Hirred App Review

Are you looking for work? Do you enjoy social networking and find that you sell yourself best when you talk rather than write? Then Hirred is for you. Wiink Inc. has come up with a this social networking app aimed at bringing employers and candidates together through short 30-second video clips. You are probably wondering how that works. Imagine just listening to a short description of a quick task that needs completing. You don’t have to read anything, you just watch and listen. You become interested. So, you reply, or apply, with a short video clip about why you are the best candidate to get the job done. Flip it around, now. You are looking to have a small app for iPhone written, or need a few short blog articles for your new website. Come to Hirred and make a quality 30-second infomercial about the great task you have at hand, and watch as the replies post to your clip, with offers of talent that knows no bounds.

Hirred works well for those in an industry where creativity abounds. People who just can’t describe in words how great their talent is, can do great justice in 30 seconds by saying a few words, giving the right facial expressions, and making contact; because, at the end of the day, it’s the contact and familiarity that gets you the job. For employers, this means striking the right chords with potential hires with a description of your needs and what needs to be accomplished. Sometimes, words alone do no justice. It takes a bit of moving art to make something come to life; and, in 30 seconds, enough can come to life.

Hirred iTunes image

When you first download the app, you will have a chance to setup your profile. From the main page, you can view Pitches or Calls. Pitches are clips about people and their talents. Calls are clips about jobs. Under each category of viewing you can select the level of video clips: Rising or Live. Rising is essentially “just starting out”, while “Live” is a user that has been using Hirred for a while, and may have had a few jobs or even hired a few folks. Use of the app is fairly simple, as all you are doing is recording yourself in response to a Call, or creating a Call.

Logistics behind the app reside in the Main Menu, which sits at the bottom of the screen. The menu fades away to a small blue domelike icon when minimized. This renders greater screen viewing real estate. It does get a bit awkward when trying to conjure up the main menu, as many times I found myself pulling up the iPhone’s menu instead. This should be changed.

Other than that, Hirred has some potential. It may not do too well on just the merits of 30-second video clips. Descriptions that short serve as attention getters and teasers… to attract interest. This app will do well if it adds the ability to link clips to resumes or websites that offer more details.

There’s an app for that

On June the 26th 2007, smartphones didn’t exist. Mobile phones, and computers were two very different things. A day later (27/06/2007) Apple launched the iPhone.

You could argue that there were ‘smartphones’ pre-iPhone, but many in the technology industry view the iPhone as the tipping point and birth-date of the modern smartphone – no inverted commas.

With the launch of the iPhone, came the launch of apps. A few years later along came tablets – and what would a tablet be without apps?

In this post I want to explore some of those apps. Not the apps like Angry Birds, Rayman Jungle Run, Skype and Fruit Ninja though, they are what you expect from applications – games and communication. In this post I am going to explore some of the more innovative uses for apps.

Mirror

Ever desperately needed a mirror just when there are none in sight? Mirror by mmapps mobile, is a free app for Android which turns your phone into a usable mirror! The app even lets you zoom in and out and freeze the mirror, something that no mirror I have ever used does.

The app is available in many different languages, and similar apps are available for iDevices, however mmapps mobile don’t make an ‘i’ version.

Square Wallet

Square Wallet is an application which lets you fully embrace mobile payment. With Square Wallet, you can link your credit card to your phone, and then, in a surprisingly large number of retailers, pay for goods, using your phone! The app also lets you track transactions, so you can keep track of what you are buying.

Square Wallet is available for iDevices with iOS 5.0 or later, and Androids via Google Play.

Inflora Flower App

Interflora smartphone appTen years ago, who would have thought that you could be out and about, and on a device which fits in your hand, and order a bouquet of flowers? Probably not many people!

The flower delivery company Interflora has an app where you can do just that. Naturally its called Interflora, and can be download for free for iDevices – any iPod, iPhone or iPad with iOS 3.0 or later. Interflora is also available to download for Android devices. The app gives you access to a wide range of flowers, information (such as delivery details and a description) and prices; you can even order your gift using the app!

Zite Personalised Magazine

If you like to keep up to date with the latest news, and you like the news your way, then Zite is the perfect app for you.

Zite trawls through your Facebook and Twitter feeds to work out what you like to read. The application then created you your very own personalised magazine to read, and the more you use it, the cleverer it gets, and the more tailored your content become – to a point where it should only be displaying content you really want to read.

Zite is available for free for all iDevices with iOS 6.0 or later, although the developers state that is is specifically designed for the iPhone, as opposed to tablets. Zite is also available on Android.

Flow Powered

Flow Powered - NutellaAmazon have recently released an augmented reality app called Flow Power, which can identify millions of real life products (using your phones camera), and can then tell you more information about them.

The app ‘knows’ thousands of books, games and CDs, and is able to tell you about almost anything, if you scan the barcode.

Be it a novel, or a box of chocolates, the app can tell you how much it costs and what other people think of it – pretty clever huh?

Flow Powered is available for Android via Google Play and iOS 4.2 and more recent iDevices through iTunes.

It seems like there is an app for almost everything these days, be it an app to help you apply make-up, order flowers or tell you the price of a video game. There’s an app for that!

Smartphones really are smart.

How to safely operate a bring your own device policy

Technology is growing by leaps and bounds and companies of every size are constantly looking for ways to leverage all of the benefits that these technological advances can bring them. It may not be cost effective for companies of any size to jump on every single new technological wonder, even when the price of technology is at an all-time low.

There is a way for companies to benefit from the latest and greatest technological gadgets without having to make any type of monetary investment. Portable devices are making their ways into the hands of people all over the world. Just about everyone has a smartphone, and tablet computers are quickly becoming the norm.

Many companies are choosing to adopt a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ policy in order to take advantage of these technological advances without incurring any type of costs, but there are security risks involved with a Bring Your Own Device Policy. Here are five things that companies can do to ensure their data does not end up in the wrong hands.

Know who is accessing data, and what devices they are using to do it

The very first step towards a successful ‘Bring Your Own Device’ policy is understanding what types of devices are being used to access data. It is also important to understand which employees are accessing which data.

A security audit is a great way for businesses to get a better understanding of exactly what types of devices are being used by employees to access sensitive corporate data. This will help a company determine exactly how to move on to the next step in securing their data in the mobile world.

Decide what data devices can access

The very first conclusion that many companies are jumping to is restricting access to corporate networks via personal devices. This is not the right choice. A security audit should have identified what types of devices are accessing the network.

The next step to properly protect data is to classify it and the networks that are being used to send and retrieve the data. By classifying data, businesses will be able to get a much better look at the areas that need protection, and the areas that do not. Once the data has been classified it will be much easier to see the bigger picture. Companies will be able to set forth a policy that allows certain groups of people access to certain areas of data.

Identify problem apps

Not every app will play nice. Some apps have been known to have huge security vulnerabilities. These apps, without notice to the user can copy and send address lists and personal photos through the corporate network.

The two most popular mobile device operating systems are both guilty of these two examples. iOS which powers Apple devices, and the Android operating system have both been known to have these same security problems. Once the problem apps are identified, they can be prevented from being installed through company networks. Another solution is to restrict app downloads to a company approved app market place.

Create company policies to help reduce mobile security problems

Once these other issues have been addressed, companies will need to create strict policies that will teach employees what can and cannot be done with their own devices on a company network. If an employee uses their own mobile device to conduct work in the work place, a strict policy should dictate what he or she can or can’t do with the device. These policies must also have strict repercussions for any employee that chooses to violate them.

Enforcing policy with software

A security key on a keyboardThere are several solutions on the market that can and will help corporations manage all of this information. These resolutions are called Mobile Device Management Solutions. These types of solutions will allow corporations to enforce the policies that have been set during all of the previous steps.

A mobile device management solution will protect data, manage apps, address mobile device security, protect content, and protect emails. A mobile device management system will also be compatible with every major mobile device operating system on the market.

Allowing employees to use their own portable devices should not present a security breach to any company regardless of its size. Proper planning will always be the best way to prevent any sort of problems.