The Voluntary Disclosure Program and What to Do if You Failed to Declare Income to the Canada Revenue Agency

If you have undeclared income you can take steps to resolve the problem before you get into big trouble with the Canada Revenue Agency. Your options will depend on the status of your tax file with the Canada Revenue Agency.

nehru medical college medical college curriculum college physician assistant

Brazil spots new oil leak as safety worries rise

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian authorities identified a small oil leak off the shores of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, the latest in a series of spills that has raised safety concerns over the development of some of the world's largest petroleum reserves.

subharti medical college madras medical company college for physician assistant

[Poll] Do Developers Think Consumers Like Push Notifications?

Easy, instant push notifications are a phenomenon of modern mobile technology. They deliver news, app updates, requests and prompts to users to complete an action. Mobile developers, marketers and advertisers all see push notifications as a key way to reach an audience at the most personal level: straight into their pockets.

This level of personal interaction is precisely what makes consumers not entirely trust push notifications. It is a mixed bag: They love notifications when they are useful, hate them when they become a vehicle of spam. For developers, this is a fine line. There is a fundamental disconnect between technologists and consumers when it comes to push notifications. Many developers think push is a wonderful, useful tool. Most consumers would prefer to be left alone. Developers: what do you think consumers think of push notifications? That is the subject of this week's ReadWriteMobile poll.

Sponsor

Not All Push Created Equal

There are many subtleties to the push notification conversation. How, when and why to deploy push notifications depends on the type of app (a news app, social app or game, for instance) but also on the type of platform they are being pushed from. Android, iOS and Windows Phone all handle push differently and that can be a source of frustration for developers.

The consensus among many developers that I have talked to is that the way push works on Android is the most preferable in terms of user experience. For instance, if an app sends 20 push notifications to an Android smartphone, only the most recent notification will show in the users' message tray. That is when Android push notifications work; between the three operating systems, it is also the most unreliable. Notifications sometimes get lost or take a long time to show up.

In terms of a purely technical distribution, iOS has the most stable push notification system. Notifications almost always arrive in real time and are gathered in a drop-down notification tray that was released with iOS 5.0. iOS notifications are also the most intrusive. Unlike Android, all notifications are shown in the tray, and they tend to build on top of each other. Many an iOS user knows what it is like to have that little red number hover over an app that constantly sends push notifications. When the notifications never stop, that can be a frustrating experience.

Windows Phone has the oddest push system: Only the most recent applications will be allowed to send push to a user. This is governed by how many "Live Tiles" a user has one their phone. With Windows Phone Mango, only 30 Live Tiles are permitted (up from 15), creating a bottleneck of endpoints for developers sending push notifications. Users with highly customized Live Tiles may not receive push from apps they do not create a tile for. Windows Phone also has several different kinds of push displays, including "Deep Toast" and multi-tile notifications. Android and iOS also have gradations of the types of notifications that can be sent.

Chart: Push Notifications Overview from Microsoft

Different Use Cases, Different Reactions

Some push notifications are exemplary uses of the technology. Others are borderline and can be annoying, depending on the user. Others are outright spam.

In the industry, the best use of push notifications are often cited to come from apps like The Weather Channel and Words With Friends. If there is severe weather, like a large tornado coming my way, you best believe I want a timely push notification. The Weather Channel is parsimonious about how it sends notifications, usually only pushing news when something dramatic is about to happen. Words With Friends is the best example of a game using push to tell a player when it is their turn. It is one of the features that makes the game so addictive.

On the other hand, we have games like Urban Crime from Gameloft that sends constant, intrusive push notifications that are highly annoying. This is where the line gets tricky. To a certain extent, Urban Crime is just trying to pull you back into the game through game mechanics. On the other hand, Gameloft sends too many, and it is hard to make them stop. Other entities, such as the new Color app, send push notifications whenever a user "visits." The only good thing about Color's use of push is that nobody actually uses the app, so you will not be bombarded with a constant flood of notifications.

"From a gaming, social content, news methodology, if they are tailored to be pushed when I have said they want to be pushed, it is fine. If you are hitting me up with ads, if you are hitting me up with information that is not useful to the core experience, consumers really hate that," said Bill Gianoukos, VP engineering and product management at Boston-based HeyWire.

Developers believe that there are distinct uses for push notifications and put trust in users to know how to turn them off, if wanted. This may be putting too much trust in the casual user that is more likely to delete an app that sends too many notifications.

"I think that Apple's intended purpose with them has kind of been shaded. Right now, predominantly, most games I see them being used as spam," said Adam Telfer, VP of game development for Toronto-based XMG Studio. "In our own games, we try to only use them for game mechanic reasons. So, you think about a game like Words With Friends, they are only using those push notifications for pulling the user back into the game because they have a new move. Not because there is some sale on an item or [other instances]."

Image: Powder Monkey game logo from XMG

Gianoukos offers great advice on the ideal scenario to use push notifications:

"Ideally, push notifications are meant to enable the users to get the content or the event that occurred that they want to know about sent to their phones so they can be prompted to go into the application. So, it is a prompting mechanism, ideally based on user preferences of when they want to be interrupted and notified of event, data, content or something occurring that is important to them, and they need to go into the app to interact with that piece of information," Gianoukos said.

Developers: What say you? Do consumers want push notifications? Where is the line between trying to re-engage users and spamming them? Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments.

Images: Kids pushing and sale courtesy Shutterstock

Discuss

optometry course requirements online medical school programs ambedkar dental college

Brand Yourself To Highlight The Best

As a personal brand today, your online reputation is very important. Hiring managers, recruiters, business owners, clients, and the like, probably Google your name to see what comes up before they even consider hiring you. This is why it?s essential for you to control your search engine results. You want to highlight the best things [...]

manipal college of nursing manipal baba farid university of health science college physicians assistant

Exclusive: Brazil prosecutor plans wider offshore oil probe

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Brazilian federal prosecutor plans to expand his investigation of a November offshore oil spill in a field run by Chevron to areas operated by other companies in the country's main oil region.

manipal college of nursing manipal baba farid university of health science college physicians assistant

Privacy laws evolving in new era of technology

Privacy laws evolving in new era of technology

Houston Chronicle Copyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Updated 07:02 p.m., Friday, March 23, 2012

In a scenario limited to science fiction or spy novels 20 years ago, Clementi was spied on by his roommate, Dharun Ravi, who used a concealed webcam inside their dorm room to watch Clementi kissing another man. For creating a fake MySpace suitor who pushed her teenage daughter's former friend to commit suicide in 2006, Lori Drew was convicted only of violating MySpace's terms of service. More seriously, prosecutors argued that Ravi's actions should be considered "bias intimidation," or a hate crime, motivated by his roommate's sexuality. Comments from jurors indicate that they took to heart the power of the Internet and social media and its effect on privacy as we know it today, as well as the troubling evidence laid out in Tweets, texts, Facebook posts and email. [...] jurors indicated that they homed in on key evidence, particularly Ravi's Twitter post inviting his online friends to tune into a subsequent webcast that never happened, and Clementi's behavior in which he viewed his roommate's Twitter account 38 times in the two days before he killed himself.

devaraj urs medical college college names in india ambedkar medical college kadugondanahalli bangalore

Questlove Opens 'The Hoodie Shop'

sikder medical college medical schools in nebraska uci medical school tuition

Wrinkle Reduction With Radiesse Posted By: Kurt Ross

Radiesse is a popular volume increasing filler product used for cosmetic purposes across the country, including Brooklyn. If you would like to know more about Radiesse, its administration procedure and other crucial information, then read on.

What is Radiesse?

Radiesse is an FDA approved dermal filler that is used to lift the volume of your facial skin. It consists of the calcium-based microspheres and gel that immediately restores the volume in facial skin giving it an immediate lift. But the even more important fact is that Radiesse forms a scaffold under the skin providing its support and stimulates new collagen formation in the area.

How does Radiesse work?

Radiesse is the first ever bi-phased semi-permanent dermal filler product t ...Radiesse Brooklyn, Wrinkle Reduction, disease

indian medical college admission pushpagiri college of nursing mv shetty college

Instant cash now: promise quick remedy from cash less life

You would sufficient funds to tackle any unexpected bill with aid of instant cash now. It acts as emergency funds when you may find yourself in cash deficit. You would not have to pay any security fee against the loan amount. Your blemished credit report would be healed with the help of this payday advance. Apply online with no processing fee.

physician assistant undergraduate programs kem medical college undergraduate physician assistant programs

I said goodbye to my jam-jar specs and hello to 20/20 vision

Student Mischa Hunt's worsening eyesight is corrected thanks to ultra-accurate new laser operation. She is the youngest patient to benefit from the new procedure.

pondicherry medical colleges srmc medical college university of baroda medical college

J. Michael Welton: Classical Design, Timeless Principles

getting into graduate school psychology guilin medical college colleges physician assistant programs

Is social media distracting for shows like ?Mad Men??

Last night's season premiere of Mad Men attracted a surge of social activity: 106K social comments on Bluefin Labs and an activity score of 218K on Trendrr, winning the night on cable TV. Unlike most shows that score big on the social TV charts, Mad Men is a scripted drama, not a reality TV show or live event. For example, the highly-promoted NBC premiere of Smash drew 52K social comments, compared to 106K for Mad Men, according to Bluefin stats.

subharti medical college madras medical company college for physician assistant

CDC: Only half of first marriages last 20 years

Even though Americans are marrying older, the divorce rate has remained high, a new government report shows.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found that the median age for women getting hitched for the first time has risen to almost 26 and to over 28 for me …

baba farid university health sciences sikder medical medical degrees in india

'Mad Men' Water Balloon Scene Actually Happened

medical training college adts eras st louis medical schools

Hot 'Hunger Games'-Style Novel 'Starters' Set for Hollywood Auction

Borys Kit
The YA novel by Lissa Price was released two weeks ago and has studios execs readying their checkbooks because of comparisons to "Hunger Games."

read more

srmc nursing school applying to medical school with a masters dr mv shetty college

The iPad app that will remind you of Microsoft's old Courier project

Apple approves Tapose, a content creation app inspired by the features offered by Microsoft's canceled Courier tablet.

Originally posted at News - Microsoft

kansas city medical schools medical schools in kansas city rak medical college

Forex Trading Software Can Help You Choose For Better Investments Posted By: Track N Trade

There are an amazing number of people at present trading in markets like commodities, stocks, and foreign exchange due to the incredible availability developed through the Internet. What was once an exclusive market available simply to the financial elite and expert brokers has now become a secondary source of income from several online patrons. Whereas the amount of people investing in such markets has improved, the success they have varies too greatly, usually leaving many with a loss in their economic savings. Discover how you may improve your options for seeking financial success by investing within the solutions of Forex Trading Software.

One of the most costly habits found with investors is the usual pattern of investing in currencies without properly studying these investments. Whether you are making your decisions based on the suggestions of a TV guru or an online analyst, there's an important amount of risk while you do not pursue your own source of understanding. It's important to know why you are pursuing totally different investments and perceive the pros and cons of various currencies. The options of Forex Trading Software could help provide an investor with the much needed education essential in making informed decisions.Futures Trading Software Stocks Trading Software Forex Trad

saveetha college of nursing enam medical college medical schools in idaho

Stop The Debts With Payday Loan Help

The present financial condition is pushing the people in to the vicious circle of loans. People are finding that the expenditures are going up and the savings are getting reduced year by year. To fill in the gap between inflow and out flow of cash people depends on cash advance loans like payday loans. The increasing financial burden requires more payday loans and this will push you in to more debt.

college for physician assistant pondicherry medical colleges srmc medical college

Pitbull Goes 'Back in Time' for 'Men In Black III' Theme Song (Audio)

Sophie A. Schillaci
The Miami-based rapper takes over theme duties from star Will Smith, who recorded tracks for the first two films in 1997 and 2002.

read more

getting into shares bay and college medical good gpa for medical school