Dear developer,

We have discovered one or more issues with your recent delivery for “RAInternational Connect”. To process your delivery, the following issues must be corrected:

Missing Info.plist key – This app attempts to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app’s Info.plist must contain an NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.

Once these issues have been corrected, you can then redeliver the corrected binary.

Regards,

The App Store team

The dreaded app rejection message. Ugh!

I did what most good developers would do and turned to Google to help me out of my quandary. Unfortunately, the most highly rated results were all over the map. Here were a few of the recommended solutions:

• Use Cordova to remove the camera plugin and reinstall it using the options that add the privacy settings. Unfortunately, since we’re using PhoneGap Build, this wasn’t an option.
• Take the *.ipa file to a Mac, open it in Xcode, find the info.plist file, and manually edit it. Since I had never used Xcode before, I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to go this route. Plus, the result wouldn’t be repeatable. I didn’t want to add another step to our build process for the app.
• Install a plug-in that let me stuff the fields into the info.plist. This was certainly an option, but I was hesitant to create yet another plug-in dependency this close to release. Due to past experiences with plug-ins late in the game, I was having a hot stove moment and didn’t want to get burned again.

Fortunately, the PhoneGap Build documentation, which is usually less than helpful (sorry Adobe, just telling it like it is), came through. Their article on modifying manifests saved my bacon (click here for link).

It turns out, all I needed to add was a new config.xml file entry that targeted NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription. Here is what I added, no plug-in required:

<gap:config-file platform="ios" parent="NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription">
    <string>For uploading receipt images</string>
</gap:config-file>

Since I was using the camera plugin, I also added another entry for NSCameraUsageDescription.

Then it was rinse & repeat, meaning rebuild, grab the binary, and upload to Apple. This time, success! I got the message we all love:

You can now use this build for TestFlight testing or submit it to the App Store.

If you have any questions regarding your app, click Contact Us in iTunes Connect.

Regards,

The App Store team

While this seems like quite the hassle, I’m actually happy that Apple is concerned about user privacy. It helps users to understand exactly why apps need permission for specific features. Therefore, be certain that you put a little thought into the message that goes into the string field. The user of your app will see this message when they access the feature. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing Android following suit in the near future.

 

The post Using config.xml to set iOS 10 Privacy Settings in PhoneGap Build appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

Under load the mongod process would consistently have 28.9 GB Virtual Memory allocated and 940MB Resident while using about 20GB on disk.

Without the 4GB RAM searching performance would really suffer when a new (non-uniq) query would be executed.  Usually the second and subsequent times the same query was performant due I think to the fact that it was now in the working set.  Being RAM constrained keep all popular combinations from being available in the working set at the same time.

Besides just being slow many times the query would pass the timeout and just fail, I think we can all agree that an API that fails the 1st time you call it but works on subsequent calls is not ideal.

What to do?  I could just click the slider in the hosting control panel over one more click to the 8GB VM but now the cost is about comparable to some of the Mongo as a Service offerings and I’m wondering if I should have just used a SQL db…

Before we move on to the obvious solution mentioned in the title I should mention another constraint that a general purpose search has that makes the mongo queries difficult to keep fast; paging.  We have to support paging and provide the count of matching documents plus the predicate can be almost any combination of fields in the documents.  The only implementation I could come up with was to use limit and skip and do it in 2 steps:

1. $cursor = $collection->find($query)->limit($pageSize)->skip($skip);
2. $count = $collection->count($query, $max);

Note that tuning batchSize also helped but we were at the edge of acceptable performance and something needed to be done.

Along comes the Mongo press release for the optional new WiredTiger storage engine, what’s this?  It supports compression, that’s what we need!

Please understand this is not a direct apples to apples comparison because the Linux distro and kernel are not exactly the same but after provisioning a new VM and restoring from a mongo dump the numbers are staggering.   The on disk size (/var/lib/mongo) is now down to 2.1GB!  Under load the mongod process is using around 2GB Virtual and 1GB Resident.

Win, win.  Performance is comparable and it costs less to host with just the pain of converting the config file to the new format.  Nice job WiredTiger developers.

The post Upgrading to the new MongoDB WiredTiger storage engine appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

Cyclemeter

Designed with those who cycle in mind, but envisioned to be enjoyed by all who love to work out outside, Cyclemeter’s platform is the powerhouse for fitness junkie Apple users. You can record and store unlimited amounts of workouts, no website login required to access your data, swipe the stopwatch to see pages of stats, maps and graphs, and you can view your workouts on a calendar- which can be organized by routes and activities. Those are all just some of the features you get with the free version. If you upgrade to Elite, you can analyze your workouts across different Apple devices, store data in your iCloud, and view bar and pie charts of over 25 stats from your different workouts. In order to use this app, your device has to be GPS capable, so you can’t use it with your iPod touch (which most don’t use anymore, but just a heads up to those few who still do).

Available: Apple

MapMyRun

This app is especially great for those who are big into running, specifically long distance running. However, it’s still a great app if you enjoy walking, cycling, or hiking. If you’re training for any type of race though, MapMyRun has got you covered. This app will keep track of your mile splits in addition to showing you any incline that may have occurred on your long distance trek. This way you can get a detailed record of where you begin to fade in your workout, how different inclines are affecting your times, and you can compare past workouts to your recent one to see how much you’re improving. Depending on what city you’re in, you may even have access to routes that have been created by MapMyRun for certain locations. Tracking your activity has been made easier by being able to sync that app up with third party devices, like heart rate monitors, in order to better calculate how many calories you’re burning and keep your workouts up to date in the system. To create an even more in depth user experience, you can also log your food intake into the app. The system isn’t incredibly updated just yet in terms of a large food knowledge base, but if you stumble across a food that isn’t in the system you’re given the option to add it. Of course, as with all fitness apps, you’re entered into the MapMyRun social world, where you can get encouragement and give encouragement from friends, family, and the entire online community.

Available: Apple, Android

Endomondo

For a free app, you get a lot considering you don’t pay anything. Among the extensive list of features, you get real time GPS Tracking, workout history, workout goals, audio coach feedback, heart rate sensors (when you’re connected to your heart rate monitor), a long list of sports to choose from depending on what activity you’re doing, and importing your own music. Additionally, you become part of the Endomondo global fitness community in which you can interact with family and friends, or the millions of other users around the users. You can like people’s goal achievements, weigh ins, and send them encouraging words. You can even join in the global challenges or challenge some of your friends to a mini competition wherever in the world you are. If you choose to upgrade to premium, you get a training plan, advanced statistics, and interval training which you can fully customize. Although the three extra premium features are great, this is the best free fitness app on the market today purely because you don’t pay and you can choose from a wide variety of heart rate monitors to sync your app with, which means you can adjust how much you spend. It’s a huge benefit that this app works with many different heart rate monitors like Polar, Timex, Fitbit, and Garmin. This allows you to choose a watch that fits your lifestyle best and you can sync all of its data into their application.

Available: Apple, Android, Windows, Blackberry

Fitbit

Fitbit is a powerhouse in the fitness application world. The Fitbit bracelets took the world by storm when they were launched just a few short years ago. Since then the company has been growing aggressively, coming out with more bracelets with advanced functions, apparel, and increasing the size of their online community for their members. It boasts an impressively large features section, in that you can record sleep, control weight, record workouts, set goals, sync wirelessly, see your progress, log food, and connect with friends. Fitbit really highlights different ways for you to see your progress so that you don’t become discouraged on your journey to a healthier life as well as encouraging you to network with your friends and motivate each other through the app. With MobileTrack, which is another feature on the app, you can track your daily steps and distance you walk a day on your smartphone even if you don’t have a Fitbit device. A Fitbit device is classified as one of their incredibly popular bracelets. What’s great about owning the bracelet, is that you can set it to sync to your app on your phone regularly, that way you can stay up to date with how many calories you’re burning, your heart rate, your sleep patterns, etc.

App Price: Free

Bracelets: $59.95-249.95

Available: Apple, Android, Windows

MyFitnessPal

If you’ve ever wanted to take your personal trainer home from the gym with you so they could smack all the food you shouldn’t be eating out of your hand, then this is the fitness app for you. MyFitnessPal acts like a food journal, only everything is documented online on either their free website or mobile app. The website and the mobile app update simultaneously, so you’ll never have to worry about missing data on one device, or needing to re-enter things more than once (because it’s enough to admit once that you ate that old fashioned glazed doughnut, no need to rub it in). MyFitnessPal has a huge food database, so almost everything from your favorite Chinese dish or your newest home cooked meal recipe will be calorie counted into the app. You can combine that with how many calories you burned in the day to see what you resulting total is. Additionally you can add your own recipes or important recipes that you find on the web, to keep all the meals you love to cook in one convenient area. There are studies to support that journaling your food intake helps you to lose weight quicker and since MyFitnessPal is free, it’s worth a try.

Available: Apple, Android, Windows

UP Coffee

You live a busy life and rely on caffeine to power you through your day. Have you ever stopped to think about the effects that caffeine is having on you besides making you feel superhuman throughout the day? UP from Jawbone helps you answer this question. When you use one of UP’s tracker bracelets, it will monitor your sleep habits, heart rate during exercise, and activity tracking. But the greatest thing about the sleep monitoring is that on days when you log caffeine intake, the app with let you know the correlations it sees between your nighttime sleeps and your morning coffee rituals. This can help you get a better night’s sleep night after night, and saving a few dollars by skipping the Starbucks drive thru in the morning.  You can look at their activity tracking bracelets here. If you’re surprised by the cost of the bracelets, keep in mind they’re able to connect to a variety of different fitness apps out there, not just the UP app- which provides a greater flexibility to you.

Bracelets: $49.99-199.99

Available: Apple,  Android

Finding your new favorite fitness app will take some time depending on whatever your individual fitness needs are. Fitness apps are, at the end of the day, merely a tool in order to help you keep yourself more accountable and make healthier lifestyle choices each and every day. This can become increasingly difficult as the holiday season brings out more sweets and treats than most other times of the year, but fitness apps can be a driving force to help you maintain your healthy lifestyle, or begin one today.

The post Finding Your Next Fitness App appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

However, if you know some simple tricks and steps to recovering lost phones or even remotely wiping your device, you may be better off than most in the unfortunate event of a missing phone*.

If you haven’t read our tips to prevent the ultimate aggravation of not being at all prepared in the event your phone is lost/stolen* go back and read our article here.

*If you believe your phone has been stolen, it’s always best to make that first phone call to the authorities. To be very clear on what stolen is, before you call the police, I mean that someone ran up to you, pushed you and stole your phone right out of your hand and then ran away. Or stole your phone right off the table of that coffee shop you always go to and ran away. Or stole your purse, wallet, satchel, hang bag, etc., off your persons and ran away. Yes, all of these scenarios include someone running away, but you need to be absolutely positive that someone stole your property before contacting the authorities about it. Also, call the non-emergency police. This is not a 9-1-1 contact call.*

Right now as you read this, we encourage you to go ahead and set up a passcode. I get it – entering a code every time you want to get into your phone can get annoying really fast. On a lot of models though, under your Settings, you can adjust how long before your phone “times out”, or decides to require a log in to access the interface. A passcode won’t be a wall; if someone who has picked up your lost phone really wants to get in, they can find a way. The passcode simply acts as a barrier so that there is an additional step people have to go through to access your information. This simple measure could buy you the time you need to remote wipe your phone to protect everything that you have stored on it. This will also buy you time to track down your phone. Even with all the great technology these days it can still be hard to track down a missing phone from an app.

Recently, my sister lost her phone. She left her beloved companion sitting in a communal employee bathroom and the panic and fear of never seeing her phone again set in.

Below are the steps she went through to become reunited with her phone. These steps are just guides to what you should do if you ever find yourself without your phone and have no idea where it could be. Again, if you believe your phone was stolen, your first step should be to call and report the stolen phone*.

1. Find My Phone (Android Device Manager) / Find My iPhone
2. Instruct your phone to show a message on its locked screen, like a number or email to contact you at
3. If you’re getting concerned that you won’t find your phone, remote wipe it
4. If you notice that your phone begins to move on the Find My Phone/iPhone app, and your phone is turned off when you call it (your phone battery dying doesn’t count as stolen*), start getting ready to report a stolen phone*

Remote wiping may be one of the coolest features. It’s kind of a bummer if you never bothered to back up your phone in the off chance you do recover it after remote wiping, but it will prevent an unwanted intruder from accessing all of your information.

Luckily, in the case of my sister, she didn’t need to remote wipe her phone. After she sent the contact message on the home screen, the nearby store that had picked up her phone gave her a call on the home phone to let her know that they had it. We had our doubts that anyone would call, even with the message on the screen, but there was a happy ending to this story.

It’s important when trying to find a lost phone that you keep the tracker apps up and running just so you can evaluate whether or not your phone is staying in one place or if it’s moving around. Also, keep tabs on that battery life. You need to be able to distinguish the different between someone turning off your phone or the battery just dying. Once your phone is “offline”, the tracker apps won’t serve you anymore, so there’s a bit of a time crunch here.

In any case, it’s happened to the best of us and even those of us who never thought we would lose our phone. It happens, and the important part is knowing what to do when it happens so that you don’t spend the majority of the time away from your lost phone freaking out. Take the time when you buy your phone to make sure you go through all the loss prevention steps. Although registering your phone with Find My Phone/iPhone won’t prevent you from leaving your phone on the subway or the bus, it will ease the burden of hopefully being reunited with it. Take notes as we detail all those important prevention steps in our article here.

The post How To: Deal With a Missing Phone appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

This is easily preventable – not losing your phone, but retaining control over finding it. There’s also ways to prevent hundreds of dollars from going missing from your wallet anytime your phone takes an unsupervised swim, or a drink from the toilet. You’ll thank ‘past you’ who was wise enough to purchase a warranty when it costs you hundreds less to replace your phone after an accident.

Here are a couple tips to help make sure you’re saved from the headache that comes with a lost or damaged phone.

Warranty           Backing Up Your Phone           Tracker Apps

Warranty

iPhone:

Before you leave the Apple Store after buying your new shiny iPhone, we’re telling you to BUY THE APPLE CARE. We type in caps, because we care a lot about this particular option that Apple gives to its customers. The normal Apple Care protects against manufacturer mishaps, like a broken lock screen button, but not against things like water damage. If your screen shatters, they’ll replace your phone for a lot cheaper than having to buy a completely new one. If you upgrade to Apple Care+ which is more expensive, you’re covered for two “accidents” like water damage. So if your phones have a penchant for swimming, you’re better off spending the extra money to get the Plus care. It’ll save you some serious headache and money later on down the road.

Nexus:

When you buy your Nexus phone it comes with a 1 year manufacturer’s warranty. If you purchase Nexus Protect, you get an additional year of coverage for mechanical breakdowns and two years of protection from accidental damage (again, think phone’s swimming in puddles and toilets). It’s under $100, but even cheaper if you have a 5X versus a 6P. Also, let’s say your phone breaks and it’s covered under warranty. In one business day, Google will ship out your new replacement phone, and shipping of your broken phone back to headquarters is on Google. Bonus: you let your sister borrow your phone and she accidentally drops it off a freeway overpass (stranger things have happened)- the warranty covers it, because your phone is under warranty, not you as the owner of the phone.

Moto Care:

Standard warranty when you buy your Motorola phone only covers you with a year of mechanical failure coverage. Not great. When you upgrade to Moto Care you get two years of coverage with up to three incidents of accidental damage covered, a new phone shipped out to you before you’ve even shipped your damaged one back, and accidental damage covers liquid damage too.

Samsung Protection Plus:

Two years of coverage protects you from drops, spills, cracked screens, accidental damage, mechanical and electrical breakdown after your manufacturer one year warranty expires. You have a limit on replacements though for those accidental damage claims – only two in a 12 month period. Starting at $99 for a two year plans, they’re right there with the Apple Care prices.

Carrier Coverage:

Your carrier also will offer a protection plan for phone. Our advice is to go to the manufacturer and use their warranty, especially if you’re buying an iPhone. For those Android users who buy phones that don’t offer an additional protection plan; you should look into your carrier’s coverage plans.

The word to the wise is that you should always have a protection plan. Just like life is incredibly unpredictable, so is how well your grip on your phone will hold up in a lot of situations. It’s important that you’re always covered on the warranty end because if you damage your phone, you’ll be really glad you spent the extra $100-150 up front for the warranty you didn’t think you would need versus the $450 and up to entirely replace your phone.

Backing Up Your Phone

This should be a scheduled thing. You should be backing up your phone at least once a month in some type of capacity, whether that is saving everything to Google or Apple Cloud. Keeping things in the Cloud could seem scary because no one really knows how the Cloud works, but when your phone goes missing and your new replacement comes, you’ll be happy all those photos you took at your nephew’s fifth birthday are saved into the Cloud.

Backing up your phone makes replacing a phone a much simpler process. All you have to do to get your replacement phone up and running is simply pull everything down from the Cloud, and you’re set. This has personally helped me many times whenever I have lost a phone, or even something as convenient as switching between different phones.

Tracker Apps

You need to register your phone with its respective tracker app. If you’re paranoid about the big giants knowing where you are at all times and have the tracker apps disabled, let me fill you in on a little secret: they know where you are at all times whether or not you have the app enabled or not. So in order to save yourself a lot of heartache when you lose your phone you may as well enable the GPS tracker app. For those security paranoid, we’ll take more about “big brother” style giants like Google and Apple at another time. Just enable the tracker app.

iPhone: Find My iPhone

It’s important to note is that you have the have Find My iPhone installed and your phone registered with the app in order for it to serve you in the event your phone is lost. If you don’t set it up, you can’t enable the app. It won’t work. This app enabling should be the second thing you do after you get your shiny new iPhone home from the store.  With this app you can locate your missing device on a map, play a sound for a full two minutes even if it was set to silent, remotely lock your device with a passcode, display a custom message on the lock screen, and view a recent location history of your device while in the Lost Mode (which you would need another iOS device in order to see). You can also remote wipe your phone and check the battery status, which is important so you don’t assume if the phone is “off” that it really actually just isn’t “dead”.

Android: Android Device Manager

Same rule applies here: if you don’t enable the Android Device Manager before you lose your phone, it won’t help you. Once you enable the app, you can locate your missing phone on map, instruct your phone to ring even if it set to silent, set a PIN number for your device (which can buy you some more time in case your phone has been stolen), and wipe your phone, which means erasing all of the data on your phone.

Overall these tips will help prevent you from ripping out your hair wondering where you went wrong and why the universe is punishing you by having to make another $500+ investment on another phone. We’ve all dropped our beloved phones just right so that the screen shatters into a million and one pieces. We’ve also all been there when your friend’s phone seems to just jump right out of their hand right into the perfectly placed puddle on the side of the road. As you watch your friend hysterically trying to fish their phone out of the water, you can feel secure knowing yours is protected from whatever life throws your way.

Okay, so you’ve lost your phone or it’s been stolen. What do you do now that you’ve set everything up ahead of time? Go read our article on How To Deal With a Missing Phone.

The post Loss and Damage for Your Phone 101 appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

Apple

In true Apple fashion, they had an entire circus of media around the unveiling of the latest iPhone.  As a recommendation, if you’re in the market for a new iPhone it’s best to now buy either the 6s or 6s Plus in order to stay ahead of Apple’s obsolescent curve that they are notorious for.  Buying the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus isn’t the best decision, especially when it seems that the latest iOS 9 software launch runs a lot better on the newest iPhone and not so great on older models (Surprising? I think not.) Oh and you can also get the phone in pink, er, we mean “Rose Gold”.

iPhone 6s

The biggest feature release that sets the iPhone 6s apart from the iPhone6, is the 3D Touch feature. To those who have an Apple Watch, which comes with ForceTouch, 3D Touch is the same idea just on a phone scale. It stands to note that not a lot of apps have created a compliance with this feature, so you’ll really only see the benefit right now of this feature on Apple designed apps (like Mail, Calendar, etc.). You are also able to “peek” at different apps which changes the whole feel of Apple’s stagnant home page. Additionally, they put a lot of time into the cameras, giving the rear and front facing camera a huge face lift with the ability to take “selfie panoramas”, shoot 4K video recordings, and Live Photos (which mean the photo will actually capture all those in between snapping the photo moments, creating the future of picture taking). The features are cool updates from the iPhone 6, but the price tag remains on the high end.

iPhone 6s Plus

Identical in features, besides the obviously larger screen, the iPhone 6s Plus is for those who love to have phablets. If you’re into the larger screen for everything from reading emails to streaming videos, and a longer battery life, you may want to consider checking out the bigger brother to the iPhone 6s. This phone, as the iPhone 6 Plus did, is competing with other competitive phablets like the Galaxy Note 5. Just be prepared to also drop a pretty penny on this device- the price increasing as your memory needs increase.

Depending on your personal preferences, you have four financial options to consider when upgrading:

• You can buy upfront
• You can buy on a contract with a carrier
• Carriers are now offering payment plans
• Apple is also offering payment plans (with interest and Apple Care+)

Android

This time around, we split Android into different categories: phablets, smaller phones, budget, and inexpensive. The great thing about Android is that there is a phone out there for everyone’s different needs and preferences for what they want in a phone. The Google event on the 29th of September garned a lot of buzz, due to Google announcing not one, but two, new Nexus phones.

Phablets

Galaxy Note 5

We talked about the Galaxy Note Edge in our last buy guide, but the Samsung’s Galaxy Note in general remains a pioneer in the field of phablets. In the Galaxy Note 5 though, Samsung has removed the Micro SD slot, instead replacing their textured back with a glass backing, more aligned with their Galaxy S6 phones. This updated version of the phone is also not as wide, so that makes it a lot easier for those of us with smaller hands to access more features on the screen with one hand. Still coming with a stylus, this phablet will be the best all-around on the go business phone, as you can do just about everything on the device.

Nexus 6P

Powerful camera to capture all moments in life regardless of the lighting, HD screen resolution, aluminum frame to ease the weight of the device, and a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone for increased security- this latest phone from Google is available for pre-order. The battery is said to last longer than its predecessors, thanks in part to the slightly smaller screen and being launched with Android Marshmallow. The price is a bit on the high side, starting at $499 for the 32GB model. However, if you do pre-order, you’ll receive a $50 gift card to the Google Play store, which isn’t a bad deal.

Smaller Phones:

Galaxy S6 Edge

The Galaxy S6 Edge has maintained it’s popularity and stood it’s ground in the fight to compete with Apple. As we mentioned in our last buy guide, the Edge has a fantastic rear and front facing camera that were better than the iPhone 6, but fall just short of the iPhone 6s.

Nexus 5X

Here’s the alternative to paying the extra dollars for the Nexus 6P and a smaller size. The Nexus 5X boosts top of the line performance and speed, for a reasonable price tag. They also didn’t skimp on the camera, which performs well in low light conditions and the launch time of the camera is faster, in order to allow you to capture every little moment. And guess what- the Nexus 5X shoots 4K video, just like our pals over at Apple. Fingerprint scanner, Android Marshmallow, also offering a pre-order deal of a $50 Google Play giftcard- the Nexus 5X gets it all. Plus, the phone starts at a mere $379.

Moto X Pure Edition

Camera, camera, camera. Users of Motorola’s previous generations complained about poor camera quality in low light and Motorola responded by greatly improving the camera on their latest release- the Moto X Pure Edition. Running a more pure Android interface, the latest phone is also still just as customizable as the Moto X (2014) edition. The screen has a sharp pixel density which means you’re getting incredibly clear and vibrant images which makes it great for streaming videos and viewing photos. Great news for those who love Micro SD cards- this latest edition comes with a port to expand that memory with a Micro SD card, which is fantastic considering the highest storage you can buy with the phone, is only up to 64 GB. If you’ve used Motorola phones in the past and liked them, you’re sure to love their latest update.

Budget:

Moto G

If you’re saving for a big purchase but need to have a reliable phone, this budget phone is for you. We detailed this crazy deal of a phone on our last buy guide, but here are the highlights you need to know about this steal of a phone: runs Lollipop, has a bright focused screen, and great speakers; the latest 2015 model is now available and includes updates on the speed, camera, and added battery capacity. The phone also includes a Micro SD card slot (memory lovers rejoice!) so that you never have to fear running out of memory on your phone. Remember, all of this, for under $200.

Inexpensive:

Moto E

For only $119.00 starting, you get an LTE capable, all day battery lasting, and Micro SD storage phone. This inexpensive steal from Motorola is perfect for those who travel overseas a lot, for those who want to get their pre-teen or teen their first smart phone, or to introduce anyone for their first time to the joys of having a smartphone. The benefit with such an inexpensive price tag but the ability to do with this phone what many others can do with theirs, is that losing the phone isn’t the end of the world. Or if you have a habit of letting your phone swim unsupervised- because you can always replace it for the price of a grocery shopping trip at Whole Foods would cost you.

Carriers

As always, check out our post on carriers to learn more about which one is best for you and your lifestyle.

The post Mobile Buy Guide: October 2015 appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

A personal favorite, Spotify offers two levels of service: Free and Premium. Premium is $10 a month (unless you’re currently enrolled in higher education, you get the service 50% off see details here), and includes the best features Spotify has to offer. In Premium you can save playlists, shuffle them, download the playlists or just certain songs to be available offline, so if you’re ever not in service you can still access your tunes. Premium also allows you to access Spotify on your phone and for this reason alone you should consider upgrading from free. In the free version of the app, you can access Spotify from your phone and you can create playlists- but you can’t shuffle through songs or make the song available offline. Additionally you can’t play whatever song you want on demand, you’ll just be at the mercy of the AI software. Spotify also just recently announced it is expanding its features on the mobile device. These features include: streaming TV shows and original video content, podcasts and radio shows, discovery tools, and a jogging buddy. Whew- and all for still their set premium price a month. Spotify is on its way to becoming a fully loaded app, but keep in mind it’s only being released for iOS at first, so if you have an Android your release date is TBD. On the home screen of the app, you can browse other user playlists and can also view and listen to Spotify created playlists. Connecting with your friends is easier too- just simply locate their profiles and you can follow any playlist they create and be up to date with whatever they’re adding and removing from their list. Although Spotify has come under recent fire from notable celebs like Taylor Swift for not paying artists enough, as long as you’re not bummed about not listening to “Shake It Off”, Spotify remains a dominant music service.

*Bonus! Google announced that Spotify will be available for streaming for their new Audio Chromecast, coming soon.

Pros: Spotify is expanding and including video and TV/ low price/ fully loaded running section

Cons: The latest and greatest is only available for iOS/ free version isn’t all that great- so you’ll definitely be paying to access all the best features/ in recent months lots of popular artists have left the streaming service

$9.99/month

$4.99/month (For College Students)

Play Music (Google)

As Google already owns almost all of my information, it only seems fitting that I have myself used Play Music for my musical needs. One of the greatest things Google Play offers is that they circulate free albums for download from time to time on their site. These aren’t incredibly old, outdated albums either- in recent weeks available for download have been the full Sia album, Jason Derulo album, and the Cole Swindle album. As the holidays approach, Google will release holiday albums for free that you can download right into your library. Like Spotify, Play Music also features “Mood” Playlists (like for “Driving”, “Cleaning the House”). Additionally they also give you recommended radios based off artists you listen to frequently, or an “I’m Feeling Lucky” Station that just pulls from your favorite artists from different genres. Depending on how many songs you have in your repertoire, Google lets you store up to 50,000 songs for free which includes uploading music to the cloud and transferring files to a specific device (like from computer to phone).You can also upload your files onto Play Music, so that you can have access to your own musical library in the Google Play App, wherever you are. If you subscribe to Play Music you get your first 30 days free, then $9.99/month afterwards. Subscribing entitles you to ad-free listening and unlimited skips- so you can imagine what non-subscription subjects you to (Say hello to only 6 skips per HOUR and tons of ads). Play Music rivals Spotify’s prices, but they have some of the artists that recently left Spotify.

*Bonus: Google announced at their Sept. 29th event that they will be releasing a Family Plan later this year, which allows up to 6 profiles to be created on one plan, for only $14.99/month

Pros: Free (surprise) album downloads/ great mood playlists/ all artists are on Google/ store 50,000 songs for free/ upload your own music into the Google Play Music/ works great with Droids and Apple products

Cons: Non subscriptions features are bad, meaning they’re going to get you to pay for the service.

$9.99/month

Prime Music (Amazon)

Prime Music boasts an impressive sized library, over a million songs, from all the top artists (including Taylor Swift) that can be listened to ad-free with unlimited skips. If you already have been buying your songs through Amazon (MP3’s and CD’s), your music is already in the Amazon library, so Prime Music will make the most sense for you. Prime Music also has Prime created playlists for any mood or any day of the week. Utilizing personalization, the more you listen the more personalized stations will become for you since you can “thumbs up” songs you like and “thumbs down” songs you don’t (Hmm, sounds a little bit like our friend Pandora doesn’t it?). Bonus! Prime Music is included with your Prime membership, which is good because we all know those memberships are not cheap. However, if you’re a student and you have a Student Prime Membership, then this is the best built in music service for you. Like Spotify, there is a download option in which you can download songs from Prime Music onto your mobile device so if you ever don’t have an internet connection, like when you fly or are driving out in the middle of nowhere, you can listen to the music in your catalog.

Pros: Included in your Prime Membership/ no ads/ stations that personalize over time to your taste

Cons: You have to have a Prime Membership in order to enjoy this “Free” perk. But Prime Memberships are cool too though, right? It personalizes your stations and musical preferences like Pandora, but for a lot more.

$99.99/year

$49.99/year (For College Students)

Apple Music

Ah, Apple Music. Starting off you get a free 3 MONTH trial membership, which beats out every other music app we’ve discussed thus far. Apple also takes care to mention that you can experience all the glory that is Apple Music across all different platforms (meaning it works on PC and Droids, not just Apple products). When your trial is over and you have to pay, Apple offers Individual and Family- Individual means you get access to the entire Apple Music library, recommendations for songs and artists you may like, the newest music, and unlimited skips on their radio stations. For Family, where up to 6 people can enjoy the unlimited access to Apple Music on their own devices, is great for the monthly price but this feature really only works seamlessly with Apple products, and not so seamlessly if someone has a different non-Apple device. So what do you miss out on if you don’t pay? Unlimited listening, being able to add Apple Music content to your library, being able to save for offline listening, and the expert music recommendations. Basically, you don’t get any of the cool features and you’re subjected to hours or advertisements interjected throughout your listening.

Pros: 3 month free trial- enough said. Family is a great deal for the price for 6 users to share Apple Music content and perks.

Cons: Family doesn’t make sense if you’re not all Apple users/ really only prefers Apple users, Droids will struggle with this music app

Individual: $9.99/month

Family: $14.99/month

Pandora

Pandora is definitely one of the more grandfathered in streaming services out there. Personalization is at the heart of Pandora’s radio platform but like many other streaming services, there are two hierarchies in the Pandora world. Known for its thumbs, you can thumb up or a down a song and now you can even go back through your session history to give a track you may have missed a thumb up or down. With their “Add Variety” feature, you can add other artists or songs to stations you’re listening to and even now rename the stations. You can even tell Pandora when you’re tired of listening to a track they seem to play all too often on your station. In their settings you can create Alarm Clocks and Sleep Timers so that you can wake up and fall asleep to your favorite songs. Another favorite feature is the “Shuffle Stations”, in which you can select several stations and command Pandora to shuffle through them, giving you the ultimate variety.  Pandora One is the name of their paid service, the higher tier, the no ad version. More skips, no ads, fewer time outs with Pandora asking if you’re still listening- for dirt cheap.

Pros: It’s cheap! The free version is pretty great as well, so you can get away with never paying.

Cons: You can’t make playlists or make songs available offline, so Pandora listening is limited to Internet connection locations only. Also, just like the radio, you’re subject to randomization.

$4.99/month OR $54.89/year*

*(The year rate saves you $0.42/month)

So which one is the best?

Depends.

Overall, your preference for the music app you choose to use largely revolves around what you specifically value. For those looking for more user control, Spotify may be more for you. But if you’re a student who already uses Amazon Prime, Prime Music is free so it’s budget friendly if you’re already an Amazon junkie. Apple Music offers a 3 month free trial which makes it a great option for those who are indecisive. In any case, it’s good to do your research on the different apps that are out there for music before you commit yourself to a monthly membership with any of the services mentioned above.  Consider factors like what specific features are you getting if you pay, how much do you value those features, and how much of a deal breaker are the cons of each app. From there you can make a better decision and ultimately pick the best music app for your lifestyle.

The post App Review: Today’s Favorite Music Apps appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

Introducing Drive Time by Inrix on the latest release of the site.

We’re thrilled to announce the newest release of the Comey & Shepherd mobile site. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Comey & Shepherd have a history of topping the market in their region. For a mid-size brokerage, Comey & Shepherd is constantly trying to raise the bar by innovating new ways to create a more user friendly base for their clients. They wanted to add more personable and customized features to the latest release of their mobile presence, so here at Aumnia we helped them to construct that vision into a reality.

Innovation

With Comey & Shepherd, we wanted to focus on a design that really highlighted how innovative of a brokerage that Comey & Shepherd truly is. Over our time working with Comey & Shepherd, we have constantly been evolving their mobile site as they themselves change over time. Therefore, we added two incredible new features to their latest launch that really help to take their mobile site to the next level.

Map Search

From wherever their clients may be, Aumnia integrated a map search feature into the latest release. Clients are now able to search properties in the immediate area they are in. Maybe they aren’t in the neighborhood they’re considering? Not a problem, they can simply drag and drop their pin to the area they would rather see properties in and the map will adjust and show them nearby properties to their pin in that area. The map is conveniently color coded to make distinguishing different properties easier for clients.

• Red- The property is under contract
• Green- This is a new property listing
• Light Blue- This property currently has an open house
• Navy- Regular listing, nothing special is happening with the property at this time

When you click on a listing, an info box appears with the price of the property listing and quick specs on how many beds and baths the property has. From there, clicking on the info takes you to the main listing page in which you can then use the next newest feature- DriveTime.

DriveTime

We’re most excited to announce a great new featured powered by INRIX, a data company that tracks traffic times- conveniently called DriveTime. What does this mean for clients? When they go to the mobile site, they can now see what things like commute times would look like from the property listings they’re looking at to their place of employment. This helps clients find the homes in their desired area based on where they spend a lot of their time outside of the home. When in the DriveTime feature, clients can simply enter the address of their job, children’s school, their school, and then search for homes 10, 15, 20 minutes away depending on how long they wish their commute to be and when they usually arrive at these locations. Taking data by analyzing traffic times during the time the client wishes to be somewhere at, the system draws them an area in which they can search for properties in the right area for their needs. This not only helps the agents better understand their clients restraints when it comes to finding their dream home, but also helps the client find an agent who specializes in the area they wish to live. This feature also helps Comey & Shepherd reach prospective clients who may be relocating to the area and don’t know much about traffic and commute times in the area they’re moving too. We helped make Comey & Shepherd the first brokerage in Cincinnati to integrate this technology by Inrix into their mobile site.

Navigation & Interface

The new mobile site has a cleaner and easier to use navigation that can be accessed from anywhere in the application. Additionally, we’ve included an easier mode of contact for clients looking through the site to get in touch with an agent. As we have maintained a long standing partnership with Comey & Shepherd, we have continually provided updates to their interface, but this release is the largest overhaul we have done in terms of the design. We simplified, modernized, and overall create a much more user friendly experience for their clients. Comey & Shepherd love being innovative for their clients and we wanted to create a mobile site that reflected that.

It Doesn’t End Here

Comey & Shepherd continues to invest in standing out from their competitors and we’re committed to helping them achieve this differentiation. Based on the fact that sometimes their mobile site can garner up to 15,000 visits a month, only means that the site will continue to evolve as the clients and brokerage change.

The post Comey & Shepherd New Release appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

Remember that kid in high school who was popular, seemed to have it all, and then just disappeared? Maybe they never moved out of their parents’ house or they ended up at the local McDonald’s, taking your order whenever you stopped there on your sporadic visits to your parent’s home. That’s the kid that peaked in high school, and as bad as we feel for them that their lives ended up being extraordinarily ordinary, we secretly love that it never happened to us.

Blackberry is the kid that peaked in high school.

I had a Blackberry Pearl hand-me-down from my father when I was in high school. Just to age myself a bit, this was almost seven years ago when I began using the phone.  I absolutely loved that Blackberry. I used the phone until the end of its lifetime which ended with buttons missing, a track ball that wouldn’t roll smoothly anymore, and buttons that just wouldn’t click anymore. This was during the peak of Blackberry, just before the iPhone took over the world by storm. I still had friends who used Blackberry phones and we were all obsessed. The funny thing looking back is that Blackberry was and probably easily is still the phone I was most fond of and rarely complained about.

The full keyboard was revolutionary at the time. Honestly, you didn’t have to use T9 anymore and anyone who used to text on the old flip phones can attest to how incredibly annoying it was and how difficult to learn the process of texting was with a T9 keyboard. But the full keyboard on the Blackberry was amazing and especially because it was the QWERTY keyboard layout, only two keys per button was arguably way more awesome than three (sometimes four, we’re looking at you letter ‘s’).

Remember this was around the time but people thought flip phones were really cool? This was the last time Blackberry stayed “trendy”.

Who cared if the camera wasn’t that great? There weren’t many other phones boasting an amazing camera. For the average Joe, we were still using Cannons and Nikons to take photos on family vacations. Remember how photography with actual cameras was still
something people did 6-7 years ago? Blackberry was taking the world by storm; “Crackberry” became a term for the phone and the dedicated user base it had built.

Before Apple created iMessage, Blackberry had BBM (Black Berry Messenger) and for those who used it, it ruled. All you needed was another Blackberry users pin and you could send them unrestricted length text messages. All around, you were just cooler by using BBM. All up until, the iPhone launched.

The first problem emerged with how small of a consumer base Blackberry was building. As for a high school student like myself at the time, I couldn’t fully utilize the features on Blackberry phones.  For your every day and business needs, Blackberry phones were the “it” phone. Getting emails on your phone and being able to confidently type responses without worrying about how awful T9 was really revolutionized what you wanted to buy. Blackberry didn’t concern themselves with other target groups- they had their niche market and they were fine. No need to try to market to anyone else, you and everyone you knew that used their phones were doing plenty word of mouth advertising. Blackberry believed in
the loyalty of their consumer base.

Then the iPhone invaded. It was a well planned surprise attack. Once the iPhone caught fire you looked outdated carrying around a Blackberry- or literally anything that wasn’t an iPhone. The camera was better, the screen was better, the user face was amazing and simple to use, and Apple convinced you that you NEEDED the phone. You may not have wanted it, but man did you need it.

The big downfall Blackberry encountered, which I would consider their kiss of death, was their nonchalance about the beginnings of the iPhone. RIM, the company that owns Blackberry, was too confident in the loyalty of their consumer base. Talk about being stabbed in the back about a million times. RIM didn’t take the iPhone seriously, didn’t consider how seriously the iPhone was going to potentially dominate the market, so they didn’t prepare. Technology changes- that’s just one of the brutal ways the industry functions. Blackberry became so irrelevant so quickly it makes your head spin if you think about it too long.

Now I can’t speak for what the top guys of Blackberry were thinking, but I can only imagine it was along the lines of, “We have made a terrible mistake.” As they sat in their offices watching their market shares tank and loyal customers abandon them.

What really sealed the fate of Blackberry and turned it into the brunt of all jokes today was not adapting their software to be downloadable on Android or Apple products. Blackberry essentially refused to give into their rivals to keep their company alive. I mean, after the kind of attack they suffered with the iPhone release, I think they valued their pride over continuing a successful business platform. Because they ultimately missed their window to adapt their software to be available cross platform, Blackberry was swallowed whole by the technology shift. They were left behind, licking their wounds as their market shares tanked drastically. Today, Blackberry has made their software available on all the main platforms but no one cares. The last time I heard of anyone using a Blackberry was about three years ago, when my friend was trying to hold out hope.

My friend bought one of the touch screen Blackberry’s the company struggled to release a few years after the whirlwind of iPhone. The phone was terrible to say the least. It was littered with random glitches, the phone would freeze quite often, and she would complain she felt left out because she didn’t have an iPhone. Her phone completely quit on her about three months into their estranged relationship, and she jumped ship to join team iPhone. Her hopes of a better Blackberry days had died, along with her phone.

Although I personally did not join team iPhone, smartphones that mimicked the iPhone were quickly making their debuts and I ditched team Blackberry as soon as I graduated high school. Thus ended my great relationship with my Blackberry Pearl and it joined the depths of all other discarded Blackberry’s.

Let’s revisit our high school analogy. I attribute the iPhone’s takeover to high school graduation. As if Blackberry crossing the stage to receive their diploma was all the time they needed to lag just enough for the iPhone to swoop in and convert almost their entire user base. And then, just like that, Blackberry became the laughing stock of the mobile world as their stocks plummeted.

Try going into a mobile phone store today to buy a Blackberry. I’ll bet you’re not going to find one. The stores today are dominated by iPhone vs. Android. I’m pretty sure if you asked a sales associate if they had Blackberry you would have to google a photo and say, “I want to see this phone right here.” The looks people get when they try to buy Blackberry phones must be hilarious. You can’t download the prominent apps that lead the market today onto your Blackberry phone. This puts you behind. Makes kids feel left out in their social groups. Makes you the brunt of all bad Blackberry jokes in the office.

So now Blackberry is trying to launch the Blackberry Passport 2 (Surprise, I didn’t even know there was a Passport 1) and having it run Android Lollipop (or maybe Marshmallow depending on how long the launch takes). They’re still keeping the keyboard off the screen which I find to be a critical design flaw. The technology has evolved to on screen keyboards, so I feel that’ll be a tough sell to resort people back to this type of screen change. Then there are rumors about “Venice”, which will try to rock the design of the very undesirable slide out keyboard. Blackberry is definitely trying, but it’s unfortunate it took them this long to decide to bring their A game.

But the market is competitive, and unless Blackberry is prepared to create a phone that will blow Google and iPhones completely out of the water, they don’t stand a chance. If they had competed with iPhone from the beginning, they may have stood a fair chance in remaining relevant. Perhaps they could be like Brittney Spears- recovering from a 2007 meltdown and coming back years later with a revamped image and public persona. It could happen.

So what have we learned from the downfall of Blackberry? Don’t be stubborn- accept that in the technologically dominated world we live in now that if you don’t keep up or stay one step ahead of your competitors, you become irrelevant. You have to keep an open mind in order to keep your business alive and thriving.

Though as we all learned from that kid who peaked in high school, the further away your glory years are, the less chance you have of recreating them.

The post The Tragic Downfall of Blackberry appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..

– Apple, now that their giant event is over and the internet is moving on.

So should you try to crawl into your attic space to find your long lost sleeping bag to wait with the other thousands of people who want to be some of the first to own the latest iPhone?

Okay, before we all get too eager about the release of the new iPhone, which was the crowning jewel of the entire event, we should first look at how the iPhone 6s compares to the iPhone 6.

In terms of specs, the iPhone 6s boosts a significantly better feature upgrades than it’s predecessor.

The camera, front and back, was one of the newest and most exciting upgrades that Apple announced. the second exciting one to follow was the ‘3D Touch’, the same idea as the ‘Force Touch’ that is already apart of the Apple watches. With stronger aluminum and screen, hopefully there will be less bent phones and shattered iPhone screens in the future.

And of course, this phone hauls some serious processor speed, making it faster than the iPhone 6.

Apple also announced the roll out date for their new software- September 16th. iOS 9 has some new features, but also fixes a lot of little bugs that were going on with iOS 8.

With that said, if you just recently upgraded to the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus and are kicking yourself for not waiting to upgrade- don’t worry. We wouldn’t advise for you to upgrade, because your phone will still be supported by Apple and heck- the iPhone 6 (or 6 Plus) is still a great phone, even compared to the latest model release. However, if you’re still carrying out anything 5s or older, now is the time you should upgrade to the 6s. With the release of iOS 9, it most certainly will be a continuous uphill battle for your poor old iPhone to handle. This is definitely one of the “old iPhone phase outs” that Apple is notorious for.

If you’re really hating your Android, now would be a good time to switch teams. Apple also announced their new plan that will help eliminate FOMO everywhere- their upgrade program, which is separate from major carriers. For as little as $15 a month, you can upgrade your iPhone to the latest and greatest one every year. Even better, this includes Apple Care+, which protects your phone from long midnight swims or the concrete kiss of death. Best of all, since you aren’t locked into a carrier with their upgrade plan, you can wheel and deal for the best carrier plan, switch to prepaid, or take it with you overseas.

For a really in depth look at the newest features Apple announced with their phones, check it out here.

If you’re interested in the specs and newest features of the iPad (and the elusive Apple Pencil), read about it here.

Apple also announced the exciting new features for their Apple TV, and we found this article that goes over those new specs.

No need to sleep on concrete for this one folks.

The post We Watched- But Now Should We Upgrade? appeared first on Aumnia, Inc..