wiki is growing nearly every day. But there is still a lot of room for improvements.

Format 2.0:
We have started to extend our Format pattern. The new version will have much more settings for client layout and user comfort. This should be finished by the end of this year.

BIRT Reporting:
COGNOS 8 Enterprise Reporting is a great reporting tool. But unfortunately it is a bit too expensive for some of our smaller projects. So we decided to integrate Eclipse BIRT as a open source alternative into our reporting pattern. Some first reports are up and running in our HelpDesk application and we plan to include a small demo into the tutorial until the end of this year.

See http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/intro for more details about Eclipse BIRT.
And as always don’t hesitate to contact us or use our wiki if there are any questions…

What’s next in Hamburg!?

Auch in diesem Jahr gab es auf der next conference in Hamburg umfangreiche Updates darüber, was im Web aktuell so angesagt ist und was uns (vielleicht) in naher Zukunft im Web erwarten wird.
Die Highlights aus der Sicht des Software-Entwicklers waren für mich ganz klar die Strategie von Google im mobilen Markt, die von Amazon angebotenen Services im Bereich IT-Infrastruktur und die Designtipps für Webapplikationen von 37signals. Und, last but not least, die Anregungen zum Enterprise 2.0 als gelebte Organisationsform für Unternehmen.

Alle Vorträge wurden wieder auf Video mitgeschnitten. Zum Teil haben diese haben bereits ihren Weg ins Web gefunden. Zum Beispiel auf der Seite von Fischmarkt.de und auf der Seite der next conference. Hier kann man verpasste Vorträge oder besonders interessante Aussagen noch mal nachvollziehen.

Google Android und die Open Handset Alliance (Michael Jennings, Google.com)
Das Apple iPhone als Maß des mobilen Internet-Erlebnisses soll tatsächlich noch in diesem Jahr Konkurrenz bekommen. Michael Jennings, vom Google Android Development, eräuterte die technischen Ansätze. Basierend auf einem Linux-Stack hat Google ein Open Source Betriebssystem entwickelt für das es im 3. Quartal erste Geräte im Markt geben soll. Die Entwicklergemeinde ist aufgerufen, Ideen und Appliktionen beizugtragen, um das mobile Erlebnis zu vollenden. Die im Web verfügbaren Demos sehen ja super aus. Was jedoch nicht näher erläutert wird, ist die Art und Weise, wie die Werbung uns hier präsentiert wird. Na mal sehen, wie nervig das wird. Sonst wird eben doch wieder das iPhone rausgeholt.

Zuvor hatte Google schon einiges zu Android auf Youtube gezeigt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg

“Acceleration the Speed of Innovation” (Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon.com)
Das Amazon nicht nur Bücher liefert wird jedem schnell klar, der sich mal in dem Shop umsieht. Aber dass Amazon einem Startup auch helfen kann, ohne eigene Investitionen in eine technische Infrastruktur loszulegen und auch, wenn es sein muß, innerhalb kürzester Zeit von einigen wenigen Servern auf über 5000 Server umzuschalten, wurde sehr eindrucksvoll am Beispiel von ANIMOTO erläutert. Diese plötzliche Steigerung der Serverkapazitäten war notwendig geworden, nachdem der Dienst von ANIMOTO bei Facebook eingebunden wurde und die Nutzerzahl plötzich um 25.000 pro Stunde stieg.

Application user interface design (Ryan Singer, 37signals.com)
Ryan Singer, Designer von 37signals, verriet einige seiner Design-Grundsätze, mit denen so benutzerfreundliche Webprogramme, wie basecamp oder backpack gelingen. Und alle Aussagen wurden auch gleich mit anschaulichen und abschreckenden Beispielen erläutert.

1. “Think about your flows!”
Denke über den Flow der Anwendung nach. Welches ist die wahrscheinlich nächste Aktion, die der User ausführen wird? Führe ihn dorthin, indem der Fokus dorthin gesetzt wird. Auch mit Farbgestaltungen und Schriftgrößen kann man die Aufmerksamkeit des Benutzers gezielt lenken.
2. “Create comfortable mouse targets”
Gerade bei kleinen Icons sollte auch noch ein Bereich drumherum den Mausklick akzeptieren. Und Farbveränderungen beim “mouse over” signalisieren dem Benutzer, dass er angekommen ist und nur noch klicken braucht.
3. “Go above and beyond because you love it”
Benutzerindividuell verschiebare Bereiche innerhalb der Webseite und auf andere Webseiten, sowie aufklappbare Editierbereiche zeugten von viel Liebe zum Detail.

Enterprise 2.0 (Sören Stamer, CEO, Coremedia.com)
Sören Stamer von Coremedia hat wieder mal in unvergleichlicher Weise Ideen und Erfahrungen bezüglich einer collaborativen Organisationsform in Unternehmen zusammengetragen und höchst überzeugend präsentiert. Schon Sörens Vortrag im letzen Jahr zum gleichen Thema hat uns viele Impulse gegeben, die uns im Laufe des Jahres immer wieder bei organisatorischen Entscheidungen begleitet haben.

Einiges erscheint dem konservativen hanseatischen Herzen auf den ersten Blick doch sehr fortschrittlich und mit den klassischen Organisationsformen von Unternehmen, wie wir sie an der Uni und der Praxis kennengelernt haben, nur schwer vereinbar. Aber im Zusammenhang mit praktischen Erfahrungen in seinem eigenen Unternehmen erklärt, läßt sich erkennen, dass hier eine großartige Organisationsform entwickelt wird. Auch wenn man sich (noch? ) nicht traut, alles für den praktischen Einsatz zu übernehmen, so führen doch auch kleine Teile des Gedankenguts, gerade auch im Umfeld eher konservativer Unternehmen, zu interessanten Aha-Erlebnissen und Erfolgen.

Lieber Sören, bitte bleib dran an dem Thema! Du hast die Ideen und die Infrastruktur, um nicht nur die Theorie weiter zu entwickeln, sondern auch die Praxistauglichkeit zu beweisen. Dein Buch zu dem Thema werde ich mir gleich mal besorgen. Vielen Dank für diesen Innovationsschub aus Hamburg!

Fresh Plex-XML Tutorial

The ready to use version of our Plex-XML-Tutorial has been updated to the latest Plex-XML pattern.
Some of the new features are:

Full text search (free customizable with Plex-XML-Formats)
User defined shortcuts and start request
ExtJS integration
Border Layout
Secured fields against web parameter tampering using a hash code
Key field protection within “Formats”

While the tutorial should get you up and running as quick as possible with your first Plex-XML application it isn’t a high sophisticated application. It’s intention is to get you around the first hurdles of Plex, Eclipse, Tomcat and database configuration and interaction.
All things you can see in that application (plus the hidden security part) are part of the Plex-XML pattern. Beneath the definition of the two entities there hasn’t been any additional programming. So an experienced Plex programmer should be able to get exact that application up and running within 15 minutes!
Online version: http://tutorial.plex-xml.com
Documention in our WIKI: http://wiki.plex-xml.com/…

OpenOffice Server

Increasingly our customers are asking us for a quick and easy way to export the data they select and see in our web applications into a format they can use with their locally installed desktop applications.

We think that we will not be able to develop a solution for all the different desktop software formats by ourselves. There are and will be too many different file formats out there. But in order to fulfill most of these demands we have decided to use OpenOffice to do this job for us.

In our Plex-XML framework we are generating XML data as a response to a client request. Then we are using XSLT to convert the XML into HTML. This HTML is shown as a web page in a browser to the user.

From now on we are able to convert the XML response from the server into an OpenOffice spreadsheet format (.ods) as well. The resulting ods file is still an XML format. This ods file is handed over to a server side installed OpenOffice. The ods file will then be converted by OpenOffice into the format the user has selected within the web-application.
The work flow for the user looks like this:
- Select the data you need in the web application. For example all customers living in Italy.
- Press the XLS or PDF button
- Get exactly the same data you have seen in the HTML screen converted into the desktop file format you asked for.

- While receiving the file the desktop application (e.g. Office or the Acrobat Reader) will open automatically and you are ready to work with that file.
Our wiki describes how we installed OpenOffice as a service on a server.

wiki http://wiki.plex-xml.com/index.php/OpenOfficeServer

Friday, 27 June 2014

Yo app can be easily hacked. Yo man, what's up?

Wednesday, 25 June 2014