Apple’s `Be My Eyes’ App for the Blind

According to the National Federation of the Blind, Apple has done more for accessibility than any company has done and with the aid of a new app, iPad and iPhone users could go still further. `Be my Eyes’, is an app which enables blind people to seek remote help from sighted person whenever the need arises.

The latest app helps the blind to get instant help from sighted people on using the iPhone’s video call feature and in the first few days of its launch, the app has around 54,000 sighted volunteers. Sighted people who are ready to contribute help, can then install the app and receive alerts whenever help is required. Be My Eyes is a new crowd sourcing app which can connect the blind with the sighted person through the iPhone’s video call feature wherein it will enable users to lend their eyes to the blind.

The app has the potential in guiding the blind in difficult and challenging situations with over 4,000 people who have come forward to help the blind on more than 8,500 occasions according to the app’s website.

Live Audio-Video Connection 

When a first sighted user accepts a request to help a blind user, a live audio-video connection is set between the two and the sighted user could inform the blind person on what is seen whenever the blind person focuses his phone at something with the use of the rear facing camera.

Should the user be busy in extending help at that point of time, the request is automatically rotated through other sighted user till one of them accepts the request. The app has already assisted several people on almost 12,000 occasions. Tim Cook had commented eloquently on the priority he renders to equality and accessibility and went further informing a lobbying group of investors to `get out of this stock’, if it considers environmental concerns and making Apple devices accessible to disabled users, to be a waste of money’.

This new app connects the blind person with the volunteer sighted user across the world through the video chat when the app is activated and the blind person can then focus the phone’s camera to the problem faced while the help can verbally guide them.

App Invented – Hans Jorgen Wiberg

Seems to be quite amazing for the blind person seeking help since the sighted volunteer could then direct the blind person and inform them if they are walking in the right direction or if they are purchasing the appropriate product from the grocery store or even informing about expiry dates if any on any of the products to be purchased.

Hans Jorgen Wiberg invented the app who himself, was visually impaired in April 2012 and first presented the idea at a start-up convention in Denmark and the making of the app then took around two years to be created. Moreover, the app also offers sighted volunteers `a level up’ type of a system wherein they acquire points for daily acts of kindness though it is uncertain whether the volunteer obtains rewards on reaching certain levels. The app is available only for iPhones though the developers are working out on expanding the services to Android and Windows phones as well.

Apple Eyes Way to Leave Fingerprints in the Cloud

Apple’s Patent – Finger Biometric Sensor Data Synchronization in the Cloud

The US Patent and Trademark Office recently has published a patent filing known as `Finger biometric sensor data synchronization via a cloud computing device and related methods’ illustrating a system to record fingerprints on one device through Apple’s Touch ID sensor and thereafter upload them to the cloud to sync them with other devices.

Apple had developed a technology which would sync the Touch ID data with the other mobile devices as well as point of sale system through iCloud. The Touch ID sensor, which was introduced in 2013, is available on the iPhone 5S as well as the latest iPhones and iPads and the sensor needs one’s fingerprint to access the device in order to make purchases using the payment system of Apple Pay.

Setting up a Touch ID can be done by registering one or more fingerprints on your device. Apple, in its patent filing has suggested that the Touch ID enrolment could be complicating for users such as in the case of multiple fingerprints, users or devices could be used. For instance, a couple had to register their fingerprints not only on their own iPhones and iPad, but on each other’s devices as well which seems complicating. Cloud based synchronization could eliminate the requirement of registering all the fingerprints on every device that is in use.

Fingerprint Date Encrypted – to iCloud

With the present technology, the problem is that the fingerprints are stored solely on an iOS device and Apple has explained on the Touch ID page - `iOS and other apps cannot access your fingerprint data, it is not stored on Apple servers, and it is never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else’.

As explained in the filing, one would need to validate their Apple ID account prior to registering their fingerprints, the way one would do on entering their pass code. The fingerprint data is then encrypted and sent to iCloud.

Now to use your fingerprint on an alternate device, one would have to verify them from a `to be matched’ set of fingerprints on the second device and the fingerprints on both devices need to match up with the one stored on iCloud. Going a step further, the second devices in this case could be an NFC enabled point-of-sale system, the one that could be used to buy products through Apple Pay.

NFC/Bluetooth to Sync Fingerprint Data 

The POS would have the fingerprint sensor that one would tap to validate the `to be matched’, set of fingerprints. The technology could utilises NFC or Bluetooth in order to sync the fingerprint data as a secured alternative to iCloud though it would be practical only for syncing two devices being in close proximity of each other.

This type of system would certainly make the process of setting up multiple fingerprints on multiple devices, easy though one of the security benefits of the present Touch ID is that Apple does not seem to store the fingerprints, online. Moreover, Apple would need to prove that the system is secured before the users consider storing their encrypted fingerprints in the cloud. Apple spokesperson had reported that the company does not make any comment on patent filings.

Marsh Supermarkets and Inmarket Launching First Ibeacon Platform for iWatch

iBeacon Platform for Apple’s Wearable Product

Marsh, one of the first retailer using UPC Barcode scanners in 1974, will now be extending the iBeacon platform beyond smartphones to Apple Watch in 2015. inMarket’s mobile at retail platform, since 2010, had led millions of consumer product towards the stores all across the country and over 100 brands have influenced inMarket in engaging shoppers at the most receptive time, causing in verified sales lift. inMarket’s SDK will enable shoppers with Marsh app, shopping app on the inMarket Beacon platform with Apple Watch app and obtain contextual mobile experience in the store.

Marsh Supermarket together with inMarket has recently announced the launch of a closed-loop iBeacon platform throughout the 75 supermarket locations of Marsh, providing shoppers with Apple Watch and Smartphone, the opportunity of having their favoured apps to come alive in store which is the world’s first iBeacon wearable integrations at retail. Userswould be receiving interactive alerts together with other content on their devices depending on the proximity to Marsh’s beacons. The program being the first integration of iBeacon technology with Apple’s wearable product is expected to be launched to the consumers in the next several months.

New Way of Connecting with Mobile Shoppers

iBeacons is creating new ways of connecting with mobile shoppers in the store with inMarket enabling them to reach many shoppers through the app which is a favourite and is used daily, according to Senior Director of Customer Loyalty, Amit Bhardwaj, of Marsh Supermarkets.

 He states that, now with wearable integrations, shoppers using Apple Watch would be enjoying the same digitally augmented real world shopping experience.Marsh together with inMarket are working in developing a platform which will initially have March’s own app as well as inMarket’s List Ease app together with other apps to follow in quickly.

As seen in inMarket’s beacons in Marsh stores, it will enable trigger alerts like shopping list, ads as well as other content with Marsh mobile app or one of the apps that may incorporate inMarket’s Proximity SDK.Users who prefer to opt for the program would be receiving offers; recipes as well as other alerts on their mobile devices while they walk through the store and the system would automatically extend to Apple Watch the same day as the apps are updated, adding support to the device.

Marsh, First in Extending Apple’s iBeacon Capabilities

Marsh could be the first in extending Apple’s iBeacon capabilities to the Apple Watch though it is not the first in adopting the location based technology. Other retailers among the early adopters who rolled out iBeacons in their own respective venues are Macy’s, Major League and Virgin Atlantic airlines. According to CEO, Todd Dipaola, of inMarket, states that, mobile is not just the phone anymore.

It includes any device that conforms to life and helps based on `who’ you are, `where’ and even `when’ you are and it is aamazing time for consumers and commerce as digital and physical experience converge.Marsh and inMarket are the first to extend iBeacon enhancement for over millions of smartphone users to the new audience of `wearers’, with Apple Watch integration.

3 Ways Apple Could Push Maps Forward With iOS 9 in 2015

Revamped Maps App – 2015

Three years after Apple evicted Google Maps from iOS, the company’s own mapping and navigation offering seems to have some critical weaknesses and the company is focusing on what lays ahead for the next twelve months for Apple Maps.

A revamped Maps apps is presumed to be one of the iOS 8’s tentpole feature with updated data for the much awaited edition of public transit direction, though the most interesting modification ended being the introduction of nine new cities for a three dimensional flyover feature. Apple has tapped in ten new sources for business listing and the additions of DAC Group, Location3 Media, Placeable, Marquette Group, PositionTech, SIM Partners, SinglePlatform, UBL, Yext and Yodle to the initial trio of Factual, Neustar/Localeze and Yelp enhanced the number of firms with point of interest data to a baker’s dozen.

The company also began another data related move in a comprehensive data scrubbing program which included the launch of a self-serve Maps Connect portal enabling local businesses to add directly or modify listings as well as personal calls to business owners from Maps team members to manage conflicting data and changes can now be rolled out daily instead of once a week.

Moreover, Apple Maps has also obtained its web debut last year, which has powered the iCloud version of `Find my iPhone’, though has not yet propagated it to all of Apple’s web properties and the retail store driving directions of the company are still powered by Google. Apple is always known in making process in every performance and is in the midst of overhauling things front to back.

Public transit: The company will integrate the basic door to door path finding technology which is needed by purchasing transit companies like HopStop and Embark with a likely HopStop’s future trip planning that would enable users, pre plan journeys such as, comparing cross town rush hour routes during lunch times and Embarks’ heads up notifications providing users with route advisories and closures. Apple has provides some details with regards to its plans with a pair of patent applications which were revealed last month wherein the documents provide information of a dynamic routing system functioning as a sort of person commuting assistant collecting routing date, timetables together with information on amenities like Wi-Fi availability in one place.

Crowdsourcing:It is rumoured that Apple in 2013 had offered around $500 million in order to acquire traffic app Waze who is believed to have asked for more and eventually it was Google who snapped up the Israeli company for almost $1 billion. Apple still tends to leverage Waze as one of the various sources for real-time traffic data though the company seems focused on in-house crowdsourcing headway.An iOS developer working on mapping application informed AppleInsider that crowdsourced traffic date is envisaged as a `serious target for Apple’s Maps team.

Since Waze’s success proved active, user reporting with regards to traffic conditions tend to have significant advantage over traditional passive device location monitoring that is presently the main method where companies compile traffic date. This is borne out by patent application of Apple which details a system similar to Waze and this approach of Apple would enable users to report accidents or any other hurdles and slowdowns that could then be directed to other drivers approaching that area.

Indoor location:Identifying a user’s location accurately is very important as the services and software tend to provide useful contextual information which is relatively an easy task when the user is outdoors or in the range of a signal from GLONASS or GPS satellites. It could be different situation when walls and a ceiling tend to be in the way.

Apple has taken two different though complimentary approaches to this issue, the first being the iBeacon system that depends on Bluetooth transmitters the size of a palm, placed around a certain space. When an iOS device recognizes an iBeacon, it analyses the signal in determining the approximate distance from the beacon. With the use of multiple iBeacons with known locations, the developers can navigate the position of the user. This could not be of much help since due to the absence of central database of iBeacon locations and such data, by and large could only be used by the owner of the beacons.

To handle the larger problem, Apple has acquired small indoor mapping firm, WiFiSLAM earlier in 2013. The technology of WiFiSLAM connects data from on-device sensors with Wi-Fi signal trilateration to plot user’s path and the signals provide the relative position while the on-board sensors record the movement. With the combination of all the data, over a period of time, could bring about detailed patterns for instance, if an obstacle is three feet from point A, it can be avoided by moving two feet to the left. Extending data can capture and pattern recognition to users of iPhone that visit a shopping mall on a particular day. This enables the development of detailed as well as highly accurate map without the need of dedicated data gathering initiatives or overhead satellites.

Apple to Launch Hardware Stylus – Enhance User Experience of iPad

According to reports from KGI Securities, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is likely to launch a hardware stylus to enhance user experience for its long rumoured 12.9 inch `iPad Pro’. It is reported that the Cupertino based company is planning to launch a stylus in the second quarter of the year to compliment the larger iPad. Kuo is of the belief that users would not need the stylus initially, thereby prompting Apple to launch the device as an optional add-on.

The report considers that the stylus would be simple to begin with and the future generations of the device could add features such as 3D handwriting. The stylus would be using the Lightning connector to charge and wireless charging would be a much more convenient option for consumers though adding the feature would probably increase the overall cost of the devices. Moreover the device is like to give rise to new breed of application especially for artists as well as for the educational market and the company has now filed for various patents with regards to the stylus which includes a stylus enabling users to transcribe handwritten notes to digital notes which could be viewed and edited from an iPad.

3D Handwriting Feature for Future Models 

Kuo states that the stylus could be more precise than a person’s finger and more convenient to use than the combination of keyboard and mouse in some cases and believes that Apple’s stylus would improve the user experience of 12.9-inch iPad. Moreover, Kuo who has a reliable track record, on predicting Apple’s future product direction, did not indicate any particular source for the rumour beyond Apple’s own patent filings which marks an unusual turn for him, who is known to have close connection to Apple’s supply chain partners.

He commented that coupled with its unfavourable cost structure, high selling prices could turn consumers off, if the said iPad is always bundled with it and therefore it is expected that the stylus should be an optional accessory before sufficient feedback is received from users. Though he does not expects features like a built-in gyroscope or accelerometer in its first year, he believes that Apple would be adding new features gradually and is expecting a 3D handwriting feature to their future models.

Good Application for Stylus

According to Kuo, he states that with the addition of a gyroscope accelerometer to a stylus, it enables users to write on the display as well as on other hard surfaces and even in the air. This being a good application for a stylus, the required software and hardware has not been fully developed yet and hence they cannot expect Apple’s stylus to support 3D handwriting in 2015.

He further added that while wireless charging would also be convenient, there was less likelihood of its implementation in its forthcoming stylus with regards to the higher cost as well as difficult antenna design and that charging could be expected via a Lightning connector. He believes that the stylus would be improving the user experience and that they would help Apple in developing specific customer groups like the corporate sector as well as the educational institutions.