The attempt to erase the borders between websites and mobile apps is still relevant. The feature implemented by Google that is called Instant Apps, intended to remove this obstacle. What if you could partially replace websites with apps? That's how this technology works. It allows users to use apps without installing them. Are you already intrigued? Let's find out what all that stuff is about.

What is Instant Apps technology?

Let's take a closer look at what Google Instant Apps technology is capable of. Instant Apps were announced at the conference Google I/O 2016. One-year later, at I/O 2017, the company officially declared that developers can start using this technology for their projects.

The concept that was realized in this technology allows programmers to develop applications that can be launched directly from Google Play without the necessity to be installed. When launching, the software written for this technology acts similarly to web apps. These apps are dynamically loaded, and after the work is completed -- they do not remain in the system. An ordinary link is enough to launch the software supporting Instant Apps.

Let's say you are searching for certain goods on the web by using your Android-powered smartphone or tablet. As soon as you find an attractive link in the search results and tap on it, your device will load a so-called minimal version of a full app that the website already has on Google Play. It may contain the minimum set of features like information about the product and the 'Buy' button or adopt more of a variety of features from original app.

In order to adopt your app to this technology, you should build an app with an easily detachable part that can be downloaded separately. At the same time, it is not necessary to build a new branch of code. The main thing is to call the Instant Apps Android programming interfaces to the right place. The rest is Google's magic. When the search engine decides that it is the right moment to show the app instead of a website -- it will make a query to Google Play to run the application.

Android Instant Apps example

Besides, Android Instant Apps can use the same technologies as ordinary apps that are installed on users' devices. Talking about compatibility issues, the technology supports devices with Android 4.1 and higher. In turn, they should also have the current set of Google Play services. Of course, the solution that Google provides us with does not give the full functionality of an app. Nevertheless, it allows users to dramatically save time and facilitate interaction with the Android ecosystem.

By the way, developers are willing to choose those features that will be accessible when Instant App mode is on. Moreover, you do not have to re-write the software code. It is enough to make some corrections in order to make the app run properly. With the launch of Android Studio 3.0, the company has provided mobile developers with all the necessary tools to modulate their apps. So, to get Android Instant Apps SDK you should have the version of Android Studio no lower than 3.0.

What about load time and traffic? Nowadays, a lot of websites are obese. It is not uncommon to meet a resource consuming 10MB of your users' traffic and even more sometimes. Such sizes are almost entire applications. Taking into account the fact that Instant Apps are only a part of the original app, their size tends to be smaller.

Full article - Android Instant Apps: Introduction to Cutting-Edge Technology from Google

What is GitHub: first source code repository

GitHub - a social repository for open source code projects that use Git for source code versions control. This host site is a distributed file version management systems. Linus Torvalds created this project for Linux kernel development control. Such projects like Chromium, jQuery, PHP, MediaWiki etc. use Git. Good news - this free software is released under GNU GPL license version 2!

The mission of GitHub is to make the development process quick and captivating, especially when a few individuals simultaneously are working on the same task. Apart from being a good tool, GitHub is a large educational source. This service includes more than 21 million of code hosts. So let's take a look at GitHub features .

GitHub benefits

GitHub is gaining the lead, in our opinion. And you should check out its strong sides to find out why.

Bug tracking

GitHub integrates this feature to simplify search and bugs fixing. To understand what should be done, a developer just opens the dashboard of each project and filters the information. Questions can also be sorted according to their popularity, update time and so forth. This software also has a convenient user interface that makes it source No.1 among the IT-developers. It can be an answer to your question 'Why should I use GitHub ?'

Find your project easily

GitHub allows finding easily open source code projects. Also, you can find an information concerning learning and searching of open source code projects and making them into groups. In addition, GitHub shows trend repositories and sort them by days, weeks, or months.

Meet new developers

Some thousands of new developers worldwide join the large network of GitHub users to share their experience and express ideas.

Share your experience

Gists allows users to share code, text fragments, or any information with other developers. It can be used for text exchange, and gists work as git repositories, therefore you can just bifurcate them and update their versions. So if you use it in open source code website , it can be a real alternative.

Coordinate your projects together

GitHub has effective and clear features for team management. Thus, that the efforts of people engaged in working on the project are easily coordinated through this source. In this case, the outcome of the work is high.

Integrated code search

GitHub supports code search whether it be from a specific project or a website. Moreover, this platform has a perfect SEO, so users can find any code string located in public repositories.

High compatibility

Most cloud hosting services perfectly match GitHub. Any project located on this source code hosting can be customized for these services within a few seconds.

Weak sides

• Only premium users can use all GitHub repositories. The price for using this service is rather high. Nevertheless, the quality of service it provides is worth the candle.
• Restrictions on file size . The repository can host information up to 1 Gb and file size cannot exceed 100 Mb.

GitHub page: find the code you need

What is GitLab: its meaning and features

Developed on the basis of Git version control system, GitLab is one of the best web platforms for hosting project source codes. Although GitLab is similar to GitHub in terms of functionality, it seems to be a better choice for teamwork than its famous counterpart and GitLab features may be different somewhat.

GitLab exists in two forms. The first one is SAAS - website with open registration, and the second one is an individual solution GitLab Community Edition. They both can be perfectly customized to any service.

GitLab benefits: reasons to use GitLab

What's interesting can you find on GitLab?

Free service

Users can find an unlimited number of private repositories in GitLab. This service is completely free. Nevertheless, there is a notification that users will have to pay for storing files that exceed 10 Gb in their size.

Open source code repository

GitLab software is available under the license with an open source code.

Free hosting

There is a Community Edition - free source code repository for Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS computers. Enterprise Edition is a paid solution that adds proprietary features over Community Edition, improving integration with other online tools, server options management, workflow management as well as authentication and integration with authorization.

Bug tracking mechanism

GitLab has an effective integrated bug tracking mechanism. Users can create tasks, comment and close them.

Files editing in the web interface

Editing of files is possible directly in the web interface and you can do it without loading of the repository. So if you need to make small changes in an open source code websites , this way is that what you need.

LDAP integration

Full integration with LDAP . Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an app protocol for access and support of distributed directories services around the Internet. GitLab EE adds additional features such as support of several LDAP servers and group synchronization.

Its drawbacks

• The interface is rather slow - switching from one page to another takes some time.
• Technical problems with repositories are quite frequent.

GitLab platform to use source code hosting

What is BitBucket: third participant in a race

BitBucket can be called as a real worthy competitor to GitHub. Why BitBucket? Different operating systems support this platform. You just need to create to register on the official website and then you can create your personal account. In fact, it is based on a source code management mechanism. You can simultaneously use the code with integrated comments, and also make requests, manage and share your Git repositories. It is possible to create a flexible deployment model for any team. Moreover, you can get access to private and public repositories without any difficulties.

BitBucket advantages

And, finally, BitBucket comes into play!

Free for small teams

If your team includes no more than 5 individuals, you can get an unlimited number of free private repositories. So, this source code repository hosting doesn't charge a fee for each private repository, it charges a fee only for a number of repositories in total.

Query management system

BitBucket is provided with an integrated system of query management.

Authentication via GitHub

BitBucket supports social media and authentication via GitHub.

Integrated JIRA tool

Bug tracking tool JIRA is developed by Atlassian. You may be acquainted with the previous result of their work - BitBucket service. When the components of bug tracking are integrated, JIRA automatically updates information about problems when a new commit is performed in a BitBucket repository and here BitBucket benefits are obvious.

Repositories importing

Importing of existing repositories. Great feature, isn't it?

Discounts for students and teachers

Atlassian suggests student licenses for students and teachers for Atlassian products developed for educational purposes. BitBucket is included, therefore students and teachers can have unlimited private repositories with an unlimited number of participants.

Disadvantages

• Private repositories are free for a team with 5 members and fewer. If the team is larger, it will be necessary to pay for each additional team member.
• The only way of search is to launch repository and find it locally or use external apps.
• Not so stable as GitHub. Some problems during a work session may slow down the process.

Use Atlassian BitBucket for team work

GitHub vs BitBucket vs GitLab

The digital evolution has touched many spheres of activities and the legal industry is not an exception. The popularity of mobile devices is increasing rapidly and has already surpassed desktops, so it is almost impossible to find a person who doesn't use a smartphone. The latest research conducted by Hootsuite shows that mobile phones make up 50% of global traffic having increased 30% in the last year, while desktops take 45% with a decrease of 20% .

Respectively, being the demanded product, mobile app developers provide these devices with tons of useful applications intended to solve a wide spectrum of problems. In other words, mobile apps can be used for any industry, it is only a matter of finding the right approach.

In this article, we will consider some reasons for legal companies to create their own law apps, as well as features it should have.

Benefits of having a law firm software

At the first glance, the creation of a mobile solution for your law firm may seem to be senseless. However, let's just look at things from a different angle. A mobile app is not just a way to improve your customers' experience but a solution with powerful marketing potential as well.

Let's consider several main points in favor of having a software for law firms.

It is a global standard nowadays

Just look around, there are thousand of world-known companies from different industries that already use mobile apps as a mean to build loyalty, advertise a brand or provide their customers with a cutting-edge experience.

Companies that already have mobile app strategies

You may say that the companies listed above have unbelievably huge budgets, so they can afford to have an app. However, the IT market is growing and it is not as difficult nowadays to find affordable app developers as it was during some time after the introduction of Android and iOS.

The law firms that have got law apps already are on their way to learn how to deal with the opportunities that bring mobile solutions efficiently. That means they are one step ahead of their competitors that have no app.

Apps are perfect for content

There are dozens of activities that law firms are faced with daily. All of them can be optimized for an app to conveniently access a certain type of a content. Such content can be guidebooks, charts for law comparison, various calculators, recruitment and client training tools etc.

Your customers want an app

According to statistics, over 76% of adult Internet users within the US are searching for a lawyer with the help of online resources and 36% of them search via their smartphones or tablets. Studies show that users prefer using mobile apps over mobile-friendly websites .

We can see that they spend 86% of the time on mobile apps and only 14% on searching the web. Moreover, the average time that users spend on apps is increasing from year to year, unlike browsing that is decreasing.

Time spent on different app categories

As it was already mentioned, the core of a successful law apps is a well-thought out approach to customers, including features and information they would like to have access to.

This way, many branded apps of law firms are providing their users with an opportunity to get updates concerning their case right in the app in order not to let their customers drown in an ocean of emails. Moreover, if there is something urgent to say, your iOS/ Android developers can set up push notifications.

Types of legal mobile apps

Now, when you are aware of some advantages of creating law apps, it is high time to decide on a type of application depending on your preferences, mobile strategy and/or sphere of activity. Generally, law apps can be divided into ones needed for a company's inner processes or for ones that are more customer-oriented.

Building an app for lawyers

Obviously, the functionality of law firm software may vary and depend on a company's needs. However, you should remember that the cost to develop an app for lawyers is fully based on features you expect to see there. Underneath, you can find several variants of utilization that your lawyer application can be applied for:

• Promotion of a firm
• Generation of referrals
• Customers retention and loyalty encouragement
• Efficient time and money management

In order to help you determine the appropriate functionality and type of your software for lawyers, we turned to research conducted by Fliplet to provide you with more statistics of your possible competitors.

So, according to the study, event apps take the leading position having 59% of the total law firms apps developed in 2016 or 2017. Reference/content marketing applications take 27.4% and they are followed by interactive tools that have 10.9% . The client support apps take only 9.6% .

Moreover, in the same research, we have found some curious figures concerning law firms and legal apps for lawyers , you can look through them on the picture below.

Statistics showing the growth of legal apps (Source: Fliplet )

As you can see, the types of legal apps are not limited to solutions for customers. A high percentage of apps are focused on being used by the company's employees.

Creation of software for attorneys

Around 91% of all attorney specialists apply apps for their professional needs. Generally, the main features intended to facilitate the daily duties of legal sphere workers are the following:

• Communication with colleagues
• Recruiting tools
• Organizers (e.g. calendar, meeting scheduling, bookings and so on)
• Transformation of voice into the text
• Storing, sharing and managing documents

Besides, these types of law apps for iPhone and Android can be used to give your partners access to certain information or the company's services. Additionally, you can implement a feature that allows you to sign contracts in electronic format. That feature is able to save a lot of time and increase efficiency.

Another feature contributing to increasing efficiency is a document library. By implementing it in your app, you allow your employees to work on documents on the go.

Also, to avoid long searches of particular laws in heavy books, you can simply integrate them into your app and look through them every time you need, having the device at hand.

Creation of legal apps oriented to customers

Basically, law firm apps were just a kind of brochures and could not propose many really valuable features and opportunities for their users. However, with the development of the IT industry, it became understood that apps have the great potential for providing better service.

In our time, when the quality of service has become one of the main ways to win the competition, mobile apps unleashed their potential driving more loyalty and credibility to brands.

The multiple studies conducted over recent years show that it is more convenient for modern customers to set up a meeting in written form rather than pick up a phone. So, if you want your application for lawyer or user to be valuable for users, this feature is a must.

However, not only scheduling appointments may be useful for your users. You can also provide them with an opportunity to access all the relevant information about their case.

The list of basic features for legal apps for lawyers and users oriented to customers is the following:

• Synchronization between an app and website
• Push notifications for keeping customers informed In-built chat
• Support of cloud storages for sending files (e.g. Dropbox)
• FAQs and different supporting materials
• 
  

Full article about law apps

Are you planning to develop your own app? Software development companies can come to the rescue when you face certain pitfalls on your way. But before choosing the app development company, first, you must determine what your app should be. That is you need to find the correct strategy applicable in your case.

There is no a single good and unique mobile app strategy that would be appropriate for everybody. You should remember that everything depends on your specific requirements. Considering and analyzing them, you can find something special for you app development . Are you ready to find out?

Step 1: Native app vs hybrid app or why not a cross platform?

Let’s start from the very beginning - that is from the selection of the app type. What platform you will choose, and what platform type will be more acceptable for you.

Mobile website, mobile app - they are different. Each of them serves its goal, but the app can be more advantageous at the expense of wider capabilities and high responsive interface. This interface makes it possible to interact with a smartphone or tablet in a more comfortable way. Furthermore, such app can work without a permanent Internet connection.

For today, there are native and cross-platform mobile app development alternatives. Each of these approaches has its particularity that critically affects a final result. Let’s check strong and weak sides of these two approaches to understand what technology is better.

Native app

What is a native app ? Native apps such as an Internet browser, address book, media player and other software installed by default provide a basic level of a smartphone using.

The app can be called native when programmers use one specific language for the specific platform - Java for Android, Swift for iOS etc. Native apps can interact with all services and options of a smartphone like a camera, microphone, geolocation, accelerometer etc. In a short, these apps are in their element.

Cross-platform app development

Think about a mobile website that doesn’t need to connect to the Internet all the time. As for its design, it is closer to cross-platform. Therefore, it can be referred to a mobile app instead of a website.

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are usually used for the development of such apps. Mobile websites are developed in the same way. Cross-platform application is targeted for all platforms and adapted to the majority of devices since a browser engine is used for its functioning.

Hybrid app

However, if we speak about the solution of specific tasks, it would be much more efficient to combine these approaches - apply cross-platform advantages of HTML for a content design , but create native control elements and menu spending not so much money and time. That is what hybrid apps are.

Let’s check out hybrid apps example . A customer needs ordinary news feed where only images and text will be available. Considering it, a developer decides to apply a cross-platform alternative. However, when a client needs his app to contain a huge amount of data and process sound and graphics, the process turns out to be more complicated. To implement it, developers need to write a native code for each specific platform. Thus, a cross-platform app turns into a hybrid app.

What app type is better?

So what is better?

You should develop a native app if:

• your app must have a free interaction with all smartphone services;
• you need to have an app with high responsiveness;
• your app must function in offline mode;
• the hardware part of devices must be used in a most efficient way.

You can create a cross-platform app if:

• you don’t need a high app response;
• an app doesn’t have complicated animation and doesn’t make calculations;
• an app needs an instant Internet connection to upload a content;
• you need to convert your website into the app for not a high price.

Considering all the above, you can see that you should understand what aim you follow when you want to create an app. It will help you choose the correct app type, no matter whether it be cross-platform or hybrid mobile app .

But if you are still hesitating, our developers can help you choose the best alternative for your project and turn it into reality as well.

Step 2: Responsive app and how to increase responsiveness

But If you made a decision and have a strong intention to create a native app for the mobile device, then you must pay rapt attention to the app responsiveness. It is very important and now we will explain it to you in detail.

What is an app responsiveness ? Website interface must function very quickly. Beyond any doubt, long waiting for a web page loading annoys everybody. That is why it is necessary to take care of quick loading of the page.

Also, responsiveness means some type of cooperation with users. In other words, it means that an interface should inform users about what happens. For instance, you push a “Send message” button. If the message is sent with the help of AJAX , it would be preferable to display a status like “Sending...” or “Sent”. When users see the process, they feel more comfortable.

If we speak about Android operating system, there is a feature when the system shows ANR window (App Not Responding) if an app doesn’t respond. The window suggests the user shut down the app or wait. But when you develop an app, responsiveness requirement is critical for it to cut out an ANR dialog window appearance as much as possible. So your app launch strategy should include this point in any case.

App Not Responding window

Usually, the system shows ANR if an app doesn’t respond to the user’s actions. As a rule, response time in 100-200 ms is a threshold for the perceptible slowing of the app.

There are some hints how to avoid ANR and make your app responsive in a higher grade:

• If your app is performing some tasks, let it display progress status showing how much is done and how much is to be done. You can use such widget as ProgressBar ;
• If your app has a long initial phase of launch and initialization, consider a capability to show a splash screen or make the rendering of the main page faster showing that loading is in the process and meanwhile fill all required information. In a short, users want to see that app is working, not lagging, and they should know that the process will be finished soon successfully;
• Use performance tools to determine weak points in your app responsiveness.

Therefore, when you start developing your app, you must understand that if your app is slow and lagging, it will never attract users. It will only gain bad reputation since users don’t like to wait. They want everything to get quickly, mind it.

Read more in the full article about Mobile app strategy

Neural networks in finance & insurance

Let's move to other spheres where neural networks are popular - finance and insurance.

Neural networks in finance

The main purpose for using artificial neural networks in the sphere of finance and banking is their capability of forecasting. Analyzing the big scope of appropriate information, neural networks are able to make predictions. Moreover, the more information that was analyzed, the more accurate the prediction will be. Forecasts are extremely important for this sphere of activity.

Neural networks in business forecasting serve as a powerful tool for predicting exchange and stock rates and many others. However, that's not the only area where artificial neural networks have found an application within this sphere.

Banks are used to give loans in accordance with their statistical data about a person. Generally, the software is driven by statistical techniques but things have changed. Nowadays all statistical data is calculated by artificial neural networks and based on the result the final decision is made.

The neural networks in finance and investing are quite widespread. A company not only has fewer expenses but gets a system that is able to learn and improve its identification of credit risks.

Neural networks in the field of insurance

The insurance industry has got absolutely new 'superpowers' for tracing insured and non-insured events. For example, some insurance companies already use GPS tracking in order to find the client's car in case of a carjacking. Also, they keep an eye on speeding and that, in turn, may affect the insurance rate.

Artificial neural networks have also found their place in this industry. They are used to segment policyholders into groups that help companies to find out an appropriate pricing.

Another application of artificial neural networks is related to fraud detection since they are able to be taught to detect fraudulent claims, as well as strange circumstances.

Also, neural networks can be useful when it comes to the retention of customers. Since the competition in this industry is tough, every customer is important to a company. With the help of neural networks, insurance companies are able to detect the reason why the customer left by means of analyzing his or her history. Also, they can be applied for managing special offerings for certain groups of customers to motivate them to stay.

Artificial neural networks in insurance

Neural networks in telecommunications & management

It seems like the time for our last couples of spheres. They are telecommunications and operations management.

Neural networks in telecommunications

This technology in the sphere of telecommunications is able to cover quite a big range of areas. Their forecasting capabilities are used to conduct analysis of customers, as well as call data. That's needed to predict the reasons and moment when customers move to another company.

Also, the forecasting capabilities of artificial neural networks are used for defining the efficiency of upcoming promotional campaigns and searching for the clients who are likely to bring the most profit.

Except for these cases, they are also used for real-time analysis of network traffic in order to optimize routing and increase the service quality and much more.

Neural networks in the field of operations management

The sphere of manufacturing has been greatly automatized for the last couples of decades. With the development of the IT sphere, employees working in factories have got inner mobile applications intended to increase their efficiency, while the machinery got an artificial intelligence.

Artificial neural networks are successfully used for different types of scheduling. Manufacturers have started using neural networks for scheduling their machinery, lines of assembly and so on. The technology is also used to solve other problems connected with scheduling. For instance, to establish a timetable, schedule of a project or the schedule of multiprocessors.

Another artificial network example is their usage in manufacturing processes which sometimes covers a wide range of activities, including the control and scheduling of the whole floor's work or even improving the system of manufacturing itself.

Nowadays, mainly all manufacturers use robotic tools to control the quality of their products. For example, some of them use cameras to identify defective products. The artificial neural network behind this camera is able to learn over time, so the number of unnoticed defective products will be reduced in the future.

So, artificial neural networks are capable of being used not only in the IT industry but in other fields of activity as well.

What is an app constructor ?

App constructor or app builder without coding is a service that creates mobile applications. Using such a program you don't need to have any technical or programming skills. The service does everything by itself, all you need to do is to indicate what features and designs you would like to see in your product. There are three main types of applications that mobile app builders and app constructors create.

Applications which you can create using online app builder

Web apps

Web apps created by an app constructor are not program products. They are special websites that act and look like native mobile apps. To get access to such apps you need to have a browser installed on a smartphone and an Internet connection. These applications are based on HTML5 technology. Such web apps don't fit all the projects. They can work with some news and blog applications but not with shops and other high load sites.

Hybrid apps

It is another type of applications generated by app builders. Hybrid apps partly use the functionality of a native application and partly functionality of a web app. What people like in these types of mobile apps is that they cover more than one platform and cost less than the development of two native apps. Yet, those were all benefits of these applications.

Native apps

Is the best option in mobile development. They cover only one platform which they are perfectly designed for. If you choose between a web app, hybrid or native, native development is the way you should go. But don't think that a native app created by a person and a native app created by a constructor are the same. It's not like that. But, well talk about this later.

Comparing man-made and constructor's app

The thing we are trying to explain in this article is that you will never get a fully-functioning, smooth and solid application with an app builder or app constructor. Yes, you can create an app with their help. Yes, it will have some set of functionality and will actually work. But, there is a long list of issues which you would get if you choose this service instead of a hybrid app. Lets consider them one by one.

Web apps (HTML)

Web apps based on HTML5 technology may attract you because they are cheap, fast to create and they will work on any mobile platform. Yet, here are the drawbacks:

Web app drawbacks

Can't be published in stores . Remember that your app (and as we have already clarified is not actually a mobile app) will not be accepted in App Store and Google Play. Of course, you may find some stores and publish your application there but you need to understand that the number of visitors to such stores is minor compared to the traditional ones. And if you wanted to promote app via App Store or Google Play, you ll not be able to do it with this type of application.

Difficult to integrate a payment gateway . It is one more minus of these apps. The thing is that it is more difficult to integrate payment or any other third party service into such an app than into a native one.

Smartphone utilities dont work in such apps . An HTML5 app doesnt have full access to the hardware platform, unlike native applications. It means that in your app there wont be camera features, GPS, NFC, gyroscope and other utilities enabled that could make your application fun and more interesting.

No off-line mode . As you might have guessed, a browser page will not work without an Internet connection.

Hybrid apps

Lots of companies are attracted to the idea of paying less and getting an app which can work on different platforms and be developed quickly. But, think twice before agreeing on such an option. Here's why:

Hybrid apps faults

Design . iOS and Android platforms have their design guidelines. Of course, they are different and of course, an app with the design for Android platform won't meet the requirements of iOS Human Interaction Guidelines. And, of course, the features designed specifically for iOS platform won't work correctly on Android.

Utilities . Just like the previous type of automatically constructed applications, Hybrid apps also have very limited access to a smartphone utilities. And even if you got access to them, the performance speed would be just awful.

Native apps created with an app constructor

Now, you may start thinking that the native app is the best option (which is really true). However, a native app developed by a person and native app constructed by an app constructor or an online app builder are two dramatically different things. Here is why:

Functionality . Imagine that you prepare a salad. You have a cucumber, a tomato and some cheese. Nothing more. You can take only two ingredients or even one but not four because there is no ingredient number four, only three of them. The same here. You are limited with a short list of features which you can include into your application. If you have an innovative idea (or at least not a trivial one) you can not implement it. The application will be absolutely templated.

Code quality . It actually looks like a salad. You add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. In an online mobile app maker, you choose features but not the way they will interact with each other. You will not get any documentation to your code and will not be able to change it.

What is carpool and how does it work?

Ridesharing or carpooling is the type of a ride when a driver picks up passengers that go the same way he goes, and they reimburse fuel costs. The trip can be referred to rideshare services only if it meets the following conditions:

• car owner doesn't provide passengers with on-demand services. It means that he or she will go to the required destination in any case, regardless of whether he has fellow companions or not;
• car owner just saves on fuels costs but he or she doesn't earn money on it;
• since this service implies that passengers share a ride, they must participate in the sharing of a total ride cost. In most cases, the cost of fuel is shared between all companions. But also a driver can look for companions not for financial sharing, but for people who have a driving license. When there are 2 or more drivers in the car, it is possible to have a bit rest during the trip. Moreover, a good companion is good for chatting during the long road not to fall asleep.

Carpool app example - how it looks

So what is rideshare ? The main idea is to save on fuel cost and organize a group of people to go with. Owing to the Internet and GPS technologies, it is not difficult to find companions. However, you shouldn't forget about precautionary measures and nuances of this service.

Now then, a short summary of the service goal:

• a driver fills in the form in a rideshare app and places the information about his or her destination point;
• passengers find this route on a Web, get in touch with a driver and discuss details;
• passengers have the same traveling route;
• driver saves on fuel cost, and passenger feels more comfortable than in bus or train.

Advantages and disadvantages of carpooling

Nothing has only positive sides. Carpooling service is not an exception to the rule. So let's consider weak and strong sides of ridesharing services.

Advantages of carpooling:

• The main advantage of rideshare solutions is cost saving, of course. Depending on the agreement, a ride can be twice as cheap than traveling by conventional way;
• Don't forget that your car it is not a gas cost only. There are some cost items for the maintenance, repair, parts replacement in your vehicle. If you reduce the time of car utilization, you reduce these costs;
• A fewer number of cars on the road can reduce the CO2 emission in the roads and make the air we breathe cleaner;
• Saving time. Fewer cars - fewer traffic jams. That is to say, it is possible to reach a destination point faster and find a parking place.
• Meeting new people. Traveling together allows you to find good friends.

Disadvantages of carpooling:

• Indecent passengers. Some people can try to discount the price or even ask the driver to visit the place that is not on the scheduled route. And it is important to screen out such individuals at the very beginning of traveling.
• Indecent drivers. Unfortunately, some drivers can play an unfair game as well. For example, drivers that take 5-6 people in a small car and ask for a high price.
• In some cases, a driver has to pick up each companion separately. It increases the time of traveling.
• Passengers can be not satisfied with the driving style of a car owner. In turn, the driver can be annoyed with an excessive volubility of companions, their untidiness or lack of manners.

Strong and weak sides of ridesharing

Analytics for mobile apps is a vital component needed to figure out how a mobile app works and what you need to do to enhance it and acquire users. Every year we get lots of new analytical tools and the decision-making process becomes more and more complicated. As a rule, developers use several analytical tools to get comprehensive data about the state of their app on the market. This article is about a research we've done to find the best analytical instruments to help developers create the best apps .

Types of app Analytics

There are seven types of mobile Analytics solutions which we need to mention as the most efficient ones, which will help you get a thorough analysis of an app. They are app monetization, App Store, app interaction, app performance management, mobile advertising, mobile browsers and in-app engagement Analytics.

Mobile Analytics types

App monetization Analytics

It helps understand a user of an app better, as well as marketing and advertising efficiency, including message settings an app, pricing models and advertisement.

App Store Analytics

This type of collected data shows key efficiency indicators of your product and your competitors' product, as it shows the rate and income in different stores. It comes down to issues like ranking when a user comes to a store, downloads, in-app purchases comparison, and many other factors. The information helps choose the best monetization strategy, increase return on investment and engage acquiring users.

App interaction analytical tools

They are needed to know how a user interacts with an app, why and when he closes it. Data is needed to improve the design and increase productivity.

App performance management

It lets you measure different parameters concerning performance and detect defects. The tool also informs you of all crashes and cases when your app slows down throughout various devices and operating systems.

Mobile advertising Analytics

This Analytics calculate usefulness of advertising expenditures and displays its effectiveness. It also reflects the users' behaviour and their attitude towards the ads, like clicks, for instance.

Mobile browsers' analytical tools

The tools are needed to increase users experience of interaction with a browser and to understand their behaviour, monitor the conversion and other parameters.

In-app engagement Analytics

It shows a number of downloads, a frequency of use and the duration of each session. These tools display everything that a user does inside the app.

The data is vital, it helps determine the list of analytical tools you require exactly. For instance, if you make an in-house app for a company or an enterprise you need a performance management analysis more than in-app engagement analysis. Or, imagine, that your app is very extraordinary. In this case, standard app Analytics tools won't give you broad understanding of what is going on with your app. So, when you are choosing the best mobile Analytics platform , you need a data decoding feature which will explain why you have this statistical facilitation.

When you are choosing advanced Analytics tools , make sure that they are completely compatible with your application and are easy to use. Otherwise, they can influence download speed and performance in general. We have chosen the best mobile app Analytics platforms for you that work seamlessly and are easy to implement.

As the main criteria, we will consider two types: in-app engagement and profit-making capacity Analytics and app performance management Analytics. These are the types that cover the majority of categories.

What bugs are there?

The classification is taken from Jira. Jira is a project management tool that allows to track bugs. Its one of the most comfortable programs to run a project and is commonly used in a software development sphere.

Classification of bugs in software testing

Lets look closer how each type of bugs differ from others.

Blocker It is the most severe bug. Blockers are mainly considered as blocking/not allowing to use the app or key business logic of the app. There are no workarounds.

For instance, only logged user can use our app. A user can log in through email and password. Bug: when a user enters correct credentials and click submit button he receives an error notification. And his status is not changed to logged user. In such case, the user cannot use any features of our app, because its blocked by login bug. There is no a workaround.

The other example with Twitter. When user submit his tweet but it isnt saved in our DB - its a bug. Thats why nobody can read the tweet. Its a blocker bug because the key business feature is blocked. The issue doesnt have a work-around.

Imagine, a user receives a confirmation message after sign-in. When a user confirms account he can use all feature. If a user signed-up in app, he waits for 10 minutes but he doesnt receive any confirmation message, it is also a Blocker bug because a user cannot update his status to confirmed. The issue doesnt have a work-around.

The pack of standard open source Android projects

Let's consider the pack of popular open source GitHub libraries that are likely used in the majority of Android-based apps .

Retrofit

License : Apache 2.0

GitHub Stars : 20,370

This Android open source project is able to convert REST API into Java interface. Retrofit allows you to write a qualitative code in pure Java by means of using almost any RESTful API.

It is worth mentioning that the core features include dynamically built requests, errors proceeding, and the capability to transfer files. Also, this Git open source library gives you a powerful infrastructure for authentication, and API interaction as well as sending web requests by means of OkHttp .

Retrofit automatically converts JSON into objects with the help of another open source Android repository called Gson . All the library's logic is built upon annotations that allow the creation of dynamic requests within a server.

In addition, as for the Android-based library, it is pretty light and relatively easy to use.

Advantages:

• Easy to use & install
• Great documentation
• Lightness

Disadvantages:

• Lack of images loading support

Glide

License : Apache 2.0

GitHub stars : 14,600

Loading images is a quite widespread task with Android development . Glide Android open source repository is able to download and display pictures from multiple sources. It also takes care of caching and memory consumption.

However, to find the balance between the quality and memory usage, you need to change Glide's default configuration from RGB-555 to ARGB-8888.

By taking this easy step, you will increase the total quality of images and preserve the balance of memory consumption. To make it clear, take a look at the graph underneath that shows the memory consumption in the analogous open source for Android.

Glide's memory consumption in comparison with Picasso

Advantages:

• Fast loading
• Low memory consumption
• GIF support

Disadvantages:

• Size in 430 kb

Butter Knife

License : Apache 2.0

GitHub stars : 15,500

As you know, the necessity for using a seemingly repetitive code during the project appears quite often. In order to keep up with a good programming style, you should avoid using so-called boilerplate code . For this purpose, open source Android libraries like Butter Knife were created. This library uses an InjectView annotation to remove some boilerplate and shorten your code.

Advantages:

• Easy setup
• Lets you write less code
• Good performance

Disadvantages:

• No Pojo Injection support

BaaS definition : what is a cloud backend?

So, you came to the conclusion that you need your personal app. But in addition to a platform selection, you need also to determine how the backend of the app will be developed. We would like to shed some light on the alternative to backend building from scratch called Backend-as-a-Service option. And that is one of the most popular cloud services for today.

You may have another mind, but we should explain that the development of server part is a very difficult and time-consuming work. Moreover, when developers start developing backend part, they can hardly predict the correct time it takes to develop since nobody knows what pitfalls they may come across. Besides that, developers can use outdated tools they have at the moment. Therefore, these outdated tools may lead to the development price increase and ultimately make this backend far from being user-friendly. But it can be avoided with the help of BaaS business solutions .

What is BaaS?

Everything unknown may look strange and not trustworthy. But only until you get acquainted with this technology closer. Simply put, using BaaS you get different server resources that will assist you in the construction of the backend for the project you want. Why is it so beneficial to use BaaS? It will let you avoid large expenses connected with your own writing and subsequent maintenance of server backend. So if you consider it necessary, we can always use BaaS technology to assist you in the new start-up development.

What is GitHub: first source code repository

GitHub - a social repository for open source code projects that use Git for source code versions control. This host site is a distributed file version management systems. Linus Torvalds created this project for Linux kernel development control. Such projects like Chromium, jQuery, PHP, MediaWiki etc. use Git. Good news - this free software is released under GNU GPL license version 2!

The mission of GitHub is to make the development process quick and captivating, especially when a few individuals simultaneously are working on the same task. Apart from being a good tool, GitHub is a large educational source. This service includes more than 21 million of code hosts. So let's take a look at GitHub features .

GitHub benefits

GitHub is gaining the lead, in our opinion. And you should check out its strong sides to find out why.

Bug tracking

GitHub integrates this feature to simplify search and bugs fixing. To understand what should be done, a developer just opens the dashboard of each project and filters the information. Questions can also be sorted according to their popularity, update time and so forth. This software also has a convenient user interface that makes it source No.1 among the IT-developers. It can be an answer to your question 'Why should I use GitHub ?'

Find your project easily

GitHub allows finding easily open source code projects. Also, you can find an information concerning learning and searching of open source code projects and making them into groups. In addition, GitHub shows trend repositories and sort them by days, weeks, or months.

Meet new developers

Some thousands of new developers worldwide join the large network of GitHub users to share their experience and express ideas.

Share your experience

Gists allows users to share code, text fragments, or any information with other developers. It can be used for text exchange, and gists work as git repositories, therefore you can just bifurcate them and update their versions. So if you use it in open source code website , it can be a real alternative.

Coordinate your projects together

GitHub has effective and clear features for team management. Thus, that the efforts of people engaged in working on the project are easily coordinated through this source. In this case, the outcome of the work is high.

Integrated code search

GitHub supports code search whether it be from a specific project or a website. Moreover, this platform has a perfect SEO, so users can find any code string located in public repositories.

High compatibility

Most cloud hosting services perfectly match GitHub. Any project located on this source code hosting can be customized for these services within a few seconds.

Weak sides

• Only premium users can use all GitHub repositories. The price for using this service is rather high. Nevertheless, the quality of service it provides is worth the candle.
• Restrictions on file size . The repository can host information up to 1 Gb and file size cannot exceed 100 Mb.

GitHub page: find the code you need

What is GitLab: its meaning and features

Developed on the basis of Git version control system, GitLab is one of the best web platforms for hosting project source codes. Although GitLab is similar to GitHub in terms of functionality, it seems to be a better choice for teamwork than its famous counterpart and GitLab features may be different somewhat.

GitLab exists in two forms. The first one is SAAS - website with open registration, and the second one is an individual solution GitLab Community Edition. They both can be perfectly customized to any service.

GitLab benefits: reasons to use GitLab

What's interesting can you find on GitLab?

Free service

Users can find an unlimited number of private repositories in GitLab. This service is completely free. Nevertheless, there is a notification that users will have to pay for storing files that exceed 10 Gb in their size.

Open source code repository

GitLab software is available under the license with an open source code.

Free hosting

There is a Community Edition - free source code repository for Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS computers. Enterprise Edition is a paid solution that adds proprietary features over Community Edition, improving integration with other online tools, server options management, workflow management as well as authentication and integration with authorization.

Bug tracking mechanism

GitLab has an effective integrated bug tracking mechanism. Users can create tasks, comment and close them.

Files editing in the web interface

Editing of files is possible directly in the web interface and you can do it without loading of the repository. So if you need to make small changes in an open source code websites , this way is that what you need.

LDAP integration

Full integration with LDAP . Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an app protocol for access and support of distributed directories services around the Internet. GitLab EE adds additional features such as support of several LDAP servers and group synchronization.

Its drawbacks

• The interface is rather slow - switching from one page to another takes some time.
• Technical problems with repositories are quite frequent.

GitLab platform to use source code hosting

What is BitBucket: third participant in a race

BitBucket can be called as a real worthy competitor to GitHub. Why BitBucket? Different operating systems support this platform. You just need to create to register on the official website and then you can create your personal account. In fact, it is based on a source code management mechanism. You can simultaneously use the code with integrated comments, and also make requests, manage and share your Git repositories. It is possible to create a flexible deployment model for any team. Moreover, you can get access to private and public repositories without any difficulties.

BitBucket advantages

And, finally, BitBucket comes into play!

Free for small teams

If your team includes no more than 5 individuals, you can get an unlimited number of free private repositories. So, this source code repository hosting doesn't charge a fee for each private repository, it charges a fee only for a number of repositories in total.

Query management system

BitBucket is provided with an integrated system of query management.

Authentication via GitHub

BitBucket supports social media and authentication via GitHub.

Integrated JIRA tool

Bug tracking tool JIRA is developed by Atlassian. You may be acquainted with the previous result of their work - BitBucket service. When the components of bug tracking are integrated, JIRA automatically updates information about problems when a new commit is performed in a BitBucket repository and here BitBucket benefits are obvious.

Repositories importing

Importing of existing repositories. Great feature, isn't it?

Discounts for students and teachers

Atlassian suggests student licenses for students and teachers for Atlassian products developed for educational purposes. BitBucket is included, therefore students and teachers can have unlimited private repositories with an unlimited number of participants.

Disadvantages

• Private repositories are free for a team with 5 members and fewer. If the team is larger, it will be necessary to pay for each additional team member.
• The only way of search is to launch repository and find it locally or use external apps.
• Not so stable as GitHub. Some problems during a work session may slow down the process.

Use Atlassian BitBucket for team work

It's Time!

I believe it is fitting that I submit my first blog at the time I submit my first electoral nomination.

Therefore, I will keep this blog short.

We are all still in awe at the fact we are all now part of something we've been looking for all along...our next elevation to the stars! Asgardia has given us the opportunity to excel our collective consciousness to do so much more and I believe 2018 will be a tremendous year as we building our space community beyond the stars.

I am ready for the unknown...are you???

As promised...I will keep my first blog short. But before I go; I would like to leave you with one of my favorite collection of songs that assists me, when I know I am about to do something great! My hope is that you, who took time to read my short essay, will find the same inspiration as I do in this music.

Take care and be blessed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba-c6LIuluY

Shimon Starfury

C.E.O. Military B.O.O.T.S.

I support the Conscious Leadership Manifesto: I, too, believe that a more conscious world is possible! I envision a world built upon dignity and respect for self and all life. I understand that environments that promote individual development of awareness, relationships, creativity and leadership lead to greater well-being.

Well-being, put simply, is what most people desire: health and happiness. However, science shows humans are, generally, not so great at finding happiness. The largest study on well-being reveals that strong relationships and a sense of purpose are among the strongest correlates of wellness and happiness. Organizations can promote well-being by providing authentic relationships, healthy habits, a sense of purpose, sufficient autonomy and opportunities for development or mastery.

I think that the world sorely lacks more conscious leaders - in businesses, in government, and in civil society - that can promote well-being at large. As such, I will seek to be a more conscious leader in my own way and to foster conscious leadership in others. I will encourage those in a position of influence to do the same.

I understand that when individuals are empowered to create and serve, they can enjoy offering the highest level of evolutionary accomplishment to society. I will do more and demand more as a relative, friend, neighbor, citizen, consumer, colleague, manager, educator, service provider, entrepreneur, public figure or community leader for more ethical and equitable humanity -- one that facilitates the realization of potential and promotes the richness of experiences and relationships.

I want a society that increasingly values the irreducible nature of our inner life and our collective synergies, including our desire to enjoy and share liberty, discovery, delight, inspiration, accomplishment, cooperation, and spiritual evolution.

Governments, schools and workplaces are responsible for helping every individual enjoy a more authentic and accomplished life. Individuals and teams in every community and organization can catalyze healthy changes at the deepest level of any process: our minds, our consciousness. I understand that changes at this root level, affect the basis of our relationships, attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior. Therefore, any effort and resource available to develop our consciousness should be studied and supported.

Each unhealthy, unhappy individual without opportunity for development is a loss for all human kind in all senses including ethically, economically, and culturally. I will join forces with all those who wish to develop a life, consciousness or development-centered civilization that brings out what makes you awe-some. Let us unleash untapped potential, innovation, will, attention, creativity, connection, beauty and vitality for individual liberty, social and ecological digni and fraternal common good.

Tradução - Português:

Eu apoio o Manifesto de Liderança Consciente! Eu também acredito que um mundo mais consciente é possível! Imagino um mundo construído na base da dignidade e o respeito por todos os seres vivos. Eu entendo que os ambientes que promovem o desenvolvimento individual de consciência, relacionamentos, criatividade e liderança levam a um maior bem-estar.

Bem-estar, simplesmente, é o que a maioria das pessoas deseja: saúde e felicidade. No entanto, a ciência mostra que os seres humanos são, geralmente, não tão bons a encontrar a felicidade. O maior estudo sobre bem-estar revela que relações fortes e um sentido de propósito estão entre os mais fortes correlatos de bem-estar e felicidade. As organizações - e comunidades e nações - podem promover o bem-estar proporcionando relacionamentos autênticos, hábitos saudáveis, um sentido de propósito, autonomia suficiente e oportunidades de desenvolvimento ou domínio.

Eu acho que o mundo precisa de mais líderes conscientes - nas empresas, no governo e na sociedade civil - que promovam o bem-estar em geral. Como tal, eu procurarei ser um líder mais consciente em minha própria maneira e promover outros agentes de mudança conscientes. Vou incentivar os que estão em posição de influência a fazerem o mesmo... e hoje em dia, com a Internet... pode ser qualquer um que tenha vontade.

Eu entendo que quando indivíduos são capacitados para criar e servir, eles podem alcançar um nível de realização evolutiva superior para eles próprios e para a sociedade. Eu vou fazer mais e exigir mais como um parente, amigo, vizinho, cidadão, consumidor, colega, gerente, educador, voluntário, prestador de serviços, empresário, figura pública ou líder comunitário para uma humanidade mais ética e equitativa - que facilite a realização de potencial e promova a riqueza de experiências e relacionamentos.

Quero uma sociedade que valorize cada vez mais a natureza irredutível da nossa vida interior e as nossas sinergias colectivas, incluindo o nosso desejo de desfrutar e partilhar a liberdade, a descoberta, o prazer, a inspiração, a realização, a cooperação e a evolução espiritual.

Governos, escolas e locais de trabalho são responsáveis por ajudar cada indivíduo a desfrutar de uma vida mais autêntica e realizada. Indivíduos e equipes em cada comunidade e organização podem catalisar mudanças saudáveis no nível mais profundo de qualquer processo: as nossas mentes, as nossa consciências. Eu entendo que as mudanças nesse nível-raiz, afetam a base de nossos relacionamentos, atitudes, valores e padrões de comportamento. Portanto, qualquer esforço e recurso disponível para desenvolver nossa consciência deve ser estudado e apoiado.

Cada indivíduo pouco saudável, infeliz, sem oportunidade de desenvolvimento é uma perda para todos os humanos em todos os sentidos, incluindo aspectos de ética, economia e cultura. Eu apoiarei todos aqueles que estão a desenvolver uma civilização centrada no desenvolvimento que revele e desabrochar o que faz cada um de nós especial. Vamos libertar potencial, inovação, vontade, atenção, criatividade, conexão, beleza e vitalidade inexplorados para a liberdade individual, a dignidade social e ecológica e o bem comum fraterno.

Hello, my name is Mollie Elizabeth Isaacs and I believe that with my leadership skills and ability to inspire others, I will prove to be an invaluable asset to our new community. My mother is a social justice leader and I have followed in her footsteps all my life. I understand that a good leader represents all members of the community and must listen as well as they speak. I have dedicated my studies to social justice and environmental sustainability as well as other advocacy programs pertaining to human rights. I am determined to be an active leader in both forming and sustaining our new community. I will focus on equity vs. equality, and I promise to fulfill my given duties with good intention, honesty, and an open mind and heart. I full heartedly believe in the core values and vision Asgardia has to offer. I will do everything I can to maintain those values and upkeep the vision of unity and free spirit.

On planet earth, times are grim more than ever in the eyes of a humanist. People die every day with no justice, famine kills with nothing left , and greed poisons most without unknowingly. But those who see the world for what it TRULY is, a vessel soaring throughout space carrying this primitive species trying to find its place in the cosmos, are the ones that understand the steps needing in saving our species and home planet. I myself have been grateful enough to have stumbled upon such a fascinating new culture rising through the chaos and flames, and now more than ever want to be apart of such a beautiful purpose. Greed is killing humans more than ever in this day and age, and as the new generation is saddens me to see our species go down this tragic route. I want no part of this decline, but I will have a part in its uprising. I want the best for our species of humans in this cosmic voyage. I would love for this message to reach any Asgardian and say, ‘ Hello my fellow human. Let’s embark on this journey together.’ Shall we ?

Josh Isaacson professionally known as Caspian Bordeaux is a Writer/Director making an impact in Hollywood by using his voice to create commercialized altruistic content and stories that nourish the soul and impact his generation. He's a trailblazer and a trendsetter who believes the more spiritual you are the better your life will be and is developing a program to help people find their spirituality. With his voice, he hopes to use his gift to inspire and motivate people to reach for the stars. Ad Astra... to the stars!

Endless illusion of space and time

wondering quietly in ones own mind

confused in life

with riddles and rhyme

some will look yet few will find

most will discover trickery all the time

the truth they seek but will not find

the wealth they find

has made them blind

consumed by the illusion

always talking about what is mine

more and more stuff you need

forever searching to feed

the bottomless pit of greed

THIS IS NOT HOW I WANT THE NEW WORLD OF MINE TO BE...........