GoMo digs out 2D barcode examples

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Hope this manages to clear up confusion over 2D barcode types
aztec code is only real rival to QR codes now
These days, the 2D mobile barcode wars are really over. For all intents and purposes, the QR code has won out – even though it technically might not be the best solution available. However,  in some cases there are still some refuseniks left. A good case in point is the travel industry. Hence, when we wrote this story … ‘BA’s barcode causes confusion – Datamatrix or Aztec?‘, we tried to clear up the confusion. The travel industry actually utilises Aztec codes rather than going down the QR code route. As GoMo
reader Robert Smith has just pointed out that story contained a link to a web site page that no  longer exists. So below we have published examples of the seven most popular 2D barcode types again.
Originally on the missing web, we’d only shown six barcode types: – Aztec code; Datamatrix; Maxicode; the QR code itself; Shot code; and Upcode.
But we’ve caved in and included Microsoft’s Tag code whose principal USP is that it used colour. You can built colour into QR codes now as we mention here ‘ScanLife enters tech spat with logo-centric QR codes‘.
Actually what we should have done is  just refer Robert to this page  …. ‘How to tell mobile barcodes apart‘.
It has a few more examples of codes including custom QR codes from Tagnition and custom Snap Tags from SpiderLynx.
GoMo News
actually recommends NeoMedia‘s Neoreader software to read virtually all off these barcodes, but frequently there’s no necessity to install a specific barcode reader app.
Many Android handsets ship with a barcode reader app already installed and in the case of the BlackBerry OS, there a barcode reading app built right into many apps. Such as BBM, for example.
Examples of typical 2D barcodes

Aztec code [bull's eye]

Datamatrix (L-shape]

Maxicode [circular bull's eye]

QR code [3 corners]

Shot code [Circle]

Tag [Microsoft colour]

Upcode [incorporates name+ no.]
Tony is currently Editor of GoMobile News. He's a veteran telecoms journalist who has previously worked for major printed and online titles. Follow him on Twitter @GoMoTweet.

Cheaper ‘made in China’ BlackBerries on the way

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AppId is over the quota
But deal with Foxconn could be bad news for Canadian workers
Chinese plants will be responsible for making BlackBerry’s smartphones in future, it has been revealed, as the troubled Canadian manufacturer struggles to turn itself around. Taiwan’s Foxconn, whose manufacturing sites are largely based in the People’s Republic, will also take over the hardware design of new devices, leaving BlackBerry to provide the software technology. First joint products are due to be released in the spring of 2014, codenamed Jakarta and initially aimed at the Indonesian markets. But the partnership, while generally welcomed by investors, could cause trouble for BlackBerry at home, placing as it does a question mark over the future of its manufacturing plants in and around Toronto.
It similarly raises issues about the strategic direction of Foxconn, listed as Hon Hai Precision Industry, and which employs around 300,000 workers in China’s Zhengzhou region and who, until now, have been busy making iPhones for Apple – BlackBerry’s nemesis.
BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen revealed the shake-up yesterday [20th December 2013] in a third quarter conference call where the company also revealed a $4.4 billion loss, adding to the huge losses it has already chalked up in recent years in the wake of competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Despite this, said Chen, BlackBerry’s balance sheet “remains very strong” with an increase to $3.2 billion for the quarter, up from $2.6 billion last quarter and reflecting a $1 billion convertible debenture that was completed last month.
Chen described the new tie-up with Foxconn as helping to reduce purchasing obligations and inventory clearing costs.
He revealed BlackBerry still has 80 million users of its instant messaging platform, their numbers swelled by the release of the BBM app for Android and iOS devices and which is used daily by around two thirds of users who downloaded it.
Dave Evans is a long established commentator on both the IT and cellular industries. His current focus is on share price trends within the sector. You can email him here

HTC decides to paint the Town gold rather than red

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AppId is over the quota

Celebrates the gold version of the HTC by painting London’s Shad Thames’ streets

um, puss - where did I leave my boots? Shad Thames?

In the UK, there a Xmas tradition of taking children to the theatre to see a special genre of play called ‘pantomime’. And one of the most famous of such pantomimes is the legend Dick Whittington. He eventually became Major of London but in his youth believed that the streets of London really were paved with gold. To celebrate the gold makeover of the HTC One, the Taiwanese smartphone maker decided to paint the town gold. Hence, residents on the iconic cobbled streets of Shad Thames in the heart of historic London awoke today [December 20th 2013] to find themselves the lucky recipients of a festive makeover. All to promote what HTC claims is the most awarded smartphone in the UK – the HTC One.

The stunt saw the Shad Thames’ traditional cobbles covered with a glistening gold walkway.

HTC obviously thinks that the one deserves a gold makeover [because it's worth it - Ed?].

Anyway, the company says its new HTC One in gold, “packs the power and acclaimed features of this premium model into a brushed body with black accents that oozes luxury and
style.”

This latest addition to the family comes with all of the features of the standard HTC One, including HTC Zoe, HTC BlinkFeed and HTC BoomSound.

GoMo News wonders whether this is a dual SIM version or the standard single SIM model.

Anyway, the struggling smartphone supplier claims that has won international recognition for its stunning design.

In the UK, the gold model will be available mad High Street retailers Phones 4u and Carphone Warehouse as well as leading MNO [Mobile Network Operator] Vodafone.

We think fans are supposed to put the hash tag #streetsofgold in their tweets about this.

The residents of Shad Thames are wondering whether the gold will wash off because loads of rain is predicted for this Xmas period [2013].

Notes:

In the UK, the phrase for going out and having a jolly good time is known colloquially as “painting the town red”.

Hans Cett is an established freelance author and consultant specialising in the mobile communications industry. He also writes for Countdown2MWC - http://countdown2mwc.wordpress.com/

EU law spells an end to proprietary phone chargers

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AppId is over the quota

Bad news for firms like Apple

could eu put end to apple's lightning?

Standard battery chargers for all mobile phones will have to be provided by manufacturers in future, once EU draft proposals become law. Yesterday [19th December 2013], European legislators were putting the final touches to the proposals which, if adopted by the parliament and member states, will be implemented around 2017. It means mobile phone makers will have to provide a standard battery charger that can fit any device, including smartphones, though just how firms such as Apple will react – and whose latest Lightning iPhone connectors incorporate a tiny chip to combat copying – remains to be seen.

As well Apple, sub-contractors like Britain’s Wolfson Microelectronics, which was awarded a contract to provide Lightning cables this time last year, could similarly be affected, as could other firms such as Asus whose charges also have proprietary designs.

But yesterday EU legislators backed an earlier report by the union’s Internal Market Committee in agreeing there was no compelling reason why a phone charger should be protected by proprietary patents.

Plus, in future, all chargers distributed in member countries should have a standard interface – probably one based on a microUSB connector.

Once the law is finalised, member states will have two years to incorporate it into national statutes, though some larger manufacturers – including Apple and Samsung – will be given an additional year to comply.

The lawmakers also agreed on tougher market supervision ensuring certain products have to be registered before they can be sold, in line with a database system already used in the USA.

Dave Evans is a long established commentator on both the IT and cellular industries. His current focus is on share price trends within the sector. You can email him here

Poste client : technologie superflue - la smartwatch

Tout ce que vous jamais imaginé et rien de ce que vous voulez vraiment
par Dr. Robert Passikoff, Président, clés de marque

Le comédien Lewis Black, a donné le clou sur la tête: "ce nouveau millénaire Aspire ! C'est exactement le même que le vieux millénaire. Savez-vous pourquoi ? Il n'y a pas de voitures volantes! » OK, pour être juste, actuellement il ya les gens travail là-dessus, mais en réalité, pas le ciel-scape imaginé par les écrivains de science-fiction et de dessinateurs de bandes dessinées. En revanche, la technologie a mis l'accent sur les plus hauts sommets - si ce n'est pas précisément le ciel.

Suivre les attentes du consommateur

En tant que consultants de marque, nous espérons que les attentes du consommateur pour pointer les clients dans la bonne direction.

Les anticipations des consommateurs chaque année obtenir plus élevées à presque toutes les catégories et, comme en témoignent les validations indépendantes, marques qui répondent mieux aux attentes des consommateurs toujours voir de meilleurs résultats.

Attentes des consommateurs est qu'ils sont chassés surtout émotionnellement ; ils sont en général quelque chose que les consommateurs ne peuvent pas formuler facilement ; et ils sont distinguent par l'imagination.

Et, si vous voulez identifier où vous devriez rechercher or marque, vous devez savoir comment mesurer les attentes.

Cela a été particulièrement évident dans le domaine de la technologie.

Aucun consommateur ne pensé n'importe où, « peut seulement imaginer une pierre à aiguiser mobile avec un appareil photo intégré? »

(BTW, la « nécessité » est apparu dans les attentes comme un besoin accru de connectivité personnelle... mais pas est quelque chose estampillé, « Insertion de caméra ici. »)

Mais, comme nous l'avons vu dans les cinq dernières années, la technologie marches (et des engins).

Et pas de temps à autre il s'émerveille et penser, « ce que ces enfants ne pas? »

Aujourd'hui, apparemment, si vous pouvez l'imaginer, ils le font. La dernière question est. « devrait » ?

Prêt pour smartwatches ?

Cette pensée nous vint comme plus pleine page des annonces ont sorti récemment une nouvelle comienzos-valerie Allard, geek devrait avoir, technologie informatique portable, AKA, smartwatches.

Apparemment, ces prend toutes les fonctions de votre smartphone et collection d'applications et les déplace à la poupée.

Actuellement avec les plus gros budgets publicitaires ont été team Galaxy de Samsung et Sony SmartWatch2, bien qu'il y a beaucoup de rumeurs au sujet d'entrées Apple et Google.

N'hésitez pas à vérifier les rumeurs (ou spécifications) pour chacun d'eux, mais si votre pensée/question suivante était: « il est très irritable/nerd/cool, mais pourquoi ai-je besoin de ça? » - alors bienvenue au club.

Attentes - même ceux qui semblent complètement irréaliste et sans restriction par la réalité, et qui décrit en forme et de la Fondation indifféremment - toujours tenir compte de ce qu'ils veulent vraiment.

Et parfois--en particulier dans la technologie - les offres sont tous les écrivains de science-fiction, imaginé, mais rien qui répond réellement aux attentes du consommateur.

Wearable computing va enfin devenir une attente, mais fondées sur les attentes des consommateurs d'aujourd'hui, il n'y a pas de sitôt.

Alors soin de marques de technologie - juste parce que vous pouvez, ne signifie pas que vous devriez.

Smartwatches sera aussi répandus que les smartphones ? Peut-être quand il vole des voitures !

Biographie de l'auteur

Dr. Robert Passikoff est le fondateur et président de marque clé. Dr. Passikoff a 35 ans d'expérience en Agence et le client dans toutes les phases de planification stratégique pour un large éventail de catégories de produits et services B2B et B2C de marque. Il a été un pionnier dans le domaine de loyauté et d'engagement, créer des clés d'index marque engagement de fidélité au client, la liste dirigeants loyauté Brandweek, Fan de sport loyauté et indice la fashion vêtements marque engagement tous les jours.

GoMo News se félicite des contributions de n'importe qui dans le secteur du mobile. Si vous voulez parler des pages de parrainage sur cette publication, écrivez-nous à ads@gomonews.com. Suivez-nous sur Twitter @GoMoTweet

Acision predicts massive spike in MMS over Xmas

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AppId is over the quota

Popularity of ‘selfies’ and video sharing will add to traditional occasions

mnos must ensure MMS is affordable - sullivan

Thanks to the increasing popularity of ‘selfies’  (self-portrait by cameraphone) and video sharing, there will be a tremendous spike in MMS traffic over Xmas, global messaging specialist, Acision predicts. The company saw such spikes in MMS traffic, of up to 424 per cent, over the Xmas/New Year period in 2012 and 2013 will probably be worse.  Acision is therefore urging MNOs [Mobile Network Operators] to find ways of taking advantage of such increased activity.  For example, Acision’s research shows that 44 per cent  of respondents in the UK avoid sending MMS due to the high price compared to 19 per cent of US users.

The annual report is conducted by Vanson Bourne for Acision and is now in its second year.

It shows that MMS is the second most-popular messaging tool after SMS in the USA and third behind SMS and Facebook Messenger in the UK.

“While the arrival of social media and OTT messaging is increasing, they are still not able to generate the same revenues as MMS which, as part of the traditional messaging family, is still the biggest non-voice source of revenue,” arguesAcision’s CMO, JF Sullivan.

Significantly, MMS is more popular with females than males.  54 per cent of UK and 61 per cent of US women use MMS compared to 47 per cent and 55 per cent of men respectively.

Daily use of MMS is stronger in the USA, with 38 per cent of MMS users sending at least one ‘picture text’ each day compared to 22 per cent in the UK.

MMS is used at least once a week by around six in seven US subscribers (87 per cent) and two thirds of UK subscribers (66 per cent).

The research highlighted that respondents in the UK only communicate with an average of eight people via the platform while in the USA this rises to 12.

Both are lower than SMS, which is used to communicate with an average of 13 and 15 people in the UK and USA respectively.

According to Sullivan, “MMS is considered a medium that people trust to communicate with their nearest and dearest.

“The overwhelming majority of MMS users (84 per cent in the USA and 79 per cent in the UK) using the technology to share ‘special and funny moments’ with friends and family.”

“Our findings also suggest that MMS is viewed as a more intimate platform than other messaging applications.”

His advice is that MNOs  ”must continue to harness this opportunity and invest in new ways to ensure MMS is an affordable and efficient messaging platform for all mobile subscribers.”

Read the full Press release with key findings from the MMS research here.

Hans Cett is an established freelance author and consultant specialising in the mobile communications industry. He also writes for Countdown2MWC - http://countdown2mwc.wordpress.com/

22% of apps on the Google Play contain ad libraries says ZScaler

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AppId is over the quota

The big names may be behaving worse than the No. 1,000 app

top 10 apps notany better than no. 10k - sutton

Research carried out by mobile security specialist, ZScaler, has found that 22 per cent of apps on the Google Play Store contain advertising libraries that at least some antivirus vendors classify as adware. The libraries are classified as such due to overly aggressive advertising practices including capturing excessive personal information and the inclusion of ads via deceptive delivery models, including altering device settings. “People mistakenly assume that the most popular apps are likely to have more strict privacy controls, but in general, the top ten apps will not be doing anything worse or treat your privacy any better than number 10,000 or number 20,000,” observed Michael Sutton, director of security research with ZScaler.

After looking at the Top 300 apps in each category, half of entertainment and 41 per cent of personalisation apps are flagged as containing adware, says ZScaler .

The breakdown is as follows:-

• Entertainment 50 per cent
• Personalisation 41 per cent
• Music 19 per cent
• Education 18 per cent
• Comics 18 per cent
• Medical 17 per cent
• Finance 10 per cent
• Books 8 per cent
• Business 5 per cent

The reason why Zscaler sees adware as dangerous is that it exhibits at least one of the following behaviour:-

• Harvests excessive personally identifiable information
• Performs unexpected actions in response to ad clicks without appropriate user consent (appropriate user consent entails providing a clear alert in the application that the user can accept or decline before any behaviour takes place)
• Collects IMEI numbers, UDIDs or MAC addresses
• Initiating phone calls and SMS messages
• Changing wallpaper and ringtones
• Leaks location information
• Leaks email addresses
• Leaks personal information such as contacts, birthdays, calendar appointments

Seperately ZScaler has just dsicoverd that the Android malware, MouaBad.P, has the ability to read, write, send and receive SMS messages.

“Forcing Android applications to initiate calls to premium phone numbers controlled by the attackers is a common revenue generation scheme that we see, particularly in Android application distributed in third party Android app stores,” the company revealed.

Sutton claimed that its analysis of apps shows common themes across privacy as apps are often aggressive in terms of the user data that they want access to, and it is often because they are free apps.

“They track user information because the advertisers want that,” he argues.

Tony is currently Editor of GoMobile News. He's a veteran telecoms journalist who has previously worked for major printed and online titles. Follow him on Twitter @GoMoTweet.