Deeptaman Mukherjee

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 – The Return of the Phablet

Samsung Galaxy Note II like it’s predecessor has become a showstealer, being a bridge between the phone and a tablet. The phablet! According to a recent news item, more than 5 million Galaxy Note II’s have been sold till date. Yup it is indeed big – the phone comes with a 5.5 inch screen which makes it to look stunning. At the same time, do not be afraid that you will have to hold a big block near your ears when you have to make a call. The phone is actually slimmer than the original Galaxy Note.

The size of the phone is the most debated element. Some find the phone to be OK after they’ve played with it a little bit; some men and women had no problems in sliding the phone to their pant pockets and/or handbag/purse, respectively. But, some find the phone to be too large to handle with one hand, especially when one has to reach the other end of the screen. Nevertheless, the big screen is a winner. The super AMOLED screen makes the experience excellent for media, games and graphics. The phone also overcomes the most popular bluish tint problem that is common with AMOLED displays.

Build – Samsung Galaxy Note II is available in two colors – Marble white and Titanium Gray. A hard silver color bezel runs around the glossy plastic corners of the device. In fact the Note 2 has borrowed it’s styling from the Galaxy S III, making this look like the bigger brother. Even though the device is ‘large’ the slim form factor of the phone makes it feel smaller than it actually is when you hold it. In fact the Note 2 is larger than the original Note!

Processor and Internals – The device has a 1.6 GHz quad core processor, 2GB RAM and 16 to 64GB of internal memory (depending on the model you pick). You can add an additional of up to 64 GB of memory via a microSD slot. Due to the quad-core processor, switching between apps is smooth and swift; but the phone does lag behind when switching between the portrait and landscape views (this can however be locked if you don’t prefer the auto-rotate). The speedy processor also ensures that the apps and games you load on the device don’t lag.

Platform – The Galaxy Note 2 ships with Android Jelly Bean. Samsung has also added their TouchWiz interface on top of the Android layer. The Android Purists can always find things to niggle about this since it overrides some of the Android Jelly Bean interfaces, but the Touch Wiz should go well with most other Android users.

Stylus Pen – The phone comes with a more easy-to-use and handy stylus pen, which is redesigned from that of the original Note. Since it is not round and has squared off edges, the pen is easy to hold and helps keep away accidental presses and doesn’t slip off the hand. Even though the television ads show the S Pen working up it’s magic on the Note, a word of caution – it can be clunky at times and some of the features work well only with Samsung Apps. It’s a useful addition nevertheless for quick scribbles, annotations and notes on the fly.

Software – The camera software has many predefined shooting modes for efficient capture. One of the coolest features is the Best Face feature that lets you take multiple shots of group photos and the feature looks out for out-of-focus faces or faces that look away from the camera. The Best Face feature then combines the best faces (of individual persons) from the different shots to make a better photo. The camera is also able to quickly auto focus on moving objects and also changes orientation pretty fast. The front camera is 1.9 megapixels and helps with good quality video calls.

Battery backup – The 3, 100 mAh battery can keep the phone up to 14 hrs of intense use (watching Youtube videos, streaming high quality songs etc), most users who end up getting the Note 2 is because of the battery life on this device – it just gones on and on, on a single charge.

Overall the phone excels in its performance, look and feel. I applaud Samsung’s attempt to make Galaxy Note II a bridge between the phone & the tablet.

You can get more information on the Galaxy Note II from Samsung’s site.

Find The Perfect Business Laptop – Here’s a Shortlist.

Laptops have become a part of our lives. Be it business or personal use, just like a smartphone, everyone wants to have a laptop of their own and consider it as a personal possession – and have it totally customized to their taste. Thanks to the technological advancement and the healthy competition among the top laptop manufacturing companies, we have a wide variety of laptops to choose from as per our needs.

When we choose a laptop for our business we go for certain special features as opposed to choosing a laptop for personal use. Yes, business laptops have to be durable, portable and powerful. They need to be stable given the fact that they will be used for extended hours (compared to a personal laptop), easy to carry for meetings, sometimes abroad, and should be able to withstand the intense usage and still respond fast!

Finding the perfect laptop for your business could be challenging taking into consideration these two facts –

1. You have specific requirements that demand a strong and powerful laptop when it comes to your business usage.
2. You have a wide variety of laptops to choose from.

Here is the deal – if you have point 1 ready, I am going to help you with point 2. Below is a shortlist of the best laptops that will suit your business requirements –

Toshiba Portege R935-P322 – This laptop comes under the ultra-portable category and is priced fairly lesser compared to the other laptops in this category. The laptop overtakes the past ultra-portables with a mobile processor which is certainly a plus; this reflects in the increased processing speed (especially with the multimedia tasks). The laptop has a battery life of 9+ hours. If you are after the ultra portability and fast processing speed that comes at a reasonably lower price, this is your piece.

Dell Latitude E6220 – This laptop also comes in the ultra-portable category but is a bit pricey for a 12.5 inch laptop. One of the coolest things about this laptop is that you can choose the battery settings that will allow you to travel light or use your laptop for computational purposes even for a day. I must admit that the laptop is not eye-catching or sleek, but it has a fast performance, the necessary components that a business will normally require and more importantly, warranty and service options that are expected by large business companies.

Lenovo Thinkpad T420 – Again, not a stylish-looking laptop but a workhorse that does the job. You can call it an all-purpose laptop with a solid build and a race horse performance. The laptop comes with multiple warranty options that are usually expected by business organizations. This piece is known for its rigid build, and robust performance. So if that’s what you need, go get it.

Vizio CT14-A2 Ultrabook – This one is elegant, has a metallic build and thin. When it comes to performance, it comes very close to its competitor (in performance) Acer Aspire S5 but is fairly low-priced that the Acer. The laptop lacks certain outward features – an in-built memory card reader, Ethernet jack, backlit keyboard, speaker sound quality, one more USB port (it has 2) etc. But certainly these are not a big deal if your business doesn’t require these features. I’d call it a minimalist performer.

Apple Macbook Pro (15-inch, Retina Display) – How can I complete this list without mentioning the Macbook Pro? If you are into a business laptop which has a robust performance, longer battery life and a great look that you can boast in your business meetings or conferences, yes, you should go for it. Retina display makes great resolution screen on a small-sized laptop possible. The machine boots and is ready in about a few seconds; wakes instantaneously from sleep and can stay asleep for 30 days with your work intact. The battery life is amazing (do I have to say this?) and yes it has a backlit keyboard. The only thing is that some of your apps may have to be updated to be compatible with the retina display.

Want a ‘Perfect Wedding’? Check out these iPhone Apps!

A wedding is one of the most special events in everyone’s life. The mere feel that the big day’s gonna arrive leads to a lot of excitement! At the same time, we can’t deny the fact that it is not just excitement. There is a reasonable amount of pressure that builds up when one thinks about all the preparatory stuff to be taken care of before the event. There’s always the dress, the band, the dinner, the decoration and other countless things to properly attend to in order to make the event remarkable.

Usage of notepads, calculators, excel sheets and similar stuff to handle this preparation, is what mostly people do. Let’s admit it – the whole process of maintaining the bits and pieces in order is indeed tedious. Thanks to the technological advancement and the era of smartphones – everything is under control nowadays and right in our palms. Not just the devices themselves, but the cool apps that make our lives a lot easier and a lot posh couldn’t be thanked enough.

Wedding Row iPhone app Screenshots — Screenshots from the Wedding Row App

Here are some of the coolest iPhone apps (free and paid) that help the couple (and their friends and family) to stay sane while preparing for wedding –

Destination Weddings and Honeymoon Guides – This free app is for iPad only and comes as a complement to the Bonnier publication. Want to know about the most beautiful locations from which you can choose to have your wedding? This app is right at your service. Not just for the wedding – this app goes far beyond and helps you prepare for your honeymoon. The app has a great collection of spots for honeymoon – you can browse through the images of the locality of the spots and also the information about resorts.

Wedding Row – Planning for a wedding can be really overwhelming. You will come across various choices on anything – say the menu, wedding dress, choice of flowers, or even the bar service. This app helps you collect all the potential choices in one place so that you make a decision. You can create different vision boards for different choices and you can save pictures, notes etc. of the items you come across. This helps you to narrow down to your choice easily instead of picking up stuff from your scattered memory. The app costs $1.99.

Brides Wedding Genius 2.0 – This free app is a great inspiration for the brides (sorry grooms!) to help them choose their wedding dress, rings, honeymoon destinations etc. The app has a wide collection of the pictures of these items so that the bride narrow down on her choices, save them and even find the local retailers who have her favorite items.

Wedding Budget – As the name suggests this app will help you keep track of cost, expenditure, payments and other details about the wedding budget in general. The app has a handy list of most popular wedding expenditure categories such as photography, music, flowers etc. The app can help you input your budget for each of these categories and it can keep track of how much you have spent, how much money is still available to spend on that category and if you have any pending payments. This app is free.

iWedding Deluxe – Evident from the name, this is a pricey app (costs $9.99) but is quite comprehensive and acts as your complete (yup, literally) wedding planner. This app, infact, erases the need to have many apps to plan your wedding. This app covers almost all of the major wedding planner categories (mentioned above on other apps); it also has loads of additional cool stuff like details of the guests, links to wedding favors, contact details of local vendors, and also a nifty function that lets you record the preferences of individual guests. Above all, you have a countdown timer that can advise and remind you on stuff that needs to be get done as part of the preparatory process.

So, which one of the above is your favorite?

Can iPad Mini sideline Android based tablets?

Apple has rolled out the new iPad Mini and it is the time to assess its impact on the current generation tablet ecosystem. As per analysts’ view, there is no threat for the cheap tablets that are placed in the market. However, iPad Mini is likely to affect the premium tablet segment.

Let us check how iPad Mini will affect the prospects of other tablets.

No threat for Entry Level Tablets

As the price of iPad Mini ranges from $329 onwards it is far away to get into the eyes of customers who are used to low priced tablets. It is also likely that iPad Mini many not attract customers who would like to go for Amazon Kindle Fire or Google Nexus 7. The same logic applies here because of the significant price gap. However, there are other set of analysts who strongly argue that the price difference will not affect the prospects of iPad Mini. In this case, there should be a reason to worry by Amazon and Google.

If customers are required to choose between iPad Mini and Android based tablet (at the same price range), iPad Mini will be the customers’ choice. It is due to the innumerable number of quality, premium and versatile iOS based applications available from the App Store.

Threat to iPad Mini from Low Priced Tablets

Low priced tablets such as Nook Simple Touch were sold at a very thin margin or without any margin at all. Such kinds of tablets’ manufacturers are gearing to make profit by selling various services and products (books, music, and videos). Low priced tablets have a great opportunity to offer an attractive alternative to iPad Mini if they can offer applications that enhance customers’ experience or can include entertaining applications. Such kinds of tablets will certainly be a definite bet against iPad Mini. Even though these tablets may not offer great graphic capability, high quality camera and premium apps, they can challenge iPad Mini.

Challenge to iPad Mini by Premium Tablets

Considering the fact that Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 offers a premium hardware platform, it has the capability to challenge iPad Mini. On the other hand, even though these tablets are offering great features at a very less price, you will not get matching applications from Android segment. For example, Kindle Fire is more tuned for Amazon by which you can access Amazon’s services in a better way. You will not have any applications that have the worth to enhance your entertainment. There will be a significant tradeoff between iPad Mini and other tablets.

Conclusion

In spite of the cost factor, it is expected that iPad Mini will certainly be able to capture the middle range tablets’ market in the coming days. It is likely that iPad Mini will receive the same kind of applause as its counterpart iPad had received before (by purchasing more than 3 million units within one week). The craze for Apple products will not come down even though there is a great difference in the pricing side. However, iPad Mini will have little impact in the enterprise environment. iPad Mini has to overcome drawbacks like lack of Retina Display, screen size and high price factor.

SaneBox – Bringing Real ‘Sanity’ to your Inbox!

Haven’t we all cursed the ways our email sites work in dumping everything into the inbox? If you haven’t, then you really don’t need to read further. But, I have, a plethora of times. It was so stressful to subscribe to receive emails about newsletters, invites, promotional mails, campaign invites, wedding event invites, Twitter updates, Facebook notifications, Google Plus updates, matrimony notifications, RSS feeds, ‘you have won 1 billion euro’ emails, and the list is pretty much endless. It used to become tedious to segregate & delete emails from my inbox. On the move, it used to become so much more irritating to receive an email on your BlackBerry and quickly figure out that you could have done with checking this email later. Right, we all are part of the herd mentality, thinking that every email would bring some change in our lives equivalent to the worth of a nobel prize.

And then, one fine morning, I receive an invite from a friend, about – SaneBox.

About, SaneBox –

Surprisingly, the ‘about‘ section of SaneBox suggests that a set of 6 friends, who claim themselves to be hackers, are behind the site. There isn’t any other link or detailing about the founders. Guess, they being from the hacking background would be the reason behind the anonymous avatar. But, the section is funny & it makes us believe that the founders are real homo sapiens who have a family & divide the revenue out of the site, like all of us do. These group of hacker friends have a very good background to boast of, as they reveal their earlier projects on the ‘about’ section. SaneBox is headquartered at Boston, a little away from Hurricane Sandy (on a lighter note).

How SaneBox Works?

How SaneBox works is answered in the following bullet points –

One can sign up with his email to be a part of The SaneBox Gang.
The moment you sign up, SaneBox asks for necessary permissions to access your existing mail inbox.
After a minute of setup, you would receive an introductory mail, with the necessary action plan of SaneBox.
In another 5 minutes, you would see a separate folder @SaneLater appearing in your inbox.
This folder would have already pulled some of your emails from your inbox to the @SaneLater folder.
If by mistake, those emails reach the SaneLater folder, which you always want in your inbox, you can always drag & bring them to your inbox.
You can also train SaneBox if they are doing something wrong. You can train them here. Just drag and drop your email to the right @Sane folders and SaneBox learns from your actions.
Once in a day, @SaneLater will send you a archive of all the emails that we not important, were considered newsletters, invites, social media updates, etc. for you to check & address them.
They don’t store any of your emails on their servers, so your data is secure.

I am also hyperlinking a demo video which will show the way how SaneBox works.

USP of SaneBox – You can try out their service for a month for free before . Really, no credit card, no cash, nothing absolutely. Also, SaneBox works on all IMAP enabled services – GMail, Yahoo or any other IMAP enabled email service and everything else; without any other plug-ins or downloads.

Since this ties in to your email service, Sanebox should work seamlessly on your desktop and mobile email clients as well. Try out SaneBox. This is going to bring sanity in your inbox & in your life as well.

For a limited time you can also get an extra $5 in your account if you use this link to sign up – https://www.sanebox.com/signup/b249eac3c7

BlackBerry Users – Your Must Have Apps

Are you a BlackBerry lover who is pondering to get the best out of your Phone? If yes, then this is the right post for you. Though there are a lot of apps available in the market for which the developers charge, I have compiled a list of apps that might be a valuable one for you. Some are available for free while others are charged.

Check them out and give a try.

Dropbox – This is one of the best services ever which will allow you to have a back up and allows you not to email a file again. And, having Dropbox on your BlackBerry for absolutely free is probably a great thing. Moreover, it allows you to connect to what you consider to be more important and is considered to be a more secure and safe way of browsing files. Share your photos, documents and videos easily with this app from anywhere. Give it a try. [Link]

Evernote – Designed especially for taking notes and archiving, Evernote is easy to use and is available for free. Since it has a multi-platform, you can use it to make a note of whatever you think of. In the latest version, you can add an attachment with an existing note and remove the parts that are not necessary. Also, they are fast and have better power management. Check about the latest releases here. [Link]

Tripcase – Do you get stressed during travel? Though there are a lot of travel management apps available, what makes Tripcase unique is its capability of intelligent messaging. You can use the information in your itinerary in a more organized and efficient way. Also you can have a direct import of your itinerary information and the app will automatically update the itinerary if you do any changes to it anywhere and anytime. Also, find free flight alerts and alternate flights for the same day are made available in this app without the need of upgrading to a premium where you will have to pay to get this information. [Link]

Personal Assistant – This app is used by over 2 million people and recommended by a lot of people. Personal Assistant is an app that will help you in monitoring your transactions done with a credit card, reviewing your bill statements in a detailed manner, checking the balance of your account without requiring the need to enter the data. It allows you to have everything you are looking for and has a lot of extra options too. It can automatically synchronize with your online banking, travel accounts and bills in order to get track of your balance and transactions. And when you have lost your phone, all you will have to do is to deactivate your profile from pageonce.com. It is very simple to prevent unauthorized entry to your phone and the information logged on to it. [Link]

InstaPhoto – A picture says a lot more than words. And it feels even good when you share it with your friends in a social network. With a lot of preset effects available, InstaPhoto allows you to capture moments and customize it while sharing it in social media. [Link]

I am sure, the above apps, when installed by you on your BlackBerry, will make your life that tad bit easier.

Apple dumps Chomp App

Apple had acquired the search application tool less than one year ago. As per the latest news, Apple has annihilated the Chomp mobile app, as well as removed the traces of its website.

Chomp app was very versatile. It offered an interface through which you can search for applications of various categories including shopping, musical instruments, fun games, news, to do list, discounts, social networking, photography and texting.

History of Chomp App

Chomp was founded by Ben Keighran and Cathy Edwards in 2009. Chomp was successful in adding more than 300,000 users within a span of 8 weeks after its launch. The San Francisco based ‘application search engine company’ had received 2.5 million towards funding. Chomp’s features were further enhanced by offering a number of functionalities. The services were available in the form of mobile application or as a search box inside a website. The chomp service was discontinued from September 30, 2012.

Chomp’s Absence & Implications

If you had installed Comp in the past and now try to use the Chomp app on your iOS based gadget, the app no longer works and searching for the app on the iTunes Store will not get any search results rather you will be routed to the App Store where results will be served. If you would like to access the website, www.chomp.com, then you will be redirected to the Apple website. When Siri was acquired by Apple, it had done the same thing. When users tried to access Siri website, they were routed to the Apple website. However, it happened when the Siri voice assistant was made integral with the iPhone 4S. It is a different story with Chomp as the application is present nowhere but bits and pieces of the app can see in the iTunes App Store on iOS 6.

Chomp’s Indirect Presence

Chomp was launched in the beginning of the year 2010. It was used to search for applications based on their functions rather than on the name. Even though it was made to search for Apple applications in the beginning, the application got access to search for Android applications the following year. Thereafter, the services to search Android applications were stopped in April, 2012 after Chomp was acquired by Apple.

Even though Chomp was chopped off in the virtual world, its presence in Apple’s App Store cannot be ruled out. It is believed that Apple had successfully implemented the technology in the search tools that are employed to search through the App store. This was done as part of the recent iOS6 revamp. The new application store offers improvements in the backend. This is reflected in application discovery. However, the new layout failed to convince the hearts of many users.

As per the new changes, only one application will be displayed on the screen in the form of card or pane. Chomp used to display a list of applications and you can scroll these applications. However, iPad users are benefited with the new layout. Chomp service comes to an end on the same day where Ping’s services are halted and users will also experience less storage space on iCloud.

Apple is well known for the presentation of user-friendly features. In the coming days, users will certainly be able to enjoy more intuitive features in the AppStore search mechanism.

Pic Credit – vincentabry

Smartphone HD Display Systems from Sharp

Sharp is kept busy in the manufacture of ‘High Definition (HD) Sharp Mobile Display Systems‘. It is not only the iPhone 5 orders but also many other projects that Sharp is kept busy with in recent times. As per the information revealed by Sharp official, the company is kept busy with the manufacture of 5” LCD screens which enable HD displays of the order of 1920 x 1080. Sharp has already started the production of these new display systems since September, 2012 and the projects are in full swing even in October, 2012.

The USP – High Quality Display Systems

The new high quality display systems that are being manufactured by Sharp will have more clarity and sharpness than the existing LCD screens. The CG-Silicon technology which was implemented by Sharp in the manufacture of display systems of HD television will also be implemented in the manufacture of HD display systems for mobile phones. The new technology will cut down the number of layers between the bottom of the screen and user’s eyes. This will ensure that Smartphones will be capable of holding the highest possible number of pixels within a limited space of 5”. The quality improves by 1.3 times. The current iPhone 5’s PPI (Pixel Per Inch) is 326 and Samsung Galaxy S3’s PPI is 306. Sharp is able to provide new display systems whose PPI is 443. Even though HTC is exploring possible active association with Google for the production of high quality display systems at 1080p, Sharp has already achieved a remarkable success in this endeavor.

Sharp’s Global Launch Event

Sharp’s new sharp display systems were revealed to the world at CEATEC – 2012 held in Japan. A number of HD display systems which are likely to be deployed in various kinds of Smartphones are arrayed by Sharp at the show. The new display systems are the thinnest among the available types of mobile display systems. The display systems are consistent in presentation of views in various angles. Sharp had also arrayed a new generation display system whose size is 6.1” with 498 PPI. It will be released to the market in 2013.

Advantages

With the development of high quality display systems, users will be able to enjoy higher display quality in terms of text, photo and video.
You can also have excellent views of various maps on your Smartphone.
The new display systems will certainly have an edge in terms of quality of presentation.
Smartphone manufacturing companies which will be able to adapt to this emerging technology will certainly be able to capture the market to the greatest possible extent.
As a matter of fact, the screen size of Smartphones has increased over the past two years. At the same time, considerable leap is not achieved in improving the pixel strength of the display systems.

Sharp’s achievement in this scenario will definitely boost the emergence of high quality display systems. On the other hand, Smartphone manufacturers should be able to address the tremendous power required for the display of high quality HD images. There should be enhancements in various aspects including the processing speed, graphic display, memory and the battery backup.

Pic Credit - Sharp Business Systems.

Does iPad-Mini minimize everything?

Did you hear the rumours? Apple is gearing up for the next big event.

Rumors are widespread in tech circles about the launch of iPad-Mini. It is expected that Apple will start sending invitations from October 10 for the upcoming iPad-Mini launch event. The event is likely to be held in the second half of October.

Probable Features of iPad-Mini

• It is revealed that the size of the iPad-mini will be 7.85”.
• It comes with the Aluminum casing (similar to that of iPad).
• It comes with a rear facing camera.
• Apple intends to prepare the iPad-mini as an alternative to Samsung Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7.
• It is expected that the price of iPad-mini will be less than iPad.

Even though Apple has not yet officially acknowledged the fact about the launch/release of mini iPad version, it is expected that the mini tablet will come with minimal features. iPad offers 9.7” screen and iPad-mini is likely to come with 7”+ screen. iPad is a versatile tablet. You can read books, listen to audio books, create presentations, create artwork, watch movies and browse the web. As there will be considerable trade-off, iPad-mini certainly comes with less horsepower. You should be able to read books, listen to music, watch movies and connect to internet through iPad-mini.

Domestic Uses of iPad-Mini

Typical iPad-Mini expectations are A5 processor, 32 GB internal storage and 512 MB RAM. Some of the domestic uses of iPad-Mini for a techie could be –
• It will have tools like Accelerometer and Gyroscope.
• The gadget targets home users.
• The gadget will be useful to read books, listen to music and watch movies.
• You can copy relevant files into iPad-mini through Wi-Fi or by connecting with your PC via cable.
• However, it may not have Magnetometer, GPS and 3G.

Competitiveness

Even though Apple could offer less features through iPad-mini, the gadget may not be competitive in princing at least with the rumored cost of around $299 or so. iPad Mini will be a useful aid to be adopted by students in place of textbooks. You can play games as well on iPad-Mini. Nevertheless, it will be a tough battle for Apple to compete with feature-rich gadgets presented by Google, Amazon and Barnes & Noble at much a much lower price-point.

As a matter of fact, Amazon has established the ecosystem by offering great tablet, Kindle Fire HD. The value added services, the decent display system and user-friendly features presented by Kindle Fire are awesome. Similarly, the opportunities for Nexus 7 and Nook are plenty. They are growing at a steady pace. It should be a tough task for Apple to convince users to go for iPad-mini even though you can use it on an airplane. Apple’s iPad-mini has prospects to attract customers as they will be able to take advantage of the simple and user-friendly features.

About iPad-Mini’s Launch

It is expected that Apple will announce the new iPad-mini in New York City in October, 2012. As per tech analysts, it is expected that iPad Mini will not completely steal the show created by the New iPad. As per rumors, Chinese manufacturers had received orders for the manufacturing of iPad-Mini. As per the information revealed by Taiwanese sources, the new iPad-Mini will be in the hands of customers before the Christmas season.

Let’s wait & watch. The rumored launch date is not too far!

Image Credit: Cult of Mac

Rode Dog App – get barked at if you Text while Driving!

An 11 year old student made history by developing an application that prevents texts when you are driving on the road. The student in collaboration with David Grau, a creative designer at an interactive agency located at Santa Ana has achieved this feat.

The application was disclosed at the recent AT&T Hackathon. As the application starts barking, you can find that you are performing a task that you are not supposed to do while driving. By installing the application, you will not be able to send text messages if you are already engaged in driving.

Quite an innovative name for an anti-texting app, this one is called – Rode Dog. Sure, interesting it is!

Let’s know more about it –

Features

• To start off with, An interesting feature of this application is that it will also monitor your friend’s driving activity as well.
• As you include your friends in this search criterion, you will be able to observe whether your friend or family is sending text messages while driving.
• You can add groups of people under this monitoring zone. If one of the group members violates the code of conduct by sending text messages while driving, the other members will be able to bark on the rule-breaking friend. Ultimately, the driver will be made to stop the barking as the barking will continue until the driver notices it and turns into silent mode.

Variance from seat belt compliance

Interestingly, the concept takes deviation from similar kind of activity where you car will annoy you if you do not wear the seat belt. The new bark will not annoy you much but will be polite enough to drag your attention. There is growing concern for road safety all over the world. There is a rise in the number of accidents due to the negligence of drivers. Sending text messages while driving and attending phone calls while driving are suicidal and they are not healthy habits. You will not only take risk your life and those who are travelling with you but also create trouble to other passengers who travel in various vehicles or who go by walk.

Dog barks influence

As to the incorporation of the dog bark idea, the little girl named Victoria Walker was very much annoyed with her dog. When he barks, he demands undivided attention. It is difficult to accomplish any other task until the dog bark interruption is satisfied. The same strategy is applied in the development of anti-texting application which will demand your attention (if you break the rules) so that you will reach home safely. The little girl also noted that as she utilizes the application, it will help her to protect their parents. By adding and monitoring their parents’ driving patterns, she can better vouch for them. She can raise an alarm by barking as and when they attempt to break the code of conduct.

Conclusion

With the increased awareness about the dangers in associated with mobile phones while driving and walking on roads, state and local governments are planning to control the menace by declaring a complete ban on such activities. The technology is being utilized to such an extent to give us freedom to choose what we need and to prevent the access to services that we really don’t need.

This is really an interesting development that works for the well-being of mankind and for better quality of life.

Link: www.rodedog.com/