Month: April 2018

Is Android Picture-In-Picture Next Step to Innovation For The Edtech Industry?

Posted on by galaxy-admin
When you look at it for the first time, the Android PIP feature looks pretty dope. It is a classic example of taking ‘ease of use’ into account in the design process. For me, the fact that you can play Youtube and still use everything else on phone was enough to rejoice. The feature alters your video watching experience and how. It lets you do so many things without obstructing with your audio/video experience. PIP is not like split screen where you work on two exclusive apps, it’s a special multi-window mode that allows video playback in a small screen on the edge while users can navigate between rest of the apps.

Hey, we were doing fine before this happened

So, around the same time, one of our clients in the Edtech industry came up with an unusual request. They wanted to provide their users with editable notes which can be accessed while watching the video lectures. Their current process required the users to switch frequently between the apps and, let’s just say, it was not as fancy as it sounds.

The course is too much and there’s an issue, it’s not okay

As much as reasonable the problem was, the solution was not easy. We knew the PIP feature was godsent for this, but it was used by a few popular apps only. We talked to the client about it and they were pretty excited. In fact, the client said that if this works out, they will scale it up and add notes for all the sessions. Their users have asked for the same quite often and PIP might just be the answer to everything. We researched around the feature and it was one of the projects where things looked easy from far. Excited and scared, we went ahead and planned the development process. It was about to be a fun ride, or so we hoped!

Hey, can you tell your friends we need it sooner

We began with the project and planned sprints. This was going to be one of those projects where things either worked or they tanked, no in-betweens. Even though Android launched a complete guide on how you can include the feature in your app, significant things had to be planned. The app’s primary service was to provide the lectures and under no circumstance, the efficiency of the same could be compromised.

And I hope it’s gonna be fine and working again

We started stepping up the ladder with basic functions including: Declaring PIP Support: The system does not automatically support PIP for apps. We had to register the video activity by setting android:supportsPictureInPicture and android:resizeableActivity to true. We had to also include room for layout changes in the code so that the activity doesn’t relaunch when layout changes happen in PIP transitions. Switching Activities: To enter the PIP mode we called a function enterPictureInPictureMode() and further added a logic that switches an activity into PIP mode instead of running in the background. UI during PIP Mode: When the function enters the PIP mode the system calls Activity.onPictureInPictureModeChanged() or Fragment.onPictureInPictureModeChanged(). We overrode these callbacks to redraw the UI elements in the activity. Adding these basic functions got the PIP mode running. The client was not completely sure and hence, went ahead with initial testing. The application worked fine, at least prima facie. But there was a small problem. When the users tapped the back button to switch to the app from the pinned video, the app unexpectedly closed. In short, the user couldn’t restore the app.

So can we pull over and get rid of this once and for ever

It took a while for us to figure this out. The thing is, when you switch to the PIP mode, Android moves only the PIP activity into a new task. This causes a problem if the user stays within the app after restoring the PIP window back to full screen and tapping back. The app must re-create the back-stack to accomplish this. We understood what was happening within the whole process and why the user can’t restore the app. Due to application’s current architecture, back-stack recreation was happening automatically. To resolve the problem we went through many tests to find out where we were losing the back-stack process. This was our gateway. We added a link after the notes which redirected the student to the video. Another problem popped up when we were at our final stages of testing. The video playback in the PIP mode was causing audio intervention for other apps. To manage the video playback and other apps, we called a function requestAudioFocus() and supplied a parameter AudioFocusRequest. Further, we used this parameter to request and abandon focus.
Within the span of five weeks we solved the problem and successfully implemented the software which helped the client get more students onboard.

Key Takeaways (feel free to use and learn):

> PIP is intended for applications and actions that play full-screen videos. So you should avoid anything except video content when switching your activity into PIP mode. > As the PIP window is a floating screen, make it a point to avoid showing critical information on the areas that can be obscured by the PIP Window. > When your app is in PIP mode, video playback in the PIP window can cause audio interference with another app, such as a music player app or voice search app. To avoid this, request audio focus when you start playing the video, and handle audio focus change notifications, as described in Managing Audio Focus. > PIP only works in Android Oreo 8.0 and versions above. Quickly make a move to upgrade your mobile applications. Get in touch with our development team and give your users an astonishing experience of learning.

Data Security Matters: Know Everything about GDPR Requirements, Compliances, and Deadline

Posted on by galaxy-admin
“Personal data shall be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures” ~GDPR Article 5, clause 1(f). From May 25, 2018, organizations will be dealing with penalized under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) if they violate its privacy laws. EU parliament approved and adopted the GDPR in April 2016 and it will be implemented next month, forcing numerous organizations to change their data protection policy. The deadline is May 25, 2018. It will also restrict companies from circulating data to the third parties to control unwanted marketing and reduce the risk of data selling.

What is GDPR?

GDPR is a regulation to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions within 28 member states of EU or even outside. It regulates the exportation of personal data outside EU. Also, it give users more control over how the organizations use their personal data. If companies fail to comply with the rules, they have to pay hefty penalties.

What all data does GDPR protect for the users?

Identity information like name, address and ID numbers

  • Web data such as location, IP address, cookie data etc.
  • Health data and genetic data
  • Biometric data
  • Racial data or ethnic data
  • Political opinions
  • Sexual orientation

Why did EU Parliament adopt this regulation?

The users in EU were doubtful on how companies treat their personal data, creating a mistrust in the users. According to the WARC survey, 85% users say they would boycott a company that showed disregard for protecting consumer data.

Are you under the risk of GDPR?

Any company that stores or processes personal information of EU citizens within EU states will drop under GDPR. Even if your company does not have a business presence within EU, but processes personal data of EU residents you are under the GDPR. A company with more than 250 employees or less, whose data processing impacts the freedom of data subjects will also be affected. A survey from PwC showed that about 92% of the US companies consider GDPR a top data protection policy.

What will the General Data Protection Regulation cost your company?

According to a PwC survey mentioned above, 68% of the US-based companies expect to spend $1 million to $10 million to meet GDPR requirements. Another 9% expect to spend more than $10 million. There’s a huge group of third party vendors that have access to this personal data across the globe. GDPR made it very clear that the companies need to ensure that all their third party vendors adhere to GDPR and process the data accordingly.

The client contract must reflect the regulatory changes such as:

  • Regulatory fines: EU is long known about its willingness to levy steep fines for regulatory non-compliance. In case a data breach is reported, not having contracts in place might work drastically against the company.
  • Operational: Have you decided the plan of action or the data flow with the third-party vendors? If not, it is not clear how you will be operating under GDPR.
  • Vendor management: According to GDPR, you must know how your vendors operate, what security framework they use, and how they process the user data. Without such critical knowledge, you don’t know the risk they present.
Do your vendors present a transparent process when it comes to data processing? Does your contract clearly mention the data usage guidelines? If not, it is clearly an indication that you don’t know what your vendors are doing with the data, which leads to a larger management issue.

Implications to breach of contract:

In case of non-compliance with GDPR a company can be penalized up to €20 million or 4 percent of global annual turnover, whichever is higher. The question is how the penalties will be assessed? According to the agreement, the regulators will swiftly act on a few companies found to be not in compliance with the GDPR to send out a message. This will help organizations to assess the penalties related to GDPR. The companies must report data breaches to supervisory authorities and individual affected by a breach within 72 hours of threat detection. The GDPR requirements will also force the companies to change they way they process, store and protect user’s personal information.

Are you ready with a robust data protection framework?

Here is what you need to do:
  1. Involve all the stakeholders — Just IT cannot set-up a data security infrastructure. Get hold of anyone and everyone in your organization who collects client’s information.
  2. Conduct a session for all your stakeholders in the process — Explain your stakeholders what is the importance of GDPR and how can it make a change in the organization’s process. Tell about the consequences and how regulation can affect the company.
  3. Create a data protection plan — Many companies have already created a data protection plan, but it’s time to review them once again.
Mobile-first VS GDPR — Mobile devices are one of the major hurdles setting up a strong security framework. According to a survey of IT and security executives by Lookout, Inc., 63% of employees access personally identifiable information (PII) of customer, partner, and employee, using mobile devices. This creates a gap, making unique set of risks for GDPR non-compliance. Companies facing GDPR compliance requirements must look for viable mobile threat defence solutions to protect EU PII, enabling them to achieve risk mitigation. This requires few steps:
  • Identify risks on EU data that mobile devices can present
  • Implement risk-based conditional access policies
  • Prepare GDPR’s “72 hours threat notification” process
  • Apply powerful security features around data transfer.
If your organization is on a growth stage focusing on clients based in EU, you surely need to work a lot on your security framework. Still thinking where to start from for the GDPR compliance? We can help you out. Get in touch with us here. Take the next step before it’s too late