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Visual Portrait of The Evolution of Mobile Phones – Infographic

Mobile phones have come a long way since the first call was made by Motorola executive Martin Cooper in 1973. Back then, mobile phones were heavy devices with little battery power and a hefty price tag. This meant that these devices were a status symbol of the affluent elite who could afford to spend the $1000 on these luxury devices. Those clunky, expensive and inconvenient machines have transformed over the years into the sleek companions we treasure today.

From flip phones to the beloved Nokias of the 1990s, mobile phones have completely changed over the years: their only function back in 1973 was making calls, and now communication technology has become so advanced that we don’t need to use them for actual phone calls all that often. With the widespread infatuation with iPhone and Apple branding, we have incorporated mobile devices into our everyday existence to complete tasks like ordering food, checking our bank accounts, taking high-quality photographs and interacting with friends on social media. So where do we go from here? With new innovations, mobile phones are poised to become more resistant, flexible and water-resistant. Models such as the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S5, which have just been introduced to the market, are ushering in a new trend of waterproof technology – one of the biggest downsides to smartphones up until now.

What will be next? What will the smartphones of the future look like? Sensor technology, gesture recognition, augmented reality – these are all buzzwords surrounding current mobile development and it is likely that we will see more of that very soon.

Want to know more about this fascinating story of technology, discovery and innovation? This infographic, created by flexible technology company FlexEnable, takes you on a journey from the beginning of the mobile revolution into the future.

Visual portrait of The Evolution of Mobile Phones infographic

This infographic is courtesy of Flexenable, presided by Indro Mukerjee – a leading producer in flexible electronics technology.

 

5 Awesome Futuristic Gadgets Which Could Change the World

It does not matter if you own a company that has been in business for a while or you are about to start a new one, you should always tend to invest in something innovative, to help you and your employees with work. That innovation does not always have to be something directly related to work, but it can also be something that can improve the working atmosphere, and even affect private life, positively, of course.

Energous WattUp

WattUp future gadgets

Energous WattUp is definitely something worth considering. It is a device that can wirelessly, using Bluetooth, charge up devices like phones, tablets and many more, within 15 foot range. What is even more interesting is that WattUp prioritizes items that are lowest on battery power. The downside of this is that it cannot be used on gadgets we already have, but has to have preinstalled WattUp technology.

Tesla Powerwall

tesla powerwall

Powerwall is very useful technology in many ways. What Powerwall does is it simply charges up electricity from solar panels, or when utility rates are low, and powers your office. It is compact and very simple to install. It is so great because it offers independence from utility grid, so even if something happens and comes to power blackout, your work can continue uninterrupted.

Gaming room

You really need one, if you don’t already have it. Everyone can have a bad day, and sometimes the work itself can be overwhelming and frustrating. When that happens and you have a gaming room, you can focus your energy to something like table tennis, squash or computer gaming, and take your mind off of work for a while, so you can relax and refresh. Quite affordable and yet powerful gaming laptops will give your employees an opportunity to enjoy latest games on a mobile device. Even girls love to throw a round or two of Angry birds!

Anti-hack device

Anti-hack device

Everything that once comes online is a potential target for hackers. Since almost every business relies on internet nowadays, data can never be protected enough. Device like Bitdefender Box is something definitely worth of consideration. Basically what it does is that it acts like a firewall for all devices that are connected to your network. Just connect it to your Wi-Fi and it is ready for work.

SnapPower chargers

snap power

Every person has a tablet or a smartphone nowadays, which have, as we all know it, pretty short battery span, especially if those are sporting one of those power-eating apps. You probably have a lot of gadgets and devices in your office that need power to work, and sometimes you just don’t have enough outlets for everything, especially for phones. SnapPower charger has regular outlets, but what makes it special is that it has an USB plug on the side, so you can charge up your device and still have two outlets available.

These are just some of devices that you can install in order to ease work for your employees and yourself. There are numerous other gadgets you can find like smart cameras, external USB ports and many more. Figure out what can have the best use for your line of work and don’t hesitate to invest, because easier and healthy work atmosphere certainly results with better productivity.

About the Author:

Logan R. Grayson has been keeping up with the latest developments in marketing, online writing and tech trends in general for several years. His work at Technivorz dot com leaves him a bit of spare time, which he enjoys spending reading comics and walking his dog, Speck. You can also find him on Twitter,Google+ and Facebook.

 

5 Things You Didn’t Know a 3D Printer Could Do

It’s overwhelming to discover the capability of a 3D printer, and most cannot fully comprehend the extent of its power. The process of 3D printing is very particular. To put it simply, it involves taking a digital blueprint designed in a specific software and is then printed in successive layers from bottom to top.

It had created hype worldwide and soon, advancements to the 3D printing technology surfaced. You might have seen a video or two of wacky inventions and awesome stuff created through 3d printers and wondered yourself about the untapped possibilities of having such a cool device.

Here are only some of the things you probably didn’t know, or can’t believe, a 3D printer could create:

 

  1. Organs

3d printing organs

According to The Future of Things, scientists and researchers have become successful in printing kidney cells, cardiac tissue, and the foundations of a human liver. However, bioprinting is still light years away from yielding whole organs available for transplant.

 

  1. Chocolate

3d printing chocolate

No one can resist chocolate. Not even scientists. Researchers at Exeter University developed the world’s first 3D chocolate printer back in 2011 and took the world by storm. And in recent news, 3D Systems had partnered with The Hershey Company to unveil a 3D Chocolate Candy Printing exhibit at Hershey’s Chocolate World with their machine called the CocoJet. It has yet to be released commercially, so you can keep on dreaming of owning one.

 

  1. Rubber balloons

3 printing balloon

Yes, you read that right. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Disney Research from Switzerland have managed to turn a digital 3D model into a deflated balloon so that when it’s inflated, it looks exactly like the digital model. The researchers had successfully designed an elephant, a rabbit, and Mickey Mouse’s head. Great news for those afraid of clowns!

 

  1. Clothes

3d printing dress

Electroloom has changed the fashion industry by building the first 3D fabric printer. Now, researchers and designers everywhere have begun printing garments from dresses to swimsuits. With this, you won’t ever need to worry about getting a fashion emergency. Be liberal with your printing if you’re a woman though, or you’ll end up with a very skimpy version of your already skimpy bikini. Just saying.

 

  1. Food

3d printing food

What you think wouldn’t be possible became possible. Researchers have designed 3D printers specifically for the benefit of the elderly with difficulties in swallowing. The printers use a gelling agent so that printed food items are soft when it has been taken a bite out of.

You might not agree to this, but 3d printers are slowly (and surely) changing the way we live and it’s only a matter of time when it completely propels us into a new era. Do you know where to purchase the right 3d printer to kick start your own projects or use with business?

3D printers like the ones from Konica Minolta are capable of printing your ideas into full colour 3D printed models from simple molds and functional prototypes to complex specialized application for mechanical design, healthcare, architectural, engineering, education, geospatial and packaging. The possibilities are endless!

Would it surprise you to know that up to 6 million colours are possible with their printers with speeds up to 1 to 4 layers per minute? That’s power and speed in one nifty gizmo! It’s literally like touching and feeling your own thoughts.

There are tons of stuff you can create (or invent) with 3d printers. Check out this lineup of weird 3d printer creations and see for yourself! For now, we can only wonder if this is merely a trend or if it has become a revolution.

 

What are your thoughts on 3D printing? Share your side.

Augmented or Virtual Reality, the future for TV Channels

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It’s a worth a bet to establish that we are far off from just browsing through or jumping into discussion forums about virtual graphics or augmented reality  and its relevance in TV stations in the future. Aren’t we all facing the tunes of reality and being challenged to have it established or installed live now? In other words, TV stations have gone far beyond than seriously to consider the so-called virtual technology. A lot of logical reasons should be the driving force we reckon- shortage of space, ease of building fresh looks in the future and, of course less dependency on the human resource to mobilize a production.

Augmented  reality vs virtual reality tv

It is at this juncture, that criticality creeps in to understand the difference between virtual graphics and augmented reality, both in terms of technology and in terms of application. What exactly do we need? How should we plan to establish what we need? What should we depend on to get there?

Let’s flick it straight from the tech geeks and get into what each – virtual reality and augmented reality stands for technically?

A reality perception created digitally with a purpose of positioning it as real is virtual reality. Too generic isn’t it? Virtual reality is where 3D elements are created digitally and users placed within the 3D environment to make it look as close to reality. There are challenges. What are they?? On this date, the biggest challenge should be how far can we fox the viewer with the computer graphics and the latest hardware that we possess today. Some years from now, how much we all will keep fingers crossed for, we will for sure have much better specs of hardware and graphics tools to ensure we are as close as possible to reality. But for now, let us all agree, we need super special presenters who can attract the viewers to them rather than the virtual graphics.

Augment reality is different though. Within the real world or real set, when we create digital content to enhance the existing reality, we have augmented reality then. Yes, Augmented Reality (AR) adds spice to the viewing experience by adding extra piece of information, fun elements and many more. Yes, the creative blocks can have a spare. Think of an election when you have all sorts of statics and other information augmented on to the real sets. Refreshing, isn’t it? Think of a TV show on Automobiles when you have some of those machines augmented on to your existing sets. The potential is immense.

virtual reality tv channels

Let us shrug off the fascinations and dive into practicality. How much of this are we ready for? Yes, viewers do expect freshness and creativity. But to what extent? When in discussion with a few of the best in the industry like RGB Broadcasting in India, what evolved most of the time was, how can we get it as close as possible to reality? I.e, Original. The viewers want to see it real when we are up to nonfiction content. So is Virtual reality (VR ) the real bet today if you are presenting nonfiction content? Or isn’t Augmented reality closer to what we need to ensure we capture the viewer’s imagination. Yes, we might agree at this stage of technology growth.

So if we have the infrastructure ready, thought process in place, resources geared to hit the ground, Augment reality (AR) is called!! Yes, those eyeballs will expect this technology advancement from us.

A few years down the line, all this perception might bring some lighter moments. But, let us realize where we stand today!!

 

About Author:

Elyn Michel, is a tech-savvy and she is a part-time technology Blogger. She loves her pets very much and taking care of them is her favourite hobby.

Work On Your Mac Like a Pro, Follow These Easy Tips

With lack of knowledge on how to work more on your Mac productively you may face a lot of difficulties at work and during the entertainment. If you feel something similar, it is the time to move at a new level. Macs are powerful devices and it is shame to work slow on them. Read the instructions below and and be more productive with your daily tasks.

macbook pro tricks and tips

Use Hot Buttons and Key Shortcuts

I will provide you with the list of hot buttons and shortcuts which I use daily and some new ones which I didn’t use before:

  • #1. Command ?-Z – Press this simple combination to undo any previous combination. Funny, but not all people know this basic trick.
  • #2. Command ?-Shift-4 – Make a screenshot of a separate window (+ Space Bar) or screen area. I use this combination when preparing instructions and other daily tasks.
  • #3. Command ?-Q – Quickly quit any opened program. If you close the app or window by pressing the red cross button in the upper-left corner of the window, the app will stay opened. This shortcut will help you to completely close the app.
  • #4. Command ?-X, Command ?-C, Command ?-V – Cut, Copy, and Paste.
  • #5. ?-Alt-Esc – Force Quit an app which stopped responding.

You can find more shortcuts here.

apple macbook german keyboard tricks

Optimize And Delete Unneeded Files Like a Pro

How much time will you spend trying to find leftovers or cleaning your Mac from old and large files? About 1 hour per week. You may find hundreds of apps which promise to clean and optimize your Mac as well as make it work at the high speed. I use MacKeeper from Kromtech for cleaning and security. Here you can find many other apps.

mackeeper tricks

Set Up Hot Corners  

Make your multitasks like a Pro with the Hot Corners feature, which is already built into the Mac OS X. The main two hot corners that will help you to jump from window to window are Mission Control (here you can manually select opened windows) and Desktop (simple way to show the desktop without minimizing the windows).

Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver > Hot Corners. Here you can select the 4 ways how Hot Corners can work. It’s up to you how to customize this feature.

macbook pro tricks

Customize Your Dock

The simplest way to run all your apps fast is to manage the Dock. Go to Finder > Applications and simply drag the apps to the Dock space. Use the same way to remove the unneeded apps from the Dock, just drag them up and you will see the “Remove” message. Besides, as I mentioned before, if you close the window by pressing the red button in the upper-left corner of the window, the app will run in the background. You can see which apps are running by using a small point under the apps in the Dock.

Go to System Preferences > Dock and select the “Show indicators for opened apps” option. This option is typically activated by default settings.

macbook pro doc tricks

 

Why Wrong Colours Mean Losers on Social Media

Logos are made with a perception and specific vision for any brand. But the choice of colors is very crucial at such times. Many brands even lose their beta testers just because of the color their brand. It’s quite simple; the UE/UI has to be attractive for any user to want to explore you more as a brand.

90% of beta testers choose to explore more if the brand’s color is appealing.

Color is a tool to attract the users without even talking to them. You can definitely try and measure the performance of this not-so-visible factor in your daily chores too. Choice of colors depends on various things like age, lifestyle, gender and experience. It works out with appetite, love and various other physical and mental changes in humans. Usage of colors to reach out to the mass is one of the most lethal weapons.

color psychology marketing
Click for larger view

Let’s first get to know which color derives what emotion:

  1. Red: Strength, Warmth, Energy, Basic Survival, Excitement
  2. Yellow: Friendliness, Creativity, Extraversion, Confidence, Optimism
  3. Blue: Intelligence, Trust, Serenity, Coolness, Communication
  4. Black: Emotional Safety, Substance, Sophistication, Glamour, Security
  5. Pink: Feminity, Love, Sexuality, Nurture, Warmth
  6. Green: Harmony, Balance, Rest, Peace, Refreshment
  7. White: Purity, Sophistication, Efficiency, Sterility, Hygiene
  8. Violet: Vision, Luxury, Truth, Containment, Authenticity
  9. Brown: Nature, Reliability, Support, Seriousness, Warmth
  10. Orange: Warmth, Passion, Abundance, Security, Fun
  11. Grey is the only color that goes neutral and users just pass by seeing it.

This thing really matters when it come to something as big as making choices. A user who is new two social media platforms equally can choose to try the one which has the most appealing color. It may sound lame to many but if such a small thing can affect one user, it can affect many more too.

Colors and Social Media

85% of users choose to keep using a brand because of appealing color.

Having a color that suits your brand is so impacting that many times when a user is confused between two logos, your color may help him recognize you as a good or bad brand in his mind. This is called brand recognition, but at what level does one seek to achieve it?

  1. Don’t miss; How Designing Was Started?(Exclusive Infographic)

Men want it and women crave for it. Your sex is a huge sign that you’re choices are different than your opposite sex. This keeps happening with the choice of your brands too. Of course, the functionality of a social media platform will play a lot in keeping them hooked but initially what will drive users to you is how you look. That points out on UE/UI which again takes you to color.

  • Men prefer; Blue, Green and Black
  • Women prefer; Blue, Purple and Green

Looking at Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Skype and Foursquare many of you may agree with me on this one. So if you’re a new brand in the market and you want your beta testers to come like a wave of success to you, just don’t miss this!

40% of beta testers avoid their fear of checking more because of colors, It’s quite similar to the supermarket shopping. When you want to know more about something but you don’t wish to buy it at that time, you are afraid of the salesmen. You don’t want them to push you buy it. You can ask for money if they like you. Often when you’re running contests, campaigns or have a page that talks about selling a product can be doomed if wrong colors are chosen. Well, this makes sense because many readers don’t want to read something that tells them to pay. When users are reading something and they want to decide if they want to opt for that payment option or not, the color that gives strength makes them click on the button that will give you lots of money.

56% of sign ups happen because of a powerful color like red.

This happens because primarily, none of us have time to read something that doesn’t interest us. If we like an offer and want to take it we would just search for the button that makes it easier for us. However, if its of a color that makes you blind as a reader you will skip clicking on it and may want to think more and then come back to it later.

If you can’t remember, just underline it. Ones who are readers, specifically ‘books’ tend to underline things with pen or pencil that they want to explore more in future. The mark helps to remember and track it easily later. Quite similar is the hyperlink, but, why does it have to be blue and not some other color? It’s because the inventor of it wanted this text to stand out.

73% of users could easily choose colors that make things look easier. Blue is a color that give you calm and makes your communication channels smoother. Readers can easily read and figure out the difference between things with this color on Blekko, Dogpile, SubmitedgeSEO and ContentKo.

The Right color is surpassing the brand value of others. If a user has taken the risk of trying to use the features of a social media platform he will stay loyal when he is happy with the experience he had. This experience will include the features that were available to them there. It clearly means that the colors that are chosen in each page, tab or button will act together to make him land at a conclusion.

What if the user has avoided something because he couldn’t see it or didn’t like it, and it was the strongest or most unique feature of your platform. You will just lose the user who would have been loyal to you for years and would have even vouched for you on other social media platforms that, may be, are your competitors.

So if you are still running your brand with low identity, maybe this is where you were lagging. Just get a revamp and the results can be marvelous!

About the author;

Govind Agarwal is a Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing Expert at Submitedgeseo, with over 6 years’ experience in the Web Marketing Techniques.

3 Ways To Make Money With Your Mobile App

In the print business, the cost of an advertisement decides its fate. That is whether it is a full page color advertisement on front page or a 2 inch small icon on page 20. The latter usually draws nothing when it comes to return on investment (ROI).

Advertising in print media is indispensable for a couple of good reasons, yet when you’re on a tight budget or simply don’t want your ad end up in a dustbin, digital advertising is the best way to go. In the recent past, it has proven to be faster, less expensive, and more adaptable, digital ads permits you to focus on the right target audience and track your ad’s performance instead of making wrong guesses about it.

make money from mobile apps

Today, we live in the world, where social media ads are becoming increasingly popular among advertisers due to its enormous reach and effectiveness. There are literally tens of benefits when it comes to digital advertising, so let’s not repeat those. Instead, let’s take a road less travelled. Let’s dig into ways to make more money with your mobile app.

It is quite obvious that the normal entrepreneur doesn’t understand how simple it is to produce new income streams when you mobilize your own business. Also, we’re not simply talking mobile friendly sites. To understand the mobile app advertisement industry, consider following important facts and figures:

In January 2014, mobile internet usage surpassed that of the PC.

21% of millennials have discarded the PC for their mobile phones for online access.

Mobile applications account for 89% of time spent on mobile media, while just 11% is through the mobile web.

This year, the expenses spent on mobile advertising equal that of desktop advertising, and by 2019, 72% of digital ad spending will go toward mobile.

In short, it’s about mobile ads and mobile is about applications. When you have an application for your business and you’re utilizing it to create ad income, you’re killing two very profitable birds with one stone. So, for those of us that doesn’t have the knowledge; let’s discuss some ways to make more money with your mobile app.

 

  1. Custom Ads

Offering in-app advertising space accompanies negligible overhead and extreme profits. When done right, you’re even prone to take care of the expenses of the application itself. Organizations are as of now scrambling to get their names in apps, to such an extent that eMarketer predicts $28.72 billion going toward mobile advertisement spending this year alone. Indeed, even as a novice to the ad game, you can take an slice off the billion-dollar pie by contacting nearby companies and offering more advertisement space for lower rates. What the big fish in mobile can offer in exposure, you can counter in quality. Keep in mind, small has its own benefits, like not drowning an ad among 20 contenders.

Put a logo on your application’s home screen or include a sponsor’s page that links out to their front-end sites. When they supply you with the pictures, launching the ads are simple, and you’ll pull in more sponsors once you’ve taken the jump.

  1. Automated Ads

In the event that you’d rather make some additional money without the legwork of selling, mobile ads titans like AdMob, Double-click, and iAds permit you to incorporate digital promotions into your app. You get a kickback from clickthroughs, and whatever you do is situated up the mix. It’s a straightforward approach to add an income stream to your business model.

  1. Self-Promotion

In case you’ve made multiple applications, promote them inside of each other as opposed to paying another person to do it. A banner ad for a related application will promise more traffic; moreover, you’ll have full control. Simply link your banner to the app store posting so clients can navigate to download.

Conclusion

If you simply have one application for your own particular business, promote it with your current customers and reward word-of-mouth like social media sharing. The more downloads you get, the more you can add in your revenue stream. Support exclusive in-app deals and accept payments for products and services. These are the features that keep users around, however they have to arrive first.

 

Author Bio

I am a research writer. My main interest is in mobile phone app development, but I also love to read & write about other technologies too. I like to share my knowledge, expertise, and experiences with different tech-communities on the web via social media platforms and tech blogs.