Features that can make Apple beat Competition - A letter to Tim Cook (Apple CEO)

Hi Tim,

I am a guy with a technical and innovative bent of mind. I am a big fan of the innovation culture that Apple has followed all these years. In the recent times media; globally has depicted that Apple is slowing down in innovating. I have few innovative ideas I would like to share with you, if they can be of any use then I will be more than glad. So the list is given below:

1.      As Apple astounded the world by introducing first ever Touch Phone it can again astound the world by bringing in first Touch Phone without any buttons only Touch Enabled. This will be a feature that make iPhone or other Apple devices again stand above competition. Instead of buttons gestures based on tapping certain areas of phone, voice commands or a combination of other sensors can easily eradicate the need of buttons. Moreover if the buttons are not there then the Apple Devices can be made water-proof or even fluids proof.

2.      One area where no body has yet tapped into is the utilization of mobile phone sensors. There are a number of sensors that an iPhone carries today like orientation sensors, temperature, proximity etc. But there is not a single capable utility or app available that can use the sensory data from these sensors and can provide the user with meaningful information that can be utilized practically. For example if a person who is not very health conscious goes for a hike abruptly then the sensors can automatically feed him with his health stats or nearby rest points to help him in his trip. This is one example rather there are a numerous ways the sensory data can help ( I am working on an algorithm to make use of it)

3.      Apple can enable a new feature of User Profiles like suppose I am in office then all my selected office use apps can be set to use mobile data/wi-fi etc to keep me updated about the work and when I am home then office profile should get deactivated (rather we can still select some priority apps to be in active mode) and News or Entertainment apps should become more active. All these profiles can be created by users by selecting apps and also selecting hardware/software options they can access as per user preferences.

4.      Apple devices can be given a new feature to share apple device based location with another apple device on security handshake. This can help parents keep track of their children and can help business guys to see if they are approaching the person they wish to meet or even find lost devices.

5.      Biometrics based security APIs if integrated and made available to developers to provide users with compatible devices that can provide utils based on high security can prove to be a turning point.

6.      Cheaper spare parts should be made available to the countries where Apple devices have low market capture and only a single cheaper version of each Apple device can be launched there.  So that competitors can get a good competition.

7.      Devices should come accompanied with LBE and NFC Apple Tags that users can paste anywhere encrypted with security password/biometric solutions and use them to give info to family members in case they are going out or have kept dinner in refrigerator as people do with Post-It notes. More uses can be devised of Apple NFC & LBE tags if Apple devices are accompanied with these technologies. Payment enabling using these techs should be left on market popularization and adoption behavior of users towards using these techs for financial transactions.

8.      We have touch phones, tablets, watches etc but none of the device gives the ability to have all of them in one i.e. a device with fold-able or retractable or slide open kind of add-on screens that can be folded or held inside a single iPhone. The innovative implementations of the same can be done as I said in many ways or even by the use of new tech but if Apple can introduce this type of device first it will converge the tablet & phone market.

9.      Introduction of a Bio-Chemical sensor based Home Button which can detect various chemicals in our body or our health state when our finger touches the Home button.

10.   A sensitive SIRI mode which can be enabled by lone commuters, female users in case they feel insecure in certain surroundings. Activation of a distress call or sms can be done when SIRI detects a single distress code word like MayDay, Help, MomDad etc.

11.   Inclusion of solar/bio-thermal/bio-pressure charging panels on the phone/tablets so that it can get charged on the go hence lasting the user experience & battery support. The more the people have phones with them the more services/products we can offer. 

12.   Integration of sending SOS/Distress message even if the cellular or wi-fi network is not available via GEOS International Emergency Response Center. Also this feature can be used in case the device gets lost.

13.   Using of Bluetooth or BLE to transfer the apple device view on a goggle or shades while jogging or driving so that user can navigate the phone without holding the device in hand but via remote handling it or remote controlling it through a variety of personal viewing accessories.

14.   A mini projector that can fit inside the pocket to be sold as an accessory with Apple Devices or even inclusion of a projector like technology into the Apple Device itself to get the ultimate big screen for enhanced viewer experience.

15.   Ability to share free apps without compromising security to other Apple Device users in case they don't have round the clock net access in countries like Maldives, India, Nepal etc. but still there are a number of users who use Apple devices in these countries.

16.   Ability to use both the cameras at the same time to record a live party or simply for fun. 

17.   Ability to use a combined internet bandwidth of Wi-Fi+Cellular+USB Tethering suppose it falls below a particular speed limit. 

Many Thanks for the read!!!

Mobile Sensors or Smartphones Sensors based Ubiquitous Computing

The Smartphones that we use in our day to day lives are filled with a colony of sensory chips or if I compare it to human body it is filled with a number of organs.

In case of human body each organ plays a vital role in keeping us alive and in making our body functional. In the same way the sensors in smartphones today keeps a streamlined flow of informational stats to the smartphones' processor or to the apps in order to keep that particular functionality in the running mode.

Whenever we hold a phone in our hand we do not realize that this marvel of technology has the power to provide us with information that we unknowingly miss or is continuously missed or not interpreted by our mind. As I have mentioned in my earlier post about the "Future of Mobile Computing", Mobile Devices will largely define all the future major innovations in the consumer based computing industry, but in this post I will tell you that how will it be possible to start with providing personalized processed info to an individual and then gradually move on to socially or globally indicative aspects of the processed information from these "Smart Devices".

Taking the example of the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S4 smart computing hand held device/phone. I would like to notify that it is capable of giving us 14 types of sensory data. Please refer list below:

1. Time
2. Location
3. Altitude of the device
4. Gravity
5. Orientation
6. Atmospheric Pressure
7. Proximity
8. Magnetic Field
9. Linear Acceleration
10. Relative Humidity
11. Rotation Vector
12. Gyroscope based Directional Sense
13. Temperature
14. Light--> Indoor/Outdoor (RGB & Brightness Sensor data)

But the irony is that the phone does not have a single application that can accumulate data from these sensors as a combined input mechanism in order to give a really personalized & "Üseful" analysed "Info". 

Think of the possibility that if we can get information from all these sensors for all the activities we do in only a time frame of 24 hours. It is astounding to know this meaningful information can be used to provide us inputs regarding our vehicle's fuel consumption mileage, our health stats, our emotional status, our location based risks, our social status, predict near future events, alert notifications in cases of emergency, delivery of required info at right time, our most productive time period of the day and numerous other informational feeds. 

If we move forward leaving behind the informational impact on a single being, if we can process the data from a group of individuals suppose a class of 15 quantum mechanics students. The teacher can quickly grasp the pointers which left student's lose interest and which made them more enthusiastic. I mean to say if we combine the sensory data of a group of individuals it will provide us the info that can help prevent epidemics or can help in promoting an Ad-Campaign. 

Now if we can combine the data across states we can have global demographic data and real time traffic stats to help build new highways. The Micro to Macroscopic view to the benefits of this technology innovation can bring into our lives is endless. 

I have begun working on defining a computing algorithm for this type of sensory data utilization for ubiquitous computing. If the interested ignited minds like to contribute then they are welcome. 

At the last I would like you to think on the lines of studying the effects of various kinds of informational feeds we take inside our minds via TV, Mobile, PCs etc and look into the possibility of delivering personalized educative content to people in shorter digestible amounts so that they can inch closer to the full grasp of the related topics. This application will be useful in defining an ubiquitous knowledge sharing mechanism by utilizing user patterns of social or informational feeds via various channels.

Future of Mobile Computing - Consumers and Manufacturers Perspective

Mobile Computing has risen way above since it was first offered to consumers. Initial versions of Mobile Computing offerings used remotely operated objects, embedded devices, laptops, handheld palmtops, digital watches  and many more items which made the consumers witness the advances and advantages of Mobile Computing.

But nowadays consumers are empowered with smartphones which have easily become the substitutes for desktops or even laptops. Laptops and desktops are being gradually outnumbered by Tablet PCs, Tablets, Smartphones and UltraBooks. These devices have drastically got reduced in size and have immensely grown in the computational power they offers. There is a merger of two futuristic technologies namely Mobile and Cloud Computing to virtually monitor, offer and shift all the computing to mobile/movable devices which are able to run on software that is remotely located in a distant cloud based server. 

The present Mobile Computers or Handheld Devices or Smartphones/Tablet PCs etc offer an ever increasing amount of hardware in terms of its processing, storage or connectivity abilities. A generic solution is available to the consumers from which they have to choose in order to select a piece of product that would more or less suit their needs. Rather the global trend sees a common trend of selecting the latest mobile phone from the manufacturers that is either recently launched or is from a consumer favorite brand like Apple or Samsung or HTC.

But if we look into the future I would see a major shift in what people would like to chose in terms of what kind of Mobile Smartphone or Tablet they would like to buy. In future it would be like a building or configuring a Smartphone down to the lowest hardware/software levels to suit a particular consumer needs. 

Gone will be days when we would be buying a pre-configured phone which the Manufacturer thinks is the best choice for us. We will be able to configure or phones and suit them to our needs. We would fill them with those usability features that would truly help us in our jobs or daily chores. Recently Motorola has taken a brave move in offering phones to UK Consumers which can be pre-configured as per user's needs.

In future we would also see a major shift from limb-held devices to limb-mounted devices. Like we would not be wearing a smart watch but it would be mounted on our wrists as a mounted or embedded component in our skin or by any other prosthetic means. 

Also we would be seeing an era of ubiquitous computing and a mobile computing environment which will be self aware of the surroundings and would be smart or intelligent enough to even predict that we have chances of catching cold in case we step into cold water under some jittery health condition. 

We are soon approaching the future that all the computing we see will transform itself from a stationary technology to Mobile Technologies. All the Computing will see a major shift from Stationed technology centers to Mobile and Ubiquitous Technologies. 

There is lot of scope for innovators to pre-approach and visualize the scenarios to offer newer and smarter services and in the way take advantage of the financial boom it has in it stakes.

How to manage Crowd Testing and Crowdsourcing? Addressing Major Managerial Problems

Crowd Testing is a new paradigm in the quality driven space of software testing. There are a number of predictions and pros stating that this type of testing might become immensely popular and would be able to acquire a profitable market share in the software testing industry. On the contrary it is yet to be seen any significant success stories or deliveries achieved via this innovative branch of crowdsourcing industry. Without denying the fact that this area of software testing is still in its so called adoption oriented infancy rather it has grown significantly based upon its technology/infrastructure driven maturity level, yet we have to keep a keen eye on the expanse or demise of the same.

Whenever a new technology comes in everybody starts to talk about its advantages and benefits it bring along. But as I am closely related to this field I felt to do otherwise I would like to point out more cons or problems that we need to manage or deal with, so that Crowd Testing succeeds and can truly stay put on the variety of beneficial claims laid down by its pioneers. 

The major managerial problem this crowd testing brings can be summed into these categories: 

1. Proper Dissemination of Testing Requirements into the Crowdsourced Team of Testers
2. Skill identified or Experience based Work Allocation
3. Concrete Business Clarifications Mechanism
4. Reduction of crowdsourced resources based liability risks and mitigation plan
5. Irrefutable Wages Delivery Mechanism
6. Enabling of testing technologies for mobile, business intelligence, VPN etc on crowd testing environments
7. Business Confidentiality & Security Aspect Justification for Cloud and Crowd based software testing model
8. Defects Validation Mechanism 
9. Synchronization Mechanism of crowdsourced testers' (globally located) work for Test Reporting (For periods when defects are scarce)
10. Crowdsourced Resource Retention
11. Idiosyncrasy of Deployment Schedules & Stringent Timelines
12. Ground level binding of Crowdsourced Testers with country specific legal contracts.

The above stated managerial problems presents a challenge to Crowdsourced Testing or Crowd Testing firms/organizations. There might be several scenarios where Crowd Testing companies will try to take these challenges one by one and address them by their own business model or implementation methodologies. Rather the one who can get rid of them all will stand out to be a winner. In my following blog I will suggest my own strategies to deal with these. So till then I invite all like minded and fellow professionals to find a way out and leverage the pros and diminish the cons to give a profitable business solution out of Crowd Testing and Crowdsourcing.

Future of Software Testing - A Practical Approach for Service Industry

Software Testing of the present day scenario is either manual or automated wherein efforts are invested to get the desired Quality Analysed Validations or Verification based results. The future of software testing is an area not much thought of; in terms of technology based improvements or innovations. Rather people and organizations have largely invested on improving the overlay of various test management/delivery related processes. 

The problem with the current approach is that we are able to sustain and also grow in the respective business but what about threat and sustainability issues if an autonomous test mechanism is developed. Large organizations are focusing on creating capabilities and nurturing software testing talent on the basis of the software that is ready to be tested or has been tested once in its life cycle or is currently under development to be tested. But what about if the technology or principles on which software testing itself is based upon will it never change? Should it never evolve? If we will continue to linger upon service providing based on the eons old manual and software solutions will this area ever advance?

In order to get rid of these age old techniques new approaches has to be considered and developed plus adopted for this technology area to grow. There are 4 approaches out of which I do not foresee any clear winner or rather I should say I cannot predict which one shall be adopted more. 

Starting from the first one is: AI based Object Identifiers with Metadata based Action Definitions. These Object Identifiers will go through  any -> to-be-tested application regardless of the environment via which it is hosted. It will then identify all the user actionable and non actionable fields and make a classical approach based repository. Now the tool will be already be equipped with AI based Metadata Action Definitions which will enable the tool to process and analyse the objects to create test actions. When the Test Analyst will complete the analysis of the same it will execute the same and hence the software testing will be completed with proper capture of Test Actions (Evolved out of Test Design) and Test Results to generate Test Reports in a matter of minutes. This tool can also hold the test analytic from the current test to re-use the same test actions in case similar kind of application comes for any test assignment. 

Second Approach is: In current scenario (Laughable Fact) the business requirements gathering is not based on any technology framework which makes it a stenographers job apart from the understanding of the business imperatives/impacts/functionalities etc. which is a specialist's job. The business requirement gathering too should follow a industry standard and all the business logic collection should be done based on metadata or object identifiers based tech. This is will not only enable the testers to easily verify their findings rather reading the functional specifications documents as boring novels. But also enable the developers to easily follow the business logic as per business definitions logic. In order to validate the test actions itself business will also create a Requirement Documents in the Metadata Identifiable format to verify the test results. 

Third approach can be: AI Based Object Identifiers Embedding in Source Code. This approach will enable a self inclusion of Test Actions identifiable Object Identifiers based Metadata inclusion into the source code itself at the time of development. In this case it would be easy for the developer to code the application as per the business requirement and Unit Test it also with negligible efforts.

The fourth or the final approach is a bit tedious and can be less popular: Usage of AI based Object Identifiable Neural Network derived Test Actions Repository. In this approach a tester can either enter the test flow or test actions using his/her conventional test design and then see the tool identify the test actions and execute them. Or it can be run in a learning mode wherein the tester can record how it tests a particular application and hence can train a neural network to test the same in subsequent test phases. 

In order to get algorithms or technical consulting on the above ideas please comment on my blog or send me mail :) 

Features that can still make BlackBerry 10 outsmart competition in Business Phones Market Segment

BlackBerry 10 comeback is good but not impressive enough to compel customers who have moved on to phones from other popular brands. I will not waste my time in repeating BB10 features. Rather I will suggest a few to make them more Business Smart-er Phones:

1. Include a feature to share App only in Mobile Screen Sharing Mode so that if a person wants to just show a presentation then he can do it, without sharing his wife's continuous texts in the multi-task mode. This feature should enable sharing single or more apps but not the entire multi-mode screens so that a limited private space is still kept.

2. In BlackBerry Peek if the video is running and the BlackBerry Hub is recalled then the video should get paused automatically (This should be an ON/OFF feature).

3. In the BlackBerry Flow if the Browser could show tile-view of all the tabs that are opened then the user can easily click on any one of them that is required instead of first opening the browser and doing the hassle-job.

4. In BlackBerry Keyboard if the swipe from right to left deletes words then in the same there should be an option of undoing delete by swiping in the reverse direction i.e. left to right.

5. In the BlackBerry Balance if the work and personal apps are kept separate then the same kind of separation should be done in BlackBerry Hub so that Facebook and Twitter are separated from Corporate Social Network or Mails.

6. Picture Editing is good option but it should be enhanced with one more feature and that is to include pictures from Gallery of images into Presentations, Documents etc such that we can edit these pics to fit into these docs with simple UI strokes. This would immensely help in case somebody needs to brush up a presentation or a document.

7. Ability to view mail attachments in twin window mode so that a person can also refer the mail as well as read the attachment simultaneously.

8. A better voice recognition so that if a multi-tasking, multi-screen modes are launched in next versions of BB10x then a person can talk and listen via speaker and also do the multi-tasking on phone still maintaining an audible quality of sound, while holding the BB in his/her palm.

9. Ability to integrate Office Communicator with BB Messenger so that the message flow not stops no matter what.

10. Ability to share BB screen with a Desktop with limited or controlled access to the apps or files but with the enhanced or unique ability to drag n drop or even run compatible files on desktop.

I am in the process of thinking of more. As soon as they come I will share more can-be-added-features. Thanks for the read. 

Near Field Communication SDK in India

Hi All,

It was very tedious job for me to find any manufacturer or supplier of NFC based SDKs in India. But luckily there is one supplier MNC based in Chennai that provide us with all the NFC hardware and software bundles from which we can start experimenting with.

The name is SCM Microsystems. Check out there link: www.scmmicro.com/