Wazzup Pilipinas!
There is no doubt that apps are ruling the mobile community. Everyone is downloading their favorite apps and trying out the latest release every time there's a new one available for download. Since smartphones have become so very affordable due to the high demand, coupled with convenient Internet access that you can make even at a coffee shop or at most malls, app development have made lots of companies taking advantage of its popularity.
There's even news about this 19 year old guy who made it into Yahoo when the company purchased Summly. Yeah! Many have made it to the top and accumulated riches just by developing cool apps that are welcomed by many eager mobile users. From designing fun and humorous mini games to booking a restaurant or a taxi, these geniuses of this generation are rockstars of the mobile world.
Yahoo Philippines is not to miss out on the popularity of apps when they recently invited a few members of the media last November 6, 2014, including your friendly neighborhood pambansang blogger, to an intimate presentation or product briefing of the newest Yahoo apps now available for download at Google Play and Apple App stores.
The said apps that are only a few months old are Yahoo App, Yahoo Aviate, Yahoo News Digest, and the latest update of Flickr.
At their head office located in ACCRA Law Tower in Bonifacio Global City, Kate Delos Reyes, Country Manager and Country Editor of Yahoo Philippines, gave us a preview of the capabilities of their latest apps which looks very promising for people who wants to be easily connected with the latest news as well as to become more organized and connected with the world.
Yahoo App allows you to personalized your stories and offers the Summly technology integration. This app is definitely for the people that are always on the go and have no time to read all the deatils of a story. The news comes to you in a summarized format, prepared by the global editors of Yahoo International news, and specifically designed for smaller screens like in our smartphones.
Yahoo News Digest categorizes a summary of important and need to know top stories and is delivered twice a day - one in the morning and another one during the start of the evening. Units of information called "atoms" can be instantly seen already offering users the ability to quickly choose their preferred story, and provides the much needed context, including maps, videos, infographics, photos and more.
Yahoo Aviate allows modifies your mobile phone's user interface which will automatically arrange our apps into categories thus clearing the clutter from your screen.There's an option to set Favorites, more advance Calendar features, and intelligently allows you easier access to your mostly used apps. FYI, Thumbs Up Labs is the old company of Aviate.
Flickr continues to be among the most popular photo-sharing app (as well as video) out there. A version for iPads with iOS 8 was recently launched and is available in many languages around the world. The great thing about it is that it gives each user a storage space of 1 Terabyte - Wow! That's a lot of space for photos, including videos, that you can store in the cloud, and easily available for access. This is also an awesome alternative to back-up your very important or sentimental photos online.
Each app was given a demonstration of its features and capabilities using Miss Kate's personal iPhone. We were also shown some videos highlighting the apps, and some actual photo and video shots of the phone using the Flickr app and its many filters (though what you will see here are low resolution versions captured by my camera as projected on screen during the product briefing.
First image is a screenshot of a video taken with Flickr using black and white filter, while the next one is a photo of our group using another filter.
Kate readily answers our inquiries after the presentation though some answers were put on hold since she does not have the exact data available during that time.
I decided to install one of the apps in one of my smartphones. Yahoo Aviate would really be helpful if I had so many apps installed. My apps were organized automatically based on the options I choose earlier during the installation. However, since it was a spare smartphone that I just acquired, I didn't have so many apps yet on the phone. You'll see the convenience that it offers once you have so many apps already.
True enough, you have an option to go back to the previous UI if not satisfied with this one.
Bonus:
A quick tour of the Yahoo Philippines office was also provided to us led by the Country Manager herself. There were noticeable reasons why it looks great to work at Yahoo Philippines namely:
1. The staff gets free buffet breakfast and lunch meals available at their pantry which even offers unlimited supply of drinks like coffee, tea, canned juices and sodas. I just hope there's no CCTV around recording who goes to the pantry most often. Lol!
2. There's Foosball in the pantry, and a basketball thingy (the one you see at video games and amusement centers). I wonder if there's a game console hidden somewhere at their work area.
3. Their work area were designed as an open environment, thus everyone can easily see each other from their cubicles and freely converse and work as a team. But apparently many were out in the field doing official business since we only saw a few of them - where are the people in the neighborhood?
4. The meeting rooms, rumored to have been named by the staff themselves, have cool names like "Presidentiable, Bongga, Suting, Walastik, Astig, and Asteeg. I was looking for a room named "Hanep" but couldn't fine one.
5. They have a special room for lactating mothers can privately do their business. Breastfeeding mothers can get the much needed milk for their babies when convenient. Kate said they can bring their babies but they don't have a crib or a "yaya" available - Hhhmmm...a job opportunity at Yahoo Philippines - care to apply?
Thanks Yahoo Philippines for a very informative afternoon! Your latest apps are not just "Astig" but definitely "Asteeg!"
See you until the next app release or upgrade!
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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