Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable reports: Apple’s iPad accounts for an ever-expanding percentage of the browser market. It’s also becoming a huge Wi-Fi data hog, consuming 400% more Wi-Fi data on a monthly basis than the average iPhone, iPod or Android device, according to a new report.

 

Meraki, a cloud services provider, anonymously surveyed more than 100,000 devices accessing public, educational and general use Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. It analyzed bandwidth usage and operating system popularity between 2010 and 2011 to uncover the massive gap between the Wi-Fi data usage of iPads and other mobile devices.

 

Mobile devices on the whole, according to the study, have usurped desktop platforms as the most ubiquitous Wi-Fi devices. In 2010, iOS and Android devices accounted for a combined 33% of Wi-Fi devices. Now they represent 58%. By comparison, Windows and Mac OS X devices together declined from 63% to 36% during the same time span.

 

Marriott International, Inc. has named Acentic, a provider of broadband systems and digital interactive TV (iTV) for the hotel industry, as an approved supplier of hotel in-room technology for its brands across Europe.

 

With its flexible Panorama platform for delivering in-room digital broadcast, on-demand and Hotel TV services, Acentic brings a bespoke solution to the Marriott brands in the upscale market, as well as the mid scale market. Acentic already provides services to 16,000 Marriott rooms across Europe. This agreement reinforces the partnership and enables Acentic to build upon its position within one of the fastest growing hotel brands.
 

Acentic provides Marriott with access to technology for the current need for high definition (HD), as well as a platform that is easily upgradeable for the future. Whether over legacy networks or IP, Marriott can offer a consistent guest experience across Europe with a high level of service. Furthermore, through the use of Acentic's upgradable platform, Marriott properties will benefit from the latest applications throughout the contract's duration.

 

Acentic was the first technology provider to install guest connectivity panels for Marriott, and now offers a HD experience with a range of services which recognize the importance of the Marriott guest. The two companies will continue joint work on developing the future in-room experience, bringing guest satisfaction and return on investment to Marriott and building owners.

Sailormen Inc., the largest Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits franchise in the U.S., is rolling out DigitalPersona’s U.are.U Fingerprint Readers to 148 locations throughout Alabama, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri. Sailormen, Inc. has found that the deployment of fingerprint biometrics as a part of their point-of-sale (POS) systems, has improved employee accountability, increased sales, and reduced both unauthorized transactions and payroll fraud.

 

This Popeye’s operator uses U.are.U fingerprint readers and point-of-sale software for verification of manager overrides and for employee time and attendance tracking. Prior to the use of fingerprint biometrics, managers at the company’s Popeye’s locations used swipe cards to authorize overrides and voids, and employees “punched in” using a pass code. By using the biometric readers for time and attendance, employees can no longer punch in for one another, dramatically reducing payroll fraud. In addition, with fingerprint biometrics, employees cannot “borrow” a manager’s card for transaction authorizations, thereby increasing the assurance that a manager has approved all overrides and followed the proper business and loss-prevention processes. As a result, the Popeye’s locations with fingerprint-equipped POS systems have experienced a decrease in overrides and inventory losses due to fraud.

 

“The U.are.U Fingerprint Readers from DigitalPersona have provided us with a simple and secure way to reduce our financial losses across all of our stores,” says JD Zweydoff, director of POS at Sailormen Inc. “The impact of the deployment has been significant and immediate. We’ve seen food costs drop and payroll fraud eliminated.”

 

DigitalPersona’s U.are.U Fingerprint Readers integrate into a variety of POS systems for secure biometric authentication. Alternative methods of authentication such as smart cards and passwords can be shared among employees, which can lead to fraudulent transactions and buddy punching. In addition, cards and passwords are easily lost, stolen or forgotten, which can be expensive and time-consuming to replace. DigitalPersona’s biometric fingerprint solutions improve overall profitability providing a fast return on investment.

Delegates attending a recent convention held at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu were greeted like never before. As each of the 900 attendees registered onsite, they were presented with an Apple iPod Touch preloaded with a new meeting app developed by PSAV Presentation Services and QuickMobile that greatly improves, extends and differentiates the experiences and outcomes of the events they serve. By leveraging the power of mobile technology, PSAV was able to deliver real-time information to attendees and event organizers, thereby greatly enhancing the overall convention experience.

 

"Everyone was extremely pleased to be able to interact with the event program, its producers and each other via an iPod Touch device," says Aki Almario, Sheraton Waikiki convention service manager. "Through PSAV's event app platform, important information was easily accessible, which helped to enhance each person's stay and experience at our hotel. In addition, the meeting planner was able to truly create an environmentally conscious, green meeting event where less paper and waste was accrued."

 

Because event information was provided via mobile device to attendees, Almario says the hotel did not need to physically post signage throughout the hotel; everything attendees needed to know was literally available in the palms of their hands. "PSAV did an outstanding job in getting the event attendees connected quickly and making the broadband service easy to understand," says Almario. "The entire mobile device experience was user friendly and convenient. This truly is the way of the future, and we are grateful to PSAV and QuickMobile for their support."

 

PSAV's event app solution enabled attendees to view their personalized schedules and identify which specific session he or she signed up for based on the time of day; provide maps of and directions to hotel and venue locations, since the facility is comprised of three cluster hotels; upload photos and videos taken on each iPod to a central server; receive messages from event planners informing them of last-minute changes or gatherings; send messages between attendees for reinforced networking and team building; and, participate in event-driven surveys.

 

While all this activity was happening on the front end of the event, the Sheraton Waikiki had to ensure the HSIA network was robust enough to handle the expected number of devices on the back end.  PSAV’s Our HSIA team installed an additional 20 wireless access points throughout the facility, building a far more robust wireless network environment in order to support this event.

 

PSAV continues to partner with QuickMobile to develop mobile device applications that are immediately available for all events and venues worldwide.