Reasons to Opt for Node.js- A Technology for Developing High Performance Apps

Node.js is yet another grand coup by Java and has gained immense fame in a short time amongst developers worldwide. It is a runtime system that is largely used for creating server-side applications and is most preferred for building real-time JavaScript APIs. It is used extensively for creating a new matrix of interoperability across the internet. Apart from JavaScript, several authors, including Express.js, Hapi.js and Restify.js have also contributed towards writing the Node.js framework.

Where does it work best?

Node.js is at its best in real-time web application development with push technology. It delivers real-time web applications with two-way connections so that both client and server can initiate communication, making way of free exchange of data.

Node.js will not be at its efficient best for developing CPU-intensive operations, its best advantages shine through for building fast, scalable network applications where a number of connections with high throughput have to be handled simultaneously. This implies that the system works best for developing projects that require high scalability. Node.js operates on a single-thread, using non-blocking I/O calls and supports multiple parallel connections.

The Node Package Manager:

Node.js comes with the NPM tool which is the built-in support for package management. It contains a set of reusable components that can be easily installed via an online repository for version and dependency management. The modules can be accessed by anyone and developers can publish their own modules and list them in the repository. Popular Node.js modules that are frequently used are –

• Connect – an extensible HTTP server framework with a collection of high performance plug-ins
• Jade – a templating engine
• Coffee-script – a  compiler that allows clients to write Node.js programs using Coffee
• Forever – a utility for ensuring that the node script runs continuously
• Underscore – a utility library

Where to Use Node.js:

• Node.js can be used to create multi-user application for chatting applications that run on multiple devices.
• To deal with concurrent data so it is excellent for database management
• For real-time audio or video streaming
• As a server-side proxy server to handle multiple, simultaneous connections
• Ideal for stock broker dashboard applications
• For applications to track website visitors and monitor their interactions in real-time

Latest at it’s Best:

With the new version 4.0, a stable version of Node.js arrives. With this version, developers can look forward to an official merger between Node.js and io.js. The new system has a support system for ARM processors and includes an extensive test suite to ensure consistent operation across Windows, Linux, SmartOS, FreeBSD and ARM devices. The Node foundation will provide 18 months of updates for stability and security and a “long term support” branch has also been established.

Speak with our Node.js development team to find out lucrative avenues for your development needs.

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Top Five Enterprise and Consumer Apps Trends That Will Revolutionize Device Interaction

Technological evolution is an ongoing process and decade after decade enterprises and consumers have experienced its deep impact on the lifestyle. From desktops, laptops, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets to wearable appliances, as the size of the device has altered to suit our needs, so has the functionalities improved. Applications are the lifeblood of these smart devices and here we discuss five enterprise and consumer app trends that are stirring up a new kind of technological revolution.

1. Internet of Things - Internet has broken the bounds of desktops and expanded to mobile devices including consumer goods, televisions and cars. The combination of data streams and services have led to identification of four basic data models – manage, monetize, operate and extend, which can be applied to any of the four internet – people, things, information and places. Application development for IoT will encompass creation of apps that will seamlessly integrate with the different platforms and devices.

2. Wearable Technology – Although wearable technology made its foray in the market in the form of a watch for tracking health and fitness, with Apple’s iWatch, it is expected to go mainstream and create a new space for applications for this platform alone. In fact, the iOS Swift, which is the new development tool for iOS applications, has been endowed with features for creating and migrating apps to the iWatch ecosystem. We have already developed around 10 applications for enterprise and consumer utility purposes.

3. Cloud Technology – Perpetuation of cloud technology will make it unnecessary to save any data on the device, making in-device storage space next to irrelevant. Majority of the mobile applications act only as a gateway to access stored in the cloud. This is true’s especially in case of enterprise applications where all data is stored on a secure server and can be accessed remotely with appropriate credentials. The next phase is the push for personal cloud and multiple access points for the same.

4. Big Data – Cloud cannot be spoken of without Big Data, especially when we are considering enterprise applications. As data will be stored on the cloud, its relevance relies on easy access. Since data is no longer bound to the storage space on the device, the next step will be to free the analytical tools for easy access on mobility devices – leading to the emergence and growth of data access and analysis applications.

5. XaaS – With cloud and big data, it only makes sense to conclude this list with XaaS or Everything as a Service. With PaaS as its component, the Google App Engine allows end users to create, run, host, and in short, fully develop their own applications using Java, PHP, Python and Go.

Solution Analysts has been reading the growing trends with the advent of these new technologies. We are working out plans to tap these avenues for creating healthy applications that will surpass the bounds of devices and deliver maximum utility. To know more about our services, contact us.

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Smarter Real Estate Augmented by The Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is a phrase used to describe the smart technologies that will perform activities without human interaction. For instance, a new brand of air conditioner comes with a mobile application which the user can remotely operate to turn on/off the air conditioning at home and even set the temperature.

IoT for Real Estate

Real estate business is benefitting immensely from contemporary technology like 3D printing using which they can build complete prototype of the structure from its design on the computer on a printer. IoT figures in developing smart cities where everything from lighting to heating can be automatically adjusted by sensing human presence. IoT is powered by sensors that capture motion, detect smell or temperature to operate without intervention. Real estate businesses can leverage these sensors to construct cost effective and energy efficient projects.

Smart Home Technologies

Lights turning on in rooms by clap of hands or when presence is sensed in the room has been around for some time, though it was not accessible to everyone. As mobile applications are becoming smarter, 6thsense technology is going mainstream, wearable technology is making a big foray in the market and internet is permeating every aspect of our life, smart home technologies are also maturing. WiFi, Bluetooth and the latest Beacon technologies are being exploited to create sensors in individual properties and entire cities and townships for a host of operations.

Beacon Technology for Real Estate Management

Real estate business and administration is not far behind in benefiting from IoT, the beacon technology is being used by real estate managers for showing apartments. Buyers and tenants are spending more time on browsing properties and examining every aspect such as the fittings, colour of the tiles, places to eat nearby and nearest grocery using their Map enabled smart devices. 3D floor plans of houses and the township is being emailed to the prospective buyer to give a real picture.

Transparency with IoT

As IoT perpetuates, there will be greater transparency in transactions. Customers are more aware of the options and the costs involved, they are willing to pay the price for the right perceived value. If the developer raises the property rates of a smart home by claiming that the returns in future will be two-fold due to the savings from the smart technology, there are tools for buyers to calculate these perceived benefits and arrive at a decision.

IoT will reduce development time and add a lot of social and economic value to a property through technologically driven appliances and building materials that will cut wastage and give high ROI.

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Android M- A Glimpse into Its Promising New Features

As it goes with all Android updates, this one’s sweet too – The Android Version 6.0 Marshmallow is here amidst much fanfare and hoopla. Google has outdone itself with what it describes as “spot-on answers, fast and smartest shortcuts”. This news coming closely in the heels of the Material Design SDK, jointly welcomes a new era in mobility solutions which opens a whole new vista of digitization on the mobile platform.

The prominent features:

Google declared six major features that users should look forward in Android M –

App permissions:

With Android M, app permissions are now entirely in the users hands and they can accept or deny individual permissions. Permissions will be asked at the time when the app is used the first time and not at the time of installation. The user will have greater control on what information the apps may access, and permission grants can be modified on Settings.

Smarter battery:

The new function Doze improves device standby time so that you do not run out of charge at an inconvenient time. Using the device motion detectors, Android will identify times when the device hasn’t been interacted with and reduce background processes. Android M supports USB Type-C , providing faster charging and allows other devices to be charged with their phone.

Fingerprint Scanner:

You can have your won min-biometric scanner to unlock your device with fingerprint scanners on phones running on Android 6.0. The scanner can be used to unlock the device, shopping in stores and to make payments for app on play Store. With full support from Android, it won’t be too long before devices with fingerprint scanner come into the market.

Chrome Custom tabs:

Chrome Custom Tabs will allow apps to open customized Chrome window on top off active apps tpo provide a faster and more intuitive user-experience. It will support, auto-sigin, autofill, saved passwords and other security features. This means app developers can build their own web browsers.

Android Pay:

Google’s latest mobile payments system, compatible with devices having NFC capabilities, Android Pay makes checkout faster and easier. The platform is being supported by American Express, Visa, Mastercard and Discover. Currently, it is being supported by more than 700,000 stores across the USA.

App Links:

App Links on Android M lets the system know which app content can be opened directly so that users do not have to be asked every time on what browser they would like to access the link. For instance, an emailed link for Facebook, will be opened directly on Facebook rather than ask you if you want to view it on the web or on Facebook app.

We are excited as ever with this latest platform update and are looking forward to doing some great mobile app development that will exploit these new features to the hilt. Get in touch if you have any ideas to share or want some app development work done.

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Cross Platform Technologies to Deal with Multi-Platform Reality

Mobility devices such as smartphones and tablets are occupying a large space in our life and mobile applications are the driving force affecting this. No doubt, Apple’s iOS and Google’ Android remain the leaders in the market, however, Microsoft Windows Phone, BlackBerry and other, smaller platforms cannot be overlooked either. While many developers prefer sticking to the big two for launching their app, many find it lucrative to cover the entire base with cross-platform applications.

The Cross-platform Edge

At its inception, iOS were very close, and developers could only develop for this platform alone using Objective C, Mac and xCode. In case of Android, over 50% of the market uses it, but the platform itself is diversity personified with varying devices, screen sizes, resolution, processor speed, memory, operating system versions. It became the developer’s aim to create a single app that would break through these boundaries, and then entered the cross-platform app development technologies.

HTML5

The HTML5 web and hybrid applications were the most favored solution as they offered exceptional client-side experience. It comes with geolocation tagging, audio and video, offline working capabilities, brilliant graphics and much more. For instance, the Kindle web app on iOS is an HTML5 app as they could not keep up with App Store policies and were keen on delivering a great user experience. There are limits to how much data can be stored locally and the available APIs. To break this limitation, there is a hybrid of HTML5, JavaScript and a few extra libraries. Using the native code wrapper, a common set of APIs can be used for all platforms and enhanced to meet the device needs. PhoneGap is the leader in this field and its open source project Apache Cordova provides platform-specific wrapper for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone.

Why go Cross-platform?

Three points sum up the advantages of cross-platform application-

1. HTML5 – the common language that most users know and understand. It offers interface control, and behaves exactly as expected.
2. One team for all development purposes as a common language means the developers need not specialize in any platform-specific, native language
3. Maintenance is easier and less expensive as a single app has to be developed and launched in all app stores. Also, their maintenance and support from backend technology doesn’t need specialists of a single technology.

Cross-platform apps have their advantages, but cannot be applied everywhere as graphic-intensive applications need native development platforms for functioning to their optimal potential.

We offer hybrid application development services with cross-platform app development technologies. You can speak to our experts to find out more.

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All That You Can Do With The iOS 9 in Mobile App Development

Monarch, better known as iOS 9 is the latest mobile operating system for Apple devices. Launched in June, 2015, the latest update brings with it a more intelligent Siri, transit directions in Maps, a new Wallet app with loyalty cards and store, and the split-screen and slide-over modes for iPad among a host of other very useful changes. The new platform will support all iOS 8 devices, on which it continues to build apps and features.

iOS 9 Going further with iWatch:

In a bid to continue their promotion of the iWatch, a widget is displayed to tell if you are connected and the battery power remaining in it.

This shows a greater push towards wearable application development and seamless integration of the same with the iPhone and iPad. The iOS 9 app development is supported by the new and highly useful Swift 2 and the Xcode 7 development language. So, there is a more flexible ecosystem for app development for both, iWatch and iPhone. Our iPhone app developers are enthusiastically exploring the various potentials for app development on iWatch and we have 5 apps to our credit already!

Swift 2 and Xcode 7:

Xcode 7 brings with it the ability for rapid swift application development and enables anyone who has some training in the Apple Developer Program can now download Xcode 7 from the App Store and create a completely customized application for their device! Swift 2 provides a more stable development platform, which is fully adept for development with the new iOS 9 features.

Know More: About The Features and Benefits of Swift 2 and Xcode 7

3D Touch Feature:

The 3D Touch feature is just now available only for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, however, it will soon be pushed to other iOS 9 devices too. With this feature users can perform Peek and Pop actions to preview content and work with it without opening the app. For future app development, this feature will play an extensive role as users can use the application without actually opening all its features.

Image reference: http://www.apple.com/in/iphone-6s/3d-touch/

The 3D Touch feature also opens up remarkable new possibilities for working with the iWatch as applications can be accessed hands-free with the iWatch without actually opening it on iPhone or iPad.

We are excited about many new features that have been brought with iOS 9 and this is just a glimpse of all that is. Our developers are currently working on developing 9 new applications for the iOS 9 platform along with its new device features for better app functions. To know more about our projects and to share your app idea, get in touch with us.

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xCode 7 with Swift 2 - Here’s All You Need To Know

xCode 7 with Swift 2 is available for update on the App Store and the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is going to greatly aid developers worldwide in iPhone app development by allowing them to build apps and deploy them directly on the Apple devices. All that needs to be done is to sign in with the Apple ID, create an app out of the idea and use it on the iPhone, iWatch or iPad.

What’s with xCode 7:

You will find more xCode development tools that will extend support to Watch OS 2, iOS 9, and OS x El Capitan. These will support testing, debugging, development and deployment. You can even detect memory corruption and test the app UI to ensure it does not consume too many resources. The prominent features for Swift 2 include interface testing and updated playgrounds.

Features of xCode 7:

· Better UI testing with auto-generated tests that can be run as part of the test suite

· Includes migration tools and support features for Watch OS2

· StackViews are added to the Interface Builder for simplification of Auto layout UI construction

· There is an address sanitizer to pick up codes that are likely to crash at runtime

· Animation design timeline with 2D and 3D support added for gaming editors

· Better crash logs managements for OS X and app extensions

· All assets are uploaded to the App Store by app thinning for optimized UX

Benefits Galore for Developers and Users:

All Apple device users can now run and test their own app on an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or the Apple watch without any additional fees or programs! With your Apple ID and some training from the Apple Developer Program, you are set to create your own original application

There’s an all new language support for Swift 2, which brings with it features such as-

• New error handling methods to try and catch syntax that wraps NSErrors transparently.
• Natural syntax chaining of function calls can be done with Protocol extensions.
• There are tools for converting Swift 2 source code.
• Markdown syntax is supported by .swift file and its comments in playgrounds so that rich texts and perfect curriculum documents are rendered.

It allows Sideloading so that users can install apps without official license. So, beta testing, coding and testing can be done without fears of piracy and better user experience can be delivered.

Storyboard offers better, streamlined app development experience with Storyboard reference for easier development.

Know more: Time to Shift to Swift- The future of Enterprise App Development

Our iOS swift app developer’s team is very excited to start working with the new xCode 7 and Swift 2 and we have a few in-house projects underway to test the new updates. If you are interested in finding out more about how the new update can benefit your application, get in touch with us.

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Programming Languages to Learn for Amazing Mobile App Development

Mobile app development is quite a rage in terms of career, and rightly so. The rate at which new mobile applications are being developed for all the mobile operating systems, the intense competition for launching the highest number of applications and the bid to attract developers to the platform for new devices and operating systems have all culminated to make app development a hot profession.

Microsoft was eagerly seeking developers for its platform to expand its app offering, whereas Apple's iWatch is all set to begin a new trend in the app market with exclusive applications being designed for the device on the new Swift development platform. However, it is better not to be the jack of all trades and pick a niche platform to be a developer in order to gain an edge. Here are a few programming languages that will set you on the amazing path of mobile app development.

Java is an object-oriented, platform-independent programming language that can be used for developing cross-platform applications. However, it is mostly used for developing applications for the Android platform. Java is a simpler language to learn than C++ and has a similar structure as the C-based languages. For those seeking development exclusively on Android platform, Java is the language to be learnt.

HTML 5 is used to build web-frontend apps for mobile devices. It is suited for building cross-platform applications and supports different data types, browsers, and screen sizes easily. Knowledge of HTML platform will support you through the learning curve of HTML 5.

Swift is a multi-paradigm programming language compiled to work with Apple iOS and OS X. It works with the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks and Objective C codes. Swift was written to work with Objective C and is likely to takeover as a complete programming language soon. It was designed to plug security issues that occurred with Objective C. For existing iOS developers, this is a new skill to acquire and for those who are stepping into iOS app development, here is a programming language you must master. Apple announced that Swift might be available as an open source program, in which case the number of projects on this platform will also be high.

Objective C is the primary programming language of the Apple products. Along with most of the features of the C-language, Objective C has functions for dealing with I/O, display and graphics. However, it is in the process of being replaced by Swift. Knowledge of this language is essential to understand the operations of the iOS and MacOS frameworks, however, be prepared to be overrun by Swift too.

C# is the recommended programming language for Windows Phone apps. With the Windows 10 in the offing, the Windows App Store is in desperate need of some winning creations for its marketplace. This is an object-oriented programming language similar to Java and is based on the C-type languages.

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