Mobile application developers get tips on privacy policy

The data privacy policy changes concerning many aspects so mobile application developers often face a challenge in keeping up with it. They have been given some tips at a conference dedicated to the topic in San Francisco. Mobile applications often provide services that draw on location, contact lists and other personal data. Such services are raising more and more questions if the data is collected and used appropriately. The software developers always have to ask themselves if they should notify people when the data is collected, in what way they should notify users about it etc.

These and other questions were discussed during a conference on mobile application privacy at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.

“Customers want the applications to be convenient, social and relevant”, said Kevin Trilli – vice president of product at San Francisco-based TRUST, working to help companies collect and use customer data safely. “And privacy is a very discussed point now because of the data and behavior interaction that enables the applications”, he added.

These questions are faced not only by smaller new entrants but by the huge companies as well.

One piece of advice for mobile application developers to keep users happy is not to be afraid to over-communicate. According to Tim Wyatt, director of security engineering at Lookout – a mobile security company based in San Francisco- it is not a bad idea to show clear, friendly, plain-English language within the application whenever it asks for certain types of private information.

For example if the application has a feature of automatic upload of photos from a smartphone’s camera then a special pop-up window could appear once the user gats to this point in the application saying “If you let us do it automatically it will provide a faster, better use experience for you. Would you like us to do that?”, Wyatt said.

Author's bio: Annet Jonson, sales manager working for a Florida software development company. Professional interests - iPad application development, eCommerce websile and IT start-ups. Personal interests - Dolce and Gabbana designer clothes, cats photos and social networking.

The demand for mobile applications hits all the records

Mobile application market shows the incredible increase developing even faster than it was predicted by analysts. According to the statistics for the first quarter of the current year it increased by 11% as compared with the whole 2012 year. During the period from January to March about 13,4 billion of utilities for mobile devices were downloaded over the world. In cash 11% increase equals $2,2, informs CNET.com

The statistics were collected by the analytical company Canalys. Its experts have identified four most popular internet-markets of mobile applications. These are evidently Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry Store. It is remarkable that Apple product holds the first position of popularity – it possesses 74% of the world market of mobile utilities.

Each catalogue of mobile applications contains free and paid applications. The increase of the market leads to the increase of the revenue of developers and the main part is received by the creators of mobile videogames. As it is mentioned, a lot of money was earned by Rovio and Electronic Arts companies: the first one created a very popular game Angry Birds, the second carries out publishing and controls the development and distribution not only of mobile but of the average games as well.

If speaking about internet markets they can be ranked according to the popularity among users. The first position belongs to Apple applications and its App Store, the second position is held by Google Play apps. There is a long standing rivalry between these two catalogues as well as between their owners. The honorable third position belongs to Windows Phone Store that hasn’t entered the fight yet. The fourth position is occupied by Canadian company BlackBerry with the internet market of the same name. It develops actively and in case if it is going to keep such speed of development it will be able to move Microsoft from the third position.

Project teams strictures changed

Today I met an interesting statistical information about the project teams stricture. The results of a survey of one European IT company stated that only 31% of all the teams are co-located (all the team members sit in one room or at least in one office building). The other 33% of the teams are co-located teams with off-site project management and product owners. This is a common practice for the projects first appearing in the USA or Western Europe countries (like the UK, France or Germany) and being outsourced to so-called development centers in such countries as India, Mexico, Ukraine, Belarus and so on. It means that project management and business analysis will be done in the outsourcer company and the software development and testing will be performed by the outsourcing team. For example, Florida web development company creates a development center in the Eastern Europe to do custom website development and mobile apps development for them.

And the rest 36% will go to distributed teams. According to Wikipedia - "a virtual team (also known as a geographically dispersed team or distributed team) is a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology". It means that more than one third of all the teams are geographically dispersed and they need to have some means of special communication. This may be a huge market share for different tools and solutions helping such teams to organize their every day routine.

But what really do they need to operate effectively?

1. If the project is performed by a distributed team the role of the communication plan increases. The PMO or project manager should create clear and easy rules of delegating tasks, sending e-mails, responsibilities and the system of reporting.

2. The next important step is creating the set of workflows. It's closely connected with the previous factor. Processes help people to stay focused on their tasks. In distributed teams there is often a problem of time-zone difference and it's not always possible to ask questions and get answers on a real time basis. So, good processes may help to organize the work the most productive way.

3. Find a tool or a combination of solutions that will help to organize the work of distributed team. The choice will depend on the team size, type of project and methodology used. For example, for traditional software development projects Basecamp may be a very good choice. It allows to set tasks, add documents, use white boards for tough tasks and to track time. But for Agile projects one may want to have something more flexible. Google Drive Spreadsheets maybe a perfect solution for the small projects and small teams. But for the projects that last more than 1 month and involve more than 5 geographically dispersed people it's good to try Jira GreenHopper, Pivotal Tracker and Comindware Tracker.

4. Create a list of possible risks and the ways how to avoid them or mitigate. The list may include cultural differences, language problems, time-zone differences and so on.

So, the statistics says that distributes teams are increased by number during the last 10 years. So, if you plan a career in IT you need to increase your skills in distributed teams management.

Fashionista Must-Haves (Part I)

It’s far from being a secret that year after year fashionistas are mercilessly exploited by fashion designers laying down ever new laws in the world of high fashion. Men and women squander vast sums of money to obey these laws and keep in step with the fashion.

However, there are some eternal things that can hardly been discarded by changing fashion. The things that attract envious glances of people around and are true must-haves for all fashionistas no matter how expensive they are. Let’s have go over the dearest dream of each and every woman.

Trench Coat
The first trench coat was designed in 1890 by Burberry brand and for more than 100 years it has not lost its chic and attractiveness. This double-breasted, belted garment with metal buttons has incorporated a rare combination of style and comfort.

Black Little Dress
Another item that has always been an essential part of any wardrobe and is more than likely to continue its triumphal march in the fashion world is a black little dress. Its origin goes as far back as 1920’s when the little black dress was created by Coco Chanel. Nowadays many designers offer little black dresses in their collections, however Dolce&Gabbana corset black dress is an attire you will not do without.

Fashionista Must-Haves (Part II)

Let’s go further and see what other items of clothes are not within control of changing fashion for women and has not lost its chic over years.

Chanel 2.55 Quilted Bag
One more cult article that has never left indifferent women hooked on fashion is Chanel 2.55 Quilted Bag created by Coco Chanel in 1955 and taking its name from the date of creation – the February of 1955. Tired of carrying purses in her hands, Coco added a thin chain strap. The bag instantly became a true icon of fashion and style and one of the most thought after accessories among fashionistas all over the world.

Christian Louboutin Shoes
Louboutin designer shoes are a masterpiece craved for by every woman. Any fashionista is ready without a twinge of conscience to pay a fortune and own a pair from Louboutin collections. Even despite extremely high heels, shoes women do not loose their lust for this luxury bit.

How to make your diet work

Those, who have ever tried keeping to a weight reduction diet for an extensive period of time, know that it’s not a pleasant thing to do. You are constantly tired and hungry and you are ready to bite someone’s head off if they do as much as offer you a candy bar or a soda. And at the top of all that you usually don’t see the results you were hoping for, because the arrow on the scales either moves to the left really slow or doesn’t move at all.
If you are no stranger to all these “symptoms” then you have tried all the wrong diets, because healthy weight reduction diet shouldn’t leave you exhausted, on the contrary, you should feel like you are full of strength and energy. If you don’t think that there is a way to lose belly fat without fainting every now and then, our advices will definitely help you to change your mind.
The first thing you have to do to achieve stable weigh loss is to stop starving yourself. You should understand that while you are keeping to a low-calorie restrictive diet your body feels threatened and it keeps saving all the calories you consume. In order to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs you should consider taking natural supplements. By giving your body all the vitamins, minerals, fibers, amino acids it needs dietary supplements help you to get through weight loss without mood swings and feeling of exhaustion.
In order to feel active during the day you should eat at least 5 times a day in small servings. Small amounts of food will digest much better and it will heighten your metabolism.
So, as you see, you don’t have to chew on carrots whole day long in order to lose belly fat, you just have to find a way to balance your diet.

How to lose fat

As you may probably know the thing that can really help you to lose weight and stay healthy is a combination of a balanced diet and a reasonable exercise routine. If you have no idea how to rearrange your nutrition, you may start with reading these recommendations. The tips provided on the page will help you to understand what and when you should eat and what products to cut from your diet. Once your new diet is balanced, you can start looking for a workout routine. It’s extremely important for you to enjoy your exercises, so if you like to dance, go ahead, join dance class or buy some DVD’s if you are too shy to dance in front of people. And don’t overload yourself at first, that won’t help you to achieve results faster but will only cool you down. Although it is possible for you to maximize your workout routine by taking pre-workout supplement.
So if you want to know more about how to lose fat in a healthy way, you can start your research here. On this website you will find some tips on how to make your diet and exercise routines effective. And here you will be able to find dietary and pre-workout supplement that will make the process of weight reduction much more effective.