www.399apps.co.uk launches making apps even more affordable

Today Style Loft launched  a new division www.399apps.co.uk aimed at small business owners enabling them a cheaper route and alternative to getting their own app on the app stores.

Style Loft have worked with a number of major brands and created a number of very large custom apps but they have now set up a system that allows you to create an app and manage it via a cms for a small upfront fee (£399+VAT) and affordable monthly payment.

For further information we highly recommend visiting www.399apps.co.uk

 

ios6- All the new features coming to your iphone/iPad

 

Apple’s new ios 6 comes loaded with some great features. A new Maps app to a new Siri upgrade that works with Facebook. Then there is also Passbook-Apple’s latest app that controls your coupons, cards and boarding passes. These features will be available on iPhone and iPad.

1. Siri

Siri keeps being updated. The new version in ios 6 does sports cores and stats. It also gives you useful averages. Siri is also being integrated with OpenTable and Yelp. You could ask for a good curry house and it would use Yelp for the answer and OpenTable to book a table. Genius!

Siri also comes to us in more languages and many of the large car manufacturers are using Siri in their cars, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota and Honda.

2. Facebook integration

Facebook is now completely integrated with the iPhone. You will be able post to Facebook from Apple’s apps, just like you can do with Twitter. That includes images directly from the Photos albums. Or location from Maps. It’s even integrated with Siri. And the Calendar application, so birthdays and events are automatically synchronized at all times with Facebook. From a developer point of view it really does become interesting because we will be able to enjoy better Facebook services instead of the usual API we have had for some time now.

3. New phone features

You will be able to reply automatically to a call with a message, the phone shows a list of messages including “ill call you later” or “I’m on my way”. It will automatically send the message as well as rejecting the call.

A new “Do Not Disturb” preference which will turn of calls and messages at night. The notification will still come up but the good thing is the sound and light wont come on. You can choose certain numbers to override this feature-work calls etc if your on call. If someone is calling you repeatedly the phone will override this feature thinking its an emergency. Im sure this will be misused in some way-)

4. New Facetime

The big news is that finally, Facetime will work using 3G as well as wifi, the quality will obviously depend on your 3G connection, but it will be supported.

5. New Safari

Safari is getting the live synchronization of tabs with desktop Safari, so your browsing experience is unified across devices using iCloud. It also uses iCloud synchronization for an Offline Reading List, which allows you to read a story that you have marked to read later without a web connection. This is pretty neat for subway users and flights.

One of the best features, however, is the new support for web forms uploads. To me, it has always been so frustrating not to be able to upload a photo to a web site. Now you can click on the upload button, a Photo browser will appear, and you will be able to upload.

Safari will also support full screen navigation while in landscape mode. Entering this mode will eliminate any app navigation element and just leave you with the web page content.

6. Photo Streams on iCloud

In the past, iCloud allowed you to upload photos constantly to your personal stream. Now you can share your photos specific streams with selected people. You can pick friends and they will be able to see any photos you upload in a dedicated stream automatically, constantly updated. Everyone will also be able to comment on them.

7. Apple Mail

Mailboxes have been revamped for a new feature: VIPs. You can mark people as VIP’s and their emails will automatically go into a specific folder. Another new feature! At last is the attachment of photos and videos straight from the message window.

8. Passbook

Passbook will allow you to have all your tickets and coupons—airplanes, train, movies, concerts, sport events, gift cards, loyalty cards, whatever—in a single wallet. It’s quite pretty and useful. If you have a gift card, for example, it will show the card balance after you use it. It will also alert you about nearby shops when you have shop’s coupons or gift cards.

Another really neat feature of Passbook—perhaps the best one—is that it will update your gate number in your boarding pass in real time.

9. Guided Access

The iPhone is very popular among people with disabilities of any kind. Apple is adding a new feature called Guide Access to iOS’ accessibility services. Educators will be able to only activate parts of the screen, so autistic kids or people with other disabilities can stay focused on certain areas.

You can also put an iPad in single app mode now, which is also useful for schools: now teachers can send tests to students’ iPads, locking them in the test so they can’t go into other apps to cheat. Very good idea I would say. Shame they cant do it in the local pub when the quizzes are running…

10. New Maps

The new Maps—fully developed in house—seems pretty amazing. It’s a complete overhaul and it truly looks wonderful, much better than the old Google-based version. Here are all the new features.

 

New cartography
Apple bought a cartography company in 2009 and this the result of that. The new Maps app has new cartography, completely different from the one provided by Google. This includes new points of interests, restaurants, shops… everything is new.

Vector based vs bitmap
The new maps are not bitmap-based anymore. Say goodbye to the horrible and slow tile loading. Now they are vector based, which means faster loading—it still loads sectors, but very fast based in our hands on experience—and smoother, much better graphics.

Turn-by-turn navigation
At last, Apple’s Maps will provide with turn-by-turn navigation, just like any other car GPS app. It looks quite good.  I shall certainly be looking to test this in the coming weeks.

Business information card
Now every location in Maps includes a card that gives you all you need to know about it. If it’s a restaurant, it will show you reviews and ratings, along with photographs.

Siri integration
Siri is completely integrated with Maps. You can ask for directions with your voice, it will guide you while driving and, if you ask her something like “Are we there yet?”, she will answer you with the estimated time of arrival. And tell you to shut up.

Traffic information
Traffic information loads constantly, even when you are not looking at it. If Maps detects a change on traffic conditions that would make your trip faster, it will ask you to reroute.

3D view
Apple bought another company last year with cool 3D maps technology. Looking at the demo of their Flyover feature, it was worth the price. This thing is impressive. It looks like a movie, but it’s rendered in 3D graphics in real time.

11. New Find My iPhone features

Find My iPhone has been enhanced. You can lock your phone with a four-digit number remotely, no matter if your iPhone wasn’t set to automatically lock. What’s better: you can send a message to the phone with a contact phone number and a big “Call” button, so whoever finds it can call you back.

The iPhone will automatically record all its locations after you lock it remotely.

12. New Find My Friends features

A new feature will be great for parents trying to keep their kids under control: they will be able to define location based alerts so, when their children leave the house or school, they will be alerted.

 

When is it coming?

It’s arriving soon with the Developer SDK available today, probably when the new iPhone debuts, like before.

Which devices are supported

It will be available for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 4th generation iPod touch, the latest iPad and iPad 2. The rumors were correct: the first iPad is out of this upgrade. Means you will need to go buy a nice shiny new one, I expect many of you will…..

HTML5 vs NATIVE – The empire strikes back

It is now highly accepted that mobile applications have doomed websites to a secondary and supportive role. Prior, any business without a website was out of business, these day pretty much the same happens with mobile application, thanks to Apple’s vision and the natural human tendency to want everything smaller and easily reachable, the world in your pocket. Also to the copycat ability that big companies tend to have. But along came the HTML5 and with it a great counter-attack.

 

 

 

Mobile apps and HTML5 are two of the hottest technologies right now, and there’s plenty of overlap.

We can divide mobile functionality into two dimensions:

User experience
Integration with the device
Web apps run in mobile browsers and can also be re-packaged as native apps on the various mobile platforms. Native excels in both. So which one to choose? Some clarification below:

Why Native:

• Can do more in terms of functionality and interaction with the device

• Run faster as they don’t have the web runtime barrier to deal with. They run close to the hardware and built-in software and can take advantage of performance boosters like GPU (graphics processing unit) acceleration and multithreading.

• Easier to develop regarding features availability and capability. Also all native have a dedicated development environment which facilitates development stages such as testing and integration

• Look and feel better taking advantage of all that the hardware have to offer in terms of graphics and speed

• Can be monetized via App markets

• Can be totally internet independent

Why HTML5:

• Perfect for E-commerce business that want to have a solid presence on a mobile platforms and across desktops.

• Ideal if the traffic of the website is coming from a “Side-Door” perspective (Search Engine; Social Media)

• Easier to port across different platforms

• standardised syntactical features

• Features designed for the use of low powered devices such as smart phones and tablets

•  Improved multi media and graphical content

Technologies moves faster then the majority of us can catch up with and it is anyones guess which will prevail in the coming years. It is possible that even both the HTLM5 and Native will become obsolete as we see unprecedented new and dominating technology. At present, deciding which technology to use is a delicate matter and there are more opinions than there are developers or experts. This makes deciding which to use an almost impossible task. All we can suggest is that you to surround yourself with trained professionals who will be able to analyse your individual needs, and provide you with optimised solutions, as this is definitely no matter for the layman to deal with.

Style Loft Launch a series of interactive iBooks

Today Style Loft launched the first of 5 iBooks aimed at helping children learn the alphabet.

If you search for Style Loft Limited on iTunes or your iPad (iBooks) you will find the full list of titles.

All the books have been beautifully illustrated and include voice overs.

Check them out today

 

Apple begins game subscriptions and streaming

Big Fish offering OnLive-like service for $6.99 per month; iPad only

Apple has launched a new iPad games service where users don’t pay for individual games, but instead buy a subscription of a range of titles.

Washington developer Big Fish Games is providing an ‘all-you-can-eat’ service – where subscribers can access dozens of its titles – for $6.99 a month.

Users won’t be able to download the games as part of the service. Apple is allowing Big Fish to stream game data to the user in a manner similar to cloud gaming. The nature of the streaming means that Big Fish can shut off the service as soon as subscriptions end, whereas games would be far more difficult to remotely delete or block if already downloaded.

Yet the streaming means that the iPad will need to be persistently connected to Wi-Fi.

Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, said “this is the first time that the technology has matched the business model”.

Big Fish offering OnLive-like service for $6.99 per month; iPad only

Apple has launched a new iPad games service where users don’t pay for individual games, but instead buy a subscription of a range of titles.

Washington developer Big Fish Games is providing an ‘all-you-can-eat’ service – where subscribers can access dozens of its titles – for $6.99 a month.

Users won’t be able to download the games as part of the service. Apple is allowing Big Fish to stream game data to the user in a manner similar to cloud gaming. The nature of the streaming means that Big Fish can shut off the service as soon as subscriptions end, whereas games would be far more difficult to remotely delete or block if already downloaded.

Yet the streaming means that the iPad will need to be persistently connected to Wi-Fi.

Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, told Bloomberg that “this is the first time that the technology has matched the business model”.

He said the service “took longer than usual to be approved by Apple”.

“They needed to be convinced there’s a reason to charge customers every month.”

Article courtesy of http://www.develop-online.net

How to use Multitasking on iphone 4

iPhone iOS 4.0 has multitasking fucntionality but do you know how to use it?

Most people don’t so so here we have got one tutorial on using multitasking.

Apple enabled multitasking on iOS 4.0 only for iPhone 4 and 3GS, but if you Jailbreak then you will have Multitasking on iPhone 3G too.

Step One
Press to launch an app from the SpringBoard. In this example we will launch the Photos app.

Step Two
Press to select a photo from your library then press the Home button.

Step Three
Press to launch a different application from your Springboard. In this example we will launch the YouTube application. Then select a video you would like to play.

Step Four
While the video is playing double press the Home button. Notice a new multitasking menu will slide up from the bottom of the screen.

Step Five
Press to select the Photos application we just had open. Notice how it nicely appears right to the photo we left it at.

Step Six
Double pressing the Home button will again bring up the multitasking menu. If we swipe to the left we can see all the applications that are currently running or suspended in the background. You can tap any one of these to launch the application.

Step Seven
If you swipe all the way to the right you will be shown the iPod widget and Portrait Orientation Lock. Using these buttons you can control the playback of your music, quickly launch the iPod application, or prevent the screen from rotating into landscape mode.

QUITTING A BACKGROUND APPLICATION

Step One
To quite an application running or suspended in the background simply double press the Home button to bring up the multitasking menu.

Step Two
Press an hold any icon until it wiggles. Then press the delete badge at the top left of an icon to end the application.

Step Three
When done press the Home button to complete the action.

**Remember not all applications have been updated with support for fast switching or backgrounding but hopefully most will have this ability in the near future.

**Please note that we are aware of how basic this tutorial is. It is being provided as reference to those new to the iPhone and unfamiliar with its technology.

If not used correctly this could be one the reasons your battery life does not seem to last 2 minutes. Remember to close apps down properly to get the most out of your device.

We hope you found this useful?
The Style Loft Team

Catch us on Facebook and twitter

Hey all,

Have you joined our fan page on facebook yet?

If not, please do http://facebook.com/styleloftlimited

 

 

 

You can also follow our tweets on Twitter

http://twitter.com/styleloftdevs

 

Another app developed by Style Loft hits the app store “i-cueda”

If you like games that improve your memory then this game is for you.

For more information about the application please click on the image

Mobile Fragmentation: What marketers need to know

Fragmentation. Sounds painful, and for those planning and implementing mobile campaigns and services, it presents a real and present challenge. It’s the technical term for the fact that we all have different phones, and that these phones tend to work differently. Take a look around a meeting room or a pub table: iPhones, Blackberrys, Nokias, each with their own operating system, applications and ways of displaying the web.

For now and the medium term, there is no common format, apart from voice and text messaging that will work, 100%, across all your customers’ phones.

Getting round this problem requires a good deal of insight and strategy, based on a clear understanding of what your ‘mobile consumers’ look like, in terms of both the devices they own, and the ways in which they choose to use them.

Step One – Know your customer

To decide on a mobile strategy, you first need to know what mobiles your customers are using and how they use them. There are only three ways to do this, to my knowledge.

The first is to survey your customers directly, which is a fairly large undertaking, and would probably require re-running at regular intervals to keep up with changing trends.

The second is to look at mobile traffic on your website, which can show you what type of mobile devices are already trying to access your existing (probably PC facing) properties. However, this method only shows you a partial picture.

The third and most effective method is to pay for research data. At We Love Mobile we recently invested in the mobile usage survey, provided by Comscore , and we haven’t looked back. There is nothing else that can tell you what your particular customer base is likely to be doing on mobile to such a degree, and it has taken much of the guesswork out of approximating likely mobile ownership and usage across our client base. If your existing mobile agency isn’t using this product, then you should ask how they are making decisions around mobile technical strategy for you. And no, I am not on commission, but robust consumer mobile usage data is a must-have for anyone looking to make informed decisions in this space.

Whatever way you get the data, knowing your mobile customer means, at the very least, establishing some basics, including: what devices they own (Apple, Android, Blackberry etc) and how they use them (mobile internet, e-mail, games etc). You should also have an eye on general trends, which will either feed into your medium term planning or roadmap.

Step Two – Define and refine your objectives

Identifying the ultimate goal for the business is normally going to be the main driver in helping you decide on the most appropriate mobile route. Key areas to identify are: do you need to reach the maximum number of customers, or are you happy to target a defined segment? What type of engagement and interaction are you after? How important is it to preserve brand identity?

While we can all get excited by the technical possibilities presented by smartphones and apps, sometimes business objectives can be achieved using much simpler and ubiquitous technologies. Clients asking straight from the get-go for a specific technology solution is often a sign that the horse is being put before the cart, and something that a good mobile agency looking for long term client satisfaction should challenge.

Step Three – Choose your weapons Clarify your objectives, and the mobile technical strategy, informed by your consumer’s mobile usage profile, will often become quite clear quite quickly. Any decision is probably going to be heavily dictated by budgetary restrictions.

For example, while a mobile experience might be better implemented as an application, if your customer base is spread across a range of operating systems (OS) and reach is key, then a less functional mobile internet experience might provide for better ROI. Sometimes development priorities aren’t so clear-cut. An iPhone application, for instance, is often a logical first step, as it demonstrates the potential for the channel and appeals, amongst other things, to brand guardians, PR departments, board director egos, and to relatively wealthy, influential and growing consumer segments.

Step Four – Think Roadmap

A mobile roadmap is important for three key reasons. Firstly, because you are unlikely to have managed to reach all of your potential consumers in phase one, you will probably need to consider who is next and how to target them.

If you’ve started with an iPhone app, for instance, you might consider whether an Android or Blackberry version should be next.

Secondly, a roadmap is important because mobile technology and usage changes fast, so an eye for the future will help you keep up with the market. Android is a good example here, as it is growing much faster than Apple OS. A mobile retail solution that is taking six months to implement should consider, perhaps, that the OS landscape is in flux, so any major investment in mobile technology needs to reflect what the consumer will be using in the future, not right now.

Thirdly, if you’re going to run a mobile campaign, especially if you are new to the area, think beyond your first foray and consider, for example, what you are going to do with the data you are bound to collect, how you are going to continue to engage with consumers and how your mobile service or dialogues can evolve over time.

The future

Whilst fragmentation is not going away right now, with the gradual spread of Mobile Flash and Mobile HTML 5 we can envisage a mobile world where the mobile browsing experience becomes much more interactive and standardised across all OS, thus paving the way for increasingly ‘one size fits all’ implementations. In the meantime, a cost-effective mobile strategy will need to carefully weigh up a number of key factors before you can safely decide on the right mobile technology for the job at hand.

Article written by: Simon Liss, Managing Director, We Love Mobile www.welovemobile.co.uk

Press Release for Allied Detectives

The world’s first interactive iPhone app for Solicitors and legal professionals to appoint an Enquiry Agent, Process Server or Private Investigator was launched today by Allied Detectives.

A new iPhone app has been launched which allows Solicitors, Barristers and anyone else to instruct a professional agent whilst they are away from their busy offices. The “i-Enquire” app is free on iTunes.

The app uses the iPhone’s GPS locate abilities to calculate which Allied Detectives office is nearest to them, allowing the user to instruct the appropriate Enquiry Agent, Process Server or Private Investigator. The app sends a message to the nearest office. The Case Manager is then appointed and becomes the users point of contact from that moment on.

Neil Sheppard, Central Regional Director said:
“Many Solicitors are out of the office and obtaining Court Orders without their office support. Normally they are in Court in the morning but once they get a Court Order, it’s not ready to be collected until 3.30 pm. What this app does is allows them to get on with the rest of their day, while their Process Server goes and collects the Court Order from either the solicitors office or the court and serve it as soon as possible, wherever that may be.

It also has a function to link to the users Facebook account and for those people that want to enter their profession there is a “Join Us” option too. The user also can call Allied Detectives directly by clicking on the “Call us” button.

The app was produced by StyleLoft Limited of Bradford and commissioned by Jorge Salgado-Reyes, South East Regional Director of Allied Detectives and the owner of e-Legal gathering, an on-line forum for PI’s, legal professionals and the public.

Jorge said: “I have had several clients who had asked if it was possible to instruct us whilst they were away from the office. Many instructions are Urgent and solicitors do not have the time when they are in court to call their office to arrange such a service and then wait for a call back, hopefully i-Enquire fills that gap for them.”

About Allied Detectives

Allied Detectives is a nationwide collaboration of established private investigator agencies that provide professional witness, surveillance, tracing, process serving and enquiry agents to the legal and insurance sectors, corporate clients and the general public.

The group was formed by combining the resources, personnel and experience of several businesses with a focus on the provision of a national service from established regional offices located across the United Kingdom.