News

More than half of Kiwis made purchases online in 2012, and the favorite device was a laptop or tablet.

We are happy to welcome James Star to the team.

We're looking for an Intermediate - Senior Front-End Web Developer to start immediately (or as soon as possible). You'll be working closely with our team of senior .Net developers and senior designer in a pleasant and informal environment to create and maintain a variety of web and mobile applications.

A new card game by Microsoft helps developers to create secure software and web applications.

Over a million dollars was stolen from casino kiosks in a case released last week in the US. Here in New Zealand flaws in government kiosks allowed 'hackers' to access private information*. Here are 4 rules to reduce the risk of this type of breach.

Kiosks, interactive digital screens, and mobile apps are all part of the experience in a new test lab in Atlanta. The lab space is part of a new focus on interactive customer experience in retail stores.

The Digital Universe, a new report by Roy Morgan research, profiles New Zealand Digital life in 4 key areas - Communities, Banking & Finance, Shopping and Media.

Google Chrome browser has pulled ahead of Internet Explorer as the web browser with the most pageviews, according to Statcounter.

A wrist worn sensor in development by Microsoft allows control of phones and other electronic devices by hand movements. This adds to the larger gesture controls already available via Microsoft's Kinect technology.

Pew research found that 'nearly a quarter (22%) of adults now own some kind of tablet computer, double the number a year ago (11%), and smartphone ownership is up nine points, from 35% to 44%. As a result, half of all Americans (50%) now have mobile internet access through either a tablet or a smartphone.'

I came accross this the other day on Craig Bailey's blog - after all this time it's interesting to see how far ahead Bill Gates was in 1996, when most people hadn't even seen the web, and there wasn't that much to see.

'It's been five years since Steve Jobs unveiled the "Jesus Phone" in January 2007, but I distinctly recall the criticism. The iPhone was too expensive. The touch screen was smudge-prone, the battery life woeful, the lack of a keyboard a deal breaker. My favorite quote, from one chief information officer at the time: "It's clear he [Steve Jobs] does not understand how important text [messaging] is."'

iPad apps and websites designed for iPads are better than they were last year, however there are a few design issues which keep cropping up.

New Rules for Online Marketing affect all UK websites which use cookies. The regulations are maInly targeted at online advertising sites which track user behaviour, however any website which uses cookies will be required to warn viewers and give them the choice to opt out. It's clear that this will affect the design and usability of many sites.

Web analytics on all of the sites managed by Phosphor shows a big jump in mobile traffic in the last year, with iPads and iPhones topping the stats.

What Customers Want. The findings in this report by IBM which have raised most comment are that the expectations and desires of customers are often entirely different from the expectations of companies engaging in Social Media.