Imagine you wander in to your doctors appointment, and oh – your physician is wearing Google Glass.

Sound far-fetched? It won’t for long. While still in an early stage, Google Glass could significantly change healthcare as it is today. In fact, VentureBeat’s Christina Farr says it could provide medical professionals with point-of-care decision support (assuming Google Glass has been well in-the-wild tested first, of course):

“Some of their most plausible medical scenarios include:

•  Video sharing and storage: Physicians could record medical visits and store them for future reference or share the footage with other doctors.
• A diagnostic reference: If Glass is integrated with an electronic medical record (EMR), it could provide a real-time feed of the patient’s vital signs.
• A textbook alternative: Rather than referring to a medical textbook, physicians can perform a search on the fly with their Google Glass.
• Emergency room/war zone care: As storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen proposed in a recent interview, consider ”dealing with wounded patients and right there in their field of vision, if they’re trying to do any kind of procedure, they’ll have step-by-step instructions walking them through it.” In a trauma situation, doctors need to keep their hands free.
• Helping medical students learn: As suggested by one blogger, a surgeon might live stream a live — and potentially rare — surgery to residents and students.
• Preventing medical errors: With an electronic medical record integration, a nurse can scan the medication to confirm whether it’s  the correct drug dose and right patient.”

Read the rest here>>

Another day… another app security attack.

The very popular productivity app, Evernote, was hacked this past Saturday.  In response to the security attack, the company has decided to reset the passwords of its entire user base. This means an estimated 50 million users will need to reset their account info. According to Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch:

“Evernote is requiring its nearly 50 million users to reset their passwords after the popular personal note-taking app became the latest high-profile victim of wide-scale hacking attempts. The breach follows malicious activity at Twitter, Facebook and others in recent weeks.

Phil Libin, Evernote’s CEO and founder, told TechCrunch in an email everything is running, although if you try to access the site things may not work as normal at the moment: ‘We just pushed out a password reset, so the servers are going to be saturated for a bit,’ he wrote. ‘Everything is up, although response is choppy. There’s no threat to user data that we’re aware of.’”

A pattern of these security attacks seems to be emerging. It’s important for app makers to note that the effects of an attack like this can be detrimental. Trust is everything for an app’s users, and once their privacy is breached it’s extremely difficult to regain. Luckily,  Lunden says in Evernote’s case no bank information was stolen:

“In a blog post, the company said that ‘individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords,’ but that no payment details were accessed. ‘We don’t store any user payment info, so no payment info can be compromised,‘ Libin told TechCrunch.”

Since most apps do store payment information, Evernote’s latest incident prompts a massive app-wide need for security testing. As the Evernote team can likely attest, it’s impossible to predict and test for these attacks inside the lab. Utilizing white-hat security experts under real world conditions is the only way to identify and patch these vulnerabilities.

For more information on In-The-Wild Security Testing, click here.

We often talk about in-the-wild testing without mentioning any specific locations. Most of the time, that’s because we don’t have a specific one in mind. If we did, that place would (more often than not) be the great nation of Canada.

We’ve seen before why so many American gaming companies look North when testing a new application. Now, we see that Facebook is doing the same – testing a new voicemail service with Canadian users. Here’s the story from VentureBeat:

This new feature has just been added to the most recent version of Facebook’s  iOS and Android mobile applications. Perhaps more interesting, Facebook is also testing Voice over Internet  Protocol (VoIP) calling (à la Skype). This product test will be rolling out  first to Facebook for iOS users in — wait for it — Canada. Finally, someone puts Canada first. Good on ya, Canadians.

“To use this new feature, simply tap the ‘+’ next to the box where you write  a message, then tap ‘Record’ and hold down the record button to talk,” writes  our Facebook source in an email.

And if you wondering what makes Canada such a great place for American companies to test their apps, here’s a good list from the Forbes.com piece:

1. Play and monetization patterns in Canada are very similar to US; if metrics indicate that something is working in Canada, there’s a good chance that it’ll work in the US.
2. It’s on the same timezone as US, so more practical for US-based companies than soft-launching in, say, Australia.
3. It’s an English-speaking country, and most mobile games are English-only in alpha and beta stage.
4. It’s a relatively small country by population, and it’s still possible to soft launch in Canada without the US press picking it up and spoiling the actual global launch.

Read the Rest of Facebook’s latest testing project.

You can find mobile apps for travel just about anywhere, but finding travel apps that work in-the-wild, under real world conditions is a little trickier. When you’re relying on technology to guide you around an unknown place –accuracy, options and constancy are a must. ReadWrite just recently posted a list by Taylor Hatmaker of “Must Have Travel Apps: Tested On A Real Trip”. The apps were tested in the very busy and chaotic San Francisco, no less.  Here’s a look:

1. “ Getting Around Made Addictively Easy: Uber. As a former Manhattanite and all-around urban power-walker, I don’t take cabs often. But in San Francisco, my constant frustration with the public transportation system drove me to it once or twice – and everyone kept telling me I had to try Uber…”You have to order the black car just to see how it feels.” So I did. Not only did it subtract every irritating thing that annoys me about getting a cab to begin with (Vying against fellow city-goers! Arguing about using a credit card! Awkward tipping!) but I felt like a mafia wife. Amazing.
2. #Epicfail: Apple Maps In iOS 6. At the moment, I use both an iPhone 4S and a Nexus 4, so I thought I’d put Apple’s new Maps to the test. I rarely defend Apple’s software choices, but recently I’d even reassured a few friends that iOS 6 maps wasn’t that bad. Well, I’d like to formally apologize to anyone who listened to me – Maps in iOS 6 is godforsakenly bad. In San Francisco – the technology capitol of the United States – most of the time the app didn’t even properly display the Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations in the middle of downtown. Instead, it always showed the Van Ness Muni (local San Francisco mass transit) station… and the Apple Store, of course. Want bus directions? Forget about it. Enjoy the redirect to a third-party app. I imagine Apple execs have quite a few Uber bills showing up on those expense reports.
3.  A Lifesaver With Limited Options: Hotel Tonight. In a weird turn of events that involved geophysicists taking over SoMA, I had to basically had to hotel-hop for my four nights in San Francisco. After last-minute-ish Airbnb propositions consummately failed me, I turned to Hotel Tonight, which yes, books same-day hotels at deep discounts. I’m a comparison shopping junkie, so Hotel Tonight’s simple, sleek interface and small batch of curated bookings was perfect. The app refreshes with new listings at noon (it sends alterts!), and was perfect for all of my last minute “I’m not sleeping in my rental car” needs.
4. The Essentialest Essential Travel App: Yelp. Yelp has been one of my top three essential apps since… forever. It’s almost a nervoud tic at this point – I can’t actually cross the threshold of any kind of establishment without Yelping it, even in my own city. With reliable user ratings, a robust map view and awesome filters, Yelp will never do you wrong.
5. Serendipitous But Superfluous: Field Trip for Android. I’ve been playing around with this one a bit, and it’s pretty neat if you’re not in a hurry. The app, built by Niantic Labs within Google, is a handy little virtual tour guide that surfaces cool stuff nearby with contextual info. You can teach it what you’re interested in and set up geo-triggered alerts for your stroll through a city. In my case I enabled the Architecture and Historic Places categories and disabled all of the deals and shopping stuff. It’s far from essential, but it’s a neat way to learn cool facts that will come up later on Jeopardy – and it ties into Ingress, Google’s crazy new Augmented Reality game.
6.  The Best Maps App, Still: Google Maps For Android. Ah, sweet, native Google Maps. The app has always been superior on its home turf, and with Jelly Bean and Google Now it’s better than ever. It’s got it all, turn-by-turn directions, support for public transportation (and biking routes!) and starring locations (akin to dropping a pin) is my favorite way to see where I’ve been and where I’m going.
7. Reality Gamification With Occasional Social Utility: Foursquare. Call me paranoid, but I don’t open Foursquare unless I’m out of town – it just creeps me out. Since most of my travel is to tech events, Foursquare is suddenly transformed from stalker-bait to a bustling real-life mini-game that helps me find friends – and cut the signal-to-noise ratio when there are multiple events going on and you can’t tell which is the cool one and which is the decoy event for losers. Don’t be fooled- there’s always a decoy event.

I may have almost walked into traffic more than a few times while triangulating my position when I wasn’t particularly lost, but I did learn a few things. Whipping out a smartphone can be disruptive, but with smart notifications, dead-simple interfaces and cooler data, the best apps are getting even better at seamlessly weaving themselves into our worlds. Just look both ways before you cross the street.”

There you have it – apps’ real world functionality that can only be discovered through in-the-wild testing. Have you found any apps to be useful while traveling? Drop us a note in the comments section.

Windows 8 has brought about some mixed reviews – some bad, some excellent and some say it’s just “good enough”. Good enough seemed to be the takeaway of TechCrunch’s John Briggs who has used Windows 8 for a few weeks in-the-wild. However, Briggs says there are a few things that even Apple could learn for Microsoft Windows 8. Here are 5 of them:

1. “Try a little touch – I was writing on my Mac the other day and suddenly an autocorrect box popped up and stayed up a little to long. The suggested words appeared and the little X to close the window. My finger instinctively rose to tap it closed and, much to my chagrin, nothing happened. Apple has ingrained the idea of touch as a viable interface yet refuses to add it to its own line of laptops and desktops. Arguably OS X is definitely not ready for a touch interface with its tiny buttons and menus, but fullscreen mode and Launchpad ostensibly point to a potential iOS-like interface. I think the desktop/window user experience is going to be difficult to tear away from the laptop or PC experience, but as Apple proved with iOS, users are more than happy to try a new paradigm. Microsoft tried constantly to make tablets work by throwing a stock Windows experience onto a slate. Now they have a chance.
2. Hide the file system – While arguably Windows 8 doesn’t exactly hide the file system from prying eyes, in the Metro interface you are reminded that it exists far less than usual. While dumping into the desktop interface offers a jarring reminder that all your files are still there, the default Win 8 concept is of a machine that holds files with little input or mussing about by the user. This, in a way, is a good thing. While we nerds love deep, branching file systems, the average user is mystified by them. Where do files go? Why did they end up in Documents and not Downloads? Instead of making a home directory, why not make a home space. Everything can pop up in there and a quick search reveals the files. Granted, Apple has done some of this in iCloud, but it’s not quite there yet.
3. Better system-wide social – Granted neither company has quite implemented social quite that well just yet, but Microsoft’s live tiles with flipping and flopping feed images and the interaction between social networks and contact lists is doing an interesting job of it. Simply Tweeting from the Services menu isn’t exactly what many of us had in mind when we thought of true social interaction.
4. Smarter icons – If there’s anything I like about Win 8 and Windows Phone, it’s the concept of live tiles or, more precisely, live icons. OS X and iOS badges work and something can be said for the zen-like stasis of most previous-gen icons, but more information at a glance is becoming increasingly more important. Although we could argue about the potential distractions associated with messy live tiles all over the screen, I still think it’s a sight better than that incessant bouncing or the tiny numbered badge that offers little in the way of informative content.
5. Shake things up – Here’s the thing: at least Microsoft knows that the desktop model is stagnant. Touchscreens are a proven method for device interaction and they have tried, and failed, to bring Windows to slates. They know what works and what doesn’t. Love them or hate them, Microsoft has a dog in the fight for the future OS design. Now everyone else will have to play catch-up.”

In-the-wild testing is a great way to find bugs – but can also be very useful in identifying successful, well-done features (as demonstrated here). What are your thoughts on Windows 8? Let us know in the comments section.

Happy Thanksgiving, In-The-Wild readers! As you enjoy the rest of turkey day, brace yourself for the coming holiday rush as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach. Cyber Monday is only a few days away, and we’re hoping this year major retail websites are more prepared than they were in 2011.

While earlier in the week we highlighted some web security concerns, a bigger issue exists in regards to peak website traffic. On Monday, countless consumers will hit the same websites all at once which can cause delayed load times and crashes. Last year, Madeleine Scinto of Business Insider called 2011’s Cyber Monday “A Big Fail”:

“If you experienced a website glitch on Cyber Monday, you’re not alone. Despite record online sales, many of the 55 top retail websites went down periodically throughout the day and cost many of the companies hundreds of thousands of dollars , according to a survey by Catchpoint.com.

‘I’m a little bit shocked,’ said Mehdi Daoudi, founder of Catchpoint. ‘Users will get over it, but it will leave a bad taste in their mouths.’

Brookstone went out for 25 percent of Cyber Monday, followed by Crutchfield at 19 percent and PC Mall at 9 percent. Others in the Top Ten Fail list include Toys ‘R’ Us, Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, and Barnes & Noble. Daoudi believes most of the websites could not handle the traffic, which he found odd considering Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year.”

By simply overlooking load testing, these 55 companies suffered costly consequences last year. While a live website load test with users hitting the site on different browsers in different parts of the world costs money, the cost of a Cyber Monday crash is far, far greater. So have retail companies done their homework, and are they ready for peak traffic this Monday? We’ll find out.

Click here for more information on Load Testing.

When it comes to selecting a browser, load times and performance are huge. Currently, Google Chrome is widely used because of its performance in comparison to some of the other browsers. However, the long-awaited IE10 was released with Windows 8 last month, and Windows 7 users can still try IE10 on the Windows 8 Preview. So how does IE10 fair against Chrome- and how much better is IE10 opposed to IE9? Grant Brunner in ExtremeTech ran some real world tests on the browsers to find out:

“I wanted to know how IE10 compared to Chrome and IE9, so I did three different tests: SunSpider JavaScript performance, HTML5 compliance, and page load times on live websites.

JavaScript

Using the SunSpider 0.9.1 benchmarking tool from the developers of WebKit, the three browsers are given an overall score depending on how long it took them to execute a suite of synthetic JavaScript benchmarks. For this test, the lower the score the better. IE9 finished running the performance test in 814.4ms, give or take 0.6%. Chrome 23 was able to complete it in just 183.2ms, give or take 1.7%. Most impressively, IE10 was the fastest at a mere 127.2ms, give or take 1.5%. IE10 bested Chrome by 56ms, but it absolutely destroyed IE9 by 687.2ms. That’s a huge difference that will make for much improved performance when using complex web apps.

HTML5

HTML5 compliance is a bit hard to test because the W3C, the web standards body, has yet to agree on the complete specification. As of now, we’re working using its draft spec. Currently, The HTML5 Test is one of the best ways to test if your browser supports five hundred different HTML5 features as well as bonus features not defined in the spec, such as multiple codec support for video playback. IE9 scored a measly 138/500 with five bonus points. Chrome 23 scored 448/500 with 13 bonus points. IE10 scored somewhere in between with 320/500 with 6 bonus points. The HTML5 Test is not perfect. It doesn’t test how well your browser performs its tasks, but it does check to see if your browser can perform them, so it’s good to know where your browser of choice stands.

Load times

Read more…

We all know Cyber Monday is a huge day for online purchases. However, what most Cyber Monday shoppers don’t know is that most retail sites on the web are not secure. According to VentureBeat, 61% of malicious sites are trusted sites that have been infected.

For developers and companies with a retail web presence, it is crucial to security test for in-the-wild vulnerabilities before a big day like Cyber Monday. And for customers, there are ways to protect yourself from attacks while online shopping. Here is Robert Bunge of VentureBeat’s best practices:

“Password Security – Strengthen and lengthen your passwords

Mix in numbers and special characters, and avoid proper names and sequential number strings (i.e. 12345). And don’t use ‘password’ as your password – the most popular password in 2011 was ‘password.’

The username and password combination is the most typical way to prove your identity on the web, but weak and ineffective passwords open the door for identity theft. The first general rule of password construction is to make it long. A short password can be cracked easily by a high speed program.

Use different passwords on different web sites and change them every so often. Failure to do this means loss of a password by one merchant could expose your accounts on all the others. Passphrases are a good way to generate strong, yet memorable passwords. Here is one example: ‘Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light’ becomes ’0Scucb+de1.’

Trusted Websites – Only shop on reputable sites

Look for the SSL certificate and ensure the site starts with https:// and has a padlock icon.

The risks of shopping online are similar to face-to-face transactions. About.com offers the following general tips to minimize your risk. First, debit cards are the worst non-cash option. Why? If the card is stolen or the goods are not shipped, you are on the hook for any fraud or loss. PayPal and credit cards offer more robust dispute resolution and fraud prevention. PayPal will appeal to those who do not like to give out a credit card number. However, if PayPal is tied directly to your bank account, you need to monitor for suspicious activity in that account.

One good technique when considering a new merchant is to check that company name in one or more search engines. If the words ‘scam,’ ‘fraud,’ or ‘rip-off’ pop up, consider yourself duly warned! Also verify that the URL matches the merchant. Scammers often load the left-hand side of the URL with real company names to lure you in.

Payment – Use only one form of payment: a credit card

Putting your debit card information online opens up details to your checking account. Consider using sites with the PayPal and VeriSign icons. Having a dedicated credit card for online shopping is a good idea; it helps you spot problems and reduces your risk to other accounts.

Secured Networks – Never shop on an open Wi-Fi network

If the network is open, your information is open.”

 To read the rest click here. What’s your favorite site for Cyber Monday shopping? Let us know in the comments section.

Battery life is dependent on many factors including usage, location, network, feature configuration, and many other factors. The new iPhone 5 and iOS6 have been released to all Apple users – and with all the new features and capabilities many assume that the battery life will be drastically different.

So, how is the iPhone 5’s battery life? Daniel Chubb in Product Reviews tested the iPhone 5 in-the-wild for any battery life differences:

“We have been playing around with the iPhone 5 for a few days now and noticed immediately that the battery life is at least the same as the 4S in real world tests, which means a loss of a couple of percent an hour in most circumstances. Obviously that kind of iPhone 5 battery life is under light usage and would drain much faster if video had been constantly played.

Apple’s iOS 6 has been plagued with problems for some users, and especially those running the new software on an iPhone 4S, which we touched on a few days ago and received a massive response from PR readers. The reactions to this article clearly showed some problems with battery life for an iPhone 4S with iOS 6 installed. We doubt every phone is affected, but by the response it is clear that a large amount of users are experiencing fast battery drain.”

The iPhone 5’s battery life remains the same, but the iPhone 4S with iOS 6 installed has been causing some battery-related problems.

Have you been using the iPhone 5 or the new OS in-the-wild? Share your thoughts on any real world differences you have observed in the comments section.

Are you tired of those never ending check-out lines at retail stores? Wal-Mart is testing a real world solution that could really cut down on checkout times. The company’s new “Scan & Go” app is currently being tested in-the-wild. The app allows shoppers to scan items using their iPhones, and then pay at the self-checkout counter.

According to Jessica Wohl in the Huffington Post, the test was carefully orchestrated:

“Earlier this week, Wal-Mart invited employees with Apple Inc iPhones to participate in a test at a Wal-Mart supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas, near the company’s headquarters…

…Wal-Mart’s test appears to be limited to one store, but it appears that the company sought out participants beyond its staff for its study. The company asked employees to reach out to friends and family in its search for participants, according to a copy of an email sent by the company’s @WalmartLabs team and obtained by Reuters. A company spokesman would not verify this on Friday afternoon.

Wal-Mart offered participants in one-hour sessions $100 for their time and a $25 gift card to use in the store for purchases, according to the form on the Survey Monkey website.”

A major retail store like Wal-Mart knows the importance of testing in-the-wild, before releasing the app store-wide to customers. If the app didn’t function correctly it could cost Wal-Mart major bucks and credibility. Also, if the purpose is to cut down on checkout times and make shopping easier – it will be important to see if the app does improve efficiency once it is placed in a real shopping environment.

Thoughts on scan and shop technology – does it work or does it just create more hassle? Let us know in the comments section.