As the latest offering by Apple, the Apple Watch is creating quite some buzz in the tech arena. That brings us to unraveling the reasons behind its unsurpassed popularity. Since its emergence, this piece of innovation has created two major divisions amongst its followers. The first group has all the techies, and the second group belongs to the fashionistas.

Such groupings give birth to a major debate about the Apple Watch. The question we come across is whether it’s a tech innovation or just another fashionable item.

Simply put, does the Apple Watch give rise to the age-old ‘Fashion vs. Technology’ controversy?

Let’s find out.

The technological aspects

With some of the exceptional tech features, the Apple watch is no less than a revolution. Once you get hold of it, you can bid goodbye to your Smartphones or other devices. Some of the unique features of this device include:

•      Wellness Tracker

The Apple Watch comes with a fitness tracker. If that sounds great, then the greatest is yet to be revealed. With this wearable on your wrist, you will not only know about your weekly fitness targets but also develop an idea of what you need to do to maintain it.

Quite intriguingly, the Apple Watch not only notifies you about the minutes you exercised but also about the minutes you stopped. Now, that’s a huge help for fitness freaks.

•     Book your cab

You don’t require your Smartphone when you have the Apple Watch with you. Just a few taps, and you can request your Uber right at the time you need it.

•    Paying for services

One of the prime benefits offered by Smartphones is the online payment facility. And that’s what you get with your Apple Watch too. Meet your friends for coffee, go on a shopping spree, and dine with your special someone. Your Apple Watch will help you make the payments instantly.

•     Staying connected to the world

Whether it’s posting a comment or ‘liking’ something on Facebook and Twitter, things have become much easier with the Apple Watch. The device will also keep you updated on what’s trending in social media.

With that brief overview of the technical aspects, it’s time we move onto discussing the style and fashion part.

        I.            Spectacular appearance

With a splendid and stunning aluminum case, the Apple Watch will inevitably be any fashionistas dream. No matter what you wear to work, your Apple Watch will completely complement every outfit.

      II.            Personalized aluminum case

Since the device comes with highly durable and personalized aluminum case, you will have the opportunity to team it up with any of your looks. Other than that, the aluminum case is changeable according to user preference.

The rebuttal

Although the Apple Watch brings smiles on the faces of every fashionista, it is essentially a tech tool. And with all that features and functionalities, you simply can’t tout it as just another style statement. Rather, it would be perfect to refer to it as one of the most ‘stylish tech accessories’. Your Apple Watch combines technology and fashion, thus uniting its two groups of followers.

How often have you thought of a fully automated life? How often have the biggest sci-fi movies kept you on the edge of your seats? How often have you wished your regular devices to run all the errands for you?

Too many questions, right? However, finding appropriate answers to these queries will help you participate in this discussion.

Today we look at the latest tech innovation known as IoT or ‘Internet of Things.’ And it happens to play a significant role in transforming business operations as well as human lives.

Let’s delve deep into the nuances and get knowledgeable on how IOT is revolutionizing our lives.

What is IOT?

Beginning with a proper definition will be the best thing to do. Internet of Things or IOT is a highly significant development in the virtual arena, which successfully connects devices, things, and objects over the internet. While discussing its features, you will come across two crucial aspects.

• M2M technology: IOT is established on the basic principles of M2M, which ensures vertical interactions between objects and devices. Internet of Things takes this concept forward and connects objects with users, enterprises, and other things.
• Information Transformation and analysis: IOT promotes the idea of information transformation via the virtual platform. Information change takes place from devices to servers leading to perfect analysis.

Identifying the changes

By connecting users, devices, things, and people virtually, Internet of Things will revolutionize both businesses and daily operations. Most importantly, IOT plays a highly significant role in transforming our regular lives.

The technology has the power to boost the performance of devices; we use regularly. You might wake up one morning to find your thermostat, wristwatch, and Smartphone functioning in a unique manner.

Revolutionizing lives and industries across verticals  

As one of the high-end and powerful tech innovation, IOT leaves no stone unturned in transfiguring operations across industry verticals. Some of the prime industrial sectors reaping the benefits of this technology are:

I.            Transport sector: The transport industry is integrating IOT into their existing operations. Car manufacturers will use Internet of Things and build self-driving vehicles. That will bring about some crucial changes in the transportation sector.

II.            Social media: IOT or Internet of Things enables robust connections amongst users and brands via social media platforms. The technology facilitates better collaboration and communication amongst users and their chosen brands.

III.            Business arena: By connecting numerous objects and devices within your enterprise, IOT will also ensure lucid business functioning.

Role in data analytics

Since we are talking about business data, it will be imperative to mention data analytics. One of the prime features of IOT is its contribution in big data analytics. By combining various data sets in a unified data environment, IOT will facilitate the successful conversion of data into intelligence, and further into critical business insights.

Concluding note

Let’s turn to statistics before we conclude. According to reliable market stats, IOT or Internet of Things will reach an estimated value of $1.9 trillion USD, by the end of 2020. Such predictions are enough to establish its importance. With such widespread popularity, it won’t take much longer for IOT to achieve unsurpassed success.

Seldom do we find web developers giving enough attention and importance to emotional reactions while designing landing pages. Some of them might be even unaware of this concept. However, every passionate website designer and developer understands the significance of landing pages. If you wish to have a lowdown on what it does for your digital marketing endeavors, turn to these statistics. According to reliable stats, nearly 48% of web marketers create new landing pages for every single marketing campaign.

That speaks quite a lot about the significance of landing pages in web marketing. But, what has emotions to do with your landing page? Breeze through the article to find out more.

Introducing emotions    

Human emotions play an instrumental part in the creation of landing pages. And there are two crucial emotions in this context. The first one is ‘immediate emotions’ and the second type is known as ‘anticipated emotions.’ Let’s begin with immediate feelings.

Defining immediate emotions

As the term suggest, immediate emotions refer to instant customer reactions, resulting from several issues affecting their page-viewing experience negatively. The issues can be anything from accessibility, usability, as well as readability. Just about anything that adversely affects your page-visiting experience.

When you encounter glitches while scrolling down a landing page, your immediate reactions can be anything between confusion, frustration, and distrust. On the contrary, a unique product or feature will impress and excite you to the tee.

Measuring emotions

With this brief introduction on immediate feelings, we arrive at discussing the ways of measuring it. Some of the instances available for this particular task are:

I.          CartoDB: With this software solution, you will develop an idea of the location data. The location mapping software will help you identify product appeal and usability.

II.          Acorns: It involves an entirely new and innovative concept. As an online spare-change investment platform, Acorns will offer you a glimpse of user reactions.

III.          Reuters TV: An engaging video streaming app that offers nothing but the correct news. Reuters TV has a direct approach, thus helping users create emotional responses instantaneously.

Identifying anticipated emotions

These are past reactions and emotions offering a glimpse of your customers’ future behavior. Brand owners and entrepreneurs can utilize anticipated emotions to foster reliability, trust, and integrity amongst your potential customers. If your consumers successfully imagine positive outcomes from your brands, then it will not take much time to establish brand familiarity.

Some of the companies such as Grovemade, Madeindays, and Narrative have successfully generated anticipated emotions.

The landing pages of these websites help customers develop imaginations about the credibility as well as usability of the product, thus driving product growth, innovation, and development.

Determine your focus

Your potential customers are nothing but human beings with distinguished taste and preferences. Therefore, you will have to focus on reactions and emotions they nurture about your product. Working on these emotions and leveraging them while creating landing pages will prove to be dually beneficial for you.

As an entrepreneur, you will attract innumerable visitors to your landing page, thus resulting in uncountable leads. These crucial leads will get converted in no time, thus generating massive sales for your dream venture.

User Experience happens to be one of the buzz words in digital marketing. All your marketing efforts will fall flat on their faces if they fail to offer unsurpassed User Experience. Turn to statistical data, and you will find that nearly 79% of users will leave your website, and search for another if you are unable to offer the desired experience.

The statistical insight is enough to explain the paramount importance of User Experience. And it becomes a crucial success factor for self-service websites.

Every self-service site has a single-point agenda. And that is to help and guide users find an appropriate answer to their queries. The approach should be to help customers find ways of helping themselves. That will prove to be highly beneficial for customers and business alike.

Knowing self-service

The idea behind self-service bears resemblance with the term itself. When users require assistance while updating account information, it is then that these self-service sites come in action.

User-friendly self-service websites offer direct answers to critical questions. On the other end, poorly-developed sites will lead to confusion and disturbance amongst users. User Experience can solve the issue to a great extent.

And that is quite evident from the instance of the GDS or UK Government Digital Services group. Take a look.

The introduction of UX in self-service

The year 2013 witnessed a great revolution for self-service sites, as the GDS team brought User Experience into the picture. Quite like them, other self-service websites need to understand that customers seek useful assistance, and not chunks of unnecessary information. So, how does UX promote self-service?

      I.          Begin with serving users

Try answering this question first. Do your users need to know about the nuances of your business to receive the assistance they want? Perhaps no, you will just need to provide them the information they want, and they will take it from there.

Emphasize on user interests, needs, and requirements. Steer clear of educating them, since that doesn’t matter.

    II.          Say ‘S’ for simple

Every user is different from the other. You simply cannot expect them to talk or write in similar fashions. Quite inevitably, they will phrase their sentences in unique ways. As the UX designer, you will have to bear the brunt of hard work.

What you need to do is perform usability tests, assess user personas, and language studies to identify their sentence phrasing patterns. You will get a hang of the phrases and words that users frequently refer to while looking for your product.

   III.          The need for iteration

Even if your self-service site enjoys unsurpassed popularity amongst users, you must never stop iterating it. Perform the iterations based on user feedbacks. Use data analytics or other tracking tools to find out what users wish for.

These constant audits will help you improve your site, thus ensuring great User Experience.

Final thoughts

Other than the UX tips mentioned above, there’s a lot more you can do for improving your self-service website. Getting the correct approaches in place is half the battle won. Proper implementation of UX strategies and plans is what you will be left to do.

If you are tired of holding your smartphone all the time, the Apple Watch will offer a welcome break. Just wear it on your arms and stay connected to the rest of the world, without reaching for your iPhone every time an email hits the inbox. With close to 50% share in the 2015 Smart Watch sales, there is no ignoring the popularity of this device.

You might ask why such a title has been provided to this article. Well, it is largely to do with Apple’s latest offering, the Apple Watch 5.0. You will love it as much as you hate it, all at the same time!

There is simply no denying the fact that this offering from Apple is undoubtedly one of the high-end tech revolutions today. And the makers surely had user experience in mind while designing it. Even then, Apple Watch 5.0 seems to be a not so pleasant experience for many. Here’s why.

Nightmarish feelings

One of the prime reasons is perhaps, the constant updates on your health goals and workout performances. The device seems to be the perfect option for fitness freaks. Say, for instance, fitness bands and meters provide you with an idea of your weekly or daily workout performances. The Apple Watch takes the entire experience to an entirely new height by adding a few more things:

• With this unique tech device, you will get to know about how many kilometers you ran, or about the number of minutes you exercised.
• If you wish to know about a number of calories burnt by you, it will also be available.
• What takes it ahead of everything else is its power of measuring your stationary time. With Apple Watch 5.0, you will come to know about the number of times you stood.

Why is it so stressful?

There is no running away from truth. And Apple Watch is nothing but truth personified. You are always getting true, real-time updates on your health objectives. And that can be quite stressful at times. Every individual needs to work for a living. And there are numerous job sectors that considerably differ from each other.

An editor needs to sit at the desk, and she can do nothing about it. On the flip side, a player needs to work out on his body, and that’s nothing but a part of his job.

So, the constant monitoring of health goals might prove to be quite depressing for individuals without a proactive life. Getting to view depressing calorie burning counts will be nothing short of a nightmare.

The brighter side   

Apple Watch 5.0 also happens to be a dream for many. With unique apps for shopping, booking cab rides, paying for coffee and social media games, this smart device spices up your daily life to a great extent.

The device also seems to offer the right amount of excitement and enthusiasm to fashionistas. Although its aluminum case is not sleek, and the face is large, you will have the liberty of putting your customized, designer, or personalized case on its face. Now that will make the device no less than a stunning accessory to your beautiful apparels.

With Smartphones taking center stage in the tech sphere, mobile app development is at its best. Today individuals have precious little to worry about performing day-to-day operations. From ordering food to booking cab rides, everything is possible on the go. Users cannot deny that the mobile app development spree has entirely revolutionized human communications and interactions.

Let’s turn to stats, shall we, for a lowdown on mobile usage trends. According to market predictions, 2016 will witness a dramatic surge in the number of Smartphone users. The figures are expected to surpass 2.15 billion by this year.

On that introductory note, it won’t be quite tough to deduce the future possibilities of mobile app development. Follow the article, as we take you through the top 3 trends shaping mobile app development in the year 2016.

      I.          JavaScript

Although it was just a website scripting tool in its earlier days, JavaScript has come a long way since then. With React Native emerging in the mobile realm, this particular trend has been further exemplified. Facebook users made complete use of this framework while developing native mobile applications for iOS platforms as well as Androids.

So, how is React Native different from several other Java frameworks?

Quite unlike its other contemporaries, React Native has a unique approach to mobile app development. It promotes and popularizes cross-platform application development, where you can code an application and run it anywhere. Some of the crucial aspects concerning React Native are:

• Radically different approach towards app development
• React Native negates and shuns some of the traditional coding methodologies.
• React also uses the JSX syntax extension of its own
• It also contains a virtual DOM which helps in the identification of specific parts of User Interface

With such features and maturation, React Native will influence mobile app development to a great extent.

    II.          Progressive Web

New developments in the app development technology will offer a fresh alternative to stringent native app development approaches. Google organizes all these technologies, thus arranging them under the head of Progressive Web.

So, what does progressive web mean?

The uniqueness of progressive apps lies in their capabilities to utilize modern web technologies, thus delivering app-like user experiences. As a new-age approach, Progressive web is revolutionizing quite a few ecommerce platforms. The most popular instance is Flipkart, which utilizes the power of ‘Progressive Web’ to handle network connectivity issues.

   III.          Citizen Developers

The concept behind this particular technology bears similarity with the term itself. During 2015, the lack of proper app development talent created a void in the mobile app development domain. As an inevitable effect, the need for DIY, Rapid Application Development, or low-code technologies gained traction.

The idea was to transform mobile app development into a layman’s job, thus reducing reliance on skilled professionals.

Even quite a few Citizen Developers offerings hit the market in 2015.

Final thoughts

Whether you are a highly skilled app development coder or one of the passionate entrepreneurs, these three trends will continue to feature in your mobile app development endeavors.

Those looking for new app development challenges are sure to have a great year ahead.

Marie Moe, a research scientist from the SINTEF ICT exclaims that it’s about time that “hospitals start worrying about computer viruses and not just the regular germs”. We are into the age when pacemakers can be controlled and monitored from outside and sensors that can read your heart rate, diabetes levels and other vital functions. It’s not just medical devices that pose a threat but the more the idea of automation itself. When air conditioners know when people would leave the house and when they would be getting in, they can also expose some serious private data to cyber criminals. Same is with automated cars. To address these issues, all types of smart device makers are working on the liabilities, trying to make them much secure, but in the world of internet, every new day is a fresh start for hackers too.

The disadvantages of IoT can have three definite implications:

Privacy

NASAs spying revelations has exposed more amount of information accessible to its government and hackers alike. It might not be a comforting though when you know that there could be someone who has access to your personal details like the places you have been in, the people you talk to over phone, the amount of time you spend at any place, etc.

The risk of a widespread malware

With the whole world and most of its human residents connected to the same platform called internet, it would take just a single click to evade the globe. The results can range from minor inconvenience to widespread corruption. Now, to fight back in such a situation, it would again take a worldwide sweep of every device that has been infected.

Intrusion

It may very well happen when brands and manufacturers would be offering daylong advertisements and offering on your smart TV screen, refrigerators, dryers and dishwashers. These marketers will use data that is generated you your own residence to share a product relevant. The choices will seem forced rather than self-made decisions.

And then there could be these:

ü  You don’t want your health information to reach the insurer but being unhealthy, your premiums go up!

ü  You don’t want to submit your finances or your whereabouts and the government authorities might have a means to tag you to be a criminal and tap into your phone!

The world of automation is exciting but some would rightly say that we mustn’t lose our human side to it. “We might not still be living in dystopia but we are pretty sure that some have already opted for the starter kit”. Cyber security is biggest kinds of threat today – the government uses it, the banks use it, the hackers use it and even the terrorists use it to their devastating ends. Weighing the rightful adoption of connected devices is the best we can do. As they say they “with great powers come great responsibilities”. As humans, we must understand the implication of everything we bring into our life and limit their use to convenience they are supposed to provide.

The major app stores today (Google Play and iTunes) were hosting near to 3 million apps by July 2015. The popularity of apps has even gone on to replace business websites as the platform for revenue generation. However, getting noticed takes more than a workable app. According to a research by MobileDevHQ, almost 47% iPhone users in the United States find apps by browsing through the iOS store. On the other hand, 10% go for the top featured apps in category charts and 9% depend upon Apple’s featured screen. The behavior is the same with Android users. This only goes on to suggest that there isn’t a substitute for high ranking.

If you have been into SEO, App Store Optimization (ASO) wouldn’t be more complicated. To get more holistic ranking, the focus should be on creating listings that give the best chance to your audience. Here are the basic things you must take care of:

1.     Keywords

Obviously enough, keywords are the first point of contact between the audience and the app stores. The same white paper by MobileDevHQ suggests that using the proper keywords in the title of you app can result in an increase of 10.3% when it comes to ranking. The aim should be to accurately suggest/convey the subject of your app and this should ideally depend upon:

ü  Keywords with the highest volume of searches

ü  Keywords with the lowest competition

ü  Keywords with highest relevancy

Tools like KeywordTool.io could be of huge help when trying to find the best keyword, categorized by language and country. You can always opt for changing the title of your app in the future but this would mean losing on the acquired “search power”. So, all of it should be taken care of from the beginning itself.

2.     User acquisition channels

The explosion in the number of mobile users has also leveled up the competition. Currently, advertising and app store search are the most popular channels for acquiring users. For businesses, the advertising spend is mostly limited to paid install campaigns, also called cost pr installs (CPI). Fiksu suggests that the current cost of acquiring each loyal user can run into $4.14 (as of September 2015). CPI has been used by businesses (especially the new ones) to get that initial “burst” and rise up the charts. This can give you the much needed visibility and from then on, you can work upon acquiring organic optimization.

3.     Optimizing in app stores

Recent data suggests that users looking for an app would generally use a two-three word phrase. It’s important to know the best ways to describe your product (apps in this case), its features and how the target audience would look for it. Now, both Google and Apple play stores have different kind of app listing fields but some similarities do exist:

Both present a name and title and would be the perfect way to speak about your features. Apple allows a 255 character limit while Google allows only 30. Apple further provides 100 hidden/private character field that can be of help.

Optimizing app store listing is only the start of a long ASO process but it does ensure that you are working organically towards success. Research hard to understand the best practices.

Just a decade back, we were used to computers being networked but now that time has come when everything gets networked, and this ‘everything includes your cars, watches, TVs, diabetes calculators, treadmills and even pens. Devices like the Apple iWatch or Google’s FitBit are rising in popularity and more people are allowing themselves to be connected to the internet via these devices. The resultant advantages include convenience, safety, security, analytics driven automation, better monitoring and much more.

From the first internet connected toaster that was invented in 1989, we are aiming a stage where small sensors can go into our body and clean us cancer cells. Today, our devices aren’t just steel and plastic boxes that are wired for functionality but elements that can actually interact with us and each other. Air conditioners of today are capable to gauge the required room temperature and operate themselves. They interact with vehicles and prepare themselves before we are home!

The dilemma of security

As the famous dialogue goes “with great powers come great responsibilities”, the logic is the same with IoT when it comes to security. Along with the numerous benefits of IoT, there still some risk lurking behind. Smart devices give more chance to hackers and cyber criminals and it will again be the job of us humans to use the technology responsibly.

In the coming years IoT will be influencing every industry, from marketing to healthcare, from schools to researches. Here are 10 facts that would showcase the growing importance of IoT in our lives.

1.     ATMs were the first IoT devices to go online

2.     In 2008, we already had more interconnected devices than people in our planet. By 2020, the number of interconnected devices would cross the mark of 50 billion.

3.     Last year, we had nearly 1.4 billion smartphones shipped across the globe and this number is expected to cross 6.1 billion by 2020.

4.     IoT would connect several devices we have in our homes, ranging from smart refrigerators to smart thermostats. To this end, Google has already purchased Nest Labs, the smart thermostats make for a whopping $3.2 billion and Samsung acquired Smart Things, a connected home device manufacturer for $200 million.

5.     By the end of 2020, interconnected vehicles will open up several new possibilities in automated driving and in-vehicle services.

6.     In 2015, the worldwide market of wearable increased by 223%, wherein FitBit shipped over 4.4 million devices while Apple sold 3.6 million of its watches.

7.     We will also get to wear smart clothing by 2020 and this will certainly be an overwhelming advance.

8.     The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) market is currently worth $11.1 billion and in 4 more years would increase to a $21.9 billion market.

9.     By 2024, there would be 27 billion machine to machine connections and China is expected to take a leading share of 21%.

10.  Lastly, we also have rumors of interconnected kitchens that would help the food and beverage industry to save as much as 15% of the current waste.

The above data around Internet of Things sounds pretty interesting for anyone, but this is just a small part of the bigger world we are stepping to.

The last time we checked Statista; there were 1.6 million apps in Google’s Play store while Apple’s score was at 1.5 million available apps. Even if all these apps were free to use (they aren’t) and you could try them before buying, it would be a tough ask for both, you and your phone. So how do you choose the best app in any category? Well, we have some staples like WhatsApp, Skype or Instagram that the world recommends and without a good enough alternative. However, what if you are interested in the best “photography app”, or say, the “best Weather” app? Here’s our take on how to choose the best app under a given category – 

1.     Firstly, the “Top Lists”

Both the Android and iOS app stores have handy charts to help your search for the best app. if you are on an iOS device, search for “Top 25” and you will get to see the current top sellers across categories. Though, top selling apps are by no means the best pick for your needs, this is a good place to start with. The Play Store too has a “Top Chart” helping out new smart phone users.

If you don’t find the relevant app in these “top” lists, it’s time to navigate to the “categories” section. The Play Store has a helpful demarcation of all kinds of categories you would normally seek an app in. find your area of interest and generally, the top users are features ahead in these “categorized” lists.

2.     Reviews

Customer and user reviews are invaluable when looking for an app. at the first glance, anything that has acquired more than 4 stars would be a good app and anything under 3 stars would be worth avoiding. Further, the reviews of users would lead you to the specific advantages and disadvantages that people are enjoying/facing with the app. Browse through all the details to ensure that your device is compatible enough to give you the features you are looking for.

3.     Featured

Featured Listing is another handy place to start your search. Since neither Apple of Google receives payments for these features, the apps in there can be believed to be the best in what they are promising.

4.     Ask around

Well, if you are seeking something niche-specific, it’s also a good idea to ask around. Going back to the start of this article, if you have been looking for the best photography app, it would be helpful to reach out a photography community in Facebook. Your colleagues and friends too can advice on your pick.

The above should do the job, but you should again understand if you really need an app. Apps certainly are the driving features in smart phones but maybe, you don’t need some Afterall. Some apps like Facebook eat up a lot of RAM and if you aren’t going to browse too frequently, it is advisable to look into the mobile version of your Facebook (m.facebook.com) profile when required.

The app stores love to flaunt their size and say that the choices are close to being limitless. But having hundreds of choices will also mean more stress and more complicacy. Choose only the ones you really need to add convenience to your life.