All posts by Udit Malhotra

Udit Malhotra is fond of Technology, Music, Event Management and Social Media. He has studied in-depth about Mobile & Desktop Platforms and Software Applications thereof. A keen Learner, he draws inspiration from his work experience from a few small businesses and leading global organizations including DELL where he has worked directly at the front-end with Consumers of Technology Products. He enjoys sharing his knowledge by helping other Users. You can also find him on Google+ ! +Udit Malhotra
Facebook

Frictionless Sharing : Privacy Compromised

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Privacy is one thing that everybody is concerned about, the information we share, the activity we do online is completely at the disposal of an individual if one is not careful.

Facebook has brought a host of changes within the layout, the privacy settings and visual appearance within the past six months and is continuing the same. A recent change that I practically saw and implemented was The Timeline Feature.

An enhanced sharing module was also introduced by Facebook known as Frictionless Sharing. Earlier if one needed to Like, Tweet, or Digg anything you needed to push a button to enable safe sharing, but with Frictionless Sharing everything that one practically does from reading, to listening music or watching a video is practically shared over an activity feed or wall without intimation. It also brings focus not only to Facebook as a social media network, but also to various brands as the above said sharing method could be implemented across varied channels.

Considering what one needs to share all major Brands, Firms, and Media Companies should consider whether to integrate the same or not as it can adversely effect a users association with the brand and the brands reputation.

Lets take an example of an application that implements the same, how does your privacy get affected, and how to prevent it from happening. Amidst the new Facebook Applications developed and inclination towards content and media aggregation include Social Reading Applications like Washing Post Social Reader, WSJ and many others. All applications give rich content through various channels but compromise on the privacy for the user.

The image above is a screen shot of my profile, under news section its shows some posts that I read recently as across various reading applications, all the information I read is available to all friends unless I turned the feature off. Although now, few applications have started to give the option to set sharing settings, which earlier was neither asked and one had to manually do the same. If you are a part of the early implementors of social reading applications you can disable sharing by following some simple steps mentioned below.

  • Login to www.facebook.com
  • Press the button right next home button on the right corner and choose account settings.
  • On the next page on the left you will see the option “Apps”
  • Select the application i.e. The Guardian (Check The Screen Shot Below)

  •  Remove “Add app activity to your timeline” by clicking on the close button on immediate right, also choose can see your posts and activity from the last section. It can be public, friends only or custom depending on your sharing settings.

Windows Mobiles

Nokia Lumia 800 : The Switch to Windows Phone

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Its everywhere on the internet from rumors to leaked videos to pricing and specs and so on, today we go ahead and discuss  about the feature packed Nokia Lumia 800.

Just a few months back all of us were made aware of the recent establishment between Nokia and Microsoft, as part of venture Nokia has an advantage that they had complete authority to go ahead and fully customize the UI and Phone OS, although less of custom built apps are seen as of now by Nokia.

The Nokia Lumia Comprises of 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon Processor, with an Adreno 205 GPU, the RAM and ROM Size is 512MB, which provides and multitasking at its best. An internal memory of 16GB provides enough space for media including music, videos, apps, documents etc.

What’s New In It? :

  • Enhanced UI with Multitasking support.
  • Excellent Integrated Social Apps within Windows Phone.
  • Sleek Design Improves Reception
  • Nokia Apps and Windows Market Place

What’s Not In? :

  • Bing Maps (Poor Zoom and Street Names)
  • Battery Life
  • Front Camera
  • No Support For Adobe Flash
  • No Support for Expandable Memory (No SD Card Slot)

UI Makes a Difference

The earlier versions of windows mobile operating system were slow, no multitasking and an overall dull interface, that’s the reason it was not a boom or a so called successful OS considering iOS and Android in the ball game. The scenario is now changing towards the positive side with Microsoft’s decision to redo the mobile OS and UI. The Current version of Windows Phone Carries Both Flare and Vivid Functionality. Hardware acceleration with a dedicated GPU and a modern menu makes the touch, look, feel factor to be the best even beating competitors in the league.

The menu comprises of the home screen where one can pin commonly used applications and is ready to go, more the applications better the grouping, if your phone comprises of more than 44 apps it groups apps by names making it easier for the user to use the apps.The home screen interface has dynamic graphics while switching between apps and home screen.

A More Social Phone

Yes, a phone that has social features within the OS, one doesn’t have to download thousands of apps to use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Etc.

People Hub pulls out a dynamic stream of pictures from Friends across multiple Social Networking Platforms. Social Network Integration is seen across the messaging structure which is similar to Android Devices, with an added benefit of unified communication under a contact, your phone’s texts messages, Facebook, Twitter and so on under a single head and that too with dynamic switching allowing users to switch between phone messaging and social networks.

Sleek Design and Improve Call Quality

The Design of the Lumia Phone has  huge resemblance with The Nokia N9, the outer form factor remains about the same, relatively smaller with a polycarbonate body and narrow curve at the ends allowing the phone to be more compact and easy to carry.

The front part comprises of 3.7” Gorilla Glass Screen and three virtual buttons to go back and forth, access the menu, and perform a search.The top has three quick nooks that comprise of a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Cable Connection Port, and a SIM Slot (The phone uses a Micro SIM). The only physical buttons on the phone lie towards the right side, which includes the volume controls, screen guard lock and a camera key. The camera key has a big plus, it works in standby leading you directly to the camera if you are in mood to snap in a quick photo.The Call Quality is very good on the phone, the  phone design leads to an improved  phone reception in places with weaker signal strength.

Nokia Apps and Windows Marketplace

Applications make our experience more enhanced and interactive, from games to communication, to media streaming, to watching videos and so on.The Lumia 800 has some pretty good and different applications which Include Nokia Music App and Nokia Drive.

Nokia Drive is a complete voice guided driving suite which allows users to get turn by turn navigation details, now don’t think about data usage on it, users get an option to store the maps locally as in offline and can carry and use the application even without a dedicated data plan, you save a lot money by doing so. Besides that it comprises of multiple views, which include 2D and 3D navigation view.

The Nokia Music App seems to be different yet identical to Windows Phone Zune application with unique differences like Mix station and Gigs.

Mix Station allows users to select a favorite genre, select it, zip- zap and the streaming has begun. Although one can skip tracks that they don’t like but the limit to it is seven tracks in 24Hrs. Gigs yet an included feature within the Nokia Music App seems to be more like Nokia Here and Now, which means the latest buzz on concerts, events, parties etc. are just a touch away.

Windows Marketplace is still on a throttle, although applications available might not be as great as compared to Apple App Store or the Android Market, considering that the platform is still fresh and developing.

Getting closer to dislikes or some sour thoughts on what didn’t turn out well includes Bing Maps, from zoom quality to reading street names is a tough task, Street Names visibility on Bing Maps are not as good as Google Maps or Nokia Maps. Seem to cramp up while one tries to navigate or switch tabs.

Battery life is fair, not good or bad one has to charge the phone at end of the day, considering the phone is a Nokia, it makes the phone feel shy comparing battery life performance predecessor Symbian. Windows Phone is more packed with features hence more power needed.

The Phone does not have Front Camera Support, by missing out such an essential feature it seems to be an injustice. The user does not have an option to make a video call.

The phone also lacks support for Adobe Flash for mobile, live flash playback via web browser is not supported as a part of the user interface.

The Camera resides in the center with a 8MP Carl Zeiss Lens. Image Clarity and Output is good besides two constraints, focus response being the first one and image clarity in low light conditions being the other one.

Considering all pros and cons, one must consider all options before buying the handset. The competing handsets like Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S give more feature rich content and wider application options to customize and enhance user interactivity and experience at very less price difference.

New Technologies

Near Field Communication (NFC)

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Near Field Communication is the most talked about platform to be integrated across various mobility channels as means to serve variously transactional and useful resource needs across various segment.

Before discussing the benefits of the same let us try to know what exactly it is. Near Field Communication can be described as enabling transactions, data exchange, information and encrypted transfer between 2 devices within a proximity of few centimeters, NFC is a being integrated across various gadgets, devices which include handhelds, tablets and other platforms.

NFC is a co created  and founded by NFX  and Sony Corporation in 2002.

Google Wallet one is the 1st creation and actual implementation of NFC wherein a user can use his mobile device as a credit or a debit card to do a transaction or make a payment while not actually carrying the physical card, people are still new to the technology and are skeptical on its implementation and usage.

Considering the Indian Market and large consumer base across mobile phones Nokia India and Ra.one (a Red Chilies Production Movie) were first to implement the same with their brand campaign and media strategy.

Ra.one Zones were created across 400 City Wide Nokia Priority stores to make the campaign a success, media that was pushed included promos, trailers, wallpapers, ringtones and so on.

However NFC is not yet found across all devices and mobility gadgets. It involves an NFC chip to both at the sender and receiver end to enable the communication.

It is also said that the technology has a wide scope to push media from various vendors or ad agencies while a transaction is being done, an example for same can be a $50 discount coupon on a purchase made through the upcoming mode of payment or just using it for the 1st time.

The implementation segment is vast allowing products like Appliances, Food, Entertainment, Travel, Shopping, Etc. to promoted across malls, stores and so on.

Also NFC is to be a among Top Media Trends for 2012 as Per Mashable’s Founder Pete Cashmore which were discussed during Mashable’s Media Summit 2012.

Major Players Like Apple and competitors like Samsung, Blackberry, and Nokia are also working on the same.

Symbian Belle and a Few Symbian Anna Devices Comprise of the same as well which includes Nokia E6-00, Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 Smartphones

NFC based phone are ought to range within a price band of $200-$250 being economical and can be made of for mass usage.

Social Media

Content Aggregation

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Content Aggregation Applications are the most trending applications on Internet today.  Content Aggregation Applications are applications which allow Users to read about Latest Topics and most Popular Posts of their choice on the Net without searching for the same across multiple sites.

Content Aggregation Applications/ Apps aggregate Topics of Social Interaction display the same on using Social Readers on Social Media Networks like Facebook, Google+, Orkut, Four Square, Twitter, etc. .

Some of the most used News and Business News related Social Reading Applications are The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post Reader.

How Social Reading Apps revolutionizing the trend in Media? How Users consume Content through various Media?

The answer is via Content Aggregation, its Syndication and Delivery through Social Readers/ Social Reading Apps.

Content posted on Social Readers/ Social Reading Apps are visible to Users as Feeds, Timelines, Activity, etc. This allows Users to view Content on the basis of their Personal Interests and similarity of Topics.

The Users actively engage themselves while reading the Posts on Social Reading Apps and make them more meaningful by liking and commenting upon the Posts.  This feature makes the Posts more desirable for other Users to read and engage with.

From the perspective of Social Reading Application Developers, the more tie-ups they have with Content Aggregators, the better it is for their Application(s). Multiple tie-ups with Content Aggregators extend the reach of their Applications to a much larger Target Audience and across multiple Social Media Networks. This gives them the opportunity of being more Profitable with more Advertising Revenue coming to them.

Social Content Aggregation is available outside the Facebook platform as well. The Apple iPad favors this the most and has a host of applications like Flip Board, Pulse, Zite, Livestand to name just a few.

All over the World, every day, a wide range of New, more Powerful and more Affordable Media Consumption Devices are reaching Consumers in the Form of Tablets, Large Display Phones, EBook Readers, etc.

This has created an opportunity for Application Developers for developing Social Reading Apps and Content Aggregation Apps based upon the Free, Free-to-Try and Subscription based Models in the nearest future.