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Monday, March 25, 2013

UDIDs banned by Apple


Apple has finally placed a deadline on its rejection of apps that use UDIDs (Universal Device Identifier). 

Starting May 1, the App Store will no longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs. 

Companies will have to update their apps and servers to associate users with the Vendor or Advertising Identifiers introduced in iOS 6. 

UDID

A UDID, or “Unique Device Identifier,” is simply a specific serial number for your iDevice. 
The UDID has been mainly used as a way to document the existence of your device and to track it. It is a 40-number, alphanumeric string that is not replicated on any other iDevice.

The UDID is also important because it is the way that most ad companies profile cellphone users for marketing purposes. 

There have been a lots of issues raised about iOS apps sending UDID numbers to ad companies without the user’s permission. Finally Apple, after several months of progressively transitioning developers away from the use of UDIDs has put an end to their use.

The below video will show give a good picture on why Apple has finally adopted the decision of rejecting apps that use UDIDs.




Advertising Identifiers


iOS 6 introduced the Advertising Identifier, a non-permanent, non-personal device identifier, 
that advertising networks will use to give you more control over advertisers’ ability to use tracking methods.

The Limit Ad Tracking option in iOS 6 Settings

If you choose to limit ad tracking, advertising networks using the Advertising Identifier may no longer gather information to serve you targeted ads. 

In the future all advertising networks will be required to use the Advertising Identifier. 
However, until advertising networks transition to using the Advertising Identifier you may still 
receive targeted ads from other networks. 





Sunday, March 3, 2013

Google Game - Ingress

The combination of game and location based service brings new possibilities for business and end-users. Google is approaching this opportunity with the development of Ingress game.

Ingress

Ingress is an augmented reality  massively multiplayer online video game created by NianticLabs@Google, released only for Android devices.

Players of the game belong to one of two factions, “Enlightened” (represented in green) and “Resistance” (blue). The game-play allows players to enclose regions of territory on the surface of the earth with virtual links between virtual portals, which are visible in the game software. The top-level goal of the game is for one’s faction to control large numbers of “Mind Units”, the estimated number of humans within the regions of territory controlled by the faction.

Ingress was officially launched on November 16, 2012, supported by an online viral marketing campaign. It was noticed as early as November 8 and other earlier efforts have been noted at events such as Comic Con in San Diego on July 12, 2012. Google employees have been testing the game for at least 6 months. It is currently in closed beta and available for download on Google's Play Store.



If you want to play it, you need to get an invitation. You can get the inviation as well as more information in Ingress website: www.ingress.com