Finding the best hotels in a new place takes just an app! Hotel booking sites like Hotels.com, Expedia, and Venere have recently gained a lot of popularity with 76% leisure travelers accessing them for the better deals and lower prices. The other side of the coin also reveals that most travelers today are less likely to go for branded hotels. Statistics suggest that 13% travelers are looking for mobile convenience when booking accommodation and branded sites are failing short of the required urgency.

Intermediary hotel booking apps have the mobile muscle to come in between the hotels and their guests.  Hotel apps ensure “hospitality on the move” and major brands across the globe are focusing on new mobile strategies to improve their guest’s experience. The fully customizable apps ensure that all types of transactions and searches are made simple, before, during and post the stay. Mobile apps for hotels are also changing the way guests interact with the service staff and vice versa.

Looking beyond the booking process

Several hotels are coming up with apps that facilitate a seamless booking process. Some even step things up a notch to take advantage of in-app messaging and push notifications that would remind guests about valuable information about their lodging and booking. A good example of such an platform is the Ritz-Carlton app that gives guests access to early check-ins, access room services, access special offers, and use their reservation code to stay in contact with their guests at all times.

Technology raising the bar

The increasing demand of self service hotel apps have been met by technology that has helped automate requests both on and off the property. Businesses that have deployed these mobile apps invariably improve their guest satisfaction score, regardless of being independent properties or as a part of a hospitality chain. The digital experience is possible long before the arrival and this provides enough opportunity for the hotel to reinforce their service experience.

Catering to instant gratification

Mobile application across the hotel industry ensures on-demand services with just some taps on a smart screen. One of the best examples of such a service is i-Guest, deployed by several boutique hotels. Developed by FCS Computer System, this multilingual application allows guests to customize every part of their hotel experience, right from accessing property amenities to ordering dinner. Apps like this offer a range of convenience including mobile check in/out, room service requests, housekeeping requests, laundry orders, scheduling spa appointments, valet parking requests and restaurant reservation, without the need to go to the front desk. Sometimes this bundle of features also includes mobile concierge, local information, current news, travel guides and other locational services.

Increased staff efficiency

Self service apps don’t just connect the hotel and guests but also makes it easy to organize staff participation. With every employee’s login time registered and tracked, it’s more convenient for hotels to schedule orders coming from the guests.

All of the above only prove that if you are associated with the hotel industry, it’s time to take apps more seriously! The power and popularity of apps today is beyond boundaries and there are many opportunities to be explored.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is here to change our world for the ‘awesome’! IoT has been the best definition when we talk about this “connected world” of ours. With millions of devices connecting people and their experiences to the internet, it has made it easier to track, analyze and bring out new inventions like never before. However, the sad part if 87% of the “internet educated” mass (us) don’t quite understand what IoT stands for.

The ‘movement’, as we would like to call it, deserves attention and here are the things you need to start off with:

1. By the year 2008, there was more number of devices connected to the internet than the total population of the world! It is also estimated that by 2020, the number of devices connected to the internet will cross 50 billion and IoT will be the reason for $19 trillion in cost savings and profits.
2. By 2020, we will have more than 6.1 billion smart phone users – almost all with IoT potential in some form or the other
3. The adoption of Internet of Things has been rather slow with only 50% of Americans knowing that smart refrigerators and smart thermostats are already in use.
4. The IPv6 standard for Internet addresses ensured that there are as many numbers of internet addresses as there are atoms in our earth! This would mean that companies can develop small devices capable of online connections, without running out of IP Addresses.
5. One of the major parts of IoT is Connected Homes. By the year 2019, we will have 1.9 billion devices connecting homes and this will result in a $490 billion growth in revenues.
6. As of today, only 7% of US consumers own a wearable device but in the period of the next one year, this value would have crossed 28%.
7. By 2020, 20% more US consumers would own a smart refrigerator or smart watch.
8. Again, by 2020, 14% of global consumers would own some kind of internet-connected clothing.
9. Internet of Things is more than devices and gadgets. A Dutch company has been using sensors on animals to tell farmers when they are pregnant or sick. Each animal (cow) fitted with this sensor sends around 200 MB of data annually.
10. 60% of Americans are already sharing car data with their manufacturer in lieu of free maintenance sessions. This has also opened up a huge window of opportunity for advertisers.
11. By 2020, Gartner Research suggests that 20% of the vehicles on our roads would be giving off information to a central database via some kind of wireless connection. Sierra Wireless is already in function for manufacturers like Toyota, Volvo, Tesla, BMW and Ford.
12. Another interesting product of Internet of Things is Autonomous Vehicles. Recently, an unmanned Audi A7 drove for more than 550 miles between San Francisco and Las Vegas. The brain for the drive was NVIDIA processors!
13. 2008 was the year when Proteus Digital Health was approved a patent that concerned swallowable pills having sensors embedded inside it. The sensor would now be transmitting data whenever the user takes his/her medication. This way, family members were informed about the intake schedule.
14. China dominated in IoT with more than 27% of machine-to-machine connections.
15. Connected kitchens will help save as much as 15% of the current costs in food and beverage industry.

Phew! That was incredible! Stay tuned for more exciting trends around this technology in the coming days.

Sources:

1. http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/the-internet-of-things-bigger/
2. http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/10/27/17-mind-blowing-internet-of-things-facts-everyone-should-read/#25fe82831a7a

Mobile apps have taken over our life and it’s unnecessary to suggest how much they imply for businesses trying to get to potential customers. Whether it shopping or booking a cab for a ride to the workplace; there is nothing that doesn’t have an app alternative. Regardless of the size of a business or the industry it belongs to, a mobile app developer would be one of the top assets and investments.

Now, talking of mobile app developers, there are thousands in any neighborhood. However, not all have the talent, technology or the infrastructure to be able to create a successful application platform. Hiring a quality developer will not just save you money but also add credibility to your brand.

Here are the top advantages of hiring a professional mobile app developer:

The internet of things and growing business opportunities

The Internet of Things (IoT) is fuelled by a flood of data coming from mobile devices and other internet enabled devices. Internet of Things has been helping organizations to store, analyze and use data to their advantage like never before. Now, all this data has the power to transform business models and many leading brands are already working on this. From retail to manufacturing, production and logistics, data has become the tool to optimize the value chain and build better customer experience.

Now all of this would be possible only if you are working with a resourceful and experienced mobile app developer. Professional developers will have the tools to quickly develop and deploy apps that bring in more data from users.

Directly engaging with customers

The growing use of mobiles for shopping and services has automatically led to the increase of transaction volumes; right from content downloads to status updates. An app that would be able to wind a small flame across the organizational network and database can trigger the mobile-first approach to better serving customers. For example, a bank that has a good enterprise app with features like push notifications will have better control over customer engagement. On the other side, customers too would find interacting with the brand / service more convenient.

Collaborative app development for new opportunities

Modern organizations, big and small, are increasingly seeking agile development platforms that allow them to communicate with a wide range of users. Whatever be the platform, it should help empower differentiated and efficient mobile apps that are compatible across devices. Now, having a mobile version of everything isn’t as easy as it may sound. An app can duly replace the need to create responsive yet tricky mobile websites. Since most of the end users are accessing from smaller screens, it is only profitable to invest in a dedicated app that fits the situation well.

Designed for flexibility

Apart from the risks, an app makes it much more easy and flexible to interact with a business/service than a website alternative. Modern customers are looking for quick, easy, safe and convenient options and there’s no better solution than an app.

PHP is the largest used programming language in the web development community. It is used in more than 80% of all the websites that are “live” today. Its CMSs and Frameworks like Joomla, Drupal, Cake, Magento, Codeigniter and WordPress are being deployed by some of the most successful and hi-tech web platforms. In fact, it has been the language that brings Facebook to all desktops and smart devices!

However, it also has its fair share of haters. Many developers have commented that PHP stands good for as long as you are limited to website and web applications. Sometimes, the codes can become very dirty and a burden to maintain. However, all of it depends on how you are coding.

Here are some good and bad things that are true to the PHP programming language:

The GOOD

Easy to learn: PHP is arguably among the most accessible and easier programming language available. All due thanks to the excellent documentation and the updated online resources, it is very easy to understand. This also makes PHP one of the most popular web programming languages ever. According to Josh Lockhart, New Media Campaigns, “PHP has a small learning curve, fast development iteration and facilitates higher ease of development”.

PHP continues to evolve itself: Created back in 1994 when we had no concept of closure and namespaces, PHP has continued to evolve to become the best updated language for modern web development. PHP followers would say that people who want to move away from the language have most likely failed to understand its full capabilities. One will regard this statement when checking enhancements like Hack and HHVM Virtual Machine.

Easy to work upon: Spare the developers – their job is writing codes. But what about users who look up to the PHP platforms for their business? Well, PHPs CMSs solves all major problems of website maintenance and upgrades. CMSs like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal have made it easy even for a non-developer to create and maintain a high-functional website. Further, a huge CMS community comes to help with its plugins, fixes, ad-ons and other answers.

It gives you the job: For a developer knowledgeable in PHP, getting the job becomes quite easy. PHP has a huge demand in the market and as already pointed, 80% of websites are looking to work with PHP. So, if you are expert in PHP, you get the job and the money that comes with it!

The BAD

Haters will be haters! However, there has been massive “thumbs down” on the PHP language, its framework and even the ecosystem. Sometimes, the language can bring surprises and is criticized for being inconsistent. The biggest complaint against PHP is it being “opaque, saddled with weak and complex typing and with negligible traces of stacks”.

For modern developers, the disadvantages with PHP lie in:

ü  A lot of “legacy baggage” like magic quotes, globals, etc

ü  Less focused compared to other languages

ü  Inconsistent language, especially its argument ordering and function names

However, we would say that if one knew what PHP caters with, these inconsistencies can be played through and a greater setup can be focused on.

The “Internet of things” is large number of smart devices and objects which work on connected internet networks. These are completely integrated with sensor detectors and also allow automation as well as remote access. The search engines like Google are flooded with a number of search requests to know the most latest buzz word on the block “IoT”, the short for Internet of things, which is connecting the real world with the virtual world.

Detecting and easing troubles of life is the underlying motive behind the rapid developments in the IoT Analytics by the IoT developers. The time is not far when the people will be flabbergasted to have a car with Internet connection and also have smart fridges which will sense and inform the need for refilling the milk container in 2016. Below are some interesting IoT developments trends in store in 2016.

1.     Superior Robotics

The bigger and better revolution inducing sophisticated mechanisation of work is becoming possible with the advanced Robotic technology empowerment in 2016. The robots unable to walk or do the complex human functions at the nascent stages of development now use indisputable technology for its construction and will be used to perform a number of industrial works like packaging. Robots with set perfect algorithms also will outperform humans in household duties like cleaning rooms, cooking. The IoT analytics inbuilt allow robots to teach the other robots too. 

2.     The accelerating developments in hologram technology  

The dextrous IoT developers have made the hologram technology more impressive in 2016. The real looking 3D images of objects, human figures in high definition which float in the air will now be massively being used in many multimedia movies. The 2016 is seeing the advances in the hologram projection with the help of smart phones.

3.     High demand for Wearable tech smart devices

All the imaginations of human beings are actually becoming a reality with the latest IoT developments in the wearable tech devices. Besides the smart watches, the 2016 IoT trend is catching up for smart clothing and shoes.

4.     3D Printing advancements

3D printing printers are becoming a cheap and easily available to masses with the structural changes evidently happening in 2016.  3D printing has evolved now as cheap metal powder, inks and furnaces will be used rather than the exorbitant priced laser beams. This metallic 3D printers result in 3D prints are offering lot of flexibility for prototyping as the mental prints can be transformed into various shapes before sintering of these metals take place.

5.     IoT sensors for Industrial machinery

IoT are powering a number of Industrial sectors with IoT sensors in 2016. They can collect a lot of data from sensors which are placed on manufacturing equipments. This data collected can be used for production analysis.

6.     The cloud connection in home security systems and software applications

Low cost surveillance and security systems remain the focus in 2016. The home security cameras will become cheaper as the storage of the camera data will be done over the cloud rather than on servers in 2016. The multiplying number of applications will also be connected to cloud to derive benefits of speed, space.

“Experience” has been the buzzword in the web development industry for a couple of years now, but of late, it significance has been growing among users and customers. This must be a good think and in 2015, all forward thinking companies focused on delivering a lingering “experience” through their online platforms. In 2016, it can be comfortably predicted that the term “User Experience” or UX would rise in importance for all stakeholders – the developers, the businesses and the audience.

“UX is all about how we live, about everything that we do and about everything that surrounds us.”

Here are the top 5 predictions for the UX design industry in 2016:

1.     Testers liberated

The increasing significance of UX has led to companies invest more in testing to nullify all possible errors. Testing is a means to improve the quality of the website and prepare it for the real world. Adobe’s Digital Optimization Survey states that only about 44% of global businesses invest around 5% in website/app optimization. In 2016, things are going to change when testing will become a standard practice before anything is deployed for the masses. To ensure a greater degree of credibility, testers would also be helped out by in-app usability testing platforms and other automatic testing tools.

2.     The merge of digital and physical experience

We talk of all the modern conveniences but there’s still more joy in a family shopping experience – when several people go out and have a say on a product they are eyeing for someone. Well, today internet of things makes this possible even when you are on a digital shopping spree. Flipkart has recently launched a social shopping platform called “Ping” where a large group of people can have a say on a singular buy. If your group is searching something for a birthday boy, this collaborative experience makes the “buying” more fun. UX like this would be rewarded in 2016.

3.     Automation and AI take front seat

Artificial Intelligence would have a greater say in the designing of online platform and apps. Businesses are already starting to take a lot of user input to analyze the right type of content, color scheme, imagery, typography and design layout for web projects. Automation would similarly help designers come out with preferences defined by analytics and put them into the final work.

4.     Integrated wearable

Till now it was Apple and Google take the front seat when it came to wearable devices. In 2016, brands like Sony, Polo and Nike too would become a player in this industry. Wearable devices have just not entered the market but have become the means to the trendiest technologies that the human race has seen. This development also gives a chance to UX designers to create more magic and push the envelope!

5.     Storytelling

Everyone is eager to hear a good story. UX designers in 2016 can use storytelling through their design to capture the attention of the executive and the investor. Further, user-driven storytelling will promote concepts as if they are a reality already. Easily digestible, short and out-of-the-box, these will be the tools of next generation pitches.

While the developer demand for Ruby on Rails is still high, there’s a lot of scope for both the framework and the language to shine. Both the Ruby language and the Ruby on Rails framework has been a major step for developers and programmers. For more than a decade, Ruby has been running in the wild but that also accompanies a 20+ years of experience, allowing it to stalk specific territories. Let’s take a closer look where Ruby on Rails feels more at home and niches that feel challenges, both existential and technical.

As of today, there are about 894,785 live websites that are running on Ruby and this comprises 0.3% of the entire internet content. The most important niches for Ruby development have been in shopping/ecommerce, business and technology. However, the penetration still seems low for a language that has been able to survive for more than a couple of decades. So what makes Ruby complicated?

The obstacles with Ruby on Rails

It would be fair to say that Ruby usage is sliding but to be specific, it has been losing out to frameworks and languages like Go and Node.js when it comes to performance and scale. Legacy projects are subsequently being rewritten in alternative frameworks. There are several examples proving this, some quite high profile. The first that comes to mind is Parse, the mobile app outfit that recently switched from Ruby on Rails to Go. The obstacle with Ruby here was that the engineers were finding it hard to deal with the explosive growth and Ruby failed to offer the required amount of scaling.

In fact, Twitter had originally been a Ruby on Rails project but was eventually rewritten with Scala and its front end was replaced by a customized Java based solution. Other examples would be the Puppet project server component that switched to Clojure since there were greater advantages with the Java Virtual Machine.

If you are looking up to JRuby, it too has it limits with convenience and speed. As the Parse team rightly suggest, “JRuby is still Ruby”.

The good things with Ruby

Given the above problems, what is still keeping 0.3% of the internet stick to Ruby? As with Python, Ruby too is more useful when it is about task automation or stitching different functionalities from different part of the IT ecosystem. Ruby’s software packages, lovingly called the “Gems” can be installed easily and they are counting 6,400 and beyond. Further, SDK for services and third party applications like Amazon include Ruby libraries and wrappers to make access Ruby apps.

Ruby has also been addressing specialized computing needs with projects such as SciRuby.

However, the best thing about Ruby had been its ability to keep things simple and make the programmer happy. Ruby ensures that web apps can be prototypes in just a fraction of time it would have taken with other languages/frameworks. The demand for Ruby on Rails expertise also compliments front end JavaScripting.

To conclude, it would be right to say that the growth we still see with Ruby is basically to maintain the existing Ruby infrastructure, as opposed to investing it in new objects. In any case, the growth is still there are Ruby developers have an equal lifestyle as any other IT guy!

The apple watches are fantastic in terms of enormous collection of apps which can be availed from its app store. Now watching small videos, playing games, knowing the current weather condition, getting the latest news is possible downloading the various Apple Watch Applications.  The Apple Smart watches are creating a competitive scenario for its competitors by these best applications fetching popularity by the day. The 10 most exclusive applications which are very efficient and fetching higher downloads include

1.     Find Near Me

The best convenience auguring facet of the watch is it is always on your wrist when travelling. Hence, in case one need to find the nearest restaurant, ATM, Bank, using the Find Near Me App Watch App enables to quickly find the address, directions as also get reviews.

2.     Google Maps

While driving or travelling, the Google Maps have proved to be number one Geographical positional systems. Hence, the text based Google Maps on the Apple Smart watch are a welcome provision when one is not carrying the phone or the phone is out of charge. This app also contains links to the recent routes and also saved directions to your home or work which can be enabled even in the offline mode.

3.     Runtastic 

The health and fitness apps on the Apple Smart watches are undoubtedly excellent. The  sensors in the Runtastic app measures the heart rate while performing sports activities like running.  Also, with the Apple phone alongside can facilitate GPS tracking too.

4.    Pcalc

The apple calculator with much better user interface gives faster calculation ease as it is very much responsive.

5.     TuneIn Radio Pro

From around 100,000 radio stations from across the world accessible from a single app. this app is definitely loved and can be heard anywhere even while standing in queues at the bank. The sound in the Apple Smart watch is not too loud so as to disturb the people around.

6.     Vine

Viewing of small amusing videos with audio on the wrist watch is a fun activity possible only on the App Watch App Vine.  The movies are too long for viewing on the wrist watches.

7.     Fantastical 2

Setting reminders and getting reminded for the special events, appointments, lunches, exercise routine is possible over the Fantastical 2. There is no need to scourge for the phone to know your busy schedule when you have this app.

8      BBC news

Getting news updates of your favorite categories and also the top headlines can keep you organized with the BBC news app. Though not the whole story, a gist of the story on the watch can surely arouse the interest to read the whole story on your iPhone later.

9.     Pro Camera

The Procamera is an excellent camera with remote control features. The timer settings allow delaying the photo clicking and also one can input the number of photos to be shot in advance. It allows viewing the images from the gallery.

10.     Slack

The short and to the point messages or emojis as also voice messages can be sent across to the other users of this app.

PHP is being used by 81.7% of internet, in websites that have known server side programming. Again, 98.7% of these PHP websites use the 5^th version of the language. This shows that PHP 5.0 is arguable the top coding language today and the best examples lie in the form of Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Pinterest.com, WordPress.com, Wikipedia.com, Baidu.com and more.

For someone looking into a career in PHP, the future seems bright. However, it is also important to understand you are able to maintain the high code quality, PHP’s naming conventions, visual styles, and other technical settings allows developers to come up with homogeneous codes that both easy to read and maintain. The experience and personality of the coder also comes into play when differentiating a code that is “okay” and a code that is “awesome”.

Naming

Naming conventions have always been undervalued by software developers. While no one denies that having a nice name makes things easy, many opt for cryptic abbreviations, juts to save some typing. It is generally advisable to have English names for class names, comments, method names, database tables field names and variable names. It is common consensus that English is always easier to remember than special characters.

Vendor namespaces

Vendor namespaces are the base for namespaces and package keys. This provides two advantages. Firstly, there isn’t an extra requirement for a central package key registry and secondly, it allows the coder to easily integrate third party packages like Zend framework components, Symfony2 components or for that matter, any PHP 5.3+ based library.

Turn on Error Reporting

Error Reporting can be a highly useful function and enabled all throughout the development phase. Among the commonly used feature here would be E_ALL, spotting all critical errors with warnings. It is mandatory that we turn on this feature before putting our code to production.

Using the DRY Approach

DRY or ‘Do not Repeat Yourself’ ensures that there is no redundant code in our scripts. Codes that violate DRY are referred to as WET solutions and are common to programmers who enjoy unnecessary typing!

WET code:

$mysql  = mysql_connect ( ‘localhost’,  ‘mysqladmin_uid’, ‘mysqladmin_pwd’ );

mysql_select_db( ‘DB_NAME’ ) or die( “Sorry !! No database selected!”);

DRY version:

$db_host = ' localhost ';

$db_user = ' mysqladmin_uid ';

$db_password = ' mysqladmin_pwd ';

$db_database = ' DB_NAME ';

$mysql = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_password);

mysql_select_db($db_database);

Indentation / use of white space

Not just in PHP, but whatever language you may be working upon, it is necessary that the coding is properly indented and there is sufficient amount of white space wherever necessary. This helps in maintenance and enhancing the readability.

Don’t trust the user, ever!

If the application you are working on requires user inputs, make sure that it is designed to handle all kinds of possible inputs. Initializing your variables with some initial value can also be a tool against hackers, though it might not seem relevant to the business flow.

Lastly, use Cache whenever required and never resort to copying extra variables. These should keep your script sane and your application efficient.