• Importance of User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX) in Software & Mobile App Development

      A user interface is nothing but how a user interacts with the device. The key to having a good user interface is to make the customer intuitively know how to use the device with little to no help. An interactive and intuitive user interface design goes a long way in making sure this happens.

      Why is it important to have a good UI/UX design


      Whether it is about using the self-service checkout machines, mobile apps or online shop, a thoughtlessly designed interface design that is not intuitive for its users may have the users abandoning their session with frustration, ending up buying nothing from your store. Your effort to optimize the user interface design can make a huge difference to the sales conversions happening on your platform. For all the consumer-facing applications, the design must be intuitive or there is a risk of shopping cart abandonment, however, for enterprise applications, it used not to be a primary requisite. As long as it was possible to perform the job, the user interface design could be less intuitive too. This is what was conventionally believed and followed. In the modern competitive times, things have changed, however. In times when we are surrounded by smart and intuitive applications, enterprise users also need to be treated as the consumers of the applications who would prefer to use an intuitive and easy-to-use application.
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    • A City Without Traffic Jams


        Chapter 2.
        (the link to Chapter 1)

        The Art of Designing Road Networks


        Transport problems of a city through the eyes of a Computer Scientist


        If I were recommended an article with the title “The Art of Designing Road Networks,” I would immediately ask how many road networks were built with the participation of its author. I must admit, my professional activity was far from road construction and was recently associated with the design of microprocessors where I, among other responsibilities, was engaged in the resource consumption of data switching. At that time my table stood just opposite the panoramic window which opened up a beautiful view of the long section of the Volgograd Highway and part of the Third Transport Ring with their endless traffic jams from morning to evening, from horizon to horizon. One day, I had a sudden shock of recognition: “The complexities of the data switching process that I struggle with on a chip may be similar to the difficulties the cars face as they flow through the labyrinth of road network”.
        Probably, this view from the outside and the application of methods that were not traditional for the area in question gave me a chance to understand the cause of traffic jams and make recommendations on how to overcome the problem in practice.
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      • Top profitable ride-hailing business models implemented by growing Uber like taxi apps

          image

          There was a time when moving from one place to another was a matter of utility. People did not Care About Us lyrics like comfort. Public transportation was dominating the landscape of movement and private transport was considered a luxury.

          Today, we live in a world where people expect more than just the movement. They do not want to compromise on the aspects of comfort and convenience. They would like to be picked up from their doorstep and they would like to be dropped precisely in the place that they want to be.

          These transformations have given rise to the business of ride-hailing. There are a lot of companies that provide the service of transportation by picking people from one place and dropping them in a place of their choice.

          The constructive onslaught of Smartphones enabled with GPS made the business of ride-hailing efficient, profitable and delightful to the customer.
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        • Which is the Best for Mobile App Development | Native Vs Hybrid

            In today's world, a mobile app is an irreplaceable part of any business designed to leverage from the use of modern technologies for building strong relationships with customers. Taking into account the ever-increasing role that mobile devices play in a major role, there’s nothing strange that mobile apps help businesses to stay in touch with users 24/7 and provide them with a great experience.

            Even if you’re entirely sure that mobile app development is a demanding thing that can boost-up your business, If you have the plan to develop a mobile app, this is the right time. without a delay start developing the app. But wait, you have to make an important decision and choose between hybrid and native mobile app development. You can make this decision based on your goals and available resources. In this article, we’ll try to highlight some advantages and disadvantages of both approaches to help you decide which option will work better for your particular company.
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          • How to Write a Smart Contract with Python on Ontology? Part 4: Native API

            • Tutorial
            image

            Earlier, I have introduced the Ontology Smart Contract in
            Part 1: Blockchain & Block API and
            Part 2: Storage API
            Part 3: Runtime API
            Today, let’s talk about how to invoke an Ontology native smart contract through the Native API. One of the most typical functions of invoking native contract is asset transfer.
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          • Latest Android Application Trends — 2019

              Nowadays we have come beyond a major shift of trend from native to cross-platform mobile app development with the booming popularity of React Native and Progressive Web Apps. The emerging android application trends also consolidate technologies such as AR, VR, IoT and more. Here are some trends we see coming up this year and ahead when it comes to Android mobile app development:

              React Native and more cross-platform development:


              With more cross-platform drives including React Native and Kotlin sharing and more app-cloud based services offering more advanced features, the ecosystem of cross-platform is continuing to grow. An example is Google Firebase.

              Artificial Intelligence fuelling the personalization of user experiences:


              What Artificial Intelligence serves to promote users is convenience and predictability with their applications that is what helps improve their experience. Artificial Intelligence adds predictability to the regular processes, making them efficient.
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            • AdBlock has stolen the banner, but banners are not teeth — they will be back

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            • The science behind how our brains work best, and how technology and our environment can help



                You’re utterly focused. You’ve lost track of time. Nothing else in the world exists. You’re living in the moment.

                While this might sound like meditation, it’s a description that can also be applied to the state of flow – the feeling of being so engaged by your work, that you lose yourself to it completely, while massively increasing your productivity in the process.

                It’s the holy grail that we all strive for, whether it’s a hobby we’re passionate about, or a project at work. Achieving our best and utilising our maximum potential at all times, can however, be a struggle.
                We had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Jack Lewis, a neuroscientist with a passion for exploring how our minds work, to see what motivates us to do our best work, and the important roles that workplace environments, culture, and technology can play.
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              • Trendy Business Applications for Internal Communication

                  Communication, Co-ordination, and Correlation are the three apexes of any business.

                  Business Applications for Internal Communication is a base to crack organizational goals. With seamless communication and packed co-relation, it is easy to represent the whole as one. Evolving and growing smartphone technology tangled with internet evolution makes communication smoother than ever before.

                  1. Slack

                  Slack is the most efficient cloud-based team collaboration chat application that almost every organization’s workplace is using it. It allows team members to collaborate and manage the entire workflow through one platform.

                  Once a game company, it developed a tiny team chat app which within a span of 4 years rocks the business scene with its thrilling sensational communication threads. It’s an amazing project management and collaboration tool that provides your business with a handy communication medium. This is a cloud-based team communication application and an awesome tool for internal conversation for companies with remote workers.

                  The slack chat room is organized shelf of topics, private chats and direct messaging. And slack allows its user to search for files, groups, and members associated with.

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                • How to Write a Smart Contract with Python on Ontology? Part 3: Runtime API

                  • Tutorial
                  image

                  Introduction


                  Earlier, I have introduced the Ontology Smart Contract in
                  Part 1: Blockchain & Block API and
                  Part 2: Storage API
                  Now when you have an idea about how to call the relevant API for persistent storage when developing Python smart contract on Ontology, let’s go on to Runtime API (Contract Execution API). The Runtime API has 8 related APIs that provide common interfaces for contract execution and help developers get, convert, and validate data. Here’s a brief description of these 8 APIs:
                  Read more →
                • How to Write a Smart Contract with Python on Ontology? Part 2: Storage API

                  • Tutorial
                  image
                  This is an official tutorial published earlier on Ontology Medium blog
                  Excited to publish it for Habr readers. Feel free to ask any related questions and suggest a better format for tutorial materials

                  Foreword


                  Earlier, in Part 1, we introduced the Blockchain & Block API of Ontology’s smart contract. Today we will discuss how to use the second module: Storage API. The Storage API has five related APIs that enable addition, deletion, and changes to persistent storage in blockchain smart contracts. Here’s a brief description of the five APIs:
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                • Latest E-commerce Trends — 2019

                    The e-commerce trends keep on changing based on the way we shop, what we buy, how we buy and how we respond to the products that are being marketed by various businesses. Over the last decade, a lot of new e-commerce trends have emerged to have a major influence on e-tailing businesses and their models of operation. With the biggest of global e-tailers such as Amazon have been adopting and reaping the rewards of these trends, we would like to sum up a few of these trends that will gain importance in 2019:

                    Speedy Shipping and Efficient Delivery Logistics


                    With Amazon offering a one-hour delivery service with its ‘Amazon Now’ and the plans to expand the services further in the coming few years, the focus has been on drastically decreasing the time between the click and delivery – the key competitive advantage the e-commerce businesses have been striving for. Leveraging the emerging technologies including driverless freight, the logistical improvements are set to take place this year.
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                  • Top 20 Marketplace Development Companies From All Over the World

                      Considering ever-rising e-commerce sales, which hit $29 trillion last year, companies can no longer neglect online presence. Many of them have already changed the way they work and transformed from simple online stores to marketplaces bringing more sales and opportunities.

                      Those who’ve chosen the path of transformation or want to build a marketplace are probably seeking for experienced service providers to get some help.

                      Since there are hundreds of development companies all over the world, I decided to research the market and narrow down the circle of providers you might want to consider for partnership.

                      To compile this list the following factors were considered:

                      • Overall number of customer reviews on such reputable platforms as Clutch, Upwork, GoodFirms, App Futura, Extract.co, IT Firms.
                      • Overall score of those reviews.
                      • Presence of Fortune 500 clients in the public domain.
                      • Presence of industry awards in the public domain (e.g. Global Sourcing Award, Top B2B Global Leaders, Best of the Global Outsourcing 100).
                      • Team size (bigger companies come first).
                      • Year of fundation (mature companies have more trust).
                      • Number of offices (more is better).
                      • Number of brand mentions over the web (only companies with 1,500+ mentions are listed).

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                    • Looking for an alternative to Slack? Pick from the 9+ best Slack alternatives

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                        Collaboration applications are built for easing communication in business. They empower co-workers to communicate and share ideas across diverse teams and projects in order to attain the best work results!


                        Regardless of form and size, these days workplaces would certainly need a tool to interact with each other digitally. It is evident that most of the companies until now rely on Skype for peer-to-peer communication.

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                      • Dobroshrift

                          What one gets easily and for free can be a real struggle for others — these are the thoughts every letter of the «Dobroshrift» [Kindness Font] evolves. It was developed for the World Cerebral Palsy Day with the participation of children with this diagnosis. So we decided to take part in this charity action and changed the website logo till the end of the day.


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                        • More than a game: Mastering Mahjong with AI and machine learning



                            Microsoft researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that has taught itself the intricacies of Mahjong and can now match the skills of some of the world’s top players.

                            The complex board game of chance, bluff, and strategy was invented in China thousands of years ago and remains a passionate pastime for millions of Asians today, with many dedicated competitors playing online.

                            Computers have learned to play Chess and another ancient Chinese game, Go, amid much fanfare in the past. But scientists at Microsoft Research (MSR) Asia see their achievement as far more than just a case of technology mastering yet another game.

                            The researchers – who named their system Super Phoenix, or Suphx for short – developed a series of AI algorithmic breakthroughs to navigate the uncertain nature of Mahjong. With more work, these could potentially be applied in real situations to solve problems thrown up by unknown factors and random events.
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                          • Celestia: Bugs' Adventures in Space

                              Picture 1

                              Celestia is a three-dimensional space simulator. Simulation of the space allows exploring our universe in three dimensions. Celestia is available on Windows, Linux and macOS. The project is very small and PVS-Studio detected few defects in it. Despite this fact, we'd like to pay attention to it, as it's a popular educational project and it will be rather useful to somehow improve it. By the way, this program is used in popular films, series and programs for showing space. This fact, in turns, raises requirements to the code quality.
                              Read more →
                            • What's new in ML.NET and Model Builder

                                We are excited to announce updates to Model Builder and improvements in ML.NET. You can learn more in the «What’s new in ML.NET?.» session at .NET Conf.

                                ML.NET is an open-source and cross-platform machine learning framework (Windows, Linux, macOS) for .NET developers.

                                ML.NET offers Model Builder (a simple UI tool) and CLI to make it super easy to build custom ML Models using AutoML.

                                Using ML.NET, developers can leverage their existing tools and skillsets to develop and infuse custom AI into their applications by creating custom machine learning models for common scenarios like Sentiment Analysis, Recommendation, Image Classification and more!..

                                Read more →
                              • How to Write a Smart Contract with Python on Ontology? Part 1: the Blockchain & Block API

                                image

                                This is an official tutorial published earlier on Ontology Medium blog
                                Excited to publish it for Habr readers. Feel free to ask any related questions and suggest a better format for tutorial materials

                                Foreword


                                In this article, we will begin to introduce the smart contract API of Ontology. The Ontology’s smart contract API is divided into 7 modules:


                                In this article, we will introduce the Blockchain & Block API, which is the most basic part of the Ontology smart contract system. The Blockchain API supports basic blockchain query operations, such as obtaining the current block height, whereas the Block API supports basic block query operations, such as querying the number of transactions for a given block.

                                Let’s get started!

                                First, create a new contract in SmartX and then follow the instructions below.

                                1. How to Use Blockchain API


                                References to smart contract functions are identical to Python’s references. Developers can introduce the appropriate functions as needed. For example, the following statement introduces GetHeight, the function to get the current block height, and GetHeader, the function to get the block header.
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                              • Geolocation and geoposition — mega-tool

                                • Translation

                                Introduction


                                Today, geolocation and geo-positioning have turned into a state that we did not dream about 60 years ago, during the first thoughts about creating an Internet network.

                                Cartography has turned into a miracle — from insanely large sheets of paper to what fits in the palm of your hand.

                                Today, maps are used not only to search for a cultural center in Paris, but to be able to find everything:

                                • nearest hotel
                                • pharmacy or hospital
                                • grocery store
                                • university or school
                                • Pink Concert venue in San Francisco

                                The transformation of technology will not stop there. It will be better and more accurate than ever.

                                Evolution in time


                                Let's see how the evolution of geolocation began. The journey of this phenomenon begins in ancient times.

                                Excursion into the past
                                Read more →