How Safe Is Healthcare Technology ?

How Safe Is Healthcare Technology ?

Hardik Gandhi   August 27, 2018

How Safe Is Healthcare Technology From Hackers?

Source: Mass Device

Healthcare technology is evolving more and more each day, with blockchain, telemedicine and 3D printers being used by medical professionals around the country. But one question still remains to be answered: Can this technology be hacked into? If so, that could mean dangerous consequences for medical records, and sensitive information could be compromised. Throughout this article, we’ll examine how security can potentially be threatened by this technology and give tips on how organizations can ensure their information is secure.

Can 3D Printers Be Hacked?

While 3D printing can sometimes take several hours and be extremely difficult when designing products, this hasn’t stopped industries from utilizing it to the best of its abilities. Several companies such as Adidas and GE are using 3D printing to advance production and manufacturing. Using digital files, 3D printers can produce a plethora of three-dimensional solid objects.

Hospitals are taking advantage of this technology to make historic strides in the healthcare industry. 3D printing is creating innovations in the field of radiology, a science helping to diagnose and treat diseases using medical imaging technology. According to the University of Cincinnati, “3D printing is just now come into style across the radiology realm, as professionals can leverage it for educational, research and other purposes.

But are 3D printers completely safe from hackers? As Harvard Business Review points out, closed systems have dominated the 3D printing industry within the last 10 years. This means 3D printers can only be accessed with the manufacturer’s resin and software. But several companies are shifting to a more open system, which allows for many advantages but also threatens security. “Once introduced into an open environment, a virus can spread faster through multiple parties and flows of information than in a closed system,” Harvard Business Review said.

Hackers often target individuals through shutting down servers, corrupting data and breaking into computer databases, but 3D printing takes the possibilities of hacking to new and frightening levels. By corrupting a 3D printer file, hackers can cause product failures and trigger injuries, product recalls and litigations. Researchers across the country are now figuring out ways to combat these cyberattacks and one method of prevention could be as simple as listening to what sounds the 3D printer makes.

Can Blockchain Be Hacked?

Blockchain, which helps keep track of transactions within machines, is already being used by a variety of different industries in groundbreaking ways. From insurance agencies to record companies, blockchain technology is revolutionizing the way industries store and track data. Medical professionals are able to manage data and conduct research more effectively by using blockchain technology. There is even blockchain technology with the ability to track the degree of cleanliness in hospitals by monitoring hand hygiene.

With blockchain networks being used by so many different organizations around the world, do we know whether or not it’s safe from hackers? Blockchain technology is indeed vulnerable to hackers, and there are many avenues within these systems where hackers can strike. Users of blockchain networks are given private keys, which are used to sign account transactions, and if hackers receive access to it, they could potentially steal information and corrupt data. The security of a blockchain platform can be compromised through software errors as well, which occur during the development of software implementation.

Blockchain technology is as susceptible to hackers as any other systems and users need to have the skills necessary to protect themselves from cyber-attacks. There are several apps that can help prevent cyber-attacks in blockchain networks such as Civic, which prevents identities from being stolen, and Biometrics.io, which uses face recognition technology to identify users. Using these tools, companies can keep their networks secure and ensure their data is safe against hackers.

Can Telemedicine Be Hacked?

Telemedicine is becoming more and more prevalent in the medical field, and it’s benefiting citizens from rural communities greatly. There are now even at-home diagnostic tools available such as electrocardiogram ECG devices, which can keep track of heart health and detect when a heart attack is taking place. There are several smartphone apps helping to advance the possibilities of telemedicine such as the recently announced MinuteClinic service by CVS, which allows users to be diagnosed and treated by doctors through a video conversation on their smartphone.

Even though this technology is helping more communities find medical care and providing an easier form of treatment and diagnosis, is it really as safe from hackers as we may think? While telemedicine is considered safer than many other forms of healthcare technology, hackers can still use several types of ransomware to keep the operation of a medical device hostage and steal data.

Ransomware is a technique used by hackers to extract payment or information, in which a target’s computer is locked until the hacker’s demands are met. Ransomware is usually performed through encryption tactics, and hackers typically order to be paid in a form of online currency such as bitcoin. These type of cyberattacks are at an all-time high, and it’s important to know what to do when you’re targeted.

To avoid privacy and security issues, telemedicine networks are required to comply with the HIPAA, which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act helped to make medical records private and keep health information from getting in the hands of hackers. Telemedicine technology is required to abide by HIPAA’s guidelines, which include implementing a system of secure communication, allowing only authorized users to receive access to services and putting safeguards in place to prevent accidental or malicious breaches. By following these rules, telemedicine technology is more secure and fewer cyber-attacks occur.

Source : hackernoon

Hacked YouTube, Deleted Despacito Song

Hacked YouTube, Deleted Despacito Song

Hardik Gandhi   April 11, 2018

YouTube has become a victim of hackers because many high profile songs have been deleted from YouTube. This list includes Louis Phanksy and Daddy Yankee's Song Despacito. This song has got the most youtube quo so far.

This morning, Despacito song's thumb nal was changed, and in its place came the photo of a gun-stained mask gang. According to sources, the video was replaced by a video clipping. After that Despacito song did not look at youtube.

The hacking responsibilities of hackers named Prosox and Kuroi'sh have been taken. Apart from this, hackers have changed in many popular videos. In which Chris Brown, Shakira DJ Snake, Selena Gomez, Katie Perry and Taylor Swift are also included in the song. Many of which are still available on youtube videos. But its thumbnails and titles have been changed. There is currently no statement from Google.

Does your phone's battery issue?

Does your phone's battery issue?

Hardik Gandhi   April 05, 2018

Battery is lost in 3 to 4 hours due to the data pack in today's smartphone. Then we believe that our phone's battery is getting worse. And going over the net leads to a loss of data packs. But there is no cause for worry. Just changing your smartphone setting will trouble you away.
Change these settings to the phone
There are many settings in the phone that are always more cost-efficient. The battery is also down. So let's close those settings.

 
Uninstall useless apps from your phone. Or change the setting.
So if you want to save the phone's battery life and data, you can turn off these settings.
Go to your phone's settings and get the Google option. Click on it. There will be an option when clicking. Including data management to game and install app.
You can see many settings by clicking on the PLAY GAMES option. In which you have to sign in to Automatically and Use this account to sign in.
Below the Play Game, let's close the Request Notification option.

Google Play Store Removes Dangerous Application

Google Play Store Removes Dangerous Application

Hardik Gandhi   April 05, 2018

Google recently dealt with 6 dangerous apps. From this application, the user used to work from slowing the speed of the phone to mobile heat.
Google QR Code Free Scan, QR Code Scan Best, QR Code / Barcode Free Scan, QR & Barcode Scanner, Smart compass These six apps are strictly outlined in Google Play Store.
Google has been mandated to allow users to access information in the application for the application. Can not ask for information other than The user's personal information or his phone can not be accessed without the user's permission.

 
In simple words, you download an app to your smartphone. As soon as you open an app, you are asked for your personal information. Including information such as name, address, email id and contact number. The app also wants access to the location, contact book, gallery, camera, microphone etc. As soon as you allow, your phone uses third-party access to your information. Research done by a German university has found that Google has found 234 applications on the Play Store, in which the user's information is misused. Users' TV viewing habits were also monitored through microphones.

The company is offering this smartphone with dual front and dual rear camera

The company is offering this smartphone with dual front and dual rear camera

Hardik Gandhi   February 21, 2018

Honor 9 Lite 20 has been made available for sale on Flipkart since February. This is the seventh cell of the smartphone launched in January. If you use Axis Bank's credit or debit card for payment, then customers are given a discount of 5%. Also, customers who purchase handsets from Flipkart for the first time will be given a 10% discount on Fashion Products.

This phone has been launched with two different variants of 3GB / 32GB internal storage and 4GB / 64GB internal storage. Its internal storage can be expanded up to 256 GB. The value of the variant with 3 GB RAM is Rs. 10,999 and a 4 GB RAM variant of Rs. 14,999. The company has launched these two variants in Midnight Black, Blue and Glacier gray color variants.

This smartphone offers you 5.65 inch full HD display and the phone has an Octark Kirin 659 processor. The Honore 9 Lite has a dual rear and dual-front camera. Its rear camera has 13 megapixel dual rear camera with a megapixel +2 megapixel camera with PDAF autofocus and LED flash. Its dual front camera also has 13 megapixels. It also has 3000 mAh battery. The company has claimed that it will give talk time up to 20 hours and standby time of up to 24 hours.

How Digital Technology is Reinventing “Personal Growth”

How Digital Technology is Reinventing “Personal Growth”

Hardik Gandhi   February 06, 2018

Aren’t you worried about the “digital generation”?

I am often asked this question and it happened again last week. The person asking — a male colleague in his mid-40s — was referring to what he saw as the negative effects of the instant and effortless access to information characteristic of an Internet Age.

His argument?

In a connected world where information is so easily available, the younger generation no longer have the right incentives to really “learn” anything. They don’t have (or even want) “ready knowledge”. This will inevitably have a negative impact on their analytical skills and, in turn, will kill creativity and (ultimately) thwart innovation.

In a word, my answer to this type of question is “No”.

I am not worried about the “digital generation” and remain cautiously optimistic about the future.

However, I do believe that we need to adopt a new understanding of “personal growth” in a digital age. Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about what this entails.

Here are two thoughts:

• First, I think we should stop talking about “generations”. Such “generation-talk” obscures the new freedoms that now exist for everyone in a digital age.
• And second, regardless of age, we need to ask: what kind of mindset (and related skillset) is necessary to flourish in a world where “knowledge” is readily available? For me, this means seeking out and embracing the opportunities for mutual learning that are created by digital technologies.

A “Post-Generation” World

We are used to living in a stable world of clearly demarcated generations.

We are all familiar with the labels: The Lost Generation, The GI Generation, The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials (Generation Y), Generation Z.

Each generation is associated with a distinct historical experience (WWI, WWII, the post-war boom, etc.) and a particular set of attitudes and values.

And, within each generation, there were clearly pre-defined career paths and other opportunities. People grew up in a certain way, received a certain type of education, found a certain type of job and, eventually, settled on a certain type of life.

And when you passed 45?

Well, there weren’t many options left. New opportunities were only available to the “next” (and younger generation) that were in touch with the new historical experience, the new technologies and values of a new world.

But, things have gradually changed. And here I agree with Gary Vaynerchuk:

Now, when you are in your 40s, there are still unprecedented opportunities for working and learning, and for changing your life.

The main reason for this is “technology”.

Digital technologies have created a more open, fluid and “flatter” world where generations no longer matter, at least if you embrace the right mindset and develop the right skills.

Why Digital Technologies Change Everything

Of course, there are shortcomings caused by the global proliferation of digital technologies. Such risks include a lack of privacy, accessibility to personal information and the easy dissemination of “fake news”.

But, in general the opportunities outweigh the challenges. Digital technologies offer everyone the possibility of connecting to a truly global community. This reality has the potential to open up new perspectives, jobs, friendships, learning opportunities, etc.

Digital technologies create a flatter and de-centralized world where empowering and experimentation prevail over controlling and planning. Everybody can now be an “entrepreneur”, a “creator” or an “artist” without first being accepted and acknowledged by any centralized authority.

Think of the new opportunities provided by YouTube, Medium and other content platforms. Anyone with a good idea and the drive and talent to implement their idea can reach a global audience or market. One of the most important benefits of digital technology is the possibility of being globally connected.

The Key to Personal Growth (and Success) in a Networked World

How then do we benefit from the unprecedented opportunities of a digital age?

A lot has been written about personal growth and development.

Suggestions on how to improve yourself are everywhere. You should wake up early, read a book every week (or even better every day), work out, eat healthy, take cold showers, etc.

Certainly, there might be truth to all of these things for some people. However, one thing you don’t hear about very often is that you should be more open to the experience of “mutual learning”. I really believe that this is the key to personal growth and success these days.

Young, middle aged and older people that embrace the digital world should not look at each other as being part of a generation. Particularly, when they all share the same mindset. Instead, they are part of a globally connected community in which every member is both a teacher and a student. You see this at technology meetups, hackathons and innovation workshops.

If I just look at my own experience as a professor, I can see this transformation. I used to consider myself as a teacher, inspirer, motivator of the younger generation. My job was to prepare them for the new world, help them build a career.

But this changed recently. As I have mentioned before, I view myself more now as an influencer or, perhaps even better, a collaborator.

The world is changing so fast these days. The exponential growth of technology cannot be ignored. There are so many challenges and new opportunities. And what I found is that teaching has become more and more like a dialogue, a two-way conversation so to speak, where a process of mutual learning happens during every “lecture”.

The last few years, students have made me aware of new apps, new platforms, new values, new perspectives and a new way of communicating that indeed opened many different doors and helped me engage in an on-going process of “learning, un-learning and re-learning” (to use an expression from one of my former students).

There is no need to “settle” anymore. In fact, “settling” may come with certain risks as the speed of technological change means that the future is more uncertain than ever before.

Welcome to the World of Mutual Learning

The digital age has created and continues to create multiple new opportunities.

Thinking in terms of generations is over. Instead, it is all about adopting the right mindset.

In order to grow and succeed in a digital age, you need to capture/embrace the opportunities for mutual learning and self-improvement necessary for building the future together.

• 
  

  Erik P.M. Vermeulen

3 Product Design Predictions for 2018

3 Product Design Predictions for 2018

Hardik Gandhi   February 01, 2018

Text & illustration: Andrew Wilshere

For better or worse, we begin 2018 in the wake of some historically significant political shifts. Across the U.S., Europe and beyond, establishment thinking and received wisdom failed to predict the electoral upheavals of 2016. In this piece, we explore some upheavals in the tech world that might also come sooner rather than later, manifesting a similar reaction against products and corporations that are increasingly perceived as both too powerful and too self-serving.

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1. Apple will enter a full-blown identity crisis

Some might have thought that the corporate drama of Apple Computer would have ended after the Steve Jobs era — but the controversies that have come to characterize Tim Cook’s tenure have turned out to be just as enthralling.

The company Cook inherited in 2011 was very different from the one that Jobs found when he rejoined Apple in 1997. Jobs was brought in because the company had declined into near-irrelevance by the mid-90s; in contrast, Cook took over one of the largest and most successful companies in the world, boasting a highly desirable range of products and one of the most loyal customer bases around.

So, why this prediction — that 2018 is going to herald an identity crisis for Apple?

Well, things have been brewing for a while. First, there are the dumb design decisions that have characterised Cook’s tenure. Don’t get us wrong — Apple have always had a sideline in eccentric, overpriced, and failed products. Remember the 20th Anniversary Mac? Yeah, I thought not. One of the reasons I can’t forget it is that I think of it every time they show that episode of The Simpsons where Homer designs a car.

The 20th Anniversary Mac vs Homer Simpson’s car design

The doomed “hockey puck” — cute, but useless

Even in the Jobs era, there were some product design howlers, including the notoriously unusable “hockey puck” Apple Mouse that was released in 1998. Then, of course, there were the first-generation plastic MacBooks that first discoloured and then (literally) fell to pieces, earning themselves the nickname of “Crackbooks” in the process.

The top-case fiasco became a familiar sight for owners of the 2006 MacBook.

Dumb decisions in the Cook era have included a mouse that you have to turn upside-down to charge, and a battery pack for your iPhone that looks like a parody product, as well as making your phone look pregnant.

The official Apple Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6. Hmmm.

The 2015 Apple Magic Mouse 2. More hmmm.

Until recently, it was possible to take these eccentricities in good humor, largely because they were not that important. But things have been getting more serious in the past year.

For a start, Apple has embraced its market position and begun to systematically position its products as exclusive, premium alternatives to its run-of-the-mill competitors. This has included significant price hikes for its flagship products. A top-of-the-range MacBook Pro will set you back well over $4,000 with a 2TB hard drive, and the iPhone X begins at $999.

As a strategy, this might have been fine, had it not coincided with a series of increasingly embarrassing product design blunders. The 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro have widely-reported problems with creaking or cracking screen hinges, and failing keyboards. Add to that some bizarre design decisions — such as adding a largely useless Touch Bar and a comically oversized trackpad — and you start to wonder what is going on.

The late 2016 MacBook Pro — beautiful but botched

The most widely remarked-upon oddity of the iPhone X is the “notch”, though I doubt that’s going to be an enduring objection to the product; it may indeed prove to be a very useful piece of branding at a time when other “all-screen” smartphones are pretty much indistinguishable from one another.

More likely to hit the iPhone X’s reputation are emerging security problems with FaceID, which, combined with the product’s exceptionally high price, may go some way to explaining the reportedly slow sales of the handset and its rumoured discontinuation.

The iPhone X from 2017

In short, Apple has set itself up as being better than the rest, but has got into a bad habit of releasing products — both hardware and software — that can’t really support that claim, especially given that the quality of PC and Android products have increased markedly over the past 5 years.

In just the past few weeks, this mismatch between the company’s positioning, and what it is tending to deliver, was painfully evident in the disastrous flaws that MacOS High Sierra shipped with. One bug even allowed anyone to log in to any Mac as an administrator without a password, which led Apple to issue an emergency fix and a grovelling apology. Such a basic error would be inexcusable in a bargain-basement product; that it happened in a major release of MacOS is astonishing from a company that has set itself up as a paragon of virtue in its industry.

Which leads us to our prediction. It’s within Apple’s power to turn things around this year, but it’s going to be difficult. Some of these issues are probably evidence of failing processes within the company — for example, inadequate pre-release quality control and software testing — while the loss of genuinely “pro” features in the MacBook Pro in favor of expensive adapters and gimmicks like the Touch Bar show a lack of connection with user needs.

In 2018, if Apple wants to preserve its prime industry position and justify its price tags, it needs to return to real user-centered product design and re-focus on truly exceptional product execution. What’s more likely to happen, we fear, is that we will see another couple of botched product releases and embarrassing security problems, precipitating an identity crisis and maybe even some high-level departures from the company following 4 years of flat-lining revenue growth.

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2. First-wave social media will start to decline

For the purposes of this article, we’re defining “first-wave” social media as Facebook and Twitter — though of course before that, there was the social media vanguard of MySpace, Bebo, and FriendsReunited.

If, like me, you have spent (too) much of the past decade reluctantly but compulsively attached to social media, you might find it hard to believe that Facebook or Twitter will ever die. But, of course, nothing lasts forever, and there are signs that these services are past their prime.

They were most popular amongst millennials, who hit adulthood in the mid-2000s and were excited by the prospect of an easy way to keep in touch with their nascent networks of friends and professional contacts. Facebook also offered an important, accessible way for older people to connect with friends and family far away.

A younger generation of post-millennials, though, have largely failed to see the attraction in these platforms, which offer the user very little granularity in how they relate to and share with different people. Generation Z have turned in their droves to Snapchat and encrypted services like WhatsApp for more secure and granular social networking — which can more faithfully mirror offline social relationships — and to Instagram for a more narrowly defined public sharing experience. Post-millennials have only ever known a data-driven, digital world, and easily see through “meaningless” Facebook friendships.

Facebook has made attempts to recapture the teenage and young adult market with apps like 2014’s Lifestage. This, however, was shut down last year following a lack of user uptake. They have also tried to bring in younger users by acquiring Instagram and other services that the demographic already use. More recently, Facebook acquired tbh, an anonymous compliments app for teens that was reportedly feared to be a potential commercial threat.

On top of this, we have a growing and diverse chorus of voices warning of the dangers of highly engineered social media services. These concerns have emerged partly in response to the alleged propagation of fake and planted news stories through social platforms during the 2016 US election. However, it runs deeper than that.

More importantly, critics draw attention to the fact that it is a core part of the design of first-wave social media platforms to create cognitive overload, psychological addiction, and compulsive sharing. It’s become common knowledge that many high-profile figures in the tech world limit their kids’ screen time or even send them to screen-free schools, perhaps to combat the expansion of tech into every realm of life.

At the Davos international trade summit a few days ago, billionaire George Soros had this to say:

“Mining and oil companies exploit the physical environment; social media companies exploit the social environment. This is particularly nefarious because social media companies influence how people think and behave without them even being aware of it. This has far-reaching adverse consequences on the functioning of democracy, particularly on the integrity of elections.”

Similarly, at the end of last year, Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive for growth until he left in 2011, expressed regret at his role in the company’s expansion:

“the short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth. […] This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem. It is eroding the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other.”

And that’s not to mention the huge amounts of compromising personal data that users give over, unpaid, to multi-billion dollar companies to feed a lucrative advertising machine. Even The Economist — generally far from being a radical voice — is asking whether users should be paid for the data they currently freely surrender.

Our prediction is that 2018 will be a tipping point, as users become more aware of how corrosive first-wave social media platforms have become. To maintain their market position, Facebook and Twitter will need to go back to UX design basics and figure out afresh what 2018’s users actually want and need from a social app.

In the year ahead we are likely, at least, to see pushback against first-wave social media’s exhibitionist tendency. User preferences will shift towards more lo-fi, quasi-SMS interactions that require active participation rather than passive scrolling. Particularly in a world with an increasingly mobile workforce, business platforms such as Slack could provide a model for the future of social networking.

Slack’s desktop messaging interface

One important change in the decade since these platforms emerged is that users are now much more willing to pay for apps; paid subscriptions to Spotify and Netflix, which would once have been scandalous to the average web user, are now entirely normal.

User bases, even huge ones, can be fickle: once the time comes, or perhaps more importantly once the right new platform comes, we could see a brutal, mass exodus of regular users within a few years, towards paid platforms that deliver a more user-centered product.

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3. Privacy and security will become more important user goals

Which leads us to our final prediction: in 2018, privacy and security will ratchet up the hierarchy of goals for many users. In the year ahead, experts deem it likely that there will be further international cyber-attacks in the wake of the WannaCry ransomware attack, which affected National Health Service (NHS) computer systems in the UK, leading to the closure of some services and diversion of ambulances. In turn, one of the reasons the ransomware propagated quickly was a failure to apply existing Windows 7 security patches that closed the EternalBlue exploit of a Windows vulnerability.

In a press release last year, David Dufour, vice president of engineering and cybersecurity at Webroot, stated that

“This past year was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Attacks such as NotPetya and WannaCry were hijacking computers worldwide and spreading new infections through tried-and-true methods. This list is further evidence that cybercriminals will continue to exploit the same vulnerabilities in increasingly malicious ways. Although headlines have helped educate users on the devastating effects of ransomware, businesses and consumers need to follow basic cybersecurity standards to protect themselves.”

Individual users are beginning to wise up to the steps they can take to secure their privacy, security and identity, and will soon start to demand more of these controls from the devices and apps they use. To meet this demand, companies are likely to step up their efforts in these areas, perhaps accelerating programs to replace password systems or make 2-step verification mandatory.

After all, there is a long way to go: less than 10% of Google users currently use 2-step verification. By the end of the year, we will see lots more screens like this one from Slack, as more major sites and services beginning to retire passwords completely in favour of other verification systems.

Growing awareness of security and privacy risks may also accelerate the decline of first-wave social media platforms, which are notoriously opaque when it comes to how they use personal data, and the steps that users can take to get it deleted.

In part, this has been a failure of national and international governance and regulation. Particularly with the introduction of significant legal measures such as the EU Data Protection Regulation, we will also see legislators adopting a less hands-off approach to tech companies’ use of data; in the year ahead legislative bodies around the world are likely to pass new laws demanding more rigorous data standards and greater user control.

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An introduction to Progressive Web Apps

An introduction to Progressive Web Apps

Hardik Gandhi   January 31, 2018

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are the latest trend in mobile application development using web technologies. At the time of writing (early 2018), they’re only applicable to Android devices.

PWAs are coming to iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4, very soon.

WebKit, the tech underlying Safari and Mobile Safari, has recently (Aug 2017) declared that they’ve started working on introducing Service Workers into the browser. This means that soon they will land in iOS devices as well. So the Progressive Web Apps concept will likely be applicable to iPhones and iPads, if Apple decides to encourage this approach.

It’s not a groundbreaking new technology, but rather a new term that identifies a bundle of techniques that have the goal of creating a better experience for web-based apps.

What is a Progressive Web App

A Progressive Web App is an app that can provide additional features based on what the device supports, providing offline capability, push notifications, an almost native app look and speed, and local caching of resources.

This technique was originally introduced by Google in 2015, and proves to bring many advantages to both the developer and the users.

Developers have access to building almost-first-class applications using a web stack. This is always considerably easier and cheaper than building native applications, especially when considering the implications of building and maintaining cross-platform apps.

Devs can benefit from a reduced installation friction, and at a time when having an app in the store does not actually bring anything in terms of discoverability for 99,99% of the apps, Google search can provide the same benefits if not more.

A Progressive Web App is a website which is developed with certain technologies that make the mobile experience much more pleasant than a normal mobile-optimized website. It almost feels like working on a native app, as it offers the following features:

• Offline support
• Loads fast
• Is secure
• Is capable of emitting push notifications
• Has an immersive, full-screen user experience without the URL bar

Mobile platforms (Android at the time of writing, but it’s not technically limited to that) offer increasing support for Progressive Web Apps. They even ask the user to add the app to the home screen when that user visits such a site.

But first, a little clarification on the name. Progressive Web App can be a confusing term, and a good definition is: web apps that take advantage of modern browsers features (like web workers and the web app manifest) to let their mobile devices “upgrade” the app to the role of a first-class citizen app.

Progressive Web Apps alternatives

How does a PWA stand compared to the alternatives when it comes to building a mobile experience?

Let’s focus on the pros and cons of each, and let’s see where PWAs are a good fit.

Native Mobile Apps

Native mobile apps are the most obvious way to build a mobile app. Objective-C or Swift on iOS, Java /Kotlin on Android and C# on Windows Phone.

Each platform has its own UI and UX conventions, and the native widgets provide the experience that the user expects. They can be deployed and distributed through the platform App Store.

The main pain point with native apps is that cross-platform development requires learning, mastering and keeping up to date with many different methodologies and best practices. If, for example, you have a small team or you’re a solo developer building an app on 3 platforms, you need to spend a lot of time learning the technology and environment. You’ll also spend a lot of time managing different libraries and using different workflows (for example, iCloud only works on iOS devices — there’s no Android version).

Hybrid Apps

Hybrid applications are built using Web Technologies, but are deployed to the App Store. In the middle sits a framework or some way to package the application so it’s possible to send it for review to the traditional App Store.

Some of the most common platforms are Phonegap and Ionic Framework, among many others, and usually what you see on the page is a WebView that essentially loads a local website.

I initially included Xamarin in the list, but Carlos Eduardo Pérez correctly pointed out that Xamaring generates native code.

The key aspect of Hybrid Apps is the write once, run anywhere concept. The different platform code is generated at build time, and you’re building apps using JavaScript, HTML and CSS, which is amazing. The device capabilities (microphone, camera, network, gps…) are exposed through JavaScript APIs.

The bad part of building hybrid apps is that, unless you do a great job, you might settle on providing a common denominator. This effectively creates an app that’s sub-optimal on all platforms because the app is ignoring the platform-specific human-computer interaction guidelines.

Also, performance for complex views might suffer.

Apps built with React Native

React Native exposes the native controls of the mobile device through a JavaScript API, but you’re effectively creating a native application, not embedding a website inside a WebView.

Their motto, to distinguish this approach from hybrid apps, is learn once, write anywhere. This means that the approach is the same across platforms, but you’re going to create completely separate apps in order to provide a great experience on each platform.

Performance is comparable to native apps, since what you build is essentially a native app which is distributed through the App Store.

Progressive Web Apps features

In the last section, you saw the main competitors of Progressive Web Apps. So how do PWAs stand compared to them, and what are their main features?

Remember — currently, Progressive Web Apps are for Android devices only.

Features

Progressive Web Apps have one thing that separates them completely from the above approaches: they are not deployed to the app store.

This is a key advantage. The app store is beneficial if you have the reach and luck to be featured, which can make your app go viral. But unless you’re in the top 0.001% you’re not going to get much benefit from having your little place on the App Store.

Progressive Web Apps are discoverable using Search Engines, and when a user gets to your site that has PWAs capabilities, the browser in combination with the device asks the user if they want to install the app to the home screen. This is huge, because regular SEO can apply to your PWA, leading to much less reliance on paid acquisition.

Not being in the App Store means you don’t need Apple’s or Google’s approval to be in the users pockets. You can release updates when you want, without having to go through the standard approval process which is typical of iOS apps.

PWAs are basically HTML5 applications/responsive websites on steroids, with some key technologies that were recently introduced to make some of the key features possible. If you remember, the original iPhone came without the option to develop native apps. Developers were told to develop HTML5 mobile apps that could be installed to the home screen, but the tech back then was not ready for this.

Progressive Web Apps run offline.

The use of service workers allow the app to always have fresh content, which can be downloaded in the background, and to provide support for push notifications, which offer greater re-engagement opportunities.

Also, sharability makes for a much nicer experience for users that want to share your app, as they just need a URL.

Benefits

So why should users and developers care about Progressive Web Apps?

1. PWA are lighter. Native Apps can weigh 200MB or more, while a PWA could be in the range of the KBs.
2. There’s no native platform code
3. The cost of acquisition is lower (it’s much more difficult to convince a user to install an app than to visit a website to get the first-time experience)
4. Significantly less effort is needed to build and release updates
5. They have much more support for deep links than regular app-store apps

Core concepts

• Responsive: the UI adapts to the device screen size
• App-like feel: it doesn’t feel like a website but rather like an app (as much as possible)
• Offline support: it will use the device storage to provide an offline experience
• Installable: the device browser prompts the user to install your app
• Re-engaging: push notifications help users re-discover your app once installed
• Discoverable: search engines and SEO optimization can provide a lot more users than the app store
• Fresh: the app updates itself and the content once it’s online
• Safe: it uses HTTPS
• Progressive: it will work on any device, even older one, even if it has fewer features (e.g. just as a website, not installable)
• Linkable: it’s easy to point to it using URLs

Service Workers

Part of the Progressive Web App definition is that it must work offline.

Since the thing that allows the web app to work offline is the Service Worker, this implies that Service Workers are a mandatory part of a Progressive Web App.

WARNING: Service Workers are currently only supported by Chrome (Desktop and Android), Firefox, and Opera. See http://caniuse.com/#feat=serviceworkers for updated data on the support.

TIP: Don’t confuse Service Workers with Web Workers. They are a completely different thing.

A Service Worker is a JavaScript file that acts as a middleman between the web app and the network. Because of this it can provide cache services, speed the app rendering, and improve the user experience.

For security reasons, only HTTPS sites can make use of Service Workers, and this is part of the reason why a Progressive Web App must be served through HTTPS.

Service Workers are not available on the device the first time the user visits the app. On the first visit the web worker is installed, and then on subsequent visits to separate pages of the site, this Service Worker will be called.

Check out the complete guide to Service Workers at https://www.writesoftware.org/topic/service-workers

The App Manifest

The App Manifest is a JSON file that you can use to provide the device information about your Progressive Web App.

You add a link to the manifest in every header on each page of your web site:

<link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json">

This file will tell the device how to set:

• The name and short name of the app
• The icons’ locations, in various sizes
• The starting URL, relative to the domain
• The default orientation
• The splash screen

Example

{ 
  "name": "The Weather App", 
  "short_name": "Weather", 
  "description": "Progressive Web App Example", 
  "icons": [{
    "src": "images/icons/icon-128x128.png",
    "sizes": "128x128",
    "type": "image/png" 
  }, { 
    "src": "images/icons/icon-144x144.png",
    "sizes": "144x144", 
    "type": "image/png" 
  }, { 
    "src": "images/icons/icon-152x152.png",
    "sizes": "152x152", 
    "type": "image/png" 
  }, { 
    "src": "images/icons/icon-192x192.png",
    "sizes": "192x192", 
    "type": "image/png" 
  }, { 
    "src": "images/icons/icon-256x256.png", 
    "sizes": "256x256", 
    "type": "image/png" 
  }], 
  "start_url": "/index.html?utm_source=app_manifest", 
  "orientation": "portrait", 
  "display": "standalone", 
  "background_color": "#3E4EB8",
  "theme_color": "#2F3BA2" 
}

The App Manifest is a W3C Working Draft, reachable at https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/

The App Shell

The App Shell is not a technology but rather a design concept. It’s aimed at loading and rendering the web app container first, and the actual content shortly after, to give the user a nice app-like impression.

Take, for example, Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines’ suggestion to use a splash screen that resembles the user interface. This provides a psychological hint that was found to lower the perception that the app was taking a long time to load.

Caching

The App Shell is cached separately from the contents, and it’s setup so that retrieving the shell building blocks from the cache takes very little time.

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Thanks for reading through this tutorial. There’s a lot to learn about this topic and the new browser APIs. I publish a lot of related content on my blog about frontend development, don’t miss it! 😀

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Great technology. Shit service. That’s our reputation.

Great technology. Shit service. That’s our reputation.

Hardik Gandhi   January 29, 2018

In one of my earliest roles at a B2B startup, there were so many fires in a day, that if no “emergencies” occurred for even a couple of hours, I sensed something was wrong immediately. It got to the point where I knew hundreds of clients by name because of how frequently I needed to do damage control.

Meanwhile, new products, new features, new services, were continuously released as we aimed to stay on the ‘cutting edge’ of technology. With limited resources and a mission to stay innovative, low impact bugs and minority clients were deemed low priority. I watched clients cancel and support staff burn out.

Internally, the “importance of customer service excellence” was reiterated time and time again through every possible means — email, chat, message boards, meetings, handbooks, training workshops, etc. Pull aside any employee at random and they could mindlessly regurgitate that it was one of the company core values. In reality, we missed the mark by a long shot.

“Great technology. Shit service. That’s our reputation.”

if this got a chuckle out of you, then you probably know what I’m talking about

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Where was the disconnect? The answer isn’t black and white, but I saw two areas contributing the most to this issue.

1. Not all clients were treated equal. With the mentality of move fast and break things, beta users or clients who contributed to advancing the product/software were implicitly given priority. This is not necessarily a bad thing if there was load balancing to ensure sufficient support for the majority of the client base — paying customers with expectations.
2. Innovation was prioritized over maintenance. Yes, complacency is dangerous and it is important to grow, to scale. But at what expense? With stretched resources, it can be easy to neglect seemingly ‘low impact’ bugs and glitches. The result? A team of support staff unequipped to provide long-term solutions to recurring issues for clients that reach out again, and again, and again.

Let’s break this down.

When a startup makes the transition from early stage (looking for market validation), into a growth stage, there is no longer the luxury of only dealing with ‘Innovators’ and ‘Early Adopters.’

This. Is. Not. A. Bad. Thing.

Great technology that is lucky enough to have reached ‘product market fit’ serves a need, fills a gap, or solves a problem. Here’s the thing. Clients onboarding at this point — the ‘Early Majority’ — have an inherent expectation that they can reliably use the product. There is a lower tolerance for inconsistency, errors, glitches.

Most, if not all, are not willing guinea pigs supporting your grander, ultimate vision. They do not care about that. They did not sign up for that. They want the tool they paid for to work. They want it to work, the way it’s designed to, when it’s supposed to, so they can go about their day running their own businesses.

What am I saying?

The crux of it is this. There comes a point when innovation can wait. The point where the difference between success and failure is execution. Not the idea. Not intelligence. Consistent execution.

I get the sense that many startups thrive on the concept of organized chaos and inherently reject structure. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing. Perhaps some startups remain functional on this model. However, organized chaos is still chaos. And I, for one, can not imagine operational efficiency being optimal on a model of chaos.

There comes a time for structure, which does not have to equal rigidity. But it needs to create stability. While this will mean something different for every company, there are some general things. I’m talking about standard operating procedures. Enforcing internal processes (e.g. clients are not QA, production environments are not meant for testing… test the code!). And please, documentation can no longer be optional.

Stability is just as important as scalability. Hate to say it, but scaling on an unstable foundation is stupidity. Especially when hubris allows a company to believe they can get away with it.

The company I referred to at the start of the article was a SaaS startup utilizing a subscription model. While it was vital to retain all our customers, the cost of switching platforms was often too high and there weren’t comparable programs on the market. As a result, the team calibrated to the errors and took our clients’ tolerance for granted.

There is nothing more detrimental to a business than falling into the trap of believing their technology is great enough to outweigh good service.