#appmaster

[gudnilindal-blog]

Project ideas

So for the big project proposal, I currently have two ideas. Well, ideas of ideas. 

The game one: 

Firstly, I am a huge fan of the Telltale games company and what they’ve managed to do with their choice-based, dialogue-heavy, dramatic-storytelling way of making what is essentially an interactive film. The Walking Dead games and the more recent Game of Thrones (and also Minecraft, but who cares about that) are all very interesting extensions of an already established IP being re-invigorated by littering them with complicated moral choices, interesting characters and gruesome story. 

So I really want to try and do something like that. I’m not entirely sure what the premise would be, but the gameplay would be very similar. The couple of concepts I had in mind are not fully structured at all, but I would want it to be a story-setting that is very dangerous, where any character could die at any point. This way you would keep the player on his toes, not knowing what to expect. The first concept would be some kind of visual, dimension-hopping travel of the main character through different eras of the video game history, being sucked into famous games like Pong and Sonic, all the while trying to get out of this alive. So at the end of the game, the player hopefully knows more about the history of video games, while also having played through an epic story. The problem with this concept of course, is the endless licencing issues you could run into regarding the characters of the games. 

The other concept would be a similar dimension-hopping travel, but it would be through various mythologies of countries around the world. You’d have the Greek one, the Nordic, the Chinese, Native American and so on. You’d encounter various horrifying and dangerous situations, effectively emerging from the experience with extended knowledge of the different mythologies. Maybe it would be better to just stick with one, maybe not. We’ll see. 

The app one: 

I really like Zombies, Run!, as it is the only thing that has ever made me want to go out and run. Its genius concept lies in its simplicity and accessibility. 

So I want to do something similar. I’m obsessed with monsters and mythology and fiction. I must be able to find some boring thing that most people don’t particularly like to do, and create a story-focused app out of it that uses a reward-progression system that makes the whole thing bearable. I just have to figure out what that is. 

Swimming? Lifting? Driving? Flying? Yoga? Walking? 

How about connecting it to a wrist band that measures your pulse? And the adventure activates when your pulse reaches a certain number, and stops if it dips down below it? That way, you would have to keep on going with your exercise to get the full rewards. A sort of Boot Camp or Crossfit app. 

I might be onto something. I’ll report back later. 

[jhastings984-blog]

Privacy Lock - lock & backup: The best way to protect your 'sensitive' mobile photos and data from leaks and scandals

Privacy on our mobile phones has been much discussed over the last few years. Whether it be the 'theft' of photos or personal details, it's probably even more of a problem now than it was two years ago - and we still haven't really come to grips with it. Many of us are lazy with our devices and they are often left hanging around unattended for anyone to pick up and view. The solutions have often been weighty, clumsy or expensive apps that are inconvenient to use and can offer up as many problems as they solve. Privacy Lock is a new privacy application for Android that enables you to lock any applications for your own privacy, boost the speed of your mobile devices using maximized cleanup, backup all your apps and settings and easily share them for free with your friends.

  Privacy Lock is considered one of the best privacy protectors and memory boosters for your Android devices. Its main reason for existence is to lock and protect all your apps, messages and other chatting tools, using a simple pattern or password protection. This lightweight, user-friendly yet very powerful app lets you use a simple 'one-tap' operation to lock everything from your Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, SMS and Gmail accounts and do it quickly and easily. Maybe you have some ‘personal’ pictures that you keep hidden away on your mobile? Privacy Lock's brand new ‘Hide Your Gallery’ function means that you won’t have to worry about your photos being leaked again. The app isn't just about privacy, though. The 'boost' feature gives you a 'one-click' cleanup of your mobiles and frees up memory to speed up your device. What's more, the backup function lets you backup and restore all your apps - and their settings - to your Secure Digital (SD) memory card and lets you share bulk apps with friends mobile data free. Finally, the latest version even gives you the option of personalizing your own screen with cool and attractive themes. There's even a Christmas themed one - rather appropriate, considering the time of the year.    Privacy Lock could well be the best and most convenient way of keeping the stuff on your Android devices private. Its beauty lies in its lightness of weight and its simplicity of use - two of the most important things that could convince potential users that it's worth the download. However, despite the fact that the installation package is the smallest in the Play Store, Privacy Lock is surprisingly powerful and even throws in a few more very useful features to cap it off.  The 'one-tap' locking / unlocking feature is simple and easy to use while the boost feature is a great bonus to speed up your device by freeing up more memory. The app itself has a nice, clean interface that is simple to navigate. This excellent free application management app provides your Android with powerful backup and cleanup tools while giving you every opportunity to protect your mobile privacy.

Reported by FreeMyApp - http://goo.gl/QgJRM2

[jhastings984-blog]

LEO Network: Tech Startup VS USD $1,000,000,000?

A small tech startup was just known to the public over one night by a billion-dollar worth project revealed these days. We all wonder why a small local startup is capable of getting engaged in such a huge country-to-country project.

  Who are they?

This new startup we interviewed today is LEO Network Technology, founded by Kevin Zhang,  who has over ten years of management experience in top IT companies from including Baidu, Qihoo 360 and Xunlei. He had been in charge of the development and operation of some of the most valuable Internet products in China, such as 360 Mobile Safe and Baidu Mobile Security, which have over 100 millions of active users.

And Why does this guy, who was in high-profile positions of top tech corporations, choose to leave them and start his own business? Kevin said he’s been making great contributions to those companies, yet making very few contribution to the fulfillment of his own value. “Mobile Internet is such a promising and booming industry that, if we ever miss it this time, we could probably lose it forever.”

  How was the team built?

“When I start building my own team, I spend 80% of my time looking for the right persons, and the effort is worthy.” said by Mr. Lei Jun, known as the founder of Xiaomi, the world's third biggest smartphone maker. Recruitment has became a vital problem for every startup, Kevin said he was just lucky enough to have great support from everyone around, several of those who have now joined the LEO team. Team members of LEO are mostly from and have made huge significant contribution to Baidu, Tencent and Qihoo 360.

  Why Overseas Markets?

LEO targets its business to emerging markets such as India and Pakistan, instead of local markets that they were quite familiar with. Kevin pointed it out that, since 2003, China has been through huge development in the Internet industry over these 11 years, from Symbian to Android and to iOS, now the China market is much more mature and much less potential. Rather than engaging into severe battles with top ones as B.A.T(Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba), new overseas markets seem to be a better target with more profound opportunities. According to the latest report by McKinsey & Company, India would add close to 300 million internet users by 2018 to make up an online population of just under 500 million people. India resembles China from five to seven years ago and presents us a great chance.

  How does LEO acquire the 20 million worth seed investment?

Why does the company deserve a 20-million-worth investment from Amer International Group at the very beginning of its establishment? Kevin says the company has greatly impressed Amer by its technical competitive advantage in browsers, videos and data transmission technology. Another impression is what every team member has actually done and contributed to leading IT corporations, and, their entrepreneurial spirit within.

  Why was Privacy Lock developed?

LEO Network has recently launched its first product – Privacy Lock. Why did they decide to develop such a management tool, not chatting tools, not videos? From the analytical report provided by LEO, we can see that mobile Internet users in emerging markets(South and Southeast Asia) have strong demand for cleanup, privacy protection as well as power-saving functions on their mobile devices. Thus LEO has chosen a management tool as its first product to enter those markets. Life and entertainment related elements will be concerned more in their next step.

  Kevin says he would be pleased to explore in new markets and establish a good example for other domestic companies. More details of this one billion cooperation project will be discussed at the following interview. Let’s stay tuned.