Tag Archives: Apps
Web app manifests usher new wave of progressive apps to your homescreen
November 3, 2015, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue
One can’t deny the irresistible convenience of using a homescreen launcher icon to fire up a web app. Variously referred to as a bookmark icon, shortcut, or homepage icon, why shouldn’t such an icon be able to launch a web page, as well as a native app? And of course it can: this functionality has been available in Android and iOS for years. Indeed, the notion of a desktop shortcut has been around since the first GUI interfaces were developed. So why are we still talking about them in 2015?... Read More
Webviews and User-Agent strings
April 13, 2015, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue
Much is made of the comparative times spent browsing the web vs engaging with native apps in the apps vs web debate. An often overlooked part of the discussion is that when engaged with a native app some portion of this time is spent actually on the web, via a webview. We'll get to what a webview is in a minute, but for now, what this means is that although the user is in an app, he or she is effectively browsing the web... Read More
App deep linking: Do we really need Facebook App Links and similar services
January 22, 2015, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue
It seems odd that in 2015 we must address ourselves to the problem of linking resources across a network, but in the version of 2015 we're lumbered with, we live in an appified world, so address ourselves we must. While linking has formed the backbone of the web since the demise of Compuserve and AOL's walled gardens in the mid-nineties, the apps that populate our smartphone home screens are about as interlinked as Compuserve's forums in the early 1990s; which is to say, not very interlinked at all... Read More
Getting Started with Pebble Development
July 2, 2014, by weimenglee
Pebble is a smartwatch developed by Pebble Technology Corporation. It is one of the most successful Kickstarter projects to-date and has received significant successes with consumers. The Pebble watch itself comes with a black-and-white e-paper display, and includes several sensors such as magnetometer, ambient light sensor, and an accelerometer... Read More
28 percent of the top 100 apps still dont have a privacy policy
August 20, 2013, by mobiThinking
Research from the mobile association MEF highlights the need for app publishers to take user privacy more seriously to improve consumer trust in apps. Analysis of the top 100 free mobile apps available from the Apple App Store and Google Play reveals lack of privacy policy before download (45 percent), lack of privacy policy within app (68 percent) or failure to provide any privacy policy at all (28 percent)... Read More
