​A hearty meal of roasted turkey followed by the sweet indulgence of pumpkin pie, and lots of other goodness lining the dinner table - Thanksgiving is a day of divine celebration. Unfortunately, for many families in Allegheny County, even a simple meal is far from reality.
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As a traditional holiday we all wait for eagerly every year, we believe every family has a right to enjoy Thanksgiving in the best possible manner. This is what motivated us to take action to fill the empty plates for families in the region. 

TECH Feeding Kids’ 3rd Annual Turkey Drive
TECH Feeding Kids is a initiative that aims to mobilize communities, individuals, and resources in order to provide technology and food for children who might otherwise go without eating for days. As part of our initiative to help alleviate and end childhood hunger in Allegheny County through different strategies, we held a Turkey drive before Thanksgiving night. 

The TECH Feeding Kids’ 3rd Annual Turkey Drive was organized at the McKinley Park Shelter House where several members and volunteers from the local community collected and distributed food to hundreds of those in need.

Facilitated by community leaders and participating households, we were able to gather tons of both fresh and canned food items. This included restaurant-quality fresh fruits and vegetables, along with various other proteins and of course, packaged delights for the kids.

The items were successfully redistributed to the families through the help of volunteers who rallied their support. 

Ending Food Insecurity in Allegheny County
Food insecurity is a global issue that is probably becoming more and more severe with each passing day. According to survey results, one in every seven households in the US is food insecure. This isn’t too surprising when you consider the fact that more than 62 million tons of food grown in the country is never eaten.

That’s roughly 40% of the total produce that goes to waste every year!

This socio-economic problem is becoming more pronounced in various areas throughout the US and it has spread its roots in Allegheny County too.

But just as there’s a key to every lock, there’s a solution to every problem.

With food insecurity continually on the rise, various organizations in the county are dedicating their time and energy to help combat the issue.  Apps Webbs is proud to play its part in the mission to end hunger in the local community. Perfectly good food belongs to people. Not landfills.  Therefore, we are committed to ensuring that families have access to decent meals every day, and not just on special events only.

We are trying to address the fight for hunger by targeting one of the root causes of the problem which is food waste. We pick up unused food items from sources like retailers and restaurants, and quickly deliver it to places where it is required.

If you are interested in doing your part and helping us fill empty plates, get in touch with us today!

Progressive Web Apps have taken 2018 by storm. Over the past two years, a lot of major companies put their developers to work on PWAs to overhaul and improve their mobile experience. Now in the early months of this year, Progressive Web Apps have brought about major benefits and trackable results. PWAs are transforming the best practices and standards of the mobile web and native mobile applications. Businesses are using PWA’s to replace their current desktop website, their mobile website, their native mobile app, or all three of them! Read about these five well-known companies that are doing Progressive Web Apps right.

1. Forbes
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Forbes, a global media company, turned to Progressive Web Apps for their new mobile experience in order to improve loading times for their readers. The previous Forbes site took about 3-12 seconds to load – keep in mind that 53% of visits to mobile sites are abandoned if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. The new site grounded in progressive web app technology is capable of loading in 0.8 seconds. As a result, Forbes saw a 43% increase in sessions and a 100% increase in engagement.

Check out the speed of Forbes’ PWA here: https://m.forbes.com/

2. Flipkart

Flipkart, India’s biggest e-commerce site, adopted an mobile-only strategy in 2015. After shutting down their mobile site and focusing only on their native app, the company was not seeing the desired results. They decided to combine their web presence and native app into a PWA to allow their current and prospective customers to have instant access to their store. Compared to their previous mobile presence, Flipkart has tripled time-on-site with their Progressive Web App. Users spend an average of 3.5 minutes on Flipkart Lite versus 70 seconds on the predecessor. In addition, the Flipkart PWA has three times lower data usage than it’s native predecessor, allowing users in areas of slower connectivity to visit the e-commerce site too. It has also generated a 40% higher re-engagement rate among first-time visitors and a 70% higher conversion rate due to the “Add to Homescreen” icon, because customers have instant access to Flipkart whenever they want.

Dive into Flipkart’s PWA here: https://m.flipkart.com/?start_url=homescreenicon

3. Alibaba

Alibaba, the world’s largest B2B marketplace, serves suppliers and buyers in more than 200 countries. With this global customer base, they needed the most compelling bridge between the users of their native app and the mobile web. They wanted to deliver a great user experience for both first-time visitors (who often come through the mobile web) and repeat visitors (who often use the native app). Building a great mobile experience for both types of users is an indispensable part of Alibaba.com’s success.  Alibaba’s PWA strategy brought about a 76% increase in total conversions across browsers, along with 14% more monthly active users on iOS and 30% more on Android. The “Add To Homescreen” prompt lead to users re-engaging four times more often than other mobile users.

Explore Alibaba’s ecommerce store here: https://m.alibaba.com/?tracelog=51606102_9527_7259_7770&from=desktop

4. The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel, the company behind Weather.com, has always looked to the latest technology to be the number one in weather reporting. Their main goal is to provide timely, accurate information when it matters most to their global audience. The Weather Company wanted to provide this same immediacy in markets where users don’t have the latest smartphones, reliable connectivity, or there is a significant cost for downloading an app.
The Weather PWA saw an 80% improvement in load time. But even more impressive is that the PWA is available in 62 languages and 178 countries. Progressive technology allowed them to be efficient by enabling support for over 60 languages using one code base.

Check out Weather.com’s PWA: https://weather.com

5. The Washington Post

 With nearly 55% of their traffic coming from mobile devices, The Washington Post knows that providing a great reading experience on mobile devices is critical to their long-term success. For this reason, The Post joined a group of publishers and technology companies to create the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, a new platform for publishing content that loads instantly anywhere across the mobile web. This PWA platform allows The Post to publish over 1,000 articles a day, with average load times of 400 milliseconds – an 88% performance improvement over their traditional mobile website. They also saw a 63% increase in mobile search users who returned within 7 days, demonstrating that PWAs are great for retention as well.

Take a look at The Post’s PWA here: https://www.washingtonpost.com

And The List Goes On…

PWAs are a great solution for companies looking to combine their mobile web experience and their native app experience. It allows businesses to serve both types of users and hone in on discovery and retention. The main benefits PWAs have brought businesses are speed increases, improvements in re-engagement, and increased conversions. As the examples show, Progressive Web App technology is being applied across industries, including entertainment, media, retail, and travel. And the list of companies that use PWAs goes on: Twitter, Lancome, The Home Depot, Virgin America, Fandango to name another few.

The reason for PWA’s success lies in their power to improve the entire mobile experience. Customers come back for more because they are able to interact with the brand in a positive way. Consumers are driving the shift from desktop websites and native apps to Progressive Web Apps.  

Times have truly changed and it’s imperative for any business to quickly adapt with the latest technological developments. Noticeably, iPhone apps and other mobile applications like PWA's are taking the world by storm. And majority of smart, forward-thinking entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this mobile apps phenomenon to further improve their business.  Here are 5 tips on how mobile apps can help you grow your business:

1.       Boost branding – Since your company’s logo and or slogan are visible on your customers’ mobile screens, it’s virtually impossible not to remember you whenever they need your products/services.  It also offers a definite advantage against your competitors who are yet to adopt this business strategy.  If you want an instant brand boost or recognition, creating a mobile application is a great way to help improve your corporate branding and overall reputation.

2.       Improve customer service experience – Your customers can benefit from being able to access your products/services anytime they want and while on the fly.  This is especially true if you don’t have a help line that’s available 24/7.  Your app can include a feature where they can contact you day or night, and without necessarily going to your website.

3.       Act as a marketing tool – More than just an application, a mobile app can double as a valuable marketing tool.  How? It can be easily integrated with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social media sites.  That means, with a single tap, customers can share with their network your app and or their experience with your company, which can then offer you free publicity.  Plus, using push notification, you can quickly send upcoming promotions or special events to your customers and prospects.

4.       Acquire more customers – Keep in mind that today’s consumers are constantly moving and are addicted to their mobile devices.  Undoubtedly, they would appreciate a useful and engaging mobile app from your company.  If your app helps them save or kill time or is just that awesome, they would even refer you to their friends and family.

5.       Generate more income – A mobile application with order fulfillment ability can readily provide another revenue channel, aside from your website and or brick and mortar store.  For example, functionality to make restaurant reservations, book concert tickets, buy goods and services, etc. are possible with a few taps/clicks.  But wait, there’s more!  You can also earn by charging app users when they upgrade, or by offering in-app advertisements, etc.


Unfortunately, many business owners are yet to recognize the huge potential benefits of mobile applications in terms of boosting productivity, efficiency, competitive edge and user experience.  Been pondering how you can possibly grow your business?  Mobile apps just might be the answer.  Contact us for advice and to help you get started!

Was one of your resolutions to be more productive this year? If so, how is that coming along? David De Steno writes in The New York Times that “by January 8, some 25 percent of resolutions have fallen by the wayside.” 
While that’s not very motivating, we all know there’s truth to that statement. This article will help you set goals in order to boost your productivity for real – even if you just do it until the end of the month. These tips will help you develop a disciplined approach to getting work done, whether it’s for your day job or your side hustle.

1. Take sleep seriously
We live in a culture that encourages convictions like “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” and “sleeping is overrated”. As a result, it’s easy to think that more hours of work equate to more success. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth and in recent years experts have warned about the negative side effects. In fact, research shows that people who are sleep deprived are seven times more likely to experience helplessness. Arianna Huffington cautions that “the myth of burning out as the necessary price for accomplishment and success” is dangerous.
If you are not taking care of your mind and body, you won’t be able to reach peak performance (or live a healthy life for that matter). So take sleep seriously and plan it out in your daily calendar just like you would all your other tasks. A healthy 7-9 hours of sleep a night will allow you to be as productive as possible when you are awake.
Extra Tip: Consistency is the cornerstone of a healthy sleep routine. Pick a bedtime and a wake-up time and stick to them as much as possible.

2. Resist the urge to check emails first
Love them or loathe them, emails are here to stay – despite the popularity of instant messaging, texting, and social media. In fact, email is the top communications tool at work. Office workers spend 6.3 hours checking emails, with 3.2 hours devoted to work emails and 3.1 hours to personal messages. 
While most of us check emails first thing in the morning, productivity experts say that you will find more success if you check emails only after you’ve accomplished a task. So when you get to your desk, start off the day by completing something on your to-do list and only then read through your (on average 100) emails. This way you don’t get sucked into the email vortex right at the start of your day. 

3. Develop a personal morning routine
How you start your day sets the tone for how you’ll do at work. That’s why many successful business people have a strict morning routine. Do you usually wake up right before you need to get to the office and scramble to get ready? While you might be on time for work, this does not encourage a productive day.
As Entrepreneur states, “Leaders possess success habits that have become routine and tend to wake up early to make time for what’s important to them: exercise, meditation, movement, family, hanging out with the dog or even spending time in the garden.” Lay out a morning routine that works for you and try to stick to it – i.e. no 5X snoozing! 
Extra Tip: Exercising gets your endorphins going and increases your productivity. You’ll be more awake and ready to tackle your day by giving yourself that extra energy boost. Working out can increase your mental clarity for four to 10 hours post-exercise – which is why you will see exercise as part of almost every leader’s morning routine.

4. Commit to writing things down
It’s a cliche, but writing things down will help you be more organized, think more clearly and ultimately boost your productivity. One of the main benefits of writing things down is that you don’t forget stuff. Duh! But that’s not all. Once you write an idea down, you engage with a different part of your brain. It allows you to actually process the information and, as a result, unload your mental RAM to focus on the task at hand.
Besides writing out your daily tasks, you should also use the “thinking on paper” technique. This method allows you to externalize your thoughts on paper (or computer) and grow them into something real. It’s difficult to visualize ideas, move them around and expand on them, all in your brain. When putting pen to paper, you are more easily able to connect ideas in a meaningful way. Richard Branson, the famous mega-entrepreneur, says that one of his best possessions is a standard-sized school notebook. “Anyone who aspires to lead a company must develop a habit of taking notes. I carry a notebook everywhere I go.”

5. Implement the two-minute rule
If your goal for 2018 is to maximize your time, then implementing the “two-minute rule” is a habit you’ll want to adopt now. This rule states that any action that can be carried out in two minutes or less is completed right away. According to researchers David Maxfield and Justin Hale from the leadership training company VitalSmarts, “it’s a practice that many top employees implement as it allows them to quickly finish small tasks before they pile up and take more mental space than they deserve.” 
It’s a straightforward rule for combatting procrastination. The goal is to make it easier for you to get started on the things you should be doing, as most tasks we procrastinate on aren’t actually difficult to do. Not only will it make your to-do list smaller, it will give you a sense of accomplishment. Apply this rule not only at work but also to your personal tasks like taking two minutes to make your bed or clean your dishes immediately after your meal.

Now it’s your turn  
While it might be hard to implement all the above at the same time, even doing just one of these tips will boost your productivity. Its only the beginning of the second month of 2018, so there’s still time to kick off your new year’s resolution. I myself started with the “two-minute rule” and, let me tell you, it works! 

How do you boost your productivity? Share your tips and advice in the comments.

Pittsburgh, Pa – July 28, 2017 – Apps Webbs, the Software application company, has officially named Feeding America® as its domestic hunger partner. Apps Webbs is committing to fighting child hunger with its TECH Feeding Kids campaign. Through TECH Feeding Kids, Apps Webbs Resellers can help fight childhood hunger in the U.S. simply by doing what they are already doing – building their home-based reseller businesses.  Feeding America is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization with a network of 200 local food banks reaching every county in the United States.

 With this partnership, the company has pledged to help provide meals for kids in need in 2017, through the Feeding America network of food banks. Every time someone becomes an Apps Webbs customer, a meal is donated.  And every time those customers pay their mobile app subscription bills each month, another meal is donated. In short, small businesses will have an opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life when purchasing and using our services.  

According to the USDA, one in five children in the United States struggles with hunger. That’s nearly 16 million children who lack regular access to safe, nutritionally adequate food. Feeding America works with its partners and network members to help combat this and strives to reach children where they are and at the times when they are most in need. The organization helps provide meals to over 12 million children in need each year.

For more information about Apps Webbs Inc. and Feeding America’s partnership to help feed more kids in need visit www.apps-webbs.com/techfeedingkids.html

About Apps Webbs .
Apps Webbs Inc., offers mobile application services. The Company, through its mobile application platform, assists businesses in creating, editing, and managing mobile applications online. For information on Apps Webbs home-based Reseller opportunity,
visit www.apps-webbs.com.
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About Feeding America
​Feeding America is the nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. Together, we provide food to more than 46 million people through 60,000 food pantries and meal programs in communities across America. Feeding America also supports programs that improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger.
Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Pittsburgh Award Program Honors the Achievement
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PITTSBURGH June 9, 2017 -- Apps Webbs Inc. - (Mobile Application & Website Development Company) has been selected for the 2017 Best of Pittsburgh Award in the Software Company category by the Pittsburgh Award Program.
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Each year, the Pittsburgh Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Pittsburgh area a great place to live, work and play.
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Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2017 Pittsburgh Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Pittsburgh Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Pittsburgh Award Program

The Pittsburgh Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Pittsburgh area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Pittsburgh Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Award Program

CONTACT:
Pittsburgh Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@onlineawarded.org
URL: http://www.onlineawarded.org