Apple recently announced an update for its OS X. The updated OS will be called OS X El Capitan and is expected to provide a richer experience than its previous version of OS X (Yosemite). The first improvement that the company has promised with this update is speed. It claims to reduce app switching times to half of what they are now, and apps will open up 40 % quicker than in Yosemite.

Here’s a detailed insight:

Split View

The most notable change is the addition of split view. This is the first time Mac OS X has been equipped with this feature. Till now, Windows and Android had an upper hand with its split screen feature that lets you operate two apps simultaneously. You can now do the same on your Mac PC and also decide the amount of screen space the two apps share. This feature will be really helpful for people who work on certain projects that require you to note down certain points from the browser.

New Graphic Tech

Apple has opted for a new graphics technology and has named it Metal. It lets the apps connect with the graphics unit directly, which gives better rendering and seamless animations. Gaming enthusiasts and people relying on other heavy graphics app will love this feature as it gets the system to process functions quicker than the previous version.

Browser

Safari browser gets ample visual and technical changes. The company has introduced atab-pinning feature that is similar to the one on Google Chrome, and it will notify you about tabs with automatic audio playback.

Maps

“Public Transit” feature has been added in maps but is limited to select metropolitan cities only. It calculates time consumed by public transport vehicles to travel from point A to B and the transit also includes trains.

Font

El Capitan has been equipped with a new font system named “San Francisco”. The system is similar to that of Apple watch, and a new Chinese system has been added to it.

Spotlight

This has also received a major overhaul from the company. You can now include stock updates, weather and sports updates in the spotlight. Apple now also lets you resize it, but the major drawback is the absence of Siri on it.

Notes

The app has received an upgrade in the form of flexibility. You can now easily drag photos, videos and other files in the app along with the option to create a checklist. Notes app has been made similar to the one on iOS 9. Also, you can store all your data on Notes through iCloud.

Mail

You can simultaneously interact with two mailing addresses. It also gives you the option to add a contact by simply clicking on the Add button. Drag and drop feature has also been introduced which will save you from the cumbersome copy paste routine.

Do let us know which is your favorite OS update amongst these.

Ask people what they want to do, and most of them will end up using terms like ‘business’, ‘start-ups’, ‘entrepreneur’, etc. So, what exactly is required to have a profitable business, an idea? True, but just an idea isn’t sufficient. There’s a lot more that is essential including effective outreach methodologies, publicity and revenues for the organization to survive in the competitive world.

With the growing popularity of smartphones, many companies have started investing in mobile advertising by creating mobile application software (app). This technique, without a doubt, makes the app visible to a wider audience, but visibility doesn’t guarantee returns; ‘download’ is the keyword. Interestingly, only 2% of the app developers claim 54% of all app revenues. Today, we look at6smart app monetization techniques to ensure that the app remains a profitable product for your agency

1. In-app Advertising

In this kind of app monetization model, the download happens for free. The goal, here, is to create large user database, after which the information gets sorted, and app publishers pay the developer to publish targeted ads. This technique is widely used because, well, who doesn’t like things for free.

2. Freemium

This android app monetization technique offers the customer to ‘use and try’ services before selling. There’s no download cost, however, only limited features are provided on download, i.e. some features are gated. The aim is to accumulate and engage app users until they are convinced to pay for the upgrade and enjoy all features.

3. In-app purchase

The in-app purchase monetization method works like a super-market where many companies showcase their products and on any physical or virtual goods purchase, some percentage of profit is given to the app developer. The catch remains in the fact that the users save a lot of their time and easily get what they want.

4. Paid Apps

This android app monetization technique generates direct income from the user. In order to download the app, the user needs to pay the mentioned amount. However, with this technique, it is essential that the entire app experience is creatively designed to arouse the interest of people and compel them into purchasing.

5. Paywalls (Subscriptions)

Paywall is similar to the freemium model, however, here, instead of the features, the content is gated. The users are allowed to see predetermined amount of content and need to pay to get full access over the information. This iOS app monetization method allows the user to not just ‘judge the book by its cover’, but also experiment with it.

6. App Promotion and localization

App Promotion refers to using various social interfaces as a platform to sell the app, whereas localization refers to extending the app’s reach across borders and monetize international traffic by offering region-specific content. This iOS app monetization technique is rather indirect but very useful, as you can either increase the cost or the customers.

The above techniques are one of the many ways to survive in the mobile advertising world; an app developer can actually customize and use a combination of them to create a successful business. Now, that’s what we call more than just an ‘idea’!

As the world of smart devices continue to unfold and reveal layers of astonishing benefits, businessmen and executives are turning to maximize their use of these devices to boost workplace productivity. Apple too has integrated these devices with hardware and software that makes it a highly capable tool to assist both work and living. However, it needs to be supported by special apps that meet unique requirements of the business class mass. Here are 5 iPad apps that businessmen across the globe are using every day on their iPads to improve productivity.

1. OfficeTime

Perfect for freelancers and self-employed professionals, OfficeTime will help keep track of the time you have put in professional responsibilities and generate an invoice for the same. A time management solution, this has been helping professionals who bill clients by the hours they put into the project weekly or monthly. You can even use this app to allocate time slots to different projects every day. Keeping track of your time will not just be a professional requirement but also reason your earnings.

2. Pixelmator

Everyone loves to take good photos. Even if you aren’t a serious photographer, you can use Pixelmator to makes your snaps say a story. The app comes integrated with dozens of beautiful templates, frames, typography and other features to add to the images you click. Further, you can even combine images, add text, shapes and use several image editing tools that were limited to Photoshop. For the business user, this can be a valuable part of presentations.

3. Evernote

This app lets you take notes on the go, Evernote has been around in the iOS marketplace for a long time now. A fully-featured solution, the app makes it easier to enter text and will even capture information by taking images with your device camera. In fact, several other productivity apps integrate with Evernote to save content. All the documents gets automatically synced with attached devices and it is being used by professionals globally to create meeting agendas, organize invoices (after taking a picture), and even prepare travel itineraries.

4. Goodreader

Office work isn’t complete without going through some documents every day. It would be great if you can take your documents to mobile and read them at your own convenience. This is exactly what the Goodreader aims to offer. Popular as the best PDF Reader available for iPads, Goodreader even allows you to edit and use full markup capabilities. Users can even use this app to attach comments to specific lines/paragraphs of documents, add text/pictures, rearrange text, extract and conveniently email the same on the go.

5. OneNote

Developed by Microsoft, OneNote is one the best iPad apps ever developed and allows users to create notes on the go. Whatever industry you may belong to, ideas always keep running in and you need to take every opportunity to jot them down for later. OneNote doesn’t just allow you to take notes on the go but also sync the same with your computer and other attached devices. You can even do all kinds of text formatting including bold, highlighting, underlining, indenting and change font colors.

No matter what experts say about the pricing and features of the watch, Apple has still managed to sell an impressive 3 million units during April-June, 2015. During its launch, Tim Cook had revealed that there are 3,500 Apple Watch apps available, but now that number has jumped up to 8,500, which is definitely a steep progress towards its march to match iPhone’s 1.5+ million apps.

Apple Watch received mixed reactions during its launch, and inspite of the price of at least USD 549, the cost of the basic version, there were loyal buyers clamouring for it. This bodes well for Apple Watch app devleopers who wish to learn from the first wave of app development that showed the below experiences.

Positives

The product was launched just 3 months ago and is still in its early stages of development, therefore, 8,500 apps do not sound bad at all. Plus there are a plethora of weather apps and basic entertainment apps like Shazam and TuneIN Radio that are currently available for the smart watch. Here are a few positive experiences –

• Apple has managed to get a few games for the watch. But, the games are limited to quizzes and trivia only because the small screen of the device prevents it from hosting full-fledged games.
• The presence of Twitter and E-mail is a boost for the Apple watch as people are expecting more and more apps in the social networking circle. We can soon witness the launch of the Facebook app for the watch as the company has promised to develop one soon.
• In terms of travel, you get apps like TripAdvisor and Yelp which inform you about the famous places around your location. While these two are third-party apps, Apple’s own “Find Near Me” is great for searching restaurants, banks, bars, etc. The app can also be used through Siri.
• Many parties are contributing towards Apple watch app development and thereby, the watch does not lack in sports related apps too. Onefootball is one of the most popular apps in terms of sports. It gives live updates on matches of your favourite team and notifies when there is a change in scores.
• The watch can perform basic calculation through various apps exclusively available for it. There are some Apple Watch apps available which store passwords for various social networking websites and e-mail service providers.

Negatives

There are a few negatives of the watch that Apple needs to look into, to give its users a better experience.

• The biggest flaw is that you cannot reply to e-mails. You can view it, but you cannot respond to it. This is a strange thing as Apple could have easily provided a Siri assisted input system for e-mail.
• Though it has apps in almost every category, it lacks in variety. The company should make sure that Apple Watch app development is in the right direction if it wants to floor Android based smart watches.

With these experiences, Apple Watch looks to have created a new tech frontier which promises to evolve for the better in the future.

Apple announced the grand and brand new iOS9 at the Worldwide Developers Conference on 8^th of June at San Francisco. As we have experienced earlier, Apple has always dropped support for older version whenever a new OS version launch is made. This time however, iOS8 users will be able to upgrade to iOS9 at zero cost. The public beta version (also a first for Apple) will launch in July but Apple is already ecstatic about the fall launch and consequently, we would like to know about the new iOS9 experience. Here are some of the lesser known features that users can expect.

1.       Search feature in settings

For someone not quite conversant with the hardware and software features of their phone, a search setting has been long denied under the settings tab. With iOS9, if you know what to change/modify, you can directly access the same from the search bar.

2.       Siri speaks and listens everything

Siri allowed users to communicate with their devices in several dialects and multiple accents. However, until iOS 8, choosing to listen to British Siri also meant that the phone was tuned to understand only British voice commands. IOS9 changes that and language input and voice will be two separate functionalities. You may talk in an Indian accent and receive response in a Brit tone.

3.       Siri doesn’t work with a silent ringer

If you want Siri to shut down when you have silenced your device, iOS9 adds an option. Especially in a crowded area, Siri can now communicate using text messages.

4.       Low power mode

Smartphones consume a lot of battery. However iOS9 has an answer in the form of Low Power Mode where the device will turn off background effects, animated wallpapers, disable app refresh to give you extra hours of usage.

5.       No more “Is my Shift key on?”

This had been bothering all Apple users since long. However, iOS9 introduces optional lower case keys that doesn’t require Shift key anymore.

6.       Keyboard shortcuts

If you had been using an external keyboard with your iPad, you’ll soon be able to do more. Apple introduces several new keyboard shortcuts. A good example would be the Command + Tab to switch between active apps.

7.       Introducing an iCloud Drive app

A long awaited feature, iCloud will now be available as a physical app. After you have installed iOS9, just go to the iCloud Settings and enable the option.

8.       Easier to move out from Android

Apple introduces “Move to iOS” app for users who are planning to switch from their Android devices to iPhones. The app expedites the data transfer to a great extent and also does a clean job.

9.       Six digit pass code

As opposed to a four digit pass code until iOS 8, iOS9 will ask for a 6 digit alternative to enhance the security.

10.   Have your devices organized for separate functionalities

Many Apple users have complained about receiving phone calls on their iPad rather than their iPhone. Similarly, text messages on the Mac are irritating. Thankfully, iOS9 introduces granular control that will help you manage your devices and their preferred functionalities.