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Using the 'physical web' to boost in-store sales

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 10:35pm CEST par Gavin Wheeldon

Bricks and mortar businesses have been in the dark. They were blinkered to what was happening within their locations, and how customers were interacting with the space. There was huge potential to fail to engage with customers effectively, repeating marketing mistakes continuously.

Meanwhile, their online counterparts had a huge advantage -- website analytics. It gave them an expanse of data sources to explore. If they asked the right questions and found the answers, they could understand every step of their customers’ journeys. They could continually optimize their offer -- and give customers what they wanted.

Now, the same opportunity is being given to physical spaces. Instead of Google analytics, they can have a triple-layered "physical web" at their disposal, comprising hardware (data-collecting sensors or beacons), channels used to communicate data (for instance, WiFi, Bluetooth or cellular), and the resulting intelligence that can be gathered.

Now, intelligent physical spaces can mine precious information from a wide spectrum of data points, such as sensors, security cameras, WiFi, and weather stations. Overlaying insights about customer journeys, dwell times, heat mapping and zone information onto purchase pattern data, they build a clear picture of how their space is working -- or not.

This wealth of data can be used to shape anything from store interiors to marketing strategy. For instance, the data collected may suggest essential changes to the layout of the space, or an ideal time and place for customers to receive bespoke offers direct to their mobile devices.

Purple customers have been finding this invaluable to date. To give a couple of examples, a shopping centre in Perth, Australia, discovered that a huge percentage of its visitors were from the nearby university, and that over 50 percent of them were Asian. This prompted it to introduce the Asian social media login "Weibo", resulting in dramatic login increases.

One sports retailer kept their high margin apparel in a certain area of the store. Analyzing data from a variety of sources within its intelligent space has helped it to redesign its signage. It is now more effective in steering customers towards these high value items -- and sales have increased.

At last, it’s possible for physical spaces to employ data-driven, real-time marketing methods en par with those used by online businesses. These targeted, timely interactions provide clear business benefits, while also improving the customer experience.

This is a prime opportunity for businesses to align their online and offline marketing and deliver a consistent brand experience. The potential to transform the planning and efficiency of physical spaces is incredible. We look forward to seeing businesses in a wide range of sectors reap the rewards of this new advantage.

Gavin Wheeldon is CEO of Purple, formerly Purple WiFi.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Tashatuvango / Shutterstock
Instagram follows Twitter in embracing non-chronological algorithmic timelines

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 8:17pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Any time a social network makes a change, it upsets a lot of people. Facebook has done it countless times -- just look at the vocal outpourings that followed the launch of reactions, for instance -- and Twitter recently irked many users with a new algorithm timeline, albeit one that can be disabled. Now it's the turn of Instagram.

The image- and video-based social network is currently testing an algorithm-driven timeline, much like Twitter and Facebook. Instagrammers are not happy. Not one bit (hence the appearance of the #boycottinstagram hashtag). The primary concern among users -- the narcissistic blighters! -- is that their posts will not be seen and will instead be buried in the noise of their followers' timelines. But all is not lost.

The good news for those who are worried that their posts will disappear into the background is that there is a solution. While Instagram may be testing an analytical algorithm to determine which posts it thinks people would like to see, it is possible to enable notifications for individual accounts.

Fire up Instagram and you'll see endless posts from people desperate to ensure that you see future posts from them. With Instagram being a serious money-maker for a lot of people, the desperate pleas for followers to enable post notifications are understandable. But while this does indicate to Instagram your preference for the posts you'd like to see first, it does mean that you receive a notification for every single post people make. The choice is yours.

At the moment, the rejigged timeline is not rolling out to everyone, but that's not stopping users from getting very vocal about it. The backlash has been such that Instagram has been forced to respond to an endless stream of complaints. Writing on Twitter, the company said:

We're listening and we assure you nothing is changing with your feed right now. We promise to let you know when changes roll out broadly.

— Instagram (@instagram) March 28, 2016

This is unlikely to allay fears because it's very similar to what Jack Dorsey said shortly before Twitter rolled out its algorithmic timelines. In Twitter's defense, the feature can be disabled -- although it is enabled by default -- and Instagram users will no doubt be hoping that the same will be true for them.

Photo credit: Ellica / Shutterstock
BQ Aquarius M10 Ubuntu Edition Linux tablet now available for pre-order

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 6:55pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

While Linux remains insignificant on the desktop, it is the clear king of mobile thanks to Android. While the iPhone may generate more money, there are more Android handsets being sold globally.

Unfortunately, while Android uses the Linux kernel, the devices are usually not in line with the typical experience. Outside of Nexus devices, many users have to deal with locked bootloaders and the inability to install an alternative OS. Luckily, Android is not the only mobile Linux game in town -- Ubuntu can scale beautifully from smartphone, to tablet, to desktop. Today, the first official Ubuntu tablet -- BQ Aquarius M10 -- becomes available for pre-order, giving Google a run for its money.

Sadly, the tablet uses an ARM processor -- a 1.5 GHz MediaTek Quad Core MT8163A -- and not an x86 chip. Why is this sad? There are far fewer packages available for ARM, such as the missing Google Chrome -- the only way to get a full Adobe Flash experience on Linux. Yeah, Flash sucks, but some sites still use it. With that said, more and more ARM packages are becoming available all the time.

It features 2GB of RAM, which is passable, but I hope to see a version with more. Since this convergence-focused tablet can do double-duty as a desktop, having 4GB would be very much appreciated. The 16GB of storage is rather puny.

Of course it features Bluetooth, but the Wi-Fi is only N -- sorry, no AC is here, folks. Not a huge deal, really, but as more Android slabs get AC access, it highlights a bit of "yesterday's" technology in a forward-looking device.

The tablet comes in two versions, with almost identical specs -- including a big 7280 mAh battery and, according to BQ, the same processor. While there has been some chatter that the lower-priced model has a lower-clocked chip, that is not listed on BQ's page under specifications. It is not very clear.

The real difference is not screen size -- they are both 10.1 inch -- but display ratio. The full HD version, with 1920 x 1200, costs €299.90, while the 1280 x 800 version is €259.90. Yes, you are seeing Euros, as the tablets are being shipped from Europe. Don't worry, the U.S. is a selectable country -- just keep an eye on shipping costs and times.
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The prices are quite affordable, and you even get a free cover and screen protector for it too. The cases come in blue, black and cherry as seen above. I rather like cherry.

You can buy the HD version here, but I would recommend splurging on the better FHD screen found here.

Will Canonical ever dethrone Android as the king of mobile Linux? Tell me in the comments.
Microsoft: First Windows 10 'China edition' is ready

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 6:06pm CEST par Mihăiță Bamburic

It is not easy for Western tech companies to do business in China. The local government imposes all sorts of restrictions and makes various demands to allow outside players to operate in the country or use their products. Some companies give up altogether, by either exiting the market or not even attempting to enter it, while others try to accommodate China's requests.

When it comes to selling Windows 10 to China's government, Microsoft has taken the second route by agreeing to deliver a customized version of its latest operating system to the country's agencies. The deal was made public last year, in December, and the software giant just announced that a first -- China edition, if you will -- release is now ready.

In an interview with local publication Caixin, Microsoft's head of China operations, Ralph Haupter, revealed that the custom version of Windows 10 developed for the Chinese government is called Windows 10 Zhuangongban (Specially-provided Edition), and also some of the customizations that Microsoft has made.

According to Haupter, the software giant has trimmed the list of self-branded apps and services and also provided a higher number of management options. There is no complete list of changes available, so we do not know exactly what sort of modifications Microsoft has made to it, more specifically whether it has addressed the privacy concerns raised for the standard versions of Windows 10 available to consumers and business clients.

It is likely that the Chinese government wants to have more control over the data that its Windows 10 devices share with Microsoft, but also tighten security so that they can be used in a wider range of environments. Not to mention the fact that many of the services and apps that Microsoft bundles with its operating system are not meant to be used in China in the first place.

Photo credit: 360b / Shutterstock.com
Cubot X17 -- a premium smartphone at a budget price? [Review]

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 3:36pm CEST par Ian Barker

Cubot is a name you may not have heard of, but the Chinese company is seeking to make an impact on the smartphone market with the X17, offering premium features at a more down market price of around $170 (£130).

First impressions are positive, the phone comes in a box with a textured bronze colored finish. In the package you get a USB cable, mains adaptor, SIM tray opening tool, a clip-on protective cover for the back, a spare screen protector -- there's one pre-installed -- and a printed quick start guide. You also get a couple of cleaning wipes which is a nice touch.

The technical spec is impressive too. The phone uses a 1.3 GHz quad-core, 64bit processor (Mediatek 6735A) and has 3GB of RAM. There's 16GB of onboard storage though you can expand this with a microSD card. The 5-inch screen has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and 441 ppi, there's 4G support along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, though no NFC, and it runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Cameras are 16MP rear -- with an LED flash -- and 8MP front.

The X17 is dual SIM and, usefully, the two slots are different sizes so you can use a standard Micro SIM and/or the smaller Nano SIM. Note though that the Micro SIM and SD card use the same slot so you can't have both at once. The phone is powered by a non-removable 2500mAh battery.

You can find the full spec on the Cubot website.

Out of the Box

The phone itself feels and looks like a quality item. It's nicely weighty and has a shiny metal edge, the glass front curves into this which gives it a premium look. The 5-inch screen has white sections above and below it housing the front camera, speaker grille and fixed menu buttons. The back echoes this with a silver coloured metal centre panel between two white plastic sections. Power and volume buttons are on the right edge with the SIM and SD card slot on the left.

The rear camera lens is slightly raised above the phone body, though if you have the clear clip-on cover in place it sits flush. A slight oddity is that the permanent menu and back buttons are the other way around from most Android phones which takes a bit of getting used to.

With the phone switched off the screen appears to go right up to the sides of the device, but switch on and you realise that there's narrow black border so the actual usable area is slightly smaller. The part that you can use though is bright with strong colors and good viewing angles.

In Use

The X17's performance is perfectly acceptable in everyday tasks, accessing the net and playing videos, though the processor isn't quite up to the most intensive games. It does seem to get through the battery quite quickly, but you should manage around a day of normal use on a full charge. There is a battery saver mode that you can set to activate at 15 percent or five percent of remaining power to eke out the remaining life. The phone gets a little warm when you've been using it for a while, but not uncomfortably so.

You can swipe to the left from the lock screen to activate the camera without unlocking the phone first. Using the rear camera there's a bit of a lag when focusing, and when you have got it focused the photos aren't great with colors that look a little over saturated. Sharpness and detail is good though. Video can be shot in full HD at 30fps, but there's no image stabilization so you can end up with rather shaky results.

The front camera has a wide angle lens making it good for taking group selfies (groupies?), and you can enable a gesture mode for timer shots which detects a V sign to start a countdown. Again pictures are adequate rather than outstanding.

As we noted above there's no NFC on the X17, you do get something called HotKnot, which is similar but only works with other Mediatek-based kit so its usefulness is rather limited.

Software is pretty much standard Android. The phone does come with Opera Mini installed, but otherwise is commendably free of bloatware. There are air gesture options for scrolling through the gallery, changing radio stations and switching the screen on and off, but these are a bit hit and miss in use.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a phone that offers 4G on a budget, there's quite a bit to like about the X17. It's well made with the feel of a pricier device, the screen in particular being the equal of some much more expensive phones.

There are some compromises, the camera in particular isn't great and the lack of NFC may be a deal breaker for some. Also the battery life is no more than adequate. Those things aside the X17 is a decent all-rounder and will suit people who are looking to take their first leap into 4G without breaking the bank.
The importance of in-store mobile technology

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 2:33pm CEST par Nassar Hussain

Over the last decade we’ve seen a significant increase in mobile technology and it is now becoming the heart of customer experience; forcing retailers to figure out how the digital and physical relationships can work together.

Retailers must now decide whether to equip their personnel with mobile devices, introduce more self-service kiosks or expand mobile technology even further; all in the aid of delivering a personalized approach and improving the in-store experience for shoppers.

So how has mobility become so important and where it will need to go to meet the expectations of consumers?

Rise in Mobility

It is considered that by the end of 2016 more consumers will be browsing on mobile devices than on traditional computers for the very first time. This trend has greatly increased since smartphones first appeared ten years ago and has encouraged consumers to expect the same level of engagement from their retailers.

Some retailers have taken this on board, resulting in a rise of in-store mobility, but most haven’t. Leaving customers wanting more; a recent study found 93 percent of consumers would like to see more stores using in-store mobile technology, highlighting its lack of uptake so far.

Impact on Customer Experience

So far the rise of mobility has seen a significant impact on customer experience. Seventy-three percent of consumers feel retailers which offer in-store mobile technology provide superior customer service, with a further 64 percent more likely to shop at a retailer which provided in-store mobile technology.

This highlights how increasing mobility in store is having a positive impact on customer experience; which will soon result in increased satisfaction for shoppers, eventually driving sales.

What the future holds

As highlighted, one element of the future which is guaranteed is that shoppers expect to see more retailers using in-store mobile technology. However retailers must understand the type of technology to implement and consider what requirements shoppers of the future will have.

Sixty-five percent of consumers are keen to see in-store mobile technology that can order online if a product is not available. This is an interesting reverse to what most consider as the normal omnichannel approach of ordering online and collecting in-store. Sixty-three percent of consumers have also stated they prefer mobile point of sale (PoS) compared to a traditional cashier checkout, with a further 72 percent preferring mobile PoS as it offers faster checkout times or no queues.

When considering these shopper expectations it is clear to see mobility has made a strong impact on customer experience and will be at its heart going forward. Retailers must now take these facts on board and plan a future mobility strategy to meet the expectations of the next generation of customer.

Nassar Hussain, managing director for Europe and South Africa at SOTI

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Vasiliy Koval/Shutterstock
You could go to prison for sharing screenshots of Snapchat messages

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 1:07pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The UK culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has warned that people who share screenshots of Snapchat messages without permission are breaking the law. Snapchat is characterized by its self-destructing messages that automatically delete after a short time.

The Conservative politician warned that anyone sharing screenshots of messages without consent could be sued and could face a prison sentence. If the content was of a sexual nature, it could result in a lengthier sentence.

Mr Vaizy said that UK copyright law meant that if someone found that a message or image they posted to Snapchat was saved and shared without their permission, they could sue whoever shared it.

The culture minister said:

Under UK copyright law, it would be unlawful for a Snapchat user to copy an image and make it available to the public without the consent of the image owner. The image owner would be able to sue anyone who does this for copyright infringement.

He explained that Snapchat tries to warn users if their messages are screengrabbed:

Snapchat photos are automatically deleted [...]. The Snapchat privacy policy states that if Snapchat is able to detect that a recipient has taken a screenshot of an image, they will try to inform the original poster. However, Snapchat advises users to avoid sending messages which they would not want to be saved or shared.

Photo Credit: 360b / Shutterstock.com
New research helps isolate real threats from suspicious activity

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 12:23pm CEST par Ian Barker

Security teams often spend a lot of their time investigating anomalies and suspicious behavior, leaving them less time to focus on true threats.

Cloud security specialist CloudLock is tackling this problem with research into what it calls a Cloud Threat Funnel. Based on analysis of user behavior patterns it can isolate truly malicious threats from the noise of other potentially suspicious or unusual behaviors.

As the report's authors note, "Analyzing user behavior for signs of a breach is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Anomalous behaviors may be simply accidental missteps by careless users, or typical work-related actions that in the right (or wrong) context can become dangerous".

The funnel approach is based on research into the daily behavior of 10 million users, 1 billion files and 140,000 cloud apps. It reveals that 99.6 percent of users access cloud platforms from just one or two countries per week. Establishing this as the norm, the team was then able to isolate and reveal anomalies.

By adding user activity to third-party threat intelligence the algorithms reduce the likelihood of false positives. The Threat Funnel then moves into anomalies, recognizing outliers that do not conform to expected patterns. Because it's a self-learning model, it reduces the number of alerts being generated to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and visibility. Using this approach allows security professionals to focus their efforts on true malicious threats.

In order to make use of the Cloud Threat Funnel, organizations need to deploy an adaptive security model that can provide security teams with predictive, preventive, detective and responsive capabilities. By narrowing the focus on top offenders and user activities that are the most indicative of a true threat, security teams can make confident decisions much faster and avoid costly breaches with less effort.

The findings and methodology behind Cloud Threat Funnel are available in a report which you can download from the CloudLock website.

Image Credit: Andrea Danti/Shutterstock
Facebook apologizes for enabling Safety Check in the wrong countries after Pakistan suicide bombing

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 11:58am CEST par Mark Wilson

Over the Easter weekend a suicide bomber blew himself up in Lahore, Pakistan. The explosion killed dozens of people and Facebook enabled its Safety Check feature to make it easier for those in the area to let loved ones know they were OK.

But as well as asking people in Pakistan whether they were safe, Facebook also activated the feature and sent messages to people in other unaffected parts of the world. Facebook users in New York, Hong Kong, Cairo and numerous other places received messages asking "Have you been affected by the explosion?" with no reference made to Pakistan or Lahore. Facebook has issued an apology for any unnecessary worry this may have caused.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the activation of Safety Check on Sunday: "This morning we activated Safety Check in Pakistan after a bomb targeted children and their families in a park in Lahore. Over the last two months, we have activated Safety Check several times for acts of terror -- including in Turkey and Belgium -- so people in the area can let their friends and loved ones know they're safe".

It wasn’t long before people took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about the erroneous messages. Facebook was quick to rectify the problem and issued an apology:

We activated Safety Check today in Lahore, Pakistan, after an explosion that took place there. We hope the people in the area of the bombing find Safety Check a useful and helpful way to let their friends and family know they are okay. Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay. This kind of bug is counter to our intent. We worked quickly to resolve the issue and we apologize to anyone who mistakenly received the notification.

This is not the first time that Facebook's Safety Check has proved problematic or controversial. Last year, questions were asked about why Facebook had not enabled the tool for some disasters, but had for others.
The dangers of using public Wi-Fi hotspots

Publié: mars 28, 2016, 11:15am CEST par Eldar Tuvey

There are hundreds of thousands of free public Wi-Fi spots throughout the UK. Widespread connectivity and free accessibility are two appealing features that tempt users to open up their devices for on-the-go convenience.

However, uncontrolled access to public Wi-Fi hotspots and robust mobile security often conflict with one another. Cyber-criminals now find it increasingly easy to attack public Wi-Fi networks using Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) techniques which allow the attacker to clearly view all information transmitted across networks.

When it comes to awareness, how savvy are these users of the lasting implications of opening up their personal data to the general public?

Wi-Fi Awareness

Research conducted by Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting center, found that 77 percent of people did not think that public Wi-Fi was any less secure than their personal internet connection. The findings show a frightening lack of awareness concerning the potential security vulnerabilities linked to public Wi-Fi.

Public Wi-Fi has gained a notorious reputation in mobile security as one of the weakest links due to its minimal level of data security, but despite negative word of mouth it seems the general public -- including employees -- are still connecting to vulnerable networks. With social engineering and MitM attacks taking place more frequently, educating users and employees has never been more necessary.

MitM Attacks Explained

A MitM attack involves a malicious actor inserting themselves as a relay/proxy into a cyber-conversation between two parties -- such as a device and the web server it’s trying to communicate with. The attacker can intercept the information being transmitted and exploit the data within the online communication. The hacker can also identify a person’s location, gain access to personal messages and access stored information within the device.

Mobile apps and devices need to connect with remote servers in order to function, and most do securely with an HTTPS connection. However, problems emerge when apps fail to use standard authentication methods. In some cases, the app will not reliably check the certification of the server, or the server’s hostname. To ensure that a secure connection is made, the certificate name and server must be matched, the certificate must be issued by a trusted certificate authority and the certificate date must be valid. If any of these tests do not pass, neither the app nor the device can identify if data is being hijacked and sent to a new web location.

It is also worth noting that MitM attacks can also come in the form of a spoof network or "evil twin". Hackers can pose as shops, hotels or restaurants offering free Wi-Fi, and then infiltrate the user’s device once they have unwittingly connected to their network.

Protecting Devices

Without the knowledge of what damage could be caused by connecting to open networks, enterprises are putting themselves in a very vulnerable position when their employees are working remotely. Within the enterprise, some individuals are more vulnerable to attacks than others -- this includes those who hold senior and executive positions that may handle more sensitive information within their emails and on their devices. Hackers are intelligent, and know how to gain sensitive information from open networks.

The problem is not subject to particular models or devices -- it runs throughout Android and iPhone devices. In April 2015, a vulnerability was discovered which affects approximately 1,500 iOS apps that try to establish secure connections, with the result that anyone intercepting data from these apps on an iPhone or iPad could access logins and other sensitive information transmitted via HTTPS. This has recently been followed up by KeRanger, the first ransomware to strike Apple’s OS X.

Android users have had received similar warnings -- it has been estimated that nearly three quarters of the top 1,000 free apps in Google Play don’t check server certificates, and the same amount of those ignore any SSL errors that pop up when they communicate with the app server.

How to Educate

There is no one size fits all solution that will alleviate the issue of public network attacks. But educating users on the severity of what an attack entails is the first step. Security-aware individuals make for the most effective defense mechanism for enterprises. Arming your employees with the knowledge of what the implications of MitM attacks mean will put you in the best position moving forward to protect your sensitive company information.

Standard protection methods like secure containers, wrappers and mobile anti-virus solutions are highly recommended, but will not be enough to protect a fleet of devices against these emerging threats. Instead, the best method for protection is prevention. Employees can act as their own first line of defense against MitM attacks by taking heed of the following advice:

Don’t auto connect to Wi-Fi -- unless it’s onsite at the office or your protected home network; avoid using free Wi-Fi hotspots; do not use jail-broken phones, and finally, only use apps from trusted sources.

Eldar Tuvey, co-founder and CEO of Wandera.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Sidarta / Shutterstock