The Truth Spy

Every year, ArcTouch brings together its employees for a three-day hackathon, where groups set out to prototype an idea using new and emerging technologies. This year, we had many blockchain hackathon projects — and we think this speaks to both the growing interest in blockchain by our staff and the potential for companies to benefit from it. My group chose to implement an identity verification system built on the blockchain. The idea was to store someone’s proof of age, which a bartender or sales clerk could reference in lieu of a physical ID such as a driver’s license. Since we planned to leverage smart contracts, we opted for an Ethereum blockchain. However, for first-round development, using the public blockchain or even the testnet is not always ideal due to long transaction confirmation times. Instead, we looked at a several options for quickly spinning up a private blockchain. By far, the easiest approach is to use a cloud service such as Azure to host a private blockchain...

All business organizations aim to enhance their business productivity and increase their sales. If you are an entrepreneur, you must know that creating an amiable and conducive environment for the employees is paramount. You may create a stress-free atmosphere at the workplace and also offer incentives and perks to boost their confidence, but of late, there is one thing that has created much buzz around. We are talking about enterprise apps, which undeniably have been one of the key contributors and major driving force for the various companies and organizations in the global scenario. The statistics, shown by Statista also point out that the revenue generated from enterprise mobile applications for various industries will surge in 2020. For instance, the banking and financial services will grow from 23.75% in 2015 to 24.47% in 2020. So, why is that the employees are getting more and more attached to enterprise apps? These apps make sure that the employees get an easy access to wid...

The healthcare industry has seen a sea change over the last decade and one of the prominent key figures that have played a major role in bringing this change is mobile applications. Yes, all credit goes to it; people no more have to schedule an appointment over phone or walk-in to the doctor’s clinic to write the name of the patient on the piece of paper. In fact, the mobile healthcare apps will become one of the top revenue contributors. According to a statistics , which is expected to increase to $58.8 billion in 2020 from $25.39 in 2017. Therefore, we can see that it will be more than twice during the next three years. In another important survey , it has been found that about 52% of the Smartphone users avail information about latest developments in medical science using their phones. Well, this is also applicable that if medical science has progressed than what was expected, then why should the mobile technology and users lack behind. If this is not all, there are some interes...

An interview with ArcTouch CEO Eric N. Shapiro Eric N. Shapiro has spent the better part of the past decade trying to convince business leaders that mobile could transform their business — an idea he admits is not nearly as hard to get across today as it was when he and his business partner Adam Fingerman started ArcTouch in 2008. ERIC N. SHAPIRO ArcTouch CEO, BlockFirst Founder “Most people today embrace the concept of mobile first ,” says Shapiro, whose team has created and published more than 400 apps for a wide variety of leading brands since the original App Store was launched. “Now it’s time to reimagine how these apps are built behind the scenes — with blockchain.” ArcTouch recently launched BlockFirst , a new consulting practice designed to help companies take advantage of blockchain technology to transform their business operations and introduce never-before-possible applications. With BlockFirst, ArcTouch helps companies create proof-of-concept blockchain solutions usi...

Today mobile applications have become a necessity and not being an item of luxury. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur of a large business entity to develop a mobile app; according to a survey , about 67% of small businesses have built mobile apps by the year 2017. And even the startups are taking keen interest in getting an app. However, don’t just run behind the crowd; first, define your goal and then go ahead to execute the plan successfully. You might have an extraordinary idea but at the same, it is important that it remains unique and exclusive. Thus, you have to secure your app idea . But the question is how? You must have heard about Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). You can also ask the client to share his ideas under the Non-Proprietary Information where the details discussed regarding the launching of the app is kept utterly confidential. Writing Down the App Specification is Must So, when you are framing a plan on how to develop an app, it is crucial to take the first pro...

Why Do We Use Fibonacci Numbers to Estimate User Stories? by Jeff Sutherland  | February 21, 2018 | Blog Frequently there are great debates about the use of the Fibonacci sequence for estimating user stories. Estimation is at best a flawed tool but one that is necessary for planning work. User story estimation is based on Department of Defense research in 1948 that developed the Delphi technique. The technique was classified until the 1960’s (there are dozens of papers on the topic at rand.org ). Basically, the Rand researchers wanted to avoid the pressure towards group conformity that typically led to bad estimates. So they determined that estimates had to be done in secret. Initially, the estimates would be far apart because people had different perceptions of the problem so they would have them talk about highs and lows after estimating in secret, then estimate in secret again. At Rand Worldwide you can read the original papers that demonstrate convergence. Rand resea...

There is no doubt that Java enjoyed a superior position when it came to the programming language and was considered as one of the most important tools for the Android app development. However, with the passage of time, the Android developers got various other options as the programming language. Some of these include C#, Lua, C/C++, JavaScript, Scala, and Clojure etc. But there is one particular statically typed programming language that has hogged the limelight and even Google I/O is focusing on it. It is Kotlin which was developed by JetBrains. In fact, the Google I/O has announced at a conference that they would make Kotlin as an officially supportive language for developing the android apps. Soon after this all crucial announcement, there was a spur and the experts began to debate over which is better Java or Kotlin. One of the advantages that Kotlin also offers is that you can successfully be complied and run on Java Virtual Machine (JVM). To be frank and honest, we are here ...

Apple has issued new set of instructions to all the iOS developers around the world. It has clearly notified the developers that from 1st April 2018 onwards all new iOS apps submitted to the App Store will require to support iPhone X Super Retina display. In addition, the developers also must ensure that the new apps are developed on the iOS 11 SDK or the advanced versions, keeping in compliance with the edge-to-edge 5.8-inch OLED screen. And regarding the Smartwatches, it should be developed with watchOS 4 SDK or the latest version. Apple’s new set of instructions to the developers is seen as a major drive to promote the Super Retina Display, which is said to be the future of mobile app development trend . The information was revealed by the company through an email sent out to all developers. The support for Super Retina display of iPhone X and iOS apps developed with iOS 11 SDK would mean that the company is also promoting and enhancing advanced features such as ARKit, Siri and C...

Health and fitness are predominantly the buzzwords today. People take resolutions to stay fit and active. Probably many pledges that they would maintain a healthy diet and would take every step to cut overweight. Maybe, you are one who is very determined to visit the gym from next day or go out for a jogging session, but unfortunately, that tomorrow hardly arrives. And the reason cited is a lame excuse – didn’t find adequate time to visit the gym due to a busy schedule. Well, even this problem has been sorted out too much extent; all thanks to the mobile app development industry. At a time when most of the individuals are hooked into their smartphones, the health apps have become their daily gym instructor or coach, whatever you may call it. According to a recent research , it has been found that the use of health and fitness apps have increased by 330% during the last three years. Further, the report states that about 75% of the uses go through the fitness apps at least twice a wee...

The mobile applications play a decisive role in thriving the sales of any business organization. Having said that most entrepreneurs have already begun showing their keen interest in building mobile apps. We have seen the surge in the number of retail-based apps where because of the huge customer demand. According to a study , about 54% of the shoppers download mobile apps due to better experience than mobile web. However, what about the location based mobile applications? You cannot deny the fact that a number of businesses are directly dependent on the geolocation facility. According to the Pew Research Center , people belonging to nearly all age groups are using the location based apps for various purposes. While 74% of adults use these apps to get directions; 12% are willing to share their locations with the friends. Precisely if you are the owner of a restaurant or offering cab booking services like Uber , the geolocation apps will then become the backbone of your business. In a...