Have you used a huge number of videos encoded in H.264 format in your business website? Are you worried about how you are going to convert those to a format supported by mobile devices like iPad? Well, you can relax. According to a recent research conducted by MeFeedia, as many as 80% of all videos encoded using H.264 codec can be delivered directly to tablet devices like iPad, without requiring any kind of re-encoding. All you will have to do is change the video player from Flash to HTML5. That’s it. Your videos should play just fine now.

What is so special about this?

Well, for one thing, it shows just how universally accepted the H.264 codec family has come to be. The percentage of videos encoded using this format comprised just about 10% of the total number of videos on the Web in the beginning of 2010. Now, it is almost touching the 80% mark, and not even two years have passed since then! (more…)

There are more mobile phone subscribers than toothbrushes.

- Economics of Apps – University of Oxford

There are currently over 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (almost 80% percent of the world population) and in the next 2-3 years, mobile internet is forecast to overtake desktop internet usage. According to Gartner, smartphone shipments grew by almost 85% in Q1 2011, while worldwide PC shipments grew by only 2.3% in second quarter. This phenomenal growth in mobile usage is consequently fuelling the demand for mobile apps across the globe.

This demand for mobile apps – especially those that run on Apple iOS or Google Android – is huge. How huge? Apple sold over $1.78 billion worth of apps in 2010. This year, according to market research firm HIS, global mobile app sales will cross $4 billion. (more…)

There was a time when there were only a few places where you could spot the book worm—poring over dusty volumes in libraries, lapping up the adventures of a medieval explorer or perched on the window sill engrossed in the duels and intricate mind games that characterize a 21^st century corporate thriller. Now he has more places to catch up on his reading—in the car while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green or at the park or the coffee shop waiting for someone to turn up. This is all courtesy the iPad apps that have revolutionized the realm of publishing and the world of the book lover.

The influx of iPad apps to aid the publishing industry couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Digital books or eBooks are steadily gaining in popularity; in fact, the New York Times reported in July 2010 that the sale of eBooks on Amazon.com far outnumbered that of hardcover books—180 eBooks sold for every 100 hardcover ones—and that too, consistently for 3 months. Some crystal ball gazers in the publishing industry feel that by the next decade, more than 75% of all books sold will be eBooks.

iPad apps have been quietly making inroads into the eReader market since the inception of the device. In fact, in the first 3 months it has been on the store shelves, avid book lovers have bought more than 1.5 million books from Apple’s online store. As ChangeWave Research reports, iPad and its entourage of apps to appeal to the book lover have already bagged a 16% share of the eReader market. It has raced past the Sony Reader (10%) and is breathing heavy behind the market leader, the Amazon Kindle (62%).

The Midas touch of iPad apps has also notched up readership figures in the world of web-based magazines and periodicals. As per the numbers quoted by ComScore, these figures are a paltry 3.8 and 2.1 minutes for GQ.com and Vanityfair.com. But with iPad apps, readers are spending almost 60 minutes online on these titles.

iPad apps deliver an interactive, engaging, and immersive reading experience to the discerning user and the digital publishing industry is all set to make a thumping revival soaring on the wings of these nifty applications!

Do you have to travel to different countries throughout the year, for business purposes? Then the iPad can be your ideal companion. Apart from being a full-fledged multimedia device that can help alleviate boredom during a long flight, the device also comes with a handy set of apps that can make life a lot easier for you. And, the best part of the deal is that most travel apps available on the platform are available for real cheap and provide excellent value for money.

Here are the best three types of apps that you should definitely load in your iPad:

1. Currency converters: These can make your life a lot easier if you need to travel to different nations across the globe, throughout the year. These will save you the trouble of searching on the Internet for converters every time you need to know just how many dollars you would have to spend, in order to buy something that costs 100 yen or 10 euro.
2. Language translators: Do you need to travel to Italy to meet a new client, but do not know anything about the language beyond basic greetings? Load up a language translator app on your iPad. The little app will teach you when to say ‘mi scusi’ and when to exclaim ‘Oh mio Dio’, and that too, without wasting money hiring professional translators.
3. GPS trackers integrated with Google Maps: These apps are not hard to come by, and can help you to find your way anywhere in the world, from the serpentine waterways of Venice to the mazes of alleyways in Canton. And, the integration with Google Maps guarantees that you will always know about the best eateries on the area, no matter where you are.

So, go ahead. Get the best travel apps from the iTunes store today, to make your business trips hassle-free and enjoyable, more than ever before!

Web Spiders recently concluded working on a project for the West Virginia Department of Education who wanted to enhance electronic health record keeping, (which includes height and weight with calculation of BMI; health screening and immunization) by providing a controlled setting for the entry of health screening of data through the use of handheld Apple iPod Touch units.

The application synchronizes with the West Virginia Education Information System (WVEIS) student records, for the downloading of roster information into iPod Touch, and the uploading of specific health data into WVEIS.

Web Spiders not only provided the solution and developed an application for iPod Touch, but also made it compatible with iPhone & iPad devices. The application was so developed that it uses secure (SSL) protocol to get data from the central database, and stores the same into native SQLite database associated with the application, where users can enter information and save, even when not connected with Internet. The data can then be posted back to the central server, when the user is in a Wi-Fi zone.

The application is optimized to handle student data with records surpassing 2,500 at times. The interface has been intuitively designed that even a layman user can understand and use with ease.

This custom application adds another feather to the cap of Web Spiders, noted for developing high-quality applications for a diverse cross-section of clients.

YouTube has launched a new feature in its mobile site (m.youtube.com). The site now includes high quality playback of videos via HTML5. The site can be accessed through any mobile device that supports HTML5 like the iPad, iPhone and Android devices.

The site offers better video quality and the app’s interface has been improved to look like the native app, with large touch screen buttons. The YouTube library is easier to navigate, and you can bookmark your videos as if they are web pages. The search box also suggest results as you type.

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