Skype Enables Video on More Android Smartphones

IDG News Service — Skype has released version 2.1 of its application for Android, which allows more smartphones and tablets based on Google’s (GOOG) operating system to use its video calling feature, it said in a blog post on Thursday.

The company published a list of 17 devices that can now make video calls, including the HTC Desire, HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.

Initially, the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S were the only phones compatible with the feature.

Users with Android 2.2-based smartphones that aren’t on Skype’s list should still be able to make video calls, according to the company. The feature can be enabled by going into “Skype settings” after launching the application and selecting “enable video calling.”

If a user can’t see the video calling settings, it means their Android phone does not meet the minimum requirements needed, according to Skype.

In addition, the new version of Skype for Android has bug fixes and performance enhancements, which should further improve the user experience of Skype on Android-based smartphones.

How to Track a QR Code in Google Analytics

    This post is for those that are already familiar with what QR codes are. However, to quickly touch on the exactly what it is… it’s a two-dimensional bar code. QR means “Quick Response”. The code allows its contents to be decoded by devices like mobile phones that can scan and then quickly open website links right on the phone automatically.

So… You have created your QR code, but you don’t know how many people actually scan it and visit your site. In this post we will cover how to create a QR code that can be tracked in Google Analytics so you can measure how many website visitors you receive because of  your QR codes. 

If you create a shortened URL for your QR code, you will be able to more easily identify the referral traffic in your Google Analytics data. This makes reporting data a lot easier. First, you will need to have the website address (URL) of your QR code. If you have already created a QR code, but don’t have the URL, it will be almost impossible to track the activity from the QR code.

The best way to track your QR code data is to first use the Google URL Builder.

This tool will allow you to create your URL, define the Campaign Source, Campaign Mediumand Campaign Name. Building your URL with this tool will also allow you to track exactly how many people scanned your QR code and which phones they use, how long they stayed on your website, and much more.

After you build your URL using the Google URL Builder, you can now use a URL shortener to crunch it down to size. The hidden benefit to using a URL shortener is that some services allow you to edit the link after it has been shortened. Google’s URL Shortenerdoes not allow you to edit the URL once it has been shortened, however, something like Shortswitch’s URL shortening service does let you edit afterwards. This will allow you to redirect the destination of the QR code in the future if ever you want to change the purpose of the specific QR code you’ve already created!

* UPDATE: Shortswitch.com will automatically create a QR code for each URL that you shorten. So, this process gets even easier. You don’t have to go out and find a third-party QR creation tool this way.

The Critical Importance of Web Usability Before, During and After a Disaster

In the past two years, Eye Street has had the opportunity to conduct user research with disaster survivors in Galveston, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Raleigh.  We’ve conducted user research with disaster managers at conferences in Orlando, San Antonio, Toronto and also with those interested in disaster preparedness through multiple studies in the Washington DC area.

Eye Street will recreate the experience of these user groups using new online resources that will eventually replace the resources that they currently use.  We have them try certain tasks on these Web sites and assess whether they can complete these tasks successfully.  Also, we’ve had the opportunity to listen to their stories - to hear and better understand what they went through in order to assure that the Web sites that are being created would meet the needs of these types of audience groups in the future. 

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Evangelizing Usability: Training Those Who Create Disaster-Related Web sites.

Back in 2009, a government client asked Eye Street for a series of “lunch and learn” sessions for those who create disaster-related Web sites for survivors, disaster managers and the general public. She proposed that we come up with a number of short usability-oriented topics, and perhaps offer one per month. This smaller idea snowballed into a total of eight topics centered around usability that were soon woven into a two-day usability workshop.

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ShortSwitch ~ Your URL shrinky generator thingy… a white-labeled short URL service.

Why ShortSwitch?

Brand Your Short URLs With Our White Label Service

We are a custom URL shortening service that allows you to use your own domain or subdomain . Your users will know they are clicking on trustworthy links because it’s your domain. Only your authorized users can create links on your short URL service. Your domain will show up in the tweets rather than someone elses short URL service.

Monitor and analyze statistics for your short URLs on our admin interface, and provide new services via our API . Your short URLs never expire .

Google+ iPhone App: 5 Things You Need to Know

CIO — Almost a month after Google (GOOG) announced its new social network, the Google+ iPhone app is finally available in the iTunes App Store. Those who downloaded the app Tuesday when it first went live complained of a litany of bugs. Google has since released an update, fixing many of the errors.

solr + autotest = continuously running tests

You just implemented solr on your Rails app. You’re happy as a jaybird. Later you make some change that causes a test to fail. Autotest prints out the failed test and then…runs again? And again and again and again….

Just tell me how to fix it

Add “solr” to your .autotest file’s exceptions. Don’t have one? Here’s what it’ll look like:

Longer version

What’s happening is simple to explain - Autotest is detecting that some file has changed and, as it’s programmed to do, reruns your tests. The problem is that the file that has changed is one or many of your solr index files. And the solr index files are changing all the time leading autotest to continuously believe it must rerun the tests.

NIEM – A Practical Use Case

If you work with the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) as well as with other standards, you often run into issues related to how your overall work should incorporate (or not incorporate) NIEM. The rules for NIEM allow you to use recognized external standards independently. FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) does this with it implementation of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standard (http://shor.tswit.ch/hb). You can also use components from an external Standard within a NIEM conforming schema, but only if you use the formally defined NIEM “Adapter” approach. You can also use NIEM inside an externally defined standard wrapper as shown in the graphic below.

Gary Ham, an Eye Street Solutions team member on the IPAWS Program will be giving a talk at the NIEM National Training Event (NTE) on August 23-25, 2011 in Philadelphia (http://shor.tswit.ch/hc). During this talk he will discuss using an OASIS Emergency Data Exchange Language - Distribution Element (EDXL-DE) as a wrapper as shown in the diagram above, but it will go beyond that. Gary will discuss how NIEM conforming data structures can be used within the EDXL-DE wrapper itself as DE conforming metadata to describe the content and desired distribution of the Information Exchange Package (IEP). The goal is to show an innovative use of NIEM that is actually made possible by the (also) innovative structure designed into the EDXL-DE standard. The actual content of the IEP will be an IPAW Profile conforming CAP message. The wrapping DE will use NIEM conforming metadata to define IPAWS distribution and content identification needs.