Categories
Mobile

5 Mobile Technology Trends 2018: What You Should Know

Advanced technologies have made the business landscape more cut-throat, keeping business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals at the edge of their seats. To stay ahead of the competition, owners need to constantly observe both their target markets and their competitors, and learn how each side adopts the latest trends.

One such trend that has emerged is mobile technology, primarily the adoption of connectivity to gadgets. The cost of adopting this mobile technology to businesses—both big and small—will be within reach, making it more accessible.

Furthermore, with the integration of smartphones and handheld devices into the daily lives of consumers, companies and organizations need to understand the various opportunities that mobile technology presents to both the business and its customers.

What are the mobile technologies that my business should know about?

Internet-of-Things

The ability to turn almost any device into a smart object is possibly the best use for IoT. It’s the metamorphosis of the internet that will allow something to connect, monitor, control, or search without human intervention.

A Statista report shows that by the end of 2018, IoT-connected devices will be more than 23 billion and that by 2025, it may reach 75 billion. Items will range from LEDs, toys, sports equipment, and medical equipment, to controllable power sockets.

These smart objects will be interacting with mobile devices to function as a remote. IoT will allow users to interface with their social networks to monitor things, pay for subscription services, update object firmware, monitor readings of devices and sensors, analyze data, and so much more. Soon, it will be useful for many industries, including healthcare, education, manufacturing, and transportation.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

In 2017, both Google and Apple invested heavily to study and improve AR, releasing ARCore and ARKit, respectively. This technology allowed developers to innovate and create mobile solutions for the smartphone using AR.

AR was mostly used in gaming apps and marketing campaigns, as the additional digital layer provides a more realistic and immersive outlook to entertain and impress consumers. However, there is an opportunity for retail, life science, manufacturing, and other sectors thanks to a wide range of AR apps being developed today.

New applications using AR for more practical purposes is expected to launch on mobile, like object measurement, navigation, interior design, and more. Its power to provide a compelling user experience may result in a variety of creative AR apps targeted to market customized offerings.

VR, meanwhile, will still be focused on the game and events sphere but may go beyond by offering a better form of entertainment.

The Digi-Capital New Report in 2017 shows that “mobile AR could become the primary driver of the $108 billion VR/AR market by 2021.”  Indeed, mixed reality or immersive environments have the potential to integrate the digital world into the physical to address the needs of people who are consuming the digital world through mobile.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Developments in AI and machine learning will help fuel intelligence to machines through Deep Learning. This could mean that computers will soon be able to make smart decisions without human interventions. Mobile chatbots are the best example of machine learning by AI.

It has also been predicted that apps that can make decisions and customized to anticipate user behavior would soon be developed. Smartphone developers are looking to pack future devices with as many AI elements as possible and inspire more voice- and images-based AI innovations. Mobile data will be tapped for all these future innovations.

AI and machine learning could also be useful in the education industry through apps that can teach kids based on how they learn. Naturally, mobile e-commerce could also benefit, with apps that could shop based on the consumer’s preference.

5G

The fifth generation of mobile network dubbed as 5G New Radio (NR) is expected to launch by 2019, starting with a few US cities. The world regulator of cellular communications standards 3GPP has already approved it.

5G NR is built around sub-6 GHz and mmWave (24 GHz) spectrum bands. The increased spectrum chunks, bigger carrier aggregation (8 times for mmWave), and beamforming and tracking capabilities can significantly improve throughput and efficiency.

This new standard is expected to provide up to 100 times faster connectivity than 4G, improve user experience, and promote the advanced technologies aforementioned for mobile. Qualcomm already demoed their prototype during the Mobile World Congress 2018, showing a smartphone connected to an actual 5G mmWave and transferring data of over 4 Gbps.

Instant Apps

Android has led the way for this trend, with the Go edition of their latest OS version Oreo. Instant Apps are substantially smaller or lighter versions of apps that do not eat up too much storage space and do not require a download of the whole app from the Play Store. They were borne out of the hassle of deleting apps to make way for other purposes.

These apps have the same design and animation extracted from the native application, without the bulky size. Google is expected to integrate this along with the launcher and is believed to be the next step in the app streaming feature. Other OS will hopefully follow suit.

Which of these technologies is the best for my business?

With different power requirements and data consumptions, the answer to the question depends on what your business needs. And in some ways, one technology would require another piece to work more seamlessly.

For instance, a company that plans to adopt IoT should not be satisfied with m2m sim cards that only use 2G or 3G networks and move to LTE, and eventually to 5G. Both networks are expected to shut down soon and would spend the remainder of their lifespans through applications with legacy devices (that will also be replaced).

More trends are expected to pop up as 2018 comes to a close and a new year comes in, making it harder for organizations to decide which technology to utilize for their business. The good news is whatever mobile trend you choose from the above mentioned will help your company be more successful.

Categories
security

7 Common Mistakes That Can Damage Your Online Privacy

You might think that you’re playing it safe on the internet, but sadly you’re mistaken. The internet today is much more dangerous and poses countless threats from gaining your personal information to stealing your money using your financial details.

Given these countless dangers present in the digital world, many users tend to make small mistakes that could lead to serious problems. In this article, I am going to outline 7 common mistakes that can damage your online privacy. So, let’s get started!

1. Always Using a Credit Card for Online Payments

Why use a credit card for all your online activities and put your money at risk? Hackers can get hold of your financial information and use it for their own advantage. It is so much more sensible to move towards online payment merchants and prepaid cards like Amazon card or Apple Pay.

Limiting the use of credit card makes it less likely for a user to face a big financial loss. Furthermore, these services are often traceable or require certain information that only the original owner may have.

Making payments using these methods can secure you from criminals getting your information. Today luckily, many services are present that offer encryption options and high level of security, such as PayPal and Google Wallet. They not only allow you to make payments locally but work in a vast range of countries.

2. Not using a Password manager

It is highly recommended that all your accounts should have different passwords, because if one is leaked, you are doomed. Owing to the fact that today, we have countless accounts on social media sites and other utility services. This means you’ll have to memorize a dozen or two passwords.

Fortunately, when mankind can reach to the moon, handling passwords isn’t definitely not rocket science. This is where the use of a password manager comes in.

Just create one strong password for your password manager and rest assured your accounts are safe. There are many applications available in the industry now, however, make sure you use a highly recommended and credible application that offers encryption and has features such as self-destruct.

3. Not Using a VPN

A virtual private network is of utmost importance when it comes to protecting yourself online. It encrypts your data, meaning it will be unreadable to any third party. It also masks your location, making it impossible for intruders and surveillance agencies to locate you.

What’s more? With a VPN you can unlock content that is region restricted. The best part is that you could be sitting in the Netherlands and your IP will show that you’re in the United States. However, only the best VPNs can be trusted and actually work.

Make sure to select a VPN that offers wide range of servers, offers apps, and provides AES-256 bit encryption.

4. Connecting to Public Wi-Fi without Security

Public Wi-Fi is like a free cookie! In fact, a free Wi-Fi is actually more important than the food or coffee at a café. But these public Wi-Fi are dungeons for cyber criminals and hackers trying to get lucky.

The best way to protect yourself in such a situation or while travelling abroad is the use of a credible VPN service. Since a VPN encrypts your data, it protects it from the prying eyes of hackers and others alike.

5. Downloading Unreliable Browser Extensions

When you want a particular utility, let’s say an instant PDF converter, you’ll download any extension or software that comes first to you. This is exactly what cyber criminals want you to do. These extensions often contain malware and ransomware. They often steal your credit card information by offering you a free trial or collect the credentials of your social media platforms.

This is why you need to be very careful when downloading extensions on the internet, as they may be a source of malware.

6. Not using a Double Password Verification System

Creating a two-step verification system furthermore protects you, even if your password is extremely hard to guess. A second layer of security is always a good idea and will only protect you.

Even if your password is leaked, the two factor authentication will make sure that no one can access your data unless you verify from both sides.

7. You’re Using Outdated Security Tools

As security threats are being created at an unstoppable rate, the security companies too have to work tirelessly to combat these viruses. It is advisable to update your anti-virus software and other security tools regularly. Keep scans and updates on the auto mode if the software allows so.

Conclusion

The digital platform is the criminal’s new avenue, as all things are taking place online, so is robbery and crime. It is very difficult to catch criminals in the online world, as all data is encrypted and masking yourself is not a difficult task.

Therefore, it is advisable to take security measures on your own and to do them correctly. It is inevitable to avoid the internet and you wouldn’t want to do that either. So take some solid steps and enjoy online freedom the way it was meant to be.