The Amazon Kindle app is an application for reading books, newspapers, and magazines. An Amazon account is required. Kindle content is accessible on Android, PC, Mac, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone 8, and original Kindle devices, but this review will focus specifically on the Android version of the app.

The user purchases their chosen reading material (“eBooks” for the purpose of this review) through Amazon, either through the normal shopping interface of the Amazon site or through the Kindle Store in the app. Through the use of Whispersync, the app allows users to access their collection of eBooks across multiple devices: the original Kindle devices, laptops, and any compatible smart phones or tablets. The eBooks are originally listed latently on any new device, and then the user can choose to sync each eBook individually to read them. The syncing usually takes a minute or less, but, for some extremely large eBooks (ex. “William Shakespeare Complete Works Ultimate Collection”), it may take longer, and all synced eBooks remain synced to the device for a period of several months before reverting to latent. They can then be re-synced at any time. The user’s progress through all books is saved in connection to their Amazon account and is reflected across all devices when the eBook is synced, allowing the user to read on whichever compatible device is most convenient at any time and never lose their place.

As with the original Kindle device, the app allows users to bookmark pages, highlight text, add notes, and search for keywords in the eBook, and the bookmarks, highlights, and notes are synced across devices. The app also allows users to choose font size, screen brightness, and background color (white with black text, black with white text, or light brown with dark brown text) for the most comfortable reading experience, and changes from portrait to landscape mode with device movement.

Users can either buy individual issues of periodicals (magazines or newspapers), or subscribe to have them delivered to the device automatically. To subscribe, the user must tap the Kindle icon on the home screen, tap Newsstand, browse for their desired periodical, and then tap either the Buy Now with 1-Click or Subscribe Now with 1-Click button, appropriately. After downloading and opening a periodical, the user can tap the center of the screen, the Menu button, and then the Table of Contents to choose and skip to the articles of their choice. In reading mode in general, the screen-center tap also allows the user to add bookmarks, shop the store, return to the library, and see other options. Until the user taps the center of the screen, the view is only of the eBook text with the title small at the top and estimated minutes remaining in the chapter small at the bottom. The screen-center tap creates a bar at the top and bottom of the screen: a progress bar at the bottom which allows quick scanning through the eBook and a menu bar at the top with the other options. Most articles also allow the user to switch between plain text and print replica view and to scroll through thumbnails.

The Kindle app is navigated primarily through taps and swipes. Pages are turned either by directional swipe, or tapping at the appropriate side of the screen, scrolling through the user’s library or the Kindle Store is based in swiping, and eBook and menu selection are based in tapping. The Kindle app does now support Android’s TalkBack for audio-based navigation.

The Kindle app can be used to read personal documents in .doc, .pdf. , most basic image formats, and the Kindle formats of .mobi and .azw. The user can either email the files to their Send To Kindle e-mail address or use the upload website, both accessible through the Amazon website.

Nike+ Running app

Nike+ Running app uses GPS and the accelerometer on smartphones to track running activity. This app is all about tracking and maintaining your running activity, irrespective of whether someone likes to take rough roads, jogging tracks or the treadmill in the gym. The interface is straightforward and simple to use. It’s two clicks to start the run, and just a few settings you can program for better tracking. Once registered with Nike, users will notice that the main page of the Nike+ Running app has the upper part of the user interface divided into two sections: Home and Run. On tapping the Home button, it instantly shows a dropbox featuring options such as Activity, Challenge Me and Shop Nike (Nike’s store). Nike divides the main page into two simple sections on the upper side of the page, making navigation organized and simple. The rest of the lower area of the main page shows the number of runs, calories and average pace. A green elongated bar shows yesterday’s activity and a tiny strip at the end takes the user to Settings of the app where you can tweak the app according to your preferences. However, the tiny strip is camouflaged on the lower side of the main page and may go unnoticed. The homepage lets the user take on different challenges like surpassing previous activities and it also puts you back on track with running. On choosing the Basic Run option, the app began working after a quick countdown and instantly started tracking  movements to calculate the pace, distance and time taken. It fired a pop up in case the app determined we weren’t holding the smartphone properly or detected the lack of movement. We could also opt for Time Run and Distance Run, by setting the timer to run for specific time or cover a particular distance respectively. The app’s audio functionality notifies users each time they started or paused the workout. There is a slide button on the lower side of the screen that users need to simply swipe to pause or resume, which is quite handy to use while running. On completing the run, user could choose the terrain, and a bunch of smilies help mark how satisfied user are with the workout, and view that detailed info about the run anytime. The Run summary offers all the information about the route taken, the type of trail and also the weather conditions. Users can take a look at a GPS map of the route, color-coordinated based on speed throughout. To motive the runner, there is a “cheers” option. To keep users updated about their performance while running, it comes with the audio feedback feature. This feature keeps users updated about the progress as they run and so they don’t need to look at the screen. The feature can be tweaked using the settings option so that users are updated about the metrics after specific intervals of time. In case, user find the audio feed back annoying, one can simply turn it off.

Instagram is a very popular app that is used on Apple products like iPods and iPhones as well as Android devices. This app allows the user to take photos and then edit them by cropping or adding a filter before being able to post them to their profile or on other social media sites. Instagram provides a place for people who like to take photos, but aren’t serious about it, to publish their own pictures for the public to see. Instagram has also introduced video to the app so users can record a small snippet of video and it post it too. The usability of the app is very simple and can be used on electronic devices and a website on computers and laptops. Instagram has five icons at the bottom of the screen on the user’s homepage (after they have already been signed in). The home page is filled with the recent photos of people that the user follow have posted. They are in chronological order which helps to keep track of photos the user has and hasn’t seen. The second button has a star icon and it is called explore. With this item one can search for other users, hashtags, and view top photos or videos. The middle button is a square with a circle inside of it and it represents the camera where the user can take a photo or use a photo from their camera roll and then scale and crop it as well as apply a filter from numerous options. The user can do the same thing for a video. After that, the user can type a caption for the photo or video, tag people, and then have it posted to their Instagram profile or other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, or foursquare. The next button has a cartoon talk bubble with a heart in it. This item has two categories in it: News and Following. The news category keeps the user updated on any activity on their photos, so if anyone likes or comments on their photos they are updated about it. The following category tells the user about activity that the users they follow are performing. The last menu has a square with a circle and three lines. This icon represents the user’s own profile. They can see what photos they have posted along with a section on their profile of photos that other’s tag them in. The interface is set up so it is easy to access every part of Instagram in an orderly fashion. The design of Instagram is very sleek and simple. It uses the color scheme of blue, white and gray. The main app icon resembles an old time camera but it is recognizable with the lens in the middle. Furthermore, the app allows users to connect with other users by allowing them to heart the photos they like (“like” the photo) or leave a comment on the photo. Instagram gives users the ability to have professional like photos through the filters and lets people publish them to the Internet for others to appreciate and enjoy.

User Profiles for App

App Flow Diagram

The Tumblr app for iPhone is actually pretty simple to use. When a person opens the app they are taken to their homepage or what Tumblr calls it, the dashboard. Within the dashboard there are various posts ranging from text to videos from people that a users’ blogs has decided they want to follow. The user can scroll with their finger to other posts in their dashboard. If the user sees something they would like to have on their blog or just something that they like they have the ability to do a couple of different things to get that content on their blog. For example if the user wants to reblog something they can either tap the arrows and will be a pop up with their blog name and picture with the ability to add a caption to it. They also have the ability to tap and hold the arrows for easy reblog without out being asked if they want to add a caption. If a user wants to like something they have a couple of options as well. They can either double take the post or they can tap the heart next to the arrows. The bottom of the app has 5 buttons, the first one being the house, which is the user’s dashboard. The user can tap on the house to bring them to the top of their dashboard as well as refresh it for new posts. The second being the magnifying glass, the user can tap that and search for just about anything and the app will find posts that people have tagged regarding the thing the user has searched for. The middle icon being the pencil, this is the button when tapped brings up all the things that a user can post if they choose to. The fourth one being the person, this is where the user can see all the things about them. They can see their likes, who they are following, change their settings, and all the blogs they have. If the user taps on any of the blogs they have it will show that content from that particular blog. Lastly the lightning bolt, this is where all the activity is shown from the user’s blog. It will show who has reblogged or like what post as well as when.

The interface of the Tumblr app’s interface is pretty straightforward.  If the user is familiar with Tumblr’s website version of their popular social media site then they are going to be able to use the Tumblr app. The two are pretty much the same in the functions that they do; the only real difference is the position of the functions. If the user knows the symbols that Tumblr uses for their functions then they should be able to find the function they are looking for with ease.

The design and aesthetics of the Tumblr app are also very similar to the Tumblr website version. The background is a steel blue color, the same color as the app icon, with the areas of the posts being white. This is a good choice so the color doesn’t overwhelm the user with a lot of colors when looking a their content and it also wont distract the user. This also makes text type posts easier to read. The app is very monotone with various shades of blue and the only real color is the content, which as mentioned before is a smart idea. The navigation at the bottom has its own blue bar that stays static when the user is scrolling for easy and constant access to those functions. There are a few other pops of color that are used kind of as a reminder that a user has liked or reblogged something. The reblog arrows are green and the liked heart is read. This is also a good idea to let users know they have already liked or reblogged a certain post.

Flow Diagram

Personas

Snapchat is a popular app used today that allows you to share your moments in the present and communicate with your friends. It’s fun, quick (in some cases), and simple.snapchat

Snapchat allows you to send snaps, which consist of photos or videos to your friends. With the pictures, you can choose for your friend to be able to view it for up to 10 seconds. There are 3 filters that users are able to choose from.  Snap videos can be up to 10 seconds long as well but users can only chose between 2 filters. For all snaps you can add a caption using letters, numbers, and emojis. You can change the size and location of the captions. You can also use the pen tool to draw on your snaps. If you have a phone with a front camera and back camers, you can reverse the camera’s view

As soon as you send your snaps, you can’t seem them again unless you send them to your snap story. Snap stories can be viewed for up to 24hours unless the user deletes it. Snap stories can be seen by all of your friends opposed to regular snaps, which can only be seen by the people you send them to. If a user sends a snap stories, they can see which of their friends have viewed their story.

The unique thing about snapchat is once you view a snap it is gone forever. The person who sent the snap can’t see it again as well as the person who viewed the snap that is unless a screenshot is taken. Snapchat cannot prevent people from screenshotting any pictures. Since screenshots can’t be prevented, snapchat came up with a notification that shows if and who screenshots one of your snaps whether it’s a video or a photo. You also receive notifications when someone sends you a snap. Purple symbols signify videos and red symbols signify a photo.

There are a few special features that snapchat has. Users can have best friends. Best friends are the people that you send and receive snaps to and from the most. When you create an account your account is set up so that it shows your 3 best friends but you can change your settings to show up to 7 best friends. Best friends only show once your score is high enough. The scoring system is not exactly clear to many users, but the higher the score, the more a person snaps. People are not really concerned with the scoring system anyways. Like all apps, you can block users. You can also set your account up so that only people you are friends with can see your snaps. Basically you can set up your account so that it is more private. If you connect your app up to your contacts, you can see which of your friends in your phone have an account. In your friends list their name will show up the same way it is in your contacts.

After its grand debut in October of 2010, Instagram has exploded into an estimated 25 million dollar application. Designed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the application was initially only created for Apple users (iPhone, iPod, etc.), but later expanded to include Android technology.

Instagram began as a photo based application that allows users to take, upload, and share snapshots. Within the last year, Instagram has added short videos (15 second maximum) to its resume, allowing users to share small segments of their lives through motion picture. Because of the app’s success, many important lessons can be learned from the app, in terms of usability, functionality, interface, design, and aesthetics.

Upon opening Instagram for the first time, the user will be prompted to enter a name, email, and password, which will lead to the creation of an account. On the app screen, an “Instagram” header is at the top, which is stationary regardless of where the user chooses to navigate or scroll. In the top right-hand corner of the screen is a feature called “Instagram Direct,” which allows users to “send photos and videos directly to friends. Only the people you send to can see these posts.” On the bottom of the screen are fiave buttons – four gray buttons, with a blue button in the middle. The middle and most important button on the Instagram screen is the button that directs users to a camera, where they can directly take photos (or video) using the app to be uploaded directly the Instagram (however, photos can also be taken from a phone or iPod’s internal camera). In the Instagram camera, there is a square screen that allows users to see the photo they are taking. In the bottom left corner, there is a small photo preview that allows users to pick a photo from their device’s internal camera reel. In the middle of the bottom bar is a large, circular blue button for snapping a shot, and to the right of that button is a small video camera icon, designating the app’s video capabilities and changing the “photo screen” to a video screen. After the user takes a snapshot, he or she is prompted to a window that allows the user to enter a small caption. Here, the user also has the option to choose to share the photo via other social networks (including Facebook, Twitter, etc.). After the user hits the large, blue “share” button at the bottom of this screen, he or she will be prompted to the “Home” screen (also the first gray button on the bottom bar of the app) to view a preview of their photo.

On the home screen, a user can scroll up and down through other followers’ photos. From the home screen, a user can also choose to use the remaining three buttons, including the “explore” button (designated by a compass rose), a “notifications” button (designated by a heart inside a speech bubble), and a “profile” button (designated by a small square). The explore button allows a user to search for users and hashtags. The notifications button allows users to view likes and comments on their photos, as well as their friends’ photos. The profile button has the largest amount of information, including a circular profile picture, number of posts, number of followers, number the user is following, and a small about section. There is also a button that allows users to see if they have been tagged in any photos, along with a running feed of all of the user’s photos.

The design of the app itself is very clean and simple. All posted photos are a square shape – the only photo that differs in shape is the user’s profile photo, which is circular. All buttons are shades of gray, and links are blue (matching the color of the previously discussed camera button, along with the Instagram header on the home page.

The interface of the app itself is simple, much like the design aesthetics. The app has five main buttons on the bottom, which is the most intense navigation the app has, aside from a “tools” button found on the profile page, which has fifteen plus tools for customizing settings, finding friends, and privacy policies. Compared to other social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is very straight forward (then again, Instagram is only for photo sharing, while Facebook and Twitter have capabilities to generate and share much more content).

The app functions for a variety of different users, from the “selfie” poster, to the professional photographer, to the “wannabe” photographer, to the average joe. However, the majority of Instagram users utilize Instagram as a means for communicating life events, funny moments, and everyday happenings. Photographers and businesses often utilize Instagram as a means for promoting various products, services, and specials (free of charge).

Instagram’s usability, functionality, interface, design, and aesthetics all work together to create an app that allows for real time communication through photos and short videos. From the average joe to the business owner, users of any walk of life can find enjoyment from and use for Instagram.

The following diagram illustrates the user flow of an Instagram application.

I’ve broken the gamete of Instagram usage into three main groups of people: the Selfie, the Promoter, and the Average ‘Gramer. Each group has its own set of characteristics when interacting with Instagram, as shown in the media examples below.

Post by Jenna Hidinger

http://mediaweb.rmu.edu/~slsst50/isolationfinal/html_css/index.html

Isolation Final.

Sorry I spaced and forget to link this last week!

AnalogBox

Medigram Proposal / Brief

The problem with the current methods for scanning the body for injury, whether it is by MRI machines or X-ray technology, is the fact that they are incredibly uncomfortable. Many times the patient must sit in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time, drink dyes, and even fast for hours before a body scan; often body scans and X-rays must be done multiple times to check for accuracy. Using compact Radium and hologram technology, a device called Medigram would allow the patient to sit, stand, or lay in whatever position they were most comfortable in while delivering the vast medical information necessary to make a quick, but thorough, diagnosis. Medigram is a hand-held portable device, approximately fifteen inches in length; login would be required of doctors and technicians in order to preserve confidentiality. Once logged in, a doctor could view all of his current patients, as well as access scanning options and the files of appointments he or she may have on a given day.

 The Medigram device would work as follows:

Once the patient was comfortable, the doctor or certified technician would utilize the Radium technology and scan the injured area of the body. Once complete, the diagnosis could begin immediately. An X-ray like image would appear on the screen of the device, from this screen the doctor could choose to continue to diagnose via the 2D screen or view the injury in hologram mode. If hologram mode is selected, the tablet would need to be placed screen-side-up on a flat surface such as a table or desk. A three-dimensional hologram of the injured body area would appear displayed inside of a blue cube from a small camera on the front of the device. From this point the doctor could rotate, zoom-in, and swivel the image to find the best and least invasive method to fix the injury. When working on a particular complex area of the body, such as around the heart, Medigram also has the capability to overlay different bodily systems with one another to make sure that no complications can be seen before heading into the operating room, if such means are indeed needed. This is especially unique to the Medigram device; todays’ MRI and X-ray scans are only capable of collecting imagery of one aspect of the body, while Radium technology is smart enough to not only collect imagery of all systems in the scanned area but also identify and separate them for independent overlays on the injured area.

Medigram would come with a specialized pen that would allow the doctor to not only interact with the hologram by holding down the “thumb button” and using gestures in order to zoom-in, rotate the image, and click on various body systems to overlay, but it would also give the doctor the ability to write notes on the hologram. The blue cube surrounding the image would act much like a white board; a small thumb button on the side of the pen would act as a mouse does when over buttons and an eraser when held down over written notes.

If a patient has multiple extensive injuries, such as those of a car crash victim, two or more holograms can be compared next to each other for optimal diagnosis. Using the pen in this mode would give the doctor the ability to click and drag the holograms to arrange them in whatever order suits his or her interest the best.

Medigram would not be for emergency room use; this is a device that would be used in preventative care and to view injuries and plan ahead for surgeries. Because Medigram is small and portable, this device gives the preventative care patients control over what position they are in when a medical scan of their body is being taken. Patients with extensive injuries may still be limited as to how their body is placed, but even then the scan is much quicker and less uncomfortable than current means. Medigram also gives doctors and surgeons more insight into the patient’s unique body before heading into the operating room; this significantly reduces the chances of complications during a surgery or procedure.