Facebook is the world’s largest social network, and for co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, it has to be more about user experience and less about advertising. Strangely enough, even with this philosophy, Facebook is planning to launch sponsored stories for the mobile version soon. And to not focus on monetization is rather interesting coming from Zuckerberg, considering he is the world’s youngest billionaire with a 25% share in his own company.

Facebook on Mobile

Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Plc, in a statement to Reuters said that "Mark has an evangelical approach to advertising. He sees Facebook as a vehicle to open up communication, not to monetize." The change in Facebook’s attitude to advertising is now showing with even users noticing the changes. The coming of sponsored stories to the regular news feed and now the decision to introduce them on mobile is evidence to the same.

Figures released by Hitwise show us that 9% of website visits in the US are to Facebook. That roughly means one in eleven times that a person opens a website, it is Facebook. It is one of top two websites of all markets in the world, except China, and now has 850 active monthly users. As staggering as the numbers are, with further expansion happening on mobile, the possibilities are endless. So what does the new mobile advertising move spell for Facebook?

Although Facebook does not have a mobile advertising platform of its own as of now, the fact that half of its users access Faceboom through their mobiles means that mobile advertising will have to be different from the browser experience. Reports say that Facebook will begin featuring sponsored stories into users’ mobile news feeds around March 2012. Facebook also confirmed to Reuters that it will not ask any third party agency to build paid apps for the mobile platform.

Mobile advertising will help advertisers reach out to 425 million mobile users of Facebook. However, the company has also spoken about the risk factors that affect it in its S-1 filing, noting the lack of a mobile advertising platform, changing nature of user privacy and data protection laws to be major risk factors involved in mobile advertising.

Sources: 1, 2

You were reading Facebook To Launch Advertisements On Mobile As More And More People Log On - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 12:12 pm (Indian Standard Time)

One can never be too sure when it comes to the World Wide Web and safety is a concern for all parents with kids who frequently use the Internet. This is why the concept of Safer Internet Day, which is today, is of vast importance. The idea of Safer Internet Day started in2004, targeting children and young people who use the Internet a lot more than adults do.

In past years, SID has focused on particular themes for each year, ranging from cyberbullying to social networking. This year the theme is “connecting generations”, which focuses on making the Internet safer for people of all ages – from kids to grandparents.

Safer Internet Day was an initiative by the EU SafeBorders project back in 2004 and now has roughly 70 countries participating in the initiative to make the Internet a safer place for everyone.

Surveys across countries have revealed that 91% of Gen-Y people have admitted to using the Internet in the bathroom as well, allowing communication to happen even in the most private of spaces. With these stats, the need for safer Internet browsing becomes essential, and spread awareness about safe Internet habits is a prime motive behind Safer Internet Days.

But the fact that only 41% people from the so called silent generation have used Internet in the bathroom would make it seem like this generation of people is safer, but turns out that is not always the case.

To promote safe Internet usage, the European Commission started the Safer Internet Programme in 1999, and today with 30 Safer Internet Centers in the Insafe network present in all 27 EU states, the movement towards safer Internet browsing is only growing stronger. These Safer Internet Centers have successful awareness centers complete with a hotline, helpline and youth panel addressing queries of Internet users in these countries.

The theme this year focuses on educating parents about Internet safety as well, so they can protect their kids and answer any question that the latter might have. To participate in Safer Internet Day, log on to saferinternetday.org/web/guest/sid-2012.

Source: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/today_is_safer_internet_day.php

You were reading Safer Internet Day 2012: Making The Web Safer For Kids And Adults Alike - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 11:43 am (Indian Standard Time)

When it comes to referral traffic, everyone knows that Facebook tops the list. And no matter how hard Google may try to compete with it, it never quite will. The massive user base of Facebook, and the amount of data shared from within and in connection with it is enormous. But in cyberspace, startup companies have been known to create havoc. Something similar had been happening with Google, Youtube, Myspace and even LinkedIn in the past months, with a new company called Pinterest overtaking them in terms of referral traffic it has been generating.

Pinterest.com Generates Massive Traffic in just 6 Months

Pinterest has challenged the likes of Twitter as well, and a lot of this could be related to the concept it brings to the users. With Pinterest, people can create pinboards of things they find interesting on the web and those that they wish to share. Besides, sharing via Pinterest enables users to advocate a personal brand, rather than just restricting themselves to sharing over Facebook or Twitter. People can really present themselves in any way that they want.

A Shareaholic study revealed how from being a mere startup on the web, the website became the fourth largest source of traffic for sites in the US, taking everyone by surprise. And this growth in Pinterest traffic happened in just six months. Despite being an invitation only site for now, it’s still growing at a very fast rate.

Facebook still reigns as the top source of traffic according to the same study, generating 26.4% referrals in January. StumbleUpon came next with a share of 5.07%, although its share reduced from 6.5% of last month. Google and Twitter hung close with a 3.62% and 3.61% share of referrals respectively. Then comes Pinterest with 3.60% in January, growing from 2.5% in December 2011 and 0.17% further back in July.

With its current growth rate, Pinterest could well take over Twitter and StumbleUpon as well, seeing how it has already gone ahead of Youtube, Myspace, Reddit, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.

Source

You were reading Pinterest Overtakes Youtube, Google, Myspace; Generates More Traffic In 6 Months - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 11:32 am (Indian Standard Time)

Popular search engine Yahoo is now planning to launch its own publisher ad network in India by partnering with other publisher networks in India to brands and advertisers an exponentially larger target audience and consolidate their inventory for advertising side by side.

A number of sources have confirmed this impending launch by the company, but details of the same remain sketchy. We know for certain that the new network will work on the same concept of niches adopted by other publisher networks to target the correct audience. For instance, glam media is a popular network started by Glam.com which targets women’s websites. The launch of this network by Yahoo is an interesting development especially after the company sold its 35% share in Tyroo bought back in 2007 to Xplorer Capital.

Again, since the exact details are not clear, a definitive picture cannot be drawn about what Yahoo is planning. While an official word from Yahoo is yet to come, reports suggest that the company has been signing up publishers for a while now with their smartads platform that enables advance re-targeting.

Google has a major presence in India when it comes to its ad product solutions including Adsense and Adwords. It will be interesting to see what Google's strategies are after Yahoo! successfully launches this ad network for publishers / bloggers in India.

Nexzenpro, an advertising network that claims to be one of the premium networks shortlisted by Yahoo! India and that its ads will be routed through two networks in India by Yahoo could also not give exact details about this supposed tie-up. What Nexzenpro did say was that their partnership with Yahoo will “help monetize remnant inventory”. However, the specific type of ad campaigns and the nature of the tie-up could not be elaborated on by the Nexzenpro representative. Yahoo India on the other hand has given no official confirmation about the tie-up with this company.

For those who do not know the exact nature of publisher networks of the kind being discussed above, publisher networks are supply-side networks. In simple terms, they first analyze the potential reach and supply of the inventory, and then contact potential advertisers and publishers. Thus, first the supply is aggregated and then a publisher database is built. This is the most dominant form of publisher network in India, although a few demand side networks also exist.

Source

You were reading Yahoo! Publisher Ad Network To Be Launched Soon In India – Competition For Google Adsense? - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 10:58 am (Indian Standard Time)

Much like the unprecedented and accelerated growth of Facebook in India, Google+ is moving at an equally fast pace and gathering numbers. A few rather interesting facts have come out about the social networking venture of Google, with special reference to India in comparison with the rest of the world.

Google Plus in India

One of the first and most curious of facts is about the gender of users on Google+. Globally, the percentage of males on Google+ is a whopping 70%, and in India it is 85.84%. As much as Facebook might like to call its gender ratio ‘healthy’, the figures there aren’t very equal either. Males constitute 73% Facebook users in India, while females are just 27%. In this regard, Google+ needs to ramp up its user base and try and strategize in order to get more female users.

Moreover, an analysis of the popularity of Google+ among Indian states and cities reveals that Maharashtra is the most active Indian region on Google+. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh follow. In terms of most active cities, Delhi tops. Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata come next.

Google+ has a total user base of 12.3 million in India, running very close to LinkedIn. However, when it comes to total number of active users, the numbers don’t match up since a lot of users are celebrities who don’t use their accounts a lot, and users who only follow celebrities but don’t use the network much themselves. In fact, celebrities completely stop updating or posting once their paid contract with the company expires.

Irrespective, the user base is a positive sign for brands aiming to reach out to the younger audience. 42.46% users on Google+ are students and 50.5% are from the age group of 18-24, leading a Facebook like growth pattern for Google+ as well. Other facts which have come out include the marital status stats on Google+.

76.02% users are single and 12.23% are married, while globally the statistics are 43.82% single and 26.74% married. Furthermore, 43.48% are looking for ‘Friends’ while 25.75% are looking for Networking.

Google has been on a paranoid marketing spree to advertise and expand the Google+ user base, including a partnership with Ozone networks for free wifi in select areas in the country. The numbers are increasing as a result, but mere numbers cannot help Google+ compete with the very active Facebook.

Source

You were reading Google+ India Factbook: Delhi Males Use Google+ More, Maharashtra Most Active - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 1:44 am (Indian Standard Time)

Following a court directive asking them to respect religious sensibilities in India, and threatening severe restrictions similar to the ones present in China, Facebook and Google Inc on Monday, removed some content from a few Indian domain websites deeming it to be objectionable according their established mechanisms.

These two along with 19 other companies were asked to develop a screening mechanism to monitor and block questionable content on the web by the Indian Government, after a private petition against them over images which were supposedly offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the country. The petitions and the subsequent crackdown by the government, with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal advocating content screening for Facebook brought the debate of censorship of the Internet in India to the general public.

Google's Republic Day Doodle

The roots of the debate in fact go back to a law that was passed by the Indian state last year making companies, particular websites, responsible for the user content shared on their websites, and asking them to remove questionable content within 36 hours from any complaint.

The companies in question, including Google and Facebook said in a meeting with Sibal last month that it would not be possible for them to monitor content in the way the government wishes it to. Both refused to comment in detail about the content removed on Monday as well. The lower court’s order directed these two to give the steps they had taken to block content in writing, and submit reports in 15 days.

Google, Facebook and Microsoft, all three have a criminal case and a civil case running against them now following two petitions, one by a Hindu petitioner and the other by a Muslim. Microsoft has filed application for rejection of these petitions because they did not state any cause of action on part of Microsoft.

In a population of 1.2 billion, only about a 100 million have access to the Internet in India, but estimates say the number could expand to 300 million in a matter of three years. It already is the third-largest Internet market in the world after China and United States. Furthermore, content in Indian cyberspace has always been largely uncensored, and politicians and the government have raised concerns about offensive content endangering peace in Indian society.

Source

You were reading Facebook And Google Remove Content After Private Petitions In Indian Court - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 1:37 am (Indian Standard Time)

Mumbai-based gaming startup Gamiana has received a huge investment of just under a million dollars from the Indian Angel Network or IAN, providing the company with additional funds to expand their gaming network in India. Gamiana, derived from Games and Ashiana meaning ‘house’, thus literally meaning House of Games, is a unique startup in India offering for multi-player gaming platforms and real-time gaming options.

Gamiana raises funding

Gaming technology has grown a notch higher and Gamiana hopes to build a network on the increased synergy between online gaming, social networking and mobile internet availability. These trends have been witnessed across the globe, and more and more countries are now witnessing a change in the way an average online user plays games.

Following the investment, IAN member Chetan Shah has joined Gamiana as a board member as well. Gamiana being a new company trying to make a mark in the gaming industry could do well with the flow of money, and use it to focus on potential markets that are coming up such as Brazil, Turkey and Philippines. The company is looking to expand its user base, enhance its gaming software for the two existing games – Jamia Online and Vinashi and also bid for more gaming contracts from markets abroad.

Source

You were reading IAN Invests Big In Mumbai Based Startup – Gamiana - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 1:02 am (Indian Standard Time)

Microsoft today revealed the first exclusive list of games which will be available in the preview version of Windows Store for Windows 8 Metro. The public preview of the app store along with the ‘Consumer Preview’ of the Windows 8 OS will be launched in late February, and one can expect some more high profile apps in the store in addition to the gaming apps being offered.

The games which will come out in the preview version will include the very popular Angry Birds, Reckless Racing, Crash Course and even Pinball and Solitaire. The latter two will in fact come pre-installed in the Consumer Preview of the operating system, while others will be available as optional downloads. As has been reported earlier, Microsoft will allow developers to submit free apps to the Windows Store as well as paid ones priced anywhere between $1.49 to $999, with the initial 30% proceeds going to Microsoft.

Along with this much anticipated preview launch, Microsoft is also planning to ramp up power management its new Metro operating system. Details of these new practices have been given on Microsoft’s blog series on Windows 8 development. While a lot of detail has been provided in the latest blog, the company emphasized more on “focus on the foreground” concept it has developed, which is quite similar to the way smartphone apps function, wherein background apps take minimal space and power and are based on a specific set of capabilities.

Microsoft has given a rough working of the three kind of apps which will function in Windows 8 Metro – those which actively run in the foreground, those in a suspended state and those performing a very specific activity.

In the excellent blog post, all three kinds of scenarios have been elaborated upon with examples of real occurrences. One such scenario given is about automatic termination of suspended apps in order to free up memory space, similar to OS X Lion. From the extensive details and lists provided about background processes for Metro apps as well as scenarios such as the one given above, it is quite clear that Microsoft is taking power management a notch higher in the new OS.

Sources: 1, 2

You were reading Microsoft Reveals Windows 8 App Store & Advanced Power Management Features - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 9, 2012 - 12:30 am (Indian Standard Time)

Google has released Chrome browser for Android. After using the app for a while, I have to say that it is absolutely fantastic. The only bad news is that it is available only for phones running Android 4.0 ( Ice Cream Sandwich ).

Let us take a look into the features that Chrome for Android offers with screenshots.

The first thing that you will notice is that, it does not use ICS's dark and blue theme. Perhaps this was an intentional design decision to separate it from the stock ICS browser. Like the stock browser, however, the tabs can be accessed by tapping the icon to the right of the ombibar. Unlike in the stock browser, the number of open tabs are indicated.

This is the tab switching screen in Chrome. Users can move the tabs horizontally in landscape mode and vertically in portrait mode. The tabs switching screen in landscape mode is shown below.

As you might have seen in the previous image, Chrome for Android supports incognito mode. If you use Chrome on the desktop you would know what it does, for those who do not know, it is basically a private mode - no data from this session is saved and the auto-login for websites is disabled.

On the tabs switching screen the incognito tabs are shown under the regular tabs in landscape mode and to the right in portrait mode.

The app has so many subtle animations that are difficult to capture with a screenshot. What the above screenshot shows is how tabs are closed - you simply swipe it to the side, in portrait mode, and up or down, in landscape mode.

So far we have looked at only the UI of the app. However, that is not the best part of Chrome for Android.

Chrome for Android supports Chrome Sync. If you have set up Chrome Sync in your desktop installation of Chrome, you can get all your bookmarks, passwords, frequently visited websites etc. on your Android phone.

This is the bookmarks screen. From here you can access the bookmarks from your desktop as well as those you have made on your phone. In case you are wondering, the icon to the left of the bookmark icon is the frequently opened websites, like the one you see in Chrome. The one to the right is this:

This is the most interesting feature for me on Chrome for Android. It list all the tabs that I have opened on my desktop. This feature eliminates the need for apps like Chrome to Phone. Of course, Chrome Sync needs to be enabled for this to work.

Like Chrome for desktop, Chrome for Android also supports preloading of webpages. What this does is that as soon as you start typing into the omnibar, Chrome determines the most likely content that you want and starts loading the webpage in the background. This results in a much faster page load. If you are on a tight data plan, it would be wise to set preloading to Always.

As I have mentioned before, Chrome for Android is available only for phones running Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich". If your phone does not have ICS yet, you will have to wait for ICS update or for Google to release a non-ICS version. For those who have ICS phones, you can download it from the link below or by scanning the QR code on the right with your phone.

Install Chrome for Android Beta ( Android Market )

You were reading Chrome Browser For Android Released ( Review ) - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 8, 2012 - 1:18 am (Indian Standard Time)

As the title of this article says, Canonical has decided to pull the funding for Kubuntu - the KDE sister distribution of Ubuntu. This news was announced by Jonathan Ridell, the lead and only paid developer of Kubuntu.

This is what Riddell wrote announcing the news:

Today I bring the disappointing news that Canonical will no longer be funding my work on Kubuntu after 12.04. Canonical wants to treat Kubuntu in the same way as the other community flavors such as Edubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu, and support the projects with infrastructure.

As someone who was first exposed to KDE through Kubuntu, this is a sad news. However, Canonical's decision to stop funding Kubuntu did not come out of the blue.

In its seven years of existence, Kubuntu has not seem the kind of success that they had hoped for. Kubuntu is not the best KDE distro around and many KDE fans use advises others to avoid Kubuntu. On the other hand, users who want the Ubuntu base but with a different DE generally choose Xubuntu, which is considered more stable, over Kubuntu.

Moreover, Canonical is now betting heavily on Unity. They pushing for Unity on everything from mobile phones and tablets to TVs. So, there is no place for Kubuntu in Canonical's scheme of things.

This is a rational business decision, Kubuntu has not been a business success after 7 years of trying, and it is unrealistic to expect it to continue to have financial resources put into it.

So, now with the funding from Canonical gone, it is entirely upto the community to keep Kubuntu going. There is no reason why that cannot happen - others like Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Edubuntu are developed entirely by the community.

Another ramification of this decision by Canonical is that Kubuntu 12.04 will be the last Kubuntu release for which users can get paid support.

You were reading Canonical To Stop Funding Kubuntu Development - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 7, 2012 - 4:40 pm (Indian Standard Time)

A lot of blogs across the world are powered by WordPress's free and open-source blogging platform. Among all the plugins and important tools that the WordPress platform provides its users with, WordPress Stats Plugin is one of the heavily used and most downloaded plugins. This plugin is a very simple and fast way to get an overview of your blog's traffic and traffic sources.

Encrypted Search Listings

Off late many users have started seeing this unusual keyword called "encrypted_search_terms" in their WordPress stats dashboard just like we also have been seeing. You can see in the screenshot below. Well, we were initially puzzled that how come such a keyword was showing up as we had no content on our website related to that keyword.

After some search on the web we finally found that Google has started to encrypt its search terms for its users which means whenever an user is searching Google.com for something with Encrypted Search mode ON, then you will not be able to see those keywords that the user searched before landing on to your site / blog.

As per the blog post in which Google announced this new feature, when someone searches from https://encrypted.google.com, websites they visit from the organic search listings will still know that they came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. But, for this webmasters need not worry as they can receive the top 1,000 search queries for their websites from  Google Webmaster Tools.

You were reading What Is “encrypted_search_terms” In Your WordPress (WP) Stats Dashboard? - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 4, 2012 - 10:06 pm (Indian Standard Time)

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook revealed at the Digital Life Design conference held on Tuesday at Munich that Facebook has managed to put in $15.3 billion into the European economy in 2011, and generated approximately 230,000 jobs in Europe. Amidst a financial crisis that lead to the crumble of European economy, the social network has managed to pitch and bring things back on track for the European nations.

Map-Graph of Facebook users in European countries

Sandberg quoted figures from a joint study between Facebook and Deloitte which was also released on Tuesday, and with this she also announced the launch of “Ad Boost”, a new program to help small businesses in Europe. Under this, Facebook will give 100 Euros in credit to businesses to market themselves on Facebook, working with local partners for the same.

Citing examples of recent successes businesses have had by online marketing through Facebook, Sandberg mentioned Spotify’s growth and success, which gained 7 million users after its US launch and now has more nearly 2.5 million paid customers.

She also spoke about the way big brands have benefitted through Facebook. “The distance between one person and one million, for a brand, is just four steps on Facebook,” said Sandberg. She cited the success of Burberry as an example, which launched its “Body” fragrance on Facebook and used the social network to send out 2000 samples of the product in two weeks. Moreover, these samples reached those people who really wanted them. These twin benefits prompted Burberry to invest more in online marketing, giving most online dollars to Facebook.

Highlighting the power of social media today, Sandberg also said how information sharing on Facebook is nothing short of a revolution happening at a word of mouth scale, empowering users by giving them an authentic identity, shifting focus to the wisdom of people and making people the broadcasters instead of receivers of information.

With growth happening at such an unprecedented scale, Facebook has truly reached revolutionary standards of global connectivity, bringing people and businesses closer with every click.

via, image

You were reading Facebook Generates 230,000 Jobs In Europe; Adds $15.3 Billion To European Economy - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 4, 2012 - 12:11 pm (Indian Standard Time)

One of the most unique concepts India has witnessed in the field of food and dining has come in the form of MunchWithUs, India’s largest social dining network, which aims to make dining more than just a culinary experience, but also include the element of socialization and fun while meeting new people.

Munchwithus.com - Dine, Have lunch with like minded people

MunchWithUs builds on the idea of forming new friendships over food while you dine at your favorite restaurants around town. The company uses something called MunchWithUs Social Meals to connect people in the real world. It’s also very simple a process, making the pre-dining booking and other planning easier for the diner.

All one needs to do is browse for people one wants to dine with by having a look at their profiles, and select the restaurant of one’s choice. Once this is done, you need to reserve your seat for the meal by adding money in your MunchWithUs Wallet through a CCAvenue payment gateway. After your money has been added, since the payment has been made, one just needs to print their meal pass and enjoy the meal while socializing.

A quick look at the MunchWithUs website gives enough details about what the service is about and what one can expect from it. For the founders, the constant need to meet new people in their lives in a more conducive and less awkward environment prompted
the idea for MunchWithUs.

“We created MunchWithUs to expand our offline connections and meet new people. We thought it'd be much more fun to bond at the best restaurants in your city for a discounted price. And so MunchWithUs was born,” the website, reads.

The passes for meals with MunchWithUs are fully transferrable, enabling people to give a pass to someone else if they can’t make it to the meal. Cancellations are strongly discouraged by the company, and so are late arrivals. The service is currently available only in Bangalore and Gurgaon and they’re looking to expand into more cities.

A rather interesting addition to the entire dining experience is the Meal Etiquette rulebook brought out by the company. Do check out this service at www.munchwithus.com.

You were reading MunchWithUs Brings Social Networking To The Food Lover - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 4, 2012 - 11:59 am (Indian Standard Time)

One of the bigger DVD rental services in India along with Reliance’s BIG FLIX, Seventymm.com has now decided to move into the  e-commerce trade, and will soon be shutting down its rental business. This shift can be explained owing to the strong potential of e-commerce in India. Seventymm had reportedly raised Rs. 50 crores from NEA-IUV in Series C, but ventured into e-commerce back in 2008 itself.

seventymm.com dvd rental

The business model of the company seems to have shifted in a rather curious fashion, although the scope for a DVD rental business seems dim in India now, considering that very few companies have ventured into it, and even with the biggest names behind them, they weren’t able to give full consumer satisfaction. Seventymm is currently informing all its customers via telephone about the shutdown and also giving away vouchers for the new e-store.

Reliance Digital Entertainment’s BIG FLIX also phased out its DVD rental business a while back and moved to streaming Bollywood Movie-on-Demand service. The service quality offered by both Seventymm and BIG FLIX was not upto the mark according to many customers, with condition of DVDs being a common complaint.

Seventymm opted for the easier way out it seems, since having already forayed into e-commerce, keeping the rental business “didn’t make sense”. The original business model for most online rental sites was taken from Netflix, however the lack of a larger audience in India, coupled with the fact that the model was unfit for India, and that the execution of the service was not good enough, might have lead to this ultimate transition.

via

You were reading Seventymm.com To Shut Down DVD Rental Business; Moves To E-Commerce - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 4, 2012 - 11:50 am (Indian Standard Time)

iOS fans generally maintains that the iOS apps apps are better than the Android apps. However, according to a study by Crittercism, that may not be entirely correct. Crittercism's study reveals that iOS apps crash more frequently compared to the Android apps. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules to determine which app is better - but the crash rate is one indication.

Crittercism's data came from 23 versions of iOS and 33 versions of Android. Their result is very surprising to say the least. Take a look yourself:

According to the graph above, around 80% of the crashes that Crittercism has tracked are from iOS apps. iOS 5 alone accounts for more than a quarter of the crashes.

80% is a staggering amount, but it does not tell the actual story. Crittercism tracks three times as many iOS apps as the number of Android apps. So, it makes sense that the number of iOS crashes they have tracked is far more than that of Android.

A clearer picture of the crash rates can, therefore, be seen if the crashes are represented as percentage of crash per app launch. This removes the discrepancy due to the greater number of iOS apps.

Here is the graph, with apps divided by their popularity.

What this graph shows is that in the top ¼ apps on each platforms, Android apps crash 0.15% times per app launched while iOS apps crash 0.51%. The same trend continues for the 2nd and 3rd quartile as well, the iOS apps crash more often than the Android apps - the margin though gets closer.

So, clearly iOS apps crash more frequently compared to Android apps. Without taking into account the development process in each platform, there could be two reasons for this.

In the iTunes App Store, it takes more time for developer to push out updates. So, if a problem is spotted the fix takes more time to reach the users. In the Android Market, that is not the case. Developers can push out updates as soon as they have fixed the problem. The Android Market also supports auto update of apps, which helps keep the apps updated.

A second reason for Android's lower crash rate could be simply because of the fact that there is only one phone that runs the latest version of Android - Android 4.0. Most of the Android phones are still on Android 2.3 or 2.2. In the case of iPhones, however, a very sizable number of them are running the latest iOS5.

However, such argument can be turned against iOS too. It can be argued that while iOS apps targets only a handful of devices, Android apps have to run on hundreds of different devices - each with different hardware and software. So, even if a majority of the iPhones are on iOS5, the developers have to make sure that their apps runs only only two devices.

For now, however, the data says that iOS apps crash more often than Android apps. It will be interesting to see this comparison in a few months after Android 4.0 gets on more phone.

via Forbes

You were reading Study: iOS Apps Crash More Frequently Than Android Apps - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 3, 2012 - 3:20 pm (Indian Standard Time)

With the majority of the smartphone market share owned by Android and iOS, Microsoft has been having a difficult time with Windows Phone 7. The platform simply has not been able to make any dent into Android and iOS's dominance. According to the leak by PocketNow, Microsoft is bringing tighter integration between its desktop OS, Windows 8, and the mobile OS, Windows Phone 8.

Let us take a look at the features that are expected in Windows Phone 8 based on the leak.

Windows 8

Windows Phone 8 will be a drastic change from Windows Phone 7 on the inside. Windows Phone 8 will share many features with Windows 8. Unlike Windows Phone 7 which was based on Windows CE kernel, Windows Phone 8 will have the same kernel used in Windows 8. Other areas that the two platforms will share include the network stack, multimedia, security, graphics etc.

Apps

According to Thurrot, despite the changes apps for Windows Phone 7.5 will be compatible with Windows Phone 8. Microsoft believes that the Windows Phone ecosystem will have 100,000 apps by the time Windows Phone 8 is released. They are also reportedly adding native code support. This should make it easier for iOS and Android developers to port their apps to Microsoft's platform.

The result of Microsoft's acquisition of Skype will also be seen in Windows Phone 8. Skype will still remain a separate app but it will have better integration into the OS. Microsoft is also doing away with the Zune syncing software in favor of a new one.

Another app that Microsoft is reportedly excited about is a new camera app called lens.

Hardware

The lack of choice has been one major problem with the Windows Phone platform now. With the exception of the Nokia Lumia 900, most of the other Windows Phone devices on the market right now are all basically the same.

With Windows Phone 8, Microsoft will offer more choice in terms of hardware. Multi-core processors will finally be supported and 4 more screen resolutions will be available. Interestingly, there are also mentions of more form factors.

Windows Phone 8 will also have NFC capabilities. Users will be able to make payments etc. using their device.

Security

Windows Phone 8 will have many security features found in its desktop counterpart. The OS will support full-device, hardware accelerated encryption with BitLocker and always-on Secure Boot capabilities. Microsoft is aiming at the enterprise market with these security features. Everyday users hardly uses such feature.

You were reading Windows Phone 8 Features Leaked - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 3, 2012 - 3:19 am (Indian Standard Time)

Looks like the American e-commerce hot shot Amazon.com has finally forayed its way into the Indian territory by launching its new website Junglee.com. The name might sound a bit weird going with Amazon but that's how it has been. Surprisingly this new portal from Amazon for India is not an e-commerce platform at all. It is rather a website that showcases products from other existing e-commerce portals and stores in India.

Junglee.com - Amazon's India Avatar

From the Junglee website:

Junglee is an online shopping service by Amazon which enables customers to find and discover products from online and offline retailers in India and from Amazon.com. Junglee organizes massive selection and multiple buying options from hundreds of sellers, and leverages Amazon’s proven technologies and millions of customer reviews to help customers make smart purchase decisions.

Well, for Indian consumers this means that they wont be able to directly make any purchases on the Amazon India website, instead they can only use the website to find and discover new products and then buy these products from the e-commerce portal or the store from where these have been sourced. Check this screenshot below for instance:

Flipkart not included in the Product sources listings of Amazon India

The screenshot above shows a book on the site (link) and as expected Flipkart is not listed as one of the vendors of the book, although Flipkart is selling the same book already. Another thing which we noticed is that Amazon is calling the categories of products as departments which is a bit unusual! Apart from this, the company also plans to hire in order to expand its operations in India.

Looking at their job contact e-mail address " junglee-makehistory@amazon.com" gives us a feel that Amazon is desparately looking to make a dent in the Indian e-commerce space, but we have a feeling that they are late as Flipkart has already kickstarted the e-commerce revolution in India. Whatever it is only time will tell, whether or not Amazon gets to be the biggest shopping portal in India.

Thanks Sai for the tip

You were reading Amazon Launches As Junglee.com In India – But NOT As An Online Store - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 2, 2012 - 1:07 pm (Indian Standard Time)

A new app called Sentinel is being launched by start-up company MindHelix Technologies LLP which seeks to improve women’s security especially in cities. The app can be used to send alerts to family and friends by the woman in a situation of distress. The alerts are sent on pre-configured numbers and email addresses and even works if the person’s phone is switched off. The app can be run on most smartphones available in the market today.

Link to app: market.android.com/details?id=com.mindhelix.sentinel

Recognizing how important the issue of women’s security has become in urban India, especially in the big metros, an app like this can help women inform their near and dear ones in times of danger. “Set to work in multiple scenarios including forced switch off of the mobile phone, improper exit and as it is for women in cities it can also trigger alert on signal loss for considerable time,” quotes the Sentinel website. Since the fact that smarthphone usage is on a high among professional women makes the viability of the app even more clear.

Sentinel Mobile App for Security of Women

The app is available on a variety of platforms including Java, Symbian, BlackBerry, Android, Bada and Apple. It can be downloaded from www.sentinel.mindhelix.com . It requires an active internet connection and GPS on the phone which is required to locate the person.

The app could however show some functionality hiccups if the internet connection is not working properly on the phone. But in terms of features, the simple click of a button sends the alerts to the configured numbers or in situations where the phone is switched off without exiting the application.

With alerts like last known location, direction of travel, mode of transport last used such as bus or car and the vehicle number available, this app could sure be a great help for women in cities.

You were reading Sentinel: Mobile App Aimed At Women’s Safety In Cities - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 2, 2012 - 2:57 am (Indian Standard Time)

A new app called Cyfe is now seeking to simplify business management and monitoring, by decreasing the time taken on compiling progress reports and helping companies pool in their resources to keep track of everything from one single page which they call the all-in-one business dashboard.

Multiple Dashboards on Cyfe

The basic idea behind Cyfe is that when businesses spend 80% of their time collecting data and creating reports, there needs to be a way of making the process easier. With its free basic services, Cyfe lets businesses monitor all their vital data from one location in real-time. With the Cyfe dashboard, all business metrics are available for view, essentially the dashboard gives a glimpse of your entire business without making you go through the hassles of downloading software, installing and setting up.

The service has excellent widgets to offer which are used by almost all businesses, such as Facebook, Twitter, Feedburner, Pingdom etc. and stats from all these are displayed in the dashboard. And it’s not just one dashboard we’re talking about. Businesses can in fact use multiple dashboards to monitor data from individual departments and websites that they might have.

Apart from the pre-built connections in the form of widgets, custom data sources are also available to extract data from the company’s internal databases. And not just this, dashboards can be shared with employees, customers and anybody else on the web.

Cyfe does have paid plans as well for those who require more than 5 widgets. The Free Plan is available for immediate sign up on the Cyfe website, but the Basic, Standard and Pro Plans are priced at $9, $29 and $49 respectively. And they offer 20, 50 and 100 widgets to subscribers.

For smaller businesses, the Free and Basic plans can work very well since 20 widgets are more than enough for them to monitor data. The Pro Plan is best for the large businesses with a bigger outreach and multiple departments to take care of. And compared to the quality of service offered by Cyfe, the plans are quite decently priced.

The service is available on www.cyfe.com and a quick look through the website reveals that the service is more than just business dashboards. Even websites can use Cyfe to monitor marketing and other metrics and so can agencies. Basically, Cyfe is perfect for anyone who is serving a respectable consumer audience and does in fact need reports to keep track of the business. Businesses, small or big must definitely give this web service a try.

You were reading Cyfe Makes Web Stats Monitoring For Businesses Easy With All-in-one Web Dashboard - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 2, 2012 - 1:31 am (Indian Standard Time)

The Mozilla Firefox version 10 is soon going to be out in beta, with new features which build on the latest Web standards such as CSS3, HTML5 and others. The new changes being brought out by Mozilla are all geared towards competing with Google Chrome, and work to enhance the user experience from beneath than from the surface of the browser.

Firefox 10

Download Links: Linux | Windows | Mac OS X

Full screen API support for Web apps, better plugin management and CSS 3D transform support are just some of the major enhancements in the version. Apart from these, other new features include anti-aliasing for WebGL, a forward button that is hidden unless you navigate to it, new CSS style inspector and many more developer oriented changes.

Firefox has faced some very tough competition from Chrome, the latter dethroning the former from the second place as the most used browser. Apart from fastening its release cycle, Mozilla has taken Pete Scanlon on board who was formerly the marketing manager for Google.

However, of the many known issues with Firefox, majority of them still remain unresolved apart from the fact that Firefox notifications can now work with Growl 1.3 or later.

The new version release also has the new Firefox Extended Support Release version, which addresses concerns among the IT community regarding the browser’s rapid release cycle, something that IT managers find quite challenging.

Even though Firefox does not have much of a presence on mobile right now, the new version also has certain mobile enhancements, especially the Firefox Sync which allows a user to sync browser data such as bookmarks across different devices. It’s market share in mobile is not anything significant yet, even though it has a browser for Android. It hasn’t made any mark in iOS yet.

Firefox has been coming out with new versions and updates quite frequently, but still has a long way to go when it comes to incorporating certain features which are already there in Chrome and even Safari and Opera.

Source: 1, 2

You were reading Mozilla Firefox 10 Is Here With All New Features - originally published on Digitizor.com on February 1, 2012 - 11:29 am (Indian Standard Time)