Marketing and engaging with customers have changed dramatically from the traditional television, radio and newspaper print, it has even changed dramatically from the traditional website. Now there are social media platforms and native apps that are on offer as another way of connecting and keeping your customers.

The value of having an app as part of your digital and online presence is an excellent addition an asset to your business. You need to know a thing or two about them first, and even if you aren’t the expert, it is good to educate yourself a little so that when you’re engaging with the agency or IT team who will be doing the work, you will know what they are talking about and can offer opinions and suggestions. Here are four quick ideas to guide your app design process.

Finding a development team

Use Google to search for a phrase like ‘mobile app development Sydney‘ to find app development agents or companies that can provide you with the skills and services you need to meet your needs. You will then want to ensure that they understand your business and have good insights into what you want to and need to achieve through the app. There are different forms of mobile devices now.

These include the original cell phone or mobile, but there are also tablets, smartwatches and other devices that allow for mobility. People use mobile devices in several ways, and you need to understand what this is. It ranges from being a completely social device where personal stuff is done on it, it can also be completed in the other direction where it is an extension of your office. 

Consider which devices will be used

People use different devices and different operating systems and you need to know which one is which. There are differences in how they work and how your app needs to be engineered to be compatible.

If you are wanting to target only one specific operating system, such as android then make find a company that specialises in android app development Sydney has plenty of potential partners who will be able to support your development needs. There are also different types of phones within each operating system and different levels of phones.

Knowing whether to go native or not

There is a movement away from native apps to web-based apps. The debate goes along the lines of saying that a native application, in other words, one that you have to download onto your phone through an app store, requires data to download it. It then also sits on your device taking up space and clogging up your storage and operating capacity.

It asks for software updates and if these aren’t don’t then the app will have glitches and function errors. But, if you have a web-based app, the updates are immediate and don’t require downloads, the app doesn’t need to be downloaded onto your phone and therefore won’t take up unnecessary space and you don’t need to pay for the date to download it in the first place.

Photo by Rami Al-zayat

If you are buying a new laptop directly from the manufacturer or a reputed electronics store then you can be safe in the knowledge that the product is brand new, sealed and never used before. If however, you buy a ‘new’ laptop from a vendor which doesn’t have such a reputation, you may well find that the laptop is not factory new, but rather a refurbished model or an open-box replacement. There is nothing wrong with either of these options of course, but it is still important that you know what kind of laptop you have purchased, as each comes with their own pros and cons. 

Refurbed and Replacements 

Refurbished laptops are laptops which have been purchased brand new and then either returned as faulty or as a result of credit not being paid or something similar. These laptops are sent back to the manufacturer where they are given a full service and diagnostics check, they are repaired using original parts and then rigorously tested so that they pass the same quality control as a new item.

Replacement or open-box laptops are those which have been bought, opened, and then returned by the customer. Refurbished laptops have an unknown lifespan but they are significantly cheaper than a newer model. Replacement laptops should work just as good as new, but they should be sold at a lower cost given they have already been opened and handled. 

Telling the Difference

What should happen here is that a refurbished laptop will have a sticker on the box which clearly marks it as refurbished. Another telltale sign of refurbished laptop if there is no sticker is that at the end of the product number it will have an additional R at the end, indicating that it has been refurbished. In 95% of cases, the laptop you find on sale will have one of these identifiers. 

Price

The price will also be a key indicator here, if you find a ‘new’ Dell laptop in a store on sale for $399 when the brand new price is still $599 then you should approach with caution, especially if it is not shown that it is either an open-box or a refurb. The price is a great way of deciding whether or not the product is, in fact, the real deal. 

Usability and Telltale Signs

Ultimately if a laptop is not marked as being either refurbished or a replacement, it will be hard to tell whether or not you have a brand new product or not. You can keep an eye out for signs, if there are dead pixels on the screen or the boot is slow, alarm bells should start ringing. Sometimes you may even see suspicious stickers if the box says something like ‘designed for Windows XP’ but it is, in fact, running Windows 10, it is likely that the product has been refurbed. 

Keep your eyes out for any of these signs to identify what kind of laptop you have bought. 

Photo by Daniel Korpai

With technology advancing at rapid speeds and researchers working day and night to solve some of the world’s greatest physics mysteries, is the whole idea of a quantum internet close that we think?

Adapting to a world of quantum computing may sound far-fetched, but it’s really not that far away and the benefits that it will bring once introduced, integrated, and accepted, will be exponential. Communications will be more secure, sensors will be more precise, and a higher level of computation than we’ve ever experienced will be available as standard. 

The idea that quantum computers will act as nodes in a whole network of quantum devices has also been envisioned over the past few years. In this kind of system, connections would be made via quantum channels that would allow data to flow through it, effectively creating the foundations for the first-ever quantum internet.

But that is definitely easier said than done. One of the biggest challenges to deal with is how to sort the network’s quantum data according to the state they were prepared. To help overcome this problem, a group of researchers from the Universität Autonoma De Barcelona developed a procedure that’s capable of identifying clusters of quantum systems that are identically prepared.

This protocol illustrates a natural connection that occurs depending on what common attributes they share and can be compared to that of how a classical computer distinguishes different sounds captured. A computer can quite capably differentiate a conversation, street musician, or traffic in the street, and quantum computers work in a similar fashion, but on a much deeper level. 

The UAB physicists compared the performance of both classical and quantum computer protocols in this area. Results from the study showed that the quantum protocol was far more efficient than the classical strategies, especially when it comes to deciphering large dimensional data. 

So, it’s another leap forward in terms of developing a future quantum internet. For more information, you can see the research published in the Physical Review X journal.       

Photo by NASA

It’s easy to take the human body for granted. But, it’s an amazing vessel. And, the human mind is an incredible part of that. There are so many different things going on in the brain at any one time. So how on Earth does it manage to translate any new information perceived from the outside world and transform it into something we call memory?

The Human Brain Project is a collaboration of international researchers all working towards this same goal and has just recently published a study on this subject in the PLOS Computational Biology Journal. It centers in on a part of the brain that involves behavior, memory, and reward learning – the neuronal circuits in the striatum. Results from the study give scientists a better understanding of the nervous system and the way in which it learns and adapts to change. 

Within the brain are neuronal circuits that all interconnect with one another via synapses. Every time one of these synapses is modified, it has an impact on the way we react to certain stimuli or remember things. Synaptic plasticity occurs when certain synapses become stronger or weaker over time due to a response to the neural activity it experiences and is one way these neuronal circuits are modified. By taking a closer look at the underlying biochemical reactions involved in synaptic modifications, scientists have discovered a great deal more about the mechanism of plasticity.

Learning about plasticity mechanisms is essential in understanding how things such as learning and the formation of memories occur within the brain. Synaptic plasticity is determined through the information that’s processed through synaptic signal transduction networks. And, on occasion, even single molecules can realize these networks computational capabilities. 

“Our work provides a significant step towards understanding what we can call “molecular recognition” of these AC proteins, based on which neurons can control with astonishing precision and fidelity the speed of AC’s catalyzed reaction. This, in turn, activates subsequent downstream processes essential for neuronal function.”

There are a total of 9 membrane-bound AC variants expressed within the brain, with AC5 being most dominant in the striatum. During the process of reward learning, cAMP production is necessary for strengthening synapses which interconnect the cortical and striatal neurons. For this study, the team used a multiscale simulation approach in which to construct a kinetic model of the signaling system. “From this model, we could find out how AC5 can detect particular combinations of simultaneous changes in neuromodulatory signals which result in synergistic cAMP production,” said Rebecca Wade, leader of the study at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). 

Illustration: Tatiana Shepeleva /Shutterstock