• Read more about New Year, New Resolutions

Each New Year brings new resolutions that people promise to keep whether it’s hitting the gym, saving money, eating healthy, the list is endless and I am sure everyone has heard their fair share. While strategy and commitment are key components to resolutions, keeping yourself focused and on track are just as important.

Mobomo had quite the 2015, if you haven’t heard we merged with another web & mobile app development company, Intridea! Aside from the merger we found ourselves hiring new employees each month and reaching new heights and potentials in the tech world that we never could have imagined. Although the past year seemed to be full of change, we made sure that our focus was in check so that we could strive as a new identity. We made it our mission to take our energy and direct it towards our clients.  Seems pretty simple, but it’s not always the case with employees working all over the world, two companies becoming one as well as producing successful products for our clients.

The tech world is not slowing down in 2016 and neither is Mobomo, so for us our outlook for 2016 is relatively simple. We wanted to share a few resolutions that our brand has adopted, if you are in the market for some fresh resolutions feel free to join us in our commitment.

Fully Charged: Energy for us is never an issue. We want to keep implementing our energy and poise that we put forth towards each project. We will continue to take our energy and passion for this field and portray it through our work. Who wants to work with someone who is boring? That’s why you can always count on us to bring the spunk and enthusiasm in each project.

Reshape Reality: Can anyone really tell you what reality is? Reality can be anything that you perceive it to be; people can view reality through different lenses, why let someone else try to tell us what reality it when we can create our own.

Limit Limits: Who says you have to have a limit? When you have limits are you really reaching your full potential? We have adopted this outlook to ask ourselves why limit limits? Sounds crazy but think about it.. If you are limiting your potential how can you find out the potential if it is limited? We are encouraging ourselves to constantly think and reach new potentials not just stopping at our limit. 

To put it simply, we are not settling this year, why settle when we can create, design and deploy new and exciting projects with our clients that are innovative while potentially hovering over “the next big thing.” We could not be more excited to start 2016... with a jolt of energy of course.

• Read more about Load User Status... What’s your Limit?

Clients come to us with an array of problems that need innovative solutions. Recently one of our clients came to us with an issue, their website was not configured to auto scale. To those of you that are not familiar, auto scaling ensures that your platform has the correct instances of servers to account for traffic or load. Due to the industry our client is in, breaking news and events can occur instantly which results in an increased amount of traffic to their website at any given time. Their site could be manually scaled; however, this retroactive intervention isn't always fast enough. We were able to create a solution to account for sporadic increases in traffic to their site that would be successfully maintain platform uptime.

In order to do this, we used a multi-server locust setup to run load tests against which allowed us to test multiple different slow and fast test scenarios. These different tests allowed us to see how much further we could scale instances to maintain acceptable uptime rates then we ever could do before. Once we decided on the type of tests that we wanted to run, it was then time to identify our “standard” for how many users we wanted to test at once. We ultimately decided to test for 100,000 concurrent users to account for usage traffic seen hitting our CDN during high traffic events. We then collected a list of our 2500 most requested queries for our test users to use during the tests.

We experimented with the slow test first, which meant that we gradually added users in a more predictable and normal situation. This test added servers as needed and overall there was no immediate impact to the speed that the content was handled. Overall pretty dull…Which was wonderful! 100k users a minute and all statistics showed a happy healthy site.

The fast test allowed thousands and thousands of users to visit the site within a few minutes. During this test we went from 0 to 100k users in roughly six minutes. This caused the site to serve 500's while the servers were being added. Our 500’s are mostly absorbed at our cache layer which is where we served stale content until the requests were fulfilled. Our findings proved that when we increased the speed of users it caused a tremendous amount of stress on the server. Our auto scale group added two servers every three minutes until we got to nine servers, through prior testing we knew this was likely the appropriate amount of servers that could handle the load. Once we reached around five servers the 500's disappeared.  After we reached nine servers the request queue cleared up latency between our cache and application layer looked nominal. All in all this process took about 20 minutes to become "normal" at 100k users per minute.

During the peak of the quick test when the servers were under the most pressure we decided to do the unthinkable and clear our drupal site cache. I know, sounds like a great idea, but we love a challenge. We pressed the clear cache button and waited 10 to 15 minutes but to our surprise nothing happened.. the drama that we were anticipating never played out. The application saw a slight jump in latency and the statistics were raised or lowered by about 5-10% for about one minute and then returned to normal. That was it...no fireworks, only the lingering taste of sweet sweet success! This is due in large part to the site being anonymous, but cache policies still require frequent invalidation.

Overall both tests to 100k users is above and beyond the highest traffic we have seen in an hour timespan due to the CDN layer. We were able to successfully complete the 100K users a minute test, which we roughly estimated at one request every 10 seconds. We found that the results of each test to be relevant because of the scale our client can now operate; they can go from a site having minimal traffic to 50x that amount of traffic in a short amount of time. Problem solved!

• Read more about Ken Fang Named to Monte Jade Board

Monte Jade DC has recently announced that they have nominated Mobomo’s President, Ken Fang, as their Chairman of the Board. Ken has been on the Monte Jade DC board since 2013.

“It is indeed a great honor to be nominated to lead this great organization. Over the past few years of involvement with Monte Jade, I have seen incredible relationships grow as business owners connect, students and mentors learn from one another, and professionals network to build bonds with one another. It is a fantastic connection for the Asian community in DC."

Monte Jade is an organization that aids in resources for starting, funding and growing high technology businesses. Their commitment is to assist future entrepreneurs, students, researchers, scientists, scholars and business people to advance their careers in becoming leaders and executives in their organizations or assist those that have interest in becoming entrepreneurs and business owners. They accomplish this through the experience and knowledge our prestigious board and other key members that include C-level executives, managers, and directors leading, operating, and developing some of the most successful science and technology firms in the Greater Washington area.

Ken Fang is the President of Mobomo, primarily overseeing the strategy and operations of the company. He works closely with clients to create mobile solutions to meet their strategic needs, and is adept at developing apps on all major mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and mobile web. In addition to running Mobomo, Ken is the founder and chairman of Altum, Inc., the market leader of enterprise grants management and performance management solutions for federal and philanthropic organizations. Ken has published a number of titles and articles in educational software and advanced computing technology. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a certificate in Bioinformatics from Stanford University.

• Read more about Ionic Mobile Framework Featured at ModevCon

Modev started in 2008 as a Meetup group and over the years they have led the industry by organized conferences,strategic initiatives and provided executive leadership coaching to ensure those we engage with operate at peak performance.We were thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at the fifth annual Modev Conference on December 10th. Adam presented on the Ionic HTML5 hybrid mobile framework, where he talked about the framework’s background, as well as provided a quick dive into Angular.js, the popular javascript framework it’s built on.  

Be sure to visit http://withinsight.github.io/modev-ionic/ to see the full presentation 

• Read more about Choosing the Best Language for the Project: Deciding between PHP and Ruby on Rails

PHP

The positives:

The potential downsides:

Ruby

The positives:

The potential downsides:

The ugly side of both:

Both either provide or use templating language/tools. This is a trap, don’t do it. Let server side handle server side, and front end frameworks handle the rest.

And the last word…

PHP may be a language that’s easier to use and pickup on the server side than Ruby, but historically it has a hard time competing with Ruby when it comes to its frameworks’ capabilities.

• Read more about In-App VS. Apple Pay

Let’s first start with the question, what IS In-App and Apple Pay purchases?

In-App purchases are extra content and subscriptions that you can buy in the apps on your iOS device or computer. However, not all apps offer in-app purchases. For example with some apps you can buy additional content such as a key that unlocks more features on a free app or a sword that gives you more power in a game.

Apple Pay purchases is a service that enables mobile payments and digital wallet apps that initiate secure payment transactions between contactless payment terminals and Apple iOS devices like the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch. In other words, you can make purchases at a store without your wallet, just with a simple touch of an app.

Now let’s really dig into the different items that you can purchase using either the In-App OR Apple Pay. Below are a few key differences between which items you can purchase by using either app-

In-App: sells virtual goods such as premium content for your app, and subscriptions for digital content.

Apple Pay: sells physical goods such as groceries, clothing, and appliances.

These days it’s ALL about cost so let’s cover the difference in cost of using the two products?

In-App: 70% of the purchase price of each item you sell within your app is paid to you on a monthly basis- NO credit card fees are applied

Apple Pay: FREE! (Credit card fees do apply)

Make sure to let us know which you find easier to use, In-App OR Apple Pay.

See: iPhone App Store Submission Checklist

• Read more about What Does it Take to Create Pakistan’s Next Disruptive Idea?

I, alongside other aspiring entrepreneurs and changemakers, competed in Pakathon to search for the answer to this daunting question of -- What is the next big idea in Pakistan? This was Pakathon’s third year hosting a competition which brought together all of the “do gooders” from major cities all over the world from DC to Lahore.

Pakathon Global culminated in Toronto. It gathered winners from each participating city to compete over the course of a weekend to put forward sustainable and effective ideas for Pakistan’s development challenges. The winner of the competition received $10,000 which would go towards funding their organization and access to over 80 mentors who aid the winning team in executing their ideas after the competition. This year’s DC winning team was Khayaal, which is a virtual community for young Pakistani women, sharing personal stories, thoughts, and insights on the topics that matter most to women.

Our team targeted our strengths to create and implement team roles. As Khayaal’s Data Analytics Lead, I focused on analysis and problem solving. Throughout the process, I found guidance from the building, measuring and learning methodology utilized in the Lean Startup. We only had 1 month to get our product out the door and tested, which meant we had to move fast under such a tight deadline. Even though we didn’t walk away with the grand prize,we were honored with second place and an unforgettable opportunity to pitch for change.

What’s our product all about? Check it out here.

Team Photo

By: Malena Lopez, Project Manager

• Read more about Our Journey to a New Brand

WHO WE ARE

Rebranding for any company is an evolution of itself. It can mean a new logo, name, symbol or design conformed into one new identity. Once known as two separate companies, Intridea and Mobomo officially became a single website & mobile application development company around 5 months ago. Instead of renaming the company we decided to keep the name Mobomo (we liked their name better)!

After the merger was finalized the next step was to develop a new identity for the our newly formed family, we had to figure out “who” we are as an agency. Luckily, we shared the same vision for “who” we wanted to be which made things fairly straightforward, but I know that this isn’t the case for all rebrands. WE are energetic, WE are agile, We ARE MOBOMO!

Any company whether they are rebranding or not should be eager for new changes and ideas that can further propel their brand which ultimately leads to success. A company that is stagnant or doesn't have the drive or push is destined to fail. A key to any rebranding process is taking all your learnings, both internally and externally, and applying them to your new identity. Along with applying your best practices learned through experiences it is important to listen, be open to all ideas and try new concepts, if not change will never occur thus a stagnant company is inevitable.  In this post I’d love to walk you through our REBRANDING process as well as our newest developments to our new brand that makes it what it is today.

OUR LOGO

A logo or icon represents a company's name, when someone sees that logo they immediately associate with a particular company or brand. As a newly formed identity, we decided a new logo was an immediate next step. After weeks of deliberation, our new company logo was decided on- the hummingbird. A hummingbird to us perfectly combines the energy we put into each project, with the gracefulness and agility that comes with a team who is able to rapidly shift to the needs of our clients.

The new Mobomo word mark, is a custom typeface that is strong and commands attention. Capable of standing out in an overly crowded space, and infinitely versatile, the Mobomo word mark stands as a strong foundation of who we are.

Finalizing THE BRAND

Selecting the right font can be detrimental to a new brand and as the first rule of thumb.. it should always compliment the new logo. For our primary font we chose FF Real for it’s simple and elegant, yet strong appearance that translates well across a variety of different mediums. Our secondary font choice is Source Sans Pro, which was selected because it compliments FF Real perfectly and is a great display font.

The color palette we decided on supports our core beliefs illuminating our agile and energetic spirit towards all of our work.

And no redesign is complete without iconography to help tell it’s story. We chose an icon library that works well both on and offline, it is one that’s simple in it’s level of detail but strong in it’s ability to be recognized.

Combine all of our efforts and you get our final product...!

By: Mike DelGuidice

• Read more about Takeaways from Microsoft IPC’s Bitcoin Breakfast

By: Malena Lopez - Project Manager

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak at Microsoft's Innovation and Policy Center on Bitcoin and the potential for banking the unbanked with some awesome people - Brian Forde from MIT's Media Lab, Brian Hoffman from OpenBazaar, and Jerry Brito from coincenter. While I consider myself a Bitcoin novice, I have quickly noticed the equalizer this digital currency can be in the financial landscape. It's truly a breath of fresh air as long as we keep the conversation inclusive and diverse.

That said, Bitcoin and the Blockchain are changing the way we think about currency, digital assets, and identity. During the panel, all speakers touched on thought-provoking and telling points.

1. Bitcoin is freedom for currency.
In a place where regulation is second nature, freedom brings us home to the realization that we can take control of our currency with its decentralization and permission-less trade.

2. Bitcoin can bank the unbanked -- using mobile.
McKinsey estimates that worldwide “2.5 billion of the world’s adults don’t use formal banks.” Let’s compare that with mobile penetration worldwide. At the end of 2014, there were a “total of 3.6 billion unique mobile subscribers.” That’s over 50% for mobile Bitcoin potential.

3. Bitcoin has a future.
Think about the Internet - It eliminated the middle man to access and put out information. You no longer had to be a doctor to learn about heart disease; you could do it yourself. Today, we depend on this decentralized model. Bitcoin finds its future in this same way.

• Read more about Forming A Design Team, Part II: Process

Here it is peeps, the second post in our journey to create a killer design team…PROCESS. EEEK,*GASP*...I know, firsthand, that process can be a “dirty” word, the bane of creation, and something most companies don’t effectively use. But in this post we’re not going to talk about traditional process, the one where X person get’s a job then hands over some requirements to another person and so on and so on. No...no, here we’re going to be talking about the design process, and yes the two go hand in hand and a lot of the same people are involved (or should be), but in this post I’m going to discuss the parts that make a design team stronger, more efficient, and produce better work.

So where do we start with our design process, especially in the ever changing landscape that is the web? Clark Wimberly from Invision has some great ideas in his post Reimagining The Web Design Process, most notably is that of an agile team. One that is able to easily adapt to changes, and make rapid adjustments as needed. No longer do we work (and live for that matter) in a world that has static or fixed content, so it’s only right that as a team we should be able to rapidly shift to match this.

He goes on to say that we need to stop using mobile first as a buzzword and actually start to approach our design process with smaller screens, using an “Atomic” approach, as Brad Frost would say (more on this in a minute). Clark couldn’t be more correct, especially since Google has recently (May 5th) said they are now getting more search queries on mobile than on desktop.

So, back to that Atomic Design thing...what is it? How does is play into our design process? It’s an amazingly simple, but complex, ideology on how to handle the design and layout of websites. Breaking it down to it’s most basic idea is that you start with a single “brick”, something like a font, or a few color options.Then take those pieces and make a small UI element, like a form or menu, you keep adding small “bricks”, bit by bit, until you’re left with an assembled page. From there it’s rinse, wash, repeat on the other sections of your site. So, how does this work into our process? Quite naturally, by taking our mobile first approach and combining it with this bit by bit assembly we can very quickly and early in the game start to target the areas of our layout that need adjustment, and make the necessary corrections before we’ve gone too far.

Methodology is just one aspect of the design process, there are actual steps, hence the process part, that should accompany that. What those steps are will vary from team to team, but loosely they should be: planning, research, design/development, iterate. What do these mean though?

• PLANNING: figuring out what the project timeline is, when it starts and ends, when milestones need to be met, etc. This is also the phase when we need to determine who will be involved throughout the project, making sure the right people are brought in at the right time.
• RESEARCH: Make sure that the problem we’re solving is the right one, ask questions WHY, HOW...dig deep to understand the project. Determine who our target is, establish restrictions and needs, to help eliminate questions that may arise later.
• DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT(and prototype): Start to layout the concept, get ideas down into something more solid. Simultaneously development can begin with prototypes to test ideas.
• ITERATE: Today a design is never truly finished, even after handoff things are bound to come up, so take feedback, comments, etc, and adjust your product to match the needs of it’s users.

A good process, much like a good team, needs to be agile in it’s execution. Not every project will have a need for every step nor will it all allow for every step, so it’s ultimately up to your team lead to make sure the right parts are followed at the right time. Remember that establishing or adjusting a current process can’t happen overnight, it’s a gradual shift, much like our Atomic Design theory, an effective design process should be built upon, bit by bit and allow for rapid adjustment.

Want to learn more? Check out Mobomo's post on Forming A Design Team, Part I: Structure