MobileCrunch |  |
- Toshiba Shows TransferJet-Compatible LSI For Stable Wireless Data Exchange
- Oh, Hey Google: Chomp Launches Its Own AdWords For App Search; Brings Realtime Search To iPhone
- Nokia’s Only MeeGo Smartphone, The N9, Starts Shipping (Pricing Starts At €480)
- Wikets Raises $1.5 Million From Andreessen Horowitz, Battery For A Rewarding Social Commerce App
- With Moneyball In Theaters And October Closing In, Baseball Geeks Get A Mobile App
- Stamped: Forget 1 To 5 Stars, If You Like Something, Just Stamp It
- HTC Vigor Photo Leak Reveals 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor, 720p Display, And 4G LTE Support
- Facebook’s iPad App Was Feature Complete In May, But They Won’t Release It, So The Developer Quit
- Meporter, The App That Lets You Report Local News As It Breaks, Launches In Beta On Android
- Is iOS5′s Assistant Going To Be Voice Control On Steroids?
- With Version 2.0 On Fire, Instagram Zooms Past 10 Million Users
- Android Saw Twice As Many Buyers As iPhone Over The Past 3 Months
- HTC “Facebook Phone” Dumps Facebook For Chinese Market
- Samsung Asks Apple For 2.4% Payout On iPhone Chipsets
- The Huawei Honor Android Smartphone Packs 1.4GHz Processor Under A 4″ Display
| Toshiba Shows TransferJet-Compatible LSI For Stable Wireless Data Exchange Posted: 27 Sep 2011 05:10 AM PDT  Close proximity technology TransferJet is evolving. Toshiba has developed an LSI (pictured) that supports TransferJet and is designed specifically for mobile devices. The LSI is sized at just 4.0×4.0× 0.5mm and the smallest of its kind, according to Toshiba. The company says the LSI achieves a receiving sensitivity of -78dBm, outperforming the value of the TransferJet standard itself (-71dBm) and making data transfer between two TransferJet-equipped devices more stable (it actually boasts the industry’s highest sensitivity). Toshiba also squeezed an RF switch and RF circuit for TransferJet into the chip. The company expects it to be used in tablets, smartphones, notebooks, digital cameras, and similar devices. One use case is two people exchanging contact data with their phones more easily: Toshiba says the new chip can also make it easier to receive content from digital whiteboards, digital signage displays etc.: The company plans to start shipping the first samples in January 2012 and begin producing one million chips monthly in the second quarter of 2012. Via Digikame Watch [JP]
|
| Oh, Hey Google: Chomp Launches Its Own AdWords For App Search; Brings Realtime Search To iPhone Posted: 27 Sep 2011 04:59 AM PDT  Two weeks ago, we covered Chomp‘s news that it will be powering app search on Verizon’s app store for all Android phones. Today, the app search early player is announcing some more big news, and this time advertisers and developers are the ones who stand to benefit. Launching in private beta today is “Chomp Search Ads”, a new program that will allow developers to bid on the keywords or phrases that will deliver their ads to users who search for those terms within an app search engine. The ad engine then matches app ads to the most relevant potential customer based on what apps they’re currently searching, making ads less annoying and more relevant for the consumer and ideally more lucrative for developers. During the early stage of its private beta, Chomp will be opening up its search ad engine to a select group of advertisers, with Milk and Zaarly being two of the first companies to participate. “Being able to advertise the Oink app to people that are in the process of looking for something just like it is a form of targeting we haven't seen before”, says Milk (and Digg) founder Kevin Rose. For advertisers and developers, this additional targeting is absolutely huge. Just consider the market. As Erick reported back in January, according to Gartner, $893 million was spent on app advertising in 2010, with total app revenue predicted to skyrocket to $50 billion by 2014 — up to $20 billion of which is likely to be spent on advertising in apps. And what’s even more relevant to app search engines like Chomp? Over 200 million iOS and Android users search for apps every month. Needless to say, if the ad engine’s implementation goes smoothly and matching is up to par, this could be a huge move for Chomp, potentially encouraging developers (who spend 20 to 30 percent of app revenues on marketing etc.) to come flocking. As to how it will work? Like Google’s AdWords, Chomp Search Ads will be an auction-based service, in which developers set up an account and pre-fill the account with ad dollars. At which point Chomp will “recommend search terms and developers can bid for those keywords, setting a daily maximum spend as well as a maximum bid price for a given keyword or phrase”, according the Chomp’s release. Chomp will then show ads based on bid price and relevancy, with developers’ accounts being charged only when users click on the ad through a “Get It” button. And, just like Google does for web advertising, the startup will provide users with campaign reporting and analytics to measure the effectiveness of their ad dollars. The value proposition here is potentially very high, as traditional app advertising has not been up to speed with web advertising, rarely accounting for the delivered ad’s relevance to the consumer. Much of app display advertising fails to deliver meaningful results, and many developers have shied away from integrating advertising into their apps for this very reason. It just wasn’t worth the money. But if Chomp can live up to its promise, this could be a big win for developers, consumers, and, well, Chomp. The startup’s search ads are available in private beta at ads.chomp.com here. What’s more, the app search engine is complementing the announcement of its search ad functionality with the launch of a redesigned app for the iPhone, complete with a new interface and bringing the features that will go live with Verizon’s app store like the ability to discover new apps based on keywords, types, and categories — not just by name search. Chomp for iPhone’s new design features a prominent search box that integrates Google’s now-taken-for-granted implementation of realtime search. Meaning that, from the moment the user types a letter into the search bar on their phone, Chomp’s new search begins automatically displaying results. The results will also now display large “app cards” that include the app’s name, price, review rating and a “Get It” button, according to Chomp Co-founder Ben Keighran, providing a natural way for users to get a basic sense of the app and its relevance to their search. Chomp’s home screen will also include top ten suggested search terms based on what’s trending (while displaying preview icons of those apps), as well as five user-recommended topic titles that can be searched based on category and a “Related Searches” feature. Look out app search engines, Chomp’s addition of search advertising and enhancement of its search functionality across its platforms are moving it ever closer to becoming the Google of app search engines, and ever farther away from being the AltaVista. For more, check out Chomp on iTunes here. Chomp is the search engine that finds the apps you want. Chomp's proprietary algorithm learns the functions and topics of apps, so you can search based on what apps do, not just what they're called. Try searching for "puzzle games", "kids games", "expense trackers", "tip calculators" or "chat" and start finding great apps. Chomp for iPhone was launched January 2010. Chomp is available via a free download in the iTunes App Store, Android Marketplace and on...
|
| Nokia’s Only MeeGo Smartphone, The N9, Starts Shipping (Pricing Starts At €480) Posted: 27 Sep 2011 02:22 AM PDT  Nokia this morning announced that its sleek new smartphone, the N9 – which will almost certainly be the first and only MeeGo handset to ever see the light of day – has begun shipping to customers who’ve pre-ordered the device, and retail stores. The N9 features an interesting UI that’s controlled with a simple swipe. The buttonless smartphone features three home views (Applications, Events and Live Applications) that are designed to enable people to easily and swiftly navigate the interface. Expand a hands-on soon. The phone is available in three colours (black, cyan and magenta) with 16GB and 64GB storage options. The retail price is 480 euros (roughly $650) for the former, and 560 euros (~$755) for the latter, before taxes or subsidies to be clear. Nokia says the phone will be on sale in countries around the world. Pricing and availability evidently varies from region to region and operator to operator, the company says in a statement. Call me crazy, but I’d love to give this one a thorough spin some day. Nokia is a Finnish multinational communications corporation. It is primarily engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries. They make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Nokia is the owner of Symbian operation system and partially owns MeeGo operating system.
|
| Wikets Raises $1.5 Million From Andreessen Horowitz, Battery For A Rewarding Social Commerce App Posted: 27 Sep 2011 02:07 AM PDT  Wikets, Inc., a young social commerce startup, announced today that it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from venture firms Andreessen Horowitz and Battery Ventures, as well as from six angel investors, including Robert Davoli of Sigma Partners. The startup will use its seed capital, says Wikets co-founder and CEO Andy Park, to ramp up hiring and prepare for the release of its eponymous iPhone app, which will reward users for providing and sharing recommendations on products and places to their friends — while on the go. From this brief description, Wikets may sound a little bit like a game-ified rewards system overlaid on, say, Yelp. While the Wikets team is not yet sharing all the details of the app’s UX — as the team is busy putting the finishing touches on the app ahead of its expected release date in early October — nut, to be sure, Wikets is more than a Yelp with badges, designed instead around social commerce, around helping users discover and connect with like-minded people based on shared favorite places and products. The social graph is becoming (if it hasn’t always been) the source of our most trusted recommendations; while Netflix’s impressive recommendation engine relies on a complex concoction of algorithms, and other familiar services might prefer similar machine-enabled (or hybrid) recommendation systems, it’s hard to argue against good old human curation and friendsourced recommendations. Especially for the very simple reason that they come from those we trust — people who know who we are, what tastes and preferences define us, or what makes us tick. Park identifies this trend in many people: When a friend takes one up on a recommendation, they are inherently showing trust in that suggestion, and by extension showing trust in us, so Wikets is therefore designed to reward friends for offering valuable, actionable recommendations on products and places (as well as the ability to discover like-minded strangers who will have the possibility to become trusted sources themselves). The co-founder says that the application will combine the social graph with friend filters and geolocation as the foundation for those trustworthy recommendations. And, instead of simply becoming a mobile scrapbook for people to add photos of products or favorite places, Wikets will offer (through various partnerships with retailers, etc.) a full, searchable database so that users can focus on suggesting products and places they love to people who will likely feel the same way. Wikets will allow users to connect directly with each other, share preferences, and receive updates via email et al on what their trusted sources are recommending. Then, when another user takes one’s suggestion, both are then rewarded with points. Once users accumulate a certain number of points, they will become eligible to receive real prizes. At this point, Park says, those prizes will likely take the form of gift cards. Yet, as the iPhone app will be free (made-for iPad and Android apps are next on the agenda, by the way), Wikets will need to keep its eye on the formulation of a killer business model. Although the team has yet to solidify its plans for monetization, likely revenue will come in the form of taking a cut when a user’s recommendation turns into an actual purchase, be it of a product, a hotel room, for example. Wikets can also become an attractive platform for brands looking to find, connect with, and leverage their most loyal customers and passionate advocates, and likely the types of prizes Wikets will offer down the road might come in the form of featured products offered by partnering brands. Be that as it may, Park reiterated that Wikets is keen on making sure that its “social” components will not simply manifest in the old cut-and-paste Facebook and Twitter integration. While users will be able to blast product recommendations out via their favorite social networks, look for the app’s social features to center around how it will use one’s preferences and location to identify the things they like while they’re on the move (and perhaps in a store) and connect them with people who have similar interests nearby to offer realtime, pertinent recommendations. For those not standing in the aisle of a retail outlet, users will of course be able to go buy those products from retailers’ digital stores, right from the app. As to who is behind Wikets? The startup was founded by Andy Park, Vijay Manwani, and Ravi Reddy, who formerly built data center software provider BladeLogic, which was sold to BMC Software in 2008 a year after its IPO. Stay tuned for more.
|
| With Moneyball In Theaters And October Closing In, Baseball Geeks Get A Mobile App Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:59 PM PDT  For baseball fans, that magical month is almost afoot. October: The time in which we look on, annoyed, as our favorite team heads to Florida to play golf, or stumbles, gets injured, and whimpers quietly out of the playoffs. It’s a testy time for most, but still one most of us would never miss. Another thing baseball fans have likely noticed: Moneyball — a book written about the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and his use of sabermetrics and other newfangled ways of keeping tabs on which players are undervalued, etc. — has been made into a film and is being shown in theaters nationwide. For those unfamiliar with any of the above, the reason this is of interest to baseball fans? Moneyball highlighted a then ongoing re-conception of what metrics and methods teams and organizations use to evaluate players. Thanks to Moneyball and the ascendancy of Bill James and his sabermetrics, geeks were finally able to secure a place in the clubhouse. I haven’t yet seen Moneyball, but it’s on my towering list of things to do this week, to be sure. So, in the spirit of a close wild card race, the encroaching playoffs, and the release of Moneyball, here’s a cool new app for iOS called Baseball Mobile that is, simply put, a fast and easy way to get baseball stats on your iOS devices. Now, stats geeks can go mobile. With authority. The reason I’m excited about this app? It was created with the casual fan and the advanced stats geek in mind, which means that it includes both traditional stats (hits, RBIs, batting average, etc.) as well as sabermetric stats (OPS, FIP, wOPS+) for every player and team going back to the 1870s. It’s also updated daily for 2011 season and will be updated for this year’s playoffs as well. Baseball Mobile’s data is all stored within the app, too, which means that you can open new pages and run search queries instantly, whether you’re on an airplane or suffering from AT&T’s service. Sure, there are tons of sites out there on the web that offer a wealth of baseball stats, but they can be hard to find for the casual baseball fan, and many of those sites aren’t optimized for mobile. Plus, who wants to own another ESPN app? It’s nice to be using something made by an independent developer that has no affiliation with the Disney-owned death star of sports media. The app is a great way for average fans, fantasy buffs, stats geeks, and players themselves to easily swipe through current and historical stats — and it’s a great way to win a bar bet with Tony, who thinks that he knows everything about Carl Yastrzemski’s statistics in the ’67 season. And, hey, even Manny Acta, the Cleveland Indians’ manager, seems to like the app: Follow @Mactriber_11@Mactriber_11 Manny Acta Baseball Mobile on iphone is awesome. What a great app! And apparently so does Heath Bell. Bill James’ Daily Matchups is another app out there that has some similar use cases, but Baseball Mobile wins because it will present stats in your favorite format, do so on a team-by-team or player-by-player basis, and the app doesn’t have friction when you choose a new team’s stats because all the info is right there in the app. Users can also switch between regular stats and sabermetric stats by simply swiping the player’s profile without having to return to the main page. Pretty cool. As to who’s responsible for this app? Mike Gilberg is a first-time iOS developer, so users may notice that the design isn’t exactly perfect. There’s plenty of room left for improvement, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t app isn’t an awesome primer for baseball fans heading into the playoffs. It also happens that Gilberg has both served as a ballboy for the New York Metropolitans and worked in the organization’s operations department, building and applying advanced stats — some of which have made it into this very Baseball Mobile app. Thus, what Gilberg may lack in app development experience, he makes up for in familiarity with the geeky world of baseball statistics. And if there’s any sport that is stat-centric, baseball is it. So check it out and let us know what you think, baseball fans. Oh, and Android is on its way.
|
| Stamped: Forget 1 To 5 Stars, If You Like Something, Just Stamp It Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:17 PM PDT  I’ve always hated the notion of ratings based on five stars. It makes no sense. Sure, something that sucks is “1 star” and something awesome is “5 stars”, but what determines a “2 star” rating? What about a “4 stars”? It’s totally arbitrary. Why not just say something is “bad”, “okay”, “good”, or “great”? Or better yet, why not say nothing unless something is great? That’s the basic idea behind Stamped, a new startup currently in stealth mode. The startup has deep Google ties — 2 of the 3 co-founders are ex-Google, while 4 of the 7 total team members are — but it’s iPhone-only for now. They’re taking the Instagram-approach to launching in that regard. And they’re taking cues from Instagram in another key regard: simplicity. “It can be hard to figure out what a 3-star rating from 70 strangers means. We want to introduce simplicity back into the system by reducing it all down to one question: does it deserve your friend’s stamp of approval?,” co-founders and CEO Robby Stein says. ”Every decision we've made has been designed to make the act of stamping as fast and simple as possible,” he continues. I love everything about those statements. And Stein goes further: “We're obsessively focused on building a social platform designed for quality over quantity. There is so much value in discovering great things through your friends and too much noise on current platforms to do it easily. We want to change that.” When it launches, Stamped will be entering an already-crowded space around mobile-based ratings. This reminds me of Instagram launching a year ago just as a plethora of mobile photo startups were launching. Simplicity and speed won the day. Stamped is hoping it plays out the same way for them. Stein notes that he’s been obsessing over this idea for a few years, but started on it in earnest in April when he left Google (where he worked on Gmail and more recently, Ad Exchange). ”I saw that people loved to talk about the things they liked best over coffee, emails, texts, or even massive Google spreadsheets (I swear my friend has one). I noticed this is information people are naturally drawn to sharing, so I started with building a prototype that made this easier and more efficient,” he says. There are a few other unique layers to the app, to avoid what the team calls “data diarrhea”. More on that when the app is ready to launch. The startup, which is entirely New York City-based right now, raised a Series A round of funding from Bain Capital Ventures and Google Ventures earlier this year. The amount is undisclosed. Look for Stamped to launch in the next few weeks. For now, you can sign up to learn more on their site. Company: Stamped Website: stamped.com Stamped is a mobile startup focusing on simple, fast reviews. You give products your “stamp of approval”.
|
| HTC Vigor Photo Leak Reveals 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor, 720p Display, And 4G LTE Support Posted: 26 Sep 2011 01:49 PM PDT  Since we first caught wind of the HTC Vigor, things have been blurry. And I don’t just mean leaked photos — we’ve been back and forth on a few different features like display resolution, or whether or not it’ll be a Droid-branded handset. But for a handset with such an air of mystery, our latest leak has really spilled the beans. Courtesy of Droid-Life, we now have some semi-clear pictures, and a full list of hardware specifications for what is indeed the HTC Vigor. According to the “Hardware Information” page displayed within the pictures, the Vigor will run a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. Sense 3.5, the newest version of HTC’s user interface, will also come packed in the new handset. We’re also seeing confirmation of support for Verizon’s 4G LTE, just as we’d hoped. Past that (and I know you’re wondering about it), the Vigor will have a 4.3-inch 720p HD display. We’ll also see an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter for video chat. Add to that the possibility of Beats Audio, and the Vigor seems to be a complete package. But awesome specs aside, we’re also getting a good hard look at the exterior of the phone and I have to say I’m not quite impressed. That textured back finish will most certainly get grimy fast. But like it or not, there’s very little chance you’ll leave Verizon paying less than $300. The LTE phone with the closest specs to the Vigor would be the Motorola Droid Bionic, which is priced at $299 on-contract. If interested, go ahead and start saving. Full gallery below. HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Phone 7 operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in late 2006, the company has introduced dozens of HTC-branded products around the world. The company recently introduced the HTC diamond to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and Peter Chou, President and CEO, HTC made its name as the company behind many of the...
|
| Facebook’s iPad App Was Feature Complete In May, But They Won’t Release It, So The Developer Quit Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:31 AM PDT  You may recall that two months ago, we found and leaked Facebook’s iPad app. What was especially awesome is that the entire app was buried in the code for Facebook’s iPhone app, you just had to do a few tricks to enable it. Once Facebook realized what we found, they took moves to try and shut it down. But it was too late. The app was out there, and looked pretty close to complete. In fact, it turns out it was feature complete at that point. On his personal blog today, developer Jeff Verkoeyen reveals that Facebook’s iPad app has been feature complete since May. How does he know? He built it. He was the lead engineer on the project. He had been working on it for 8 solid months — sometimes as much as 80 hours a week, he says, to get it done in time. But Facebook’s definition of “in time” kept shifting, Verkoeyen says. And that led him to quit the social network, and join rival Google. Here’s one key blurb:
So yes, what you saw in our leak was the real deal. That was the app Facebook intended to release — but still hasn’t. The original plan was to launch it around May, Verkoeyen notes. Then that was push until JuneJuly, as the New York Times’ Nick Bilton reported back then. Then there were whispers of f8 last week — but that obviously didn’t happen either. So what’s going on? Here’s the other key blub:
For the past couple of months, we’ve been hearing something that would seem to line up with Verkoeyen’s statement. Specifically, the “details” he won’t go into are related to the relationship between Facebook and Apple, we hear. The two sides have been at odds ever since the launch of Apple’s Ping music social network last year. Facebook was originally supposed to be a key part of that launch, then full integration was pulled at the last minute. The same is true with iOS. Apple and Facebook had been working together to bring a deep integration of the social network into iOS 5, then it was killed — Apple went with Twitter instead. With all of these things, the reason for the split were said to be over “terms” that Apple didn’t like. But Apple has always wanted Facebook to release an iPad app. The Facebook iPhone app is the most downloaded app of all time. And there are countless third-party Facebook iPad apps that are amongst the top downloads all time, even though most aren’t very good. At first, Facebook wasn’t going to focus on the iPad. Then they decided to, but they also realized the app could be used as leverage in their dealings with Apple. That’s what we believe has been going on over the past several months. The story goes even deeper when you consider Project Spartan. (And I should note, there’s some confusion within Facebook about that name. Some say they don’t use it, but the third-party developers involved may. Either way, I’m talking about the giant HTML5 platform project that Facebook is working on.) At first, the project was meant to target iOS specifically, to make sure that Facebook apps re-written in HTML5 could work on the mobile Safari browser. One key to this is Credits — if Facebook can do HTML5 and not native apps, they can get around Apple’s terms for in-app purchase cuts. The bigger key is simply control. Apple controls a mobile platform, Facebook does not. They’ll never admit this — and they go out of their way to deny it without denying it — but Facebook does not want to be at the mercy of another company, whether it’s Apple or Google, etc. With that in mind, in recent weeks, the scope of the HTML5 project has expanded to include Android and even the desktop. And now there are whispers of something else going on. There isn’t much to go on here just yet, but we’ve been hearing that Facebook and Apple may now be working together on the HTML5 project. Maybe it’s because Apple hates Google that much, or maybe it’s because they realize that HTML5 apps are still no real threat to the native app movement. Or maybe they want Facebook’s wildly popular social games to run inside of Facebook’s apps — including the iPad app. If this is indeed the case, negotiations may still be underway. That could be why we haven’t seen either Spartan or the iPad app yet, even though both are done. Either way, Verkoeyen himself is done. He’s now at Google, working happily on their mobile team. Update: I spoke with Verkoeyen who wanted to clarify a few things. First and foremost, while the app was feature-complete in May, it was not totally done, he says. While he hasn’t been working on it for a some time, others have been, to get it ready. The version that leaked was one iteration, but not the final product, he says. He also wanted to reiterate that his going to Google was not a reflection on Facebook. He says he loved the time he spent there, but that he was ready for something new. As for the long hours he worked on the app, “I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent working on that. In no way was I trying to lash out at Facebook,” he says. He declined to comment on the Facebook/Apple relationship and how that plays into all of this. Update 2: Ben Parr of Mashable is reporting that the iPad app will launch at Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 event. Robert Scoble reported on this last week as well. Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskowitz and Chris Hughes to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original idea for the term...
|
| Meporter, The App That Lets You Report Local News As It Breaks, Launches In Beta On Android Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:19 AM PDT  At Disrupt NYC in May, a startup called Meporter launched its location-based news app that enables every man, woman, and child to write, photograph, and record their own video of local news — as it breaks. Of course, recording will only take you so far. Meporter also allows users to share those very stories they cover with any Internet-connected and mobile-device-carrying person on the planet. Using Meporter, all those with iOS devices could easily use them to take a picture, make a video, and write their own story — becoming their own one-man or one-woman New York Times or TechCrunch — in a matter of minutes. Of course, we can’t recommend trying to become your own TechCrunch, but it’s theoretically possible. Originally only available for iOS, the Disrupt alumni is now officially announcing the release of their Android app in public beta. Just like the iOS version, Meporter’s Android app will allow eyewitnesses and fledgling reporters to read and report the news as it happens, in realtime, on anything from weather and traffic to politics and sports. Meporter stories can then be shared with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Since launching, Meporter Founder and CEO Andy Leff said that app has seen international adoption, with users posting stories on everything from local weather reports during Hurricane Irene to hotel fires in the U.K., capitalizing on its realtime sharing features in much the same way that has made Twitter a go-to resource during newsworthy events. Just like your local newspaper, Meporter offers all the standard news categories, like announcements, classifieds, crime, entertainment, health, etc. to offer a robust news experience that lets users report on anything they choose. Yet with Meporter readers can see other users’ locations, comment on stories, check in as eyewitnesses, and it only works if reporters (and commenters) post on or near the location where the news is happening. Meporter wants to guarantee that the coverage is hyperlocal, as is the ensuing commentary. With the launch of Meporter’s Android beta, the startup is extending its “Million Man Launch” contest to the Android community. What does that mean? Meporter is giving away over $28,000 in cash prizes to the first 1 million users who sign up and share the app with their friends. This is a great addition to the game-ified layer of Meporter, which lets users earn “press passes” (i.e. badges) for posting stories, posting to specific categories, etc., which can be redeemed for actual prizes in the Meporter store. Granted, this “Million Man Launch” may sound a desperate ploy to get people downloading, but media organizations are willing to stop at nothing these days to get you on board. And real cash and prizes aren’t such an awful deterrent. For more, check out Meporter at home here. Company: Meporter Website: meporter.com Meporter is a local mobile newsdesk that enables you to write, photograph and video your local news as it breaks. Meporter makes your stories available to anyone in the world with a mobile phone or an Internet connection. Readers will see your location, comment on stories and check in as eyewitnesses. If they're on the spot too, they can post more about the story as events unfold. Meporters also win "Press Passes" (badges) for doing tasks on the...
|
| Is iOS5′s Assistant Going To Be Voice Control On Steroids? Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:07 AM PDT  “Remind me to watch the Doctor Who season finale this Saturday.” If new reports are to be believed, then the iPhone 5′s new Assistant functionality can take voice input like that and automagically convert it into an entry in iOS 5′s Reminders app. 9to5Mac’s sources have come forward with boatloads of new details about Apple’s attempts to shoehorn voice commands into iOS, and if true, they paint quite the compelling picture. British sci-fi reminders aside, Assistant is said to be embedded deep within iOS, connecting it to just about all other facets of the iPhone 5′s software. It’s activated by briefly holding down the home button, at which point a small microphone window pops up from the bottom of the screen. Traditional voice commands like “Call Greg Kumparak” all still work just fine, but Assistant is apparently savvy enough to interpret conversational language and convert it into tasks the iPhone can execute. Tell it to give you directions to your favorite Thai restaurant, for example, and the iPhone apparently complies. 9to5Mac’s sources don’t mention how exactly Assistant responds (does it provide audible directions? does it kick off Google Maps?), but I suppose those sources had to be judicious with what they could and couldn’t say. A conversation mode is also thrown into the mix, where Assistant asks a series of related questions in order to complete a task. If I ask the iPhone to “schedule a meeting with Steven Moffat,” it could respond asking for the time and date. Once I provide those, it could ask about how Steven should be contacted, and so on and so forth. Of course, this wouldn’t be worth a damn unless voice recognition and interpretation was spot on. That’s where Siri comes in: Apple scooped up the company last year, and it is Siri’s work with AI and voice response systems that give Assistant the extra bit of oomph that Voice Commands never had. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit enunciating my syllables into my Android Device Of The Week, so a cleaner solution like Assistant could give iOS users something to crow about. Alas, you won’t be using Assistant if you’ve got anything but the latest and great from Cupertino. Assistant takes full advantage of the iPhone 5′s A5 processor and 1 GB of RAM, so users looking to talk to their phones (as opposed to on them) will have to upgrade. As is always the case with leaks, it’s possible that all this talk of Assistant is utter bunk. Still, it certainly falls in line with many of the rumors that have been flying around, and Assistant’s capabilities certainly line up in ways that will almost certainly help Apple. Accessibility, for example, has always been a big focus for Apple. If Stevie Wonder gets a kick out of iOS now, he’d probably love Assistant. With some sort of iDevice coming down the pipeline this October, we’ll soon find out for sure, but here’s hoping that Assistant really makes the grade.
|
| With Version 2.0 On Fire, Instagram Zooms Past 10 Million Users Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:52 AM PDT  Six days ago, Instagram pushed version 2.0 live in the App Store. A big time upgrade with a focus on the camera, co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom expected signups to pick up some significant steam. But it was more like they caught fire. Over the weekend, Instagram was seeing a signup rate of over one new user a second — roughly 75 per minute, Systrom says. This pushed them past the 10 million user milestone. Remarkably, it took the hot startup Foursquare just over two years to get to 10 million users — Instagram did it in just under a year. It took Twitter and Facebook well over two years to hit the milestone as well. Even more remarkably, Instagram has done it while being available only on one platform: iOS. Remember too: this is a company with just six employees still. With the new surge, Instagram has cracked the top 10 free apps in the App Store once again. They’re just ahead of Google+ and the only apps in front of them are games. You can find Instagram in the App Store here. Instagram is a photo sharing application for the iPhone. It allows you to quickly take pictures, apply a filter, and share it on the service or with a number of other services. The team behind it is also behind Burbn, a location-based service that works with HTML5-compatible web browsers.
|
| Android Saw Twice As Many Buyers As iPhone Over The Past 3 Months Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:07 AM PDT  Head down into the bunkers and lock the door, friends — there be flamewars a comin’. Nielsen released a new mobile research report this morning, with at least one big landmark stat within: over the past 3 months, Android has pulled in twice as many new smartphone buyers as the iPhone. The new-buyers breakdown, over the past 3 months:
Of course, these stats really should have a little asterisk tucked somewhere inside. The iPhone is one phone (or two, counting the 3GS), by one manufacturer. Android is, at this point, hundreds of models, across dozens of manufacturers. That’s not said to knock Android in any way — but it’s worth noting that when the pie is split so many ways across so many manufacturers and models within, the iPhone is probably making exponentially more money for Apple than Android phones are for anyone. Also worth noting, but immeasurable: how many would-be iPhone buyers held off with the knowledge that a new iPhone was not only on the way, but was actually behind its normal release schedule? It’ll be interesting to see these numbers for the next three months. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with... Android is a software platform for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in Java that utilizes Google-developed software libraries, but does not support programs developed in native code. The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards...
|
| HTC “Facebook Phone” Dumps Facebook For Chinese Market Posted: 26 Sep 2011 09:55 AM PDT  How do you sell the Facebook phone in a Facebook-free environment? Luckily for HTC, China isn’t short on homegrown social networks, one of the largest being the instant messaging service QQ. So as the HTC Status (once known as the ChaCha) migrates toward China, where our favorite social network has been banned, Facebook will be left behind to make room for a dedicated QQ button (pictured at left). Now, the phone will still be called the ChaCha, reports MicGadget, and apart from the default social services getting switched around, it won’t be any different from our AT&T version. To refresh your memory, the Status/ChaCha sports a 2.6-inch HVGA display with a full QWERTY keyboard down below, BlackBerry-style. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on an 800MHz processor, with a 5-megapixel rear camera and HTC Sense 3.0 UI slapped on top. Its real stand-out feature would be the dedicated Facebook button down on the bottom right corner of the phone. It lets you get instant access to the social network, and pulses when you’re on a sharable page, video, etc. When pressed, whatever web page you were viewing or song you were listening to gets automatically posted to your Facebook wall. Obviously, the button will work a bit differently with QQ and its over 700 million users, but the same idea still applies. HTC hasn’t been super clear about availability on the Chinese ChaCha, but we do know it’ll go for 2,680 yuan, which is $419 over here in the States. HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Phone 7 operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in late 2006, the company has introduced dozens of HTC-branded products around the world. The company recently introduced the HTC diamond to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and Peter Chou, President and CEO, HTC made its name as the company behind many of the...
|
| Samsung Asks Apple For 2.4% Payout On iPhone Chipsets Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:56 AM PDT  Good morning, and welcome to today’s edition of: “Apple and Samsung love to hate each other.” Though it’s only been a short weekend since the latest update, the dueling electronics makers have again waged war in the Netherlands. Samsung countersued Apple in the Hague court last week, claiming that the iPad and iPhone violate certain 3G technology patents held by the South Korea-based company. The issue is that those Samsung-held patents fall under FRAND licensing terms, as they cover technology necessary for the industry as a whole, and must be licensed out to competitors under reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. Because of this, Samsung has asked that Apple pay 2.4 percent for every chipset per patent within its 3G-capable iPhones and iPads, reports Webwereld journalist Andreas Udo de Haes on Twitter. Obviously, negotiations like this negate the need for an injunction. However, Apple claimed in court that it was already paying its licensing fees to Intel, which Apple is arguing as the sole supplier of its GSM iPhone chipset. Samsung, on the other hand, is saying that Apple has other component suppliers that it is purposefully obscuring to circumvent such claims. Samsung has also argued that Apple knew about Samsung’s patents back in 2007, around the time of the first iPhone, and that Apple declined to license the technology. Apple said those terms weren’t in conjunction with FRAND’s guarantee of “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory” terms. Whether Samsung then asked for 2.4 percent per patent on chipsets is unclear, but Apple has certainly called that figure “excessive” this time around. Meanwhile, the Australian court is fielding further requests to delay the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Both companies met today in front of Judge Annabelle Bennett to talk about the revised version of the GalTab that Samsung has said no longer violates the original 10 allegedly infringed Apple patents. In court, Apple said that three of its patents are still being infringed by the Samsung tab, all in reference to touchscreen technology, reports Australia’s IT News. Apple has taken an “eyes wide open” strategy in its argument. “It must have been plain as the Opera House to Samsung that Apple’s patents were right in front of its eyes and that they were wide open,” said Apple’s lead counsel Stephen Burley. “If they intend to launch a product that infringes a patent, they ought to clear the way in advance, not to crash through.” Though it’s unclear how the Dutch case will pan out, Apple’s made big strides in Australia even without securing a permanent injunction. Samsung had been advertising an “imminent launch” for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 since July 20, but the tab has yet to grace Australian shelves. Again, there are no signs of this fiasco slowing down anytime soon. Buckle up. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
|
| The Huawei Honor Android Smartphone Packs 1.4GHz Processor Under A 4″ Display Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:56 AM PDT  Today Huawei has announced its latest Android smartphone: The Huawei Honor. Unlike some recent mid-range offerings, this thing is quite the little powerhouse. The company has been focused on wallet-friendly Android devices for some time now, but the Honor certainly makes a transition into high-end turf. As far as specs go, the Honor will run Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on top of a 1.4GHz processor. It’s a bit thicker than some of its competitors, with a 10.9mm waste line, weighing in at .03 lbs. The Honor sports a 4-inch FWVGA display, along with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter, which should make for some high-quality video chat. The phone packs 512MB of RAM and 4GB of ROM memory, with support for a 32GB SD memory card. WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 are supported, and the Honor also packs an FM radio. The phone will first ship in black, with more color offerings to follow. The company also said that the Honor comes with an “exclusive Huawei user interface with a weather widget.” We’re not sure if that’s the same 3D UI we say on the Vision, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it was. According to Huawei, the Honor is destined for China, Russia and the Middle East in the fourth quarter of 2011, but with specs like these we wouldn’t be surprised to see a U.S. variant pop up somewhere along the line. Company: Huawei Huawei is a leading telecom solutions provider. Through continuous customer-centric innovation, they have established end-to-end advantages in Telecom Network Infrastructure, Application & Software, Professional Services and Devices. With comprehensive strengths in wireline, wireless and IP technologies, Huawei has gained a leading position in the All-IP convergence age. Their products and solutions have been deployed in over 100 countries and have served 45 of the world’s top 50 telecom operators, as well as one third of the world’s population. ...
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch » Mobile To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
