Mobile Computing and Social Networks - Essay Example

Mobile Computing and Social Networks Mobile Computing and Social Networks Affiliation Introduction For a long time computer systems played a significant role in approximately all probable areas of our lives and we have experienced numerous modern methods and ways to utilize computers for learning and teaching in education. There came a time when the power of portable computing systems came in the form of notebooks and laptops. In fact, they allowed us to take our computing power with us carrying it on our pockets and shoulders. In view of the fact that laptops and notebooks could offer us practice for three to four hours utmost working time after that these systems need a connection to electrical power. On the other hand, mobile communication devices, once completely charged, are able to offer the similar working for 48 to 96 hours. Additionally, laptops and notebooks need a connection to a network for Internet access that is available at fixed site in working or living structure or wireless access points. Hence, these limitations make these systems and devices difficult to use and manage. On the other hand, mobile communication devices have a network connection access more than 99% of the time in approximately every region of developed nations (Goundar, 2011; Wyeth & MacColl, 2010; Draganova, 2009). This paper discusses some of the important aspects associated with mobile devices. This paper will discuss the impact of mobile devices in different areas of life. This paper also discusses any issues linked with the use of mobile devices. This paper will discuss the factors that need to be considered by mobile application developers while developing these applications. Impact of Mobile Devices on Various Areas of Life A few years ago having a cell phone was believed to be a social status symbol. At the present the system has been marketed as a need that we all need to carry out different tasks all through the day. Additionally, in the past the size of the telephones was extremely huge and they were kept in peoples automobiles. No one ever appeared to talk about wireless plans, or the potentials of their telephones. The simple question people discussed was, why did we bring our cordless telephone to the job? That appeared to be the simplest other time somebody actually saw a phone with that look. Now telephones have taken the shape of a great more innovative technology as they appear in various versions such as PDA, iPod, and iPhones. This century has seen the successful inventions and implementations of numerous technologies. These technologies have not only changed the way we live but also modernized them. Additionally, the new evolutionary technologies have transformed traditional practices and offered more effective tools and techniques for management of business and daily tasks. The mobile phone is surely one of the most successful technology based inventions. The emergence of mobile phone has greatly influenced our lives (Zhang, et al., 2011; Stuckey, 2011). In addition, mobile phones have also involved a great deal of political impact. Now the overall political situation has changed. These days’ election campaigns are launched through mobile phones. This technology allows political personalities to transmit their messages to the public in a much better way. Moreover, it has improved the pace and quality of business operations and transformed the world that has now become much smaller and more reachable to all. Additionally, the telephone technology has ensured security and offered an excellent support for dealing with crisis situations. In addition, the mobile devices as well changed ways social relationships and social communication happen. In fact, communication over the phone system widens the range of people one could interact with each other. Furthermore, with telephones long distance relationships are built and managed effectively. The telephone facilitates in keeping a close connection with families and communities (Dantec, et al., 2011; Bellis, 2012; Kang, 2005).   Negative Effects of Mobile Devices Mobile phones have changed the way how people communicate with their family members and the people all around them in social context. In addition, they have minimized the communication gap among people. However, at the same time they have brought various negative aspects as mobile phones have become a necessity for people and they cannot live without it. In fact, while waiting for food at a restaurant, an individual will be looking at their working tasks on mobile or checking emails, actually makes the other person experience less significant. Another painful and rude circumstance is when a person requests a friend over, as well as the whole time she/he is waiting for a text or is texting some other friend. In fact, the next generation is not moving to ever be capable to connect with another person, tackle somebody, or talk to somebody face to face. With the increasing usage of technology, people’s knowledge and skills have quickly reduced (Stuckey, 2011; Wang, Pedreschi, Song, & Giannotti, 2011; Drennan, Brown, & Mort, 2011; Campbell, 2005; Tomitsch, Sturm, Konzett, Bolin, Wagner, & Grechenig, 2010). There can be some health issues due to mobile phone technology. As the theme remains contentious, there are people who believe that the microwave energy emission that mobile phones emit can cause a wide variety of diseases and health related issues for example Alzheimers or cancer disease from prolonged use. According to a research report of DrugRehabTreatment.com, there are youngsters who have become addicted to mobile phones as well as have to be weaned of its usage by parents. We see a number of cases of people having a disaster or accident every day, for the reason that they were diverted while driving and talking on a mobile phone. From the welfare point of view mobile phone technology makes people mean. People can be selfish while making use of mobile phones in public, carrying out various daily tasks such as maintaining a line at a store, talking on the phone while watching a movie and bumping into others for the reason that they are not paying attention to where they are walking (Campbell, 2005; Titus, 2012). Challenges Facing Mobile Applications Developers Without a doubt, the development of mobile applications is a great deal more dissimilar from the development of computer based applications. In this scenario, one of the most aspects that need to be kept in mind is the fact that mobile applications are used by the general public. In fact, in some cases they are not an expert like computer professionals. So in this scenario, mobile application developers need to give particular attention to usability issues. Additionally, the mobile application developers should have adequate knowledge and skills of most of the stones and design challenges that they can face during mobile application design stage. Like computer systems, mobile applications are being used by all kinds of people for a wide variety of tasks. In this scenario, they also need to consider which system they need to support and how they can effectively deal with varying complexities of systems architectures. Because of restrictions of weight and size for compatibility and portability function, the user interface for mobile devices and application can cause a wide variety of hardware issues as compared to other standard devices for instance printers or desktop applications. In this scenario, some major issues can be related to incomplete input support and services, and designing for mobility, and inadequate output functionalities. In order to deal with these issues it is essential for mobile application developers to take into consideration the mobile hardware architecture. They should design applications that are portable and compatible with all the hardware devices. For instance, iPhone and other mobile applications share similar characteristics such as small screen, keypad etc so mobile application developers should design applications that could run on all the mobile systems without requiring additional support. Like, Microsoft office programs can be installed on all kinds of laptops in the same way mobile applications should also be compatible for all other platforms (Huang, 2009; Extentrix Systems, 2007). In addition, there are also a number of challenges facing mobile application developers while designing mobile applications. In order to design mobile applications effectively, mobile application developers should have knowledge and practical experience of these design issues. In this scenario, they should be expert in dealing with issues such as slow connections, different versions used by mobile devices and a wide variety of plug-ins. Additionally, the development of mobile applications is actually adapting to a to some extent different set of restrictions than the definite standard desktop (Huang, 2009; Extentrix Systems, 2007). Technical Issues Mobile application developers face a number of technical issues such as limitations in computing mobile environment, which causes due to its small screen size, small keyboard and less hardware performance. Though, mobile phone’s partial real-estate increases the speed of mobile functionality and simultaneously limits its performance (Extentrix Systems, 2007; Patton, 2006; Roberts, 2013). Screen Restrictions One of the key concerns in mobile application development is its screen size, for the reason that it is the place that maintains user navigation and interaction. In fact, the user of the mobile device communicates with the devices using this screen. Hence, a mobile application developer should have adequate knowledge of issues and solutions related to the mobile screens. In view of the fact that a mobile device comes with smaller screen size hence it requires developers to develop the application which contains a user-friendly and straightforward user interface design. In this scenario, this design should make use of all the screen area in a careful and practical manner, in an attempt to fit the small size as well as keep it understandable, and reduce the need for scrolling as probable. In addition, mobile application should be compatible with all kinds of mobiles with different architectures and screen sizes and resolutions; hence a user interface should be as reliable and compatible as possible. The solution to this problem is that the mobile application development team needs to search for and understand their market; they should understand the basic principles of devices are used in the market, and what their screen sizes and hardware specifications are. In this way, they will be able to develop their design to fit their market (Extentrix Systems, 2007; Patton, 2006; Roberts, 2013). Limited Keypad One of the most important challenges facing mobile application developers is the absence of a numeric keypad; in fact very few programmable soft keys are available to operate applications. In this scenario, mobile application developers need to keep in mind keypad aspects, in particular while designing those pages which require user input. However, mobile application developers can deal with this issue by providing services through radio buttons and Checkboxes in place of asking users to enter data by hand (Extentrix Systems, 2007; Patton, 2006; Roberts, 2013). Limited Resources Less memory (RAM as well as ROM), less effective CPU capabilities and limited power utilization adds to the issues to be afraid of. Hence, mobile application developers should keep in mind all these aspects and develop applications in a way that they should not be resource hungry (Extentrix Systems, 2007; Patton, 2006; Roberts, 2013) Ways to Ensure High Availability Mobile applications require high availability because end users need to have continuous access to IT and IS systems hence mobile application developers should develop applications by keeping in mind all the aspects related to availability. In this scenario, system availability is about predicting, identifying, and repeatedly dealing with software or hardware problems before they bring about event faults, service errors or data corruption by this means minimizing downtime. In this scenario, the technology side of the application should use a number of routes to provide application data and services. On the other hand, the operational side of the application should adopt verified and tested, established processes (both manual and automated) in order to support the application all the way through its complete Lifecycle. Some of the important methods that can be adopted by mobile application developers to provide high availability include (Microsoft, 2013): Traditional Approach to Availability Mobile application developers can ensure high availability by making use of multiple CPUs. In this scenario, symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system allows a number of processors to use and share the memory and I/O subsystem. There is another traditional method that can be used to provide high availability which requires using a duplicate system with completely replicated workings. In this scenario, the second system remains for all time in reserve condition, looking for to take the charge of processing if the primary system fails. Use the Distributed File System (DFS) Distributed File System is a logical file structure implemented to multiple file and servers shares. Basically, DSF can effectively resolve drive letters to UNC names, hence offering authentic file nomenclatures simultaneously that the physical file position remains concealed. Hence, it improves the availability of applications. Use Queuing Queuing allows a mobile application to communicate with other applications by receiving and sending asynchronous words. In this scenario, one key advantage of this technique is that it eliminates a failure point from the application. In fact, it is an excellent solution for huge peak workloads that would otherwise have need of a lot of hardware. In addition, a queuing technique also ensures maximum availability by increasing the number of parts required for delivering messages successfully. Use RAID for Data Stores RAID (is an abbreviation of redundant array of independent disks) ensures high availability by utilizing multiple hard disks with the purpose that data and information are kept secure in a number of locations instead of a single location. In this scenario, any problem or failure to disk would automatically move the charge to a reconstructable or mirrored data image, hence it will not affect the working of an application and it will continually execute without any interruption, and the failed disk can be changed without disruption to the application. Ways to Ensure Mobile Security Without a doubt, one of the basic reasons mobile users are more defenseless is the excess of apps that they download and install on their mobile phones. In fact, the majority of these applications asks for and stores their personal details, for instance user names, credit card numbers, passwords, pin numbers, e-mail IDs, and location data, which is kept in the mobile phones internal memory. There is another major issue and that is the majority of people store information about their plastic cards and bank accounts in their mobile phones with the intention that they could easily access it when required. However, they can avoid security issues by adopting several measures (Sharma, 2012; Dargie & Poellabauer, 2010): People should open Bluetooth until it is essential to use. In fact, they should make necessary changes to their Bluetooth settings, for instance they should change it from always on to off for the reason that if it remains on it will search for other Bluetooth-enabled devices to connect to, which allows malware, hackers and viruses to enter to mobile phones. In this scenario, these vulnerabilities can destroy the working of operating system, which make the device unusable. Additionally, people should always connect their devices with a trusted device (Sharma, 2012; Dargie & Poellabauer, 2010; Ghaffari, 2006). There is another solution to deal with mobile security threats and that is the implementation of strong passwords. People normally set their family names or date of birth as passwords that are easy to guess. In this scenario, people should establish strong passwords and keep those passwords secure and never share with any other person. In addition, they should regularly change their passwords (Sharma, 2012; Dargie & Poellabauer, 2010; Ghaffari, 2006). Another way to secure mobile devices is the use of firewalls. In this scenario, a firewall stops an unauthorized person to access a mobile device. It can be an excellent solution for dealing with security issues. In the same way, a latest antivirus program should be installed and regularly updated in order to stop viruses from entering into the system. Additionally, they should always use secure network connections and take data backups regularly (Sharma, 2012; Dargie & Poellabauer, 2010; Ghaffari, 2006). Conclusion At the present, information and communication technologies are playing a significant role in all the areas of life. Without a doubt, the majority of tasks is currently performed through the latest tools and technologies. The developments and advancements of technology have significant impacts on all the areas of life. In this scenario, the mobile device is a most important and commonly used information and communication technology. This paper has discussed the effectiveness and uses of mobile technology in various areas of life. Without a doubt, mobile applications are playing significant role in every walk of life. People use these mobile devices for carrying out different tasks. 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