Friday, January 16, 2015

Why The Internet Needed the Mobile Phone

 "In the Internet industry, its not about grand innovation, its about a lot of little innovations: every day, every week, every month, making something a little bit better".
-Jason Calacanis-
            The Internet has grown over the years and with its ability to provide the necessary tools for its users to expand it, it continues to grow beyond imaginable proportions into a marvelous interconnection of not only people but also organizations, institutions and more so objects.
When we quick-rewind to the '90s the Internet lived only on the Desktop Computers of those who were blessed with computers and an access point, but as the world neared the millennium more people were slowly realizing the need for the Internet, portable communication devices were taking over the ability for individuals to communicate, and as we sank into the millennium mobile phone technology was taking over the world by storm and with more phones owned by the biggest number of people the need arose for more mobile applications to be created. The applications were supposed to bring the experience that one got on a computer into the hands of  the individuals.
Desktop Computers were heavy objects, they couldn't be carried around, yet the efficiency of computing, the excitement that it aroused, the interaction, the beauty of computing had to be experienced without much ado. And thus the necessity of the mobile phones which would later be improved to be more portable, sleek, stylish and efficient in functionality. But more so mobile phones would be favoured for their ability to easily access the Network of Networks, the Internet.

Since then the mobile phone has stood at the epicenter of not only voice communication but also Internet Connectivity.

Mobile communication devices have not only changed the way people communicate but have also made it easy for people from all walks of life to access the internet from all corners of the world.

Lets look at how the mobile phone has evolved over the years.

Before the first generation of Iphone was released in 2007, the phone was just a device for communication and gaming, boring right? Nokia's handset was most popular between 1998 and 2008, it was helping but not that much, considering, it was only offering the ability to send and receive text and voice messages, and as thus Nokia's sales dropped in the wake of the handheld touchscreen devices like the Iphone and Google's handheld Android operated phones with its share price in late 2007 falling from US$40  to US$32 in mid-2012. The corporation that had earlier in 2012 boasted of a global market share of 18.0% saw its sales soar to a 3.2% market share in the smartphone business after losing 40% of their revenue in the 2nd quarter of  2013; and with Microsoft's $7.2bn+ acquisition of the once phone giant, Nokia continues to exist as a shadow of what it was.

Others were the likes of Motorola and the Seoul based  multinational conglomerate Samsung, currently the largest chaebol (business conglomerate) in South Korea. We can't forget Siemens a company that made its debut on the mobile market in 2002 but was in 2005 sold to Ben-Q hence later being renamed to Ben-Q Siemens, well that was technology at that time

Today the mobile phone has evolved beyond what we had ever imagined, Google's Android Operating System has been enhanced to act as an artificial intelligence to monitor health, task scheduling, task progress, realtime chat, news, to mention but a few. Apple's Iphone with the Siri advanced artificial intelligence software has become a personal assistant to whoever owns it, Microsoft's Windows Phone also boasts of its tiled design and its artificial intelligence system known as Cortana that can answer questions asked by the user. Everything is just amazing. The phone has become the closest and most trustworthy friend of the human being, people have not only got addicted to their phones but are glued to them because of their vast functionality due the continuous innovation and creativity opportunities that the phone offers to not only its users but also its developers.
The emergence of such intelligent technologies as the phone continue to move the world forward making the enthusiastic minds crave more for what the future holds for the world of technology.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Have you ever asked yourself what the origin of all ideas is? how people begin to talk about things? where they get those things? why they perceive them the way they perceive them? Why things are the way they are? Why we have to be where we are at a given time?
Hence my topic today; "The why factor"

The first thing i realize as i read is, CREATIVITY.
The universe is huge and thousands of things have been discovered and created in it, from stereotypes, to ideas, to concepts, to theories, some have been discovered as factors that contribute to our well being on earth but most have been creations of other human brains.
 Those that have affected humans most are those ideas, theories, stereotypes and concepts that have been created by fellow humans, humans that have taken time to use their ingenuity to study fellow humans' weaknesses and strengths and have taken advantage of such strengths and weaknesses to create what fellow humans crave for.

From the American end of the world to the Chinese far end of the globe, creativity has taken over, it is diverse and it is both beneficial and destructive in one way or the other and with the available resources and the communication tools thereat, it soon becomes a usual occurrence for one to get a notification of a new creation every moment from anywhere across the globe; some creations are so disadvantageous, destructive and inconvenient that many people suggest that these creations be stopped, but soon or later we realize that what is destructive in one environment or instance is not destructive in another environment or instance and on a cost benefit analysis, the good that it is creating outweighs the bad, a reason to support why some things are still kept in the ecosystem however disadvantageous they maybe. 

Everyone endeavors to create something new, something that will thrill the world, something that will either tear the world apart or bring it together. The problem most people face is the phenomenon of the constraints that are either brought about by the rules that be or the stereotypes, the beliefs and ideas that rule over their minds and brains.

Thousands of things have been created, those who created them were also created by the creator who was created by some creators who had also been created by some creators who thought that creating them would be of paramount importance to the continuum of creativity. The one thing that all these creators unshackled themselves from are constraints. They washed away fear and they approached the things they feared and in the process made the world a better place to live in.

Your ability to create something does not come about because of the many resources you have, it doesn't come because of the little resources you have, the ability to create is as a result of your need to create something, your need to do so is the starting point, the move to create is the second step and the determination to create is the next thing, this is what drives the most creative minds in the world, come up with an idea, make a move to  make it happen and then push on with resilience until your idea is in its physical form. However these steps should not constraint anyone in the creation process because constraints like fear are the evils that make us fail. Merry Christmas Folks, have a nice one and create something new this holiday





Sunday, October 13, 2013

Does your site qualify?, Here's a yardstick.

 The dark-skinned lady, probably an Acholi, smiled at me from the middle of the restaurant, she had called me to come up with a web design for her and embed a ticket booking system in it, clearly she knew what she wanted but I didn’t know much about it except the little she had told me. “I want something beautiful”, she said, “Something where someone comes, logs in and books a ticket”, and shaking my head in convinced acceptance I said yes and I assured her that what she wanted could be done if she could particularly tell me the different parties that would be involved and what functionalities I would involve in the system and then I kept quiet and she looked at me with worry painted all over her face, for a moment i though that maybe she had not understood me or maybe she doubted me, my skills and talents in programming or maybe she was worried about particular features I would include in the design, but slowly she took her hand away from the table and it went down browsing for something, she got hold of it and brought it to the table, her bag, and then she asked, “How much……how much will it cost?”. 
Sincerely speaking, I had nothing to say.

It seems the moment people hear of website designers and software engineers, they think, yeah those guys are making zillions by the minute, those are the Mark Zukerbergs, and Bill Gates’ of our age, they make money when they want. 
However there is much to think about before looking at the money designers make.
Clients never think about the quality of the product the designer has delivered, the functionalities, the small holes that may expose the system. All they look at is the beauty of the index page and then they drown the designer’s account with “zillions”.

Let us take a look at the worst case scenario.

Imagine you are browsing the Internet one day and bump onto this site where the links are dispersed all over the index page, the pictures are moving across the page whereby the pictures on the upper part are moving to the right and the ones on the lower part are moving to the left, the heading on the page is “BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS” and yet it has pictures of computers with their price tags upside down. Then there is this looping picture of a boy kicking a ball just below, the picture keeps on repeating again and again , the boy kicks the ball and the ball goes away and then it comes back and he kicks it again and again and again, however when you click on it, it dims the screen and a small notice (Javascript alert) appears in the middle of the screen asking “DO YOU WANT TO BOOK A ROOM?” you press OK and it takes you to another page where they are displaying Caskets.
These are pure features of a bad website, pictures moving around in a disorganized format, poor user interaction, miscommunication of the subject matter and disorganized content. The functionalities of the different links and buttons are completely detached from the actual purpose and the user is pissed and jeering at him/herself at the end of the experience.

The qualities of a good website range from the physical design to the smallest functionalities that may hinder a good user experience and those that may even compromise the system security. The security of the database storing the information collected by the site should always be updated and that explains the reason why a dedicated and updated IT team in the organization owning the website should be sensitized by the developers of the system about how to ensure the protection of the system from intruders. The functionalities of the buttons and the links, the guidelines on how to use the website should be clearly stated, clear contact information for further consultation, immediate, accurate, complete, reliable and fresh responses to the user. All this should be put into perspective by the developer and they should be emphasized by the client. Technically the site should engage the user and make him/her feel at home. That’s what good sites are made of, beauty and functionality and your site will appear first on the search results page; not for the money you have paid Google for Search Engine Optimization but for its perfection and efficiency in giving the user appropriate information.
Thank You for Reading.

Kusemererwa Roy.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Technological Advancement

       The continuous advancement that our world has made in Technology is a thumbs-up to all those that have enabled us reach where we are right now, the likes of Bill Gates, Tim-Berners Lee, Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt and many others, they stand as legends in the arena of the modern age. They are the men that have inspired the future history of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
The sectors that have been greatly inspired by the advent of technology are numerous, from entertainment to socializing, Entrepreneurship to security, from networking to health to mention but a few, it is an inspiration that will last for years in the social economic and political existence of our world.
What is noteworthy is that the area of advancement that has been most inspired by this advancement is the area of Business Entrepreneurship.
The advancement of Technology has enabled the growth of ideas into start ups also called bootstraps, the stemming of start ups into businesses, continuously into enterprises, the examples are numerous; Facebook, Google, Twitter  Mashable, LinkedIn, Diaspora, Swayy, Microsoft,mention them, they united a world formerly torn apart by color, tribal differences, legendary feuds and linguistics. Compared to the writing of  letters and shouting at each other of the old age, these companies make the life of communication not only diverse but also interactive and innovative, they rule the world of Business Entrepreneurship in all matters technology.
               Today, for any business to develop, Computer technology stands as a rule of thumb. The proportion of the growth of business has become directly connected to the advancements in technology, the world, engineered by the Internet has become global, information flows like a maelstrom on the river Nile covering all the corners of the Earth, and soon Mars and the moon will be covered.
This maelstrom has not left the world seated, the effects are both tangible and intagible, from Internet currency (bitcoin) to 3D printing the world has lept and still leaps.
Data is more important nowadays for it is an essential tool in the making of decisions be it in Family, Business or Government, it has become the food that we eat and the drink that we thirst for. The storage of data has become a prerequisite to all sectors that have got into sync with the Technological advancement that has the taken the world by storm, it has as a result made "cyber-colonisation" a neccessary evil.
   Thank you for reading, next time i will discuss cybecolonisation.
-Kusemererwa Roy-