MobileCrunch |  |
- Justice Department Wants To Postpone AT&T/T-Mobile Antitrust Case
- Indonesian Government Threatens BlackBerry Services Over “Security Reasons”
- Is December 15 Verizon’s New Galaxy Nexus Launch Date?
- Adzerk Launches AdOS, An App Store For Ad Tech
- In An Internal HP Email, Meg Whitman Assures webOS’ Best Days Are Still Ahead
- HP To Keep webOS Alive By Making It Open Source
- Fly Or Die: Path 2.0
- Samsung Galaxy S II Ad Both Targets And Mocks Apple Fanbois
- Hands-On With The Meizu MX
- You Can Now “Check In” To Video Games With Playd
- Meet ePawn Arena: The Screen That Wants To Make Gaming Personal Again
- T-Mobile To YouMail: We Told You About This A Month Ago
- Logostream Groups Apps By Brands For Easier Discovery
- Apple Loses Big Against Motorola In Germany (Update)
- Local Recommendations App Alfred Gets A Whole New Look For Its Android Debut
- KOBOT: Japanese Company Shows Transformable, Smartphone-Controlled E-Cars (Video)
- Nokia Starts Shipping Lumia 710 To Asia, Russia; Priced 270 Euros Without Taxes
| Justice Department Wants To Postpone AT&T/T-Mobile Antitrust Case Posted: 09 Dec 2011 01:16 PM PST  When AT&T and T-Mobile decided to regroup and withdraw their merger application a few weeks back, I’m not sure they expected it to backfire the way it just has. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice is looking to postpone (or possibly withdraw) its antitrust case because the original merger application was summarily yanked off the FCC’s table. So what does that mean for the deal? Nothing good. Ever since the U.S. Department of Justice filed their lawsuit, AT&T and T-Mobile have vocally maintained that a speedy trial would have to be the way to go — any legal foot-dragging would supposedly lessen the value of the merger. Judge Ellen Huvelle decided months ago that the antitrust trial would begin in February 2012, which neither party had qualms with, but the new request could mean that AT&T and T-Mobile will be locked up in these legal proceedings for even longer than they had hoped. It’s also worth mentioning that Judge Huvelle isn’t terribly thrilled with AT&T and T-Mobile’s application withdrawal. She’s now reconsidering the speed of the trial, and is also frustrated by the possibility that the two companies could work up a new deal for the FCC’s approval. Let’s hope that isn’t what’s going on, since it would have made the last few months a huge waste of time. The longer this whole process takes, the greater the chance that something else goes wrong. And let’s not forget the small (but non-zero) chance that T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom could pull the kill-switch and bail out entirely if the merger’s prospects look grim enough. AT&T is also preparing for the worst: they’ve set aside $4 billion just in case they need to fulfill their compensatory obligations if the deal falls apart. If the request is approved, the two companies have a choice to make — press on in hopes that the FCC is a little more benevolent this time around, or call it quits and go home. It’s a tough call, but we’ll just have to see what AT&T and T-Mobile come up with.
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| Indonesian Government Threatens BlackBerry Services Over “Security Reasons” Posted: 09 Dec 2011 01:16 PM PST  Indonesia’s telecoms regulatory agency, the BTRI, has told the Jakarta Post that they may have to shut down RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger and Internet services after the company declined to establish BBM servers within the country. RIM opted to put its servers in neighboring Singapore, for reasons not described in the article. BTRI says it must do this because “the data exchanged is not safe.” Anyone can see through this transparent excuse for bullying RIM — they’re not the first to try it. Saudi Arabia and India recently made similar threats, though they were more forthcoming about their reasons. They wanted the power to monitor the transmissions, and chances are Indonesia does too. The trouble is simply that the BBM data is all handled in Canada in RIM’s datacenters, and without a local node on Indonesian, Saudi Arabian, Indian, or other soil, those governments have almost no authority over the information. Naturally it’s in a government’s interest to be able to monitor its citizens, though of course the citizens (including private companies with international dealings) would prefer privacy, and RIM’s duty is to its customers. That isn’t to say it hasn’t caved before. It has provided some private information to governments when they have requested it, though they maintain they have no way of monitoring or prying into private messages. Indeed, a server in Indonesia would only place encrypted data in the government’s possession, and they would still have to obtain the key from the account’s owner by normal means. It’s one more problem for RIM to add to the list, and an increasingly popular one globally. Whether Indonesia will actually sabotage its own populace, among which (as it points out itself in its complaint to RIM) there are far more BlackBerry users than in Singapore and other nearby countries, is not clear. This kind of petty brinksmanship tends to drag on publicly and yield to compromises. But situations like this are becoming common as global communication becomes more and more relevant to national security and economic well-being. Sooner or later there will have to be some kind of international accord, or every country in the world is going to make similar demands.
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| Is December 15 Verizon’s New Galaxy Nexus Launch Date? Posted: 09 Dec 2011 12:54 PM PST  The Galaxy Nexus, while something we’ve been super excited about, is turning out to be a real pain. Why? Because we can’t seem to figure out when the bleep this thing is supposed to launch. We heard it was supposed to be around today, and then we heard it wasn’t, and then we heard so many different dates it started to get stupid. Now, however, Droid-Life is claiming to have found the needle in this incredibly annoying haystack. Apparently a “dozen” different sources have said that Verizon is finally letting its employees in on the launch date: December 15. Now, Verizon does enjoy a nice Thursday launch, if we’re to learn anything from history. Still, this is the Galaxy Nexus we’re talking about, so you can never really be sure about when you’ll see it until we get some sort of official word. Even then, things are looking a little murky.
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| Adzerk Launches AdOS, An App Store For Ad Tech Posted: 09 Dec 2011 12:03 PM PST  Adzerk, the ad-serving technology startup which raised $650K in seed funding this July, is launching its next phase, called adOS. The new platform is intended as an evolution of its current product, and is offering improved ad-serving code plus a marketplace where publishers can find third-party apps to install. Yep – it’s an app store for ad tech. For publishers under 100 million impressions per month, Adzerk’s ad-serving technology is free, which is one way Adzerk aims to attract new interest. Currently, StackOverflow, Tippr, Land8 Media and StatSheet are using Adzerk, as are a number of ad networks. In many cases, however, Adzerk’s technology is being white-labeled, so the company can’t disclose the names of those users. Adzerk started out as an internal, proprietary technology used in two niche ad networks run by founder James Avery – The Lounge and Ruby Row. Avery then spun out Adzerk to sell his software. With AdOS, ad-serving technology is a part of the platform, but the big deal here is the new marketplace. When it launches publicly (it’s in private beta now), AdOS will feature around 100 “apps,” which includes things like targeting tools, other ad networks, features AdZerk itself offers (like the ability to manage an ad network), custom creatives and more. By February or March, the company plans to release an SDK which will allow developers to create new custom creatives and sell them in the AdOS store. For example, Avery tells us of a creative in development that pulls in live Twitter data within the ad. The core idea with AdOS is to solve the challenge for publishers where there are too many ad serving tools available for use, leading to confusion. AdOS, and its “app store” concept will help publishers find the tools they want, while also knowing that all those on the AdOS platform will work together. Want to use Google AdSense? You just click the little green “install” button and fill in the form. Want to install an ad network you’ve never used? You click the green “apply” button to sign up. It’s a one-stop shop. AdOS is today launching into private beta, and will allow select publishers early access to the new platform for testing purposes. The public platform launch is planned for early next year. Adzerk arrived this spring, after a beta period in 2010. As noted above, it has already raised $650K in seed funding, but will be looking to raise a Series A starting in Q1 2012. The plan is to use the new funding to double the size of its now nine-person team. Since its launch, Adzerk has gained “hundreds” of customers, says Avery, but the company won’t disclose the exact number. Publishers interested in AdOS can sign up here.
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| In An Internal HP Email, Meg Whitman Assures webOS’ Best Days Are Still Ahead Posted: 09 Dec 2011 11:43 AM PST  HP just took to the wire and announced to the tech world that webOS will live on as an open source project. Shortly thereafter, Meg Whitman informed HP employees about the decision. The internal email I obtained, which is included in its entirely after the jump, gives a bit more insight than HP’s public press release including Meg’s feeling that webOS will continue to grow and this is a postive move for HP and webOS alike. Whitman’s email indicates that the HP leadership team saw webOS could be “a platform that is both open and has a single integrated stack.” By making webOS open source, HP’s short-lived OS neatly fulfills this desire. However, like the company already stated, talk of new hardware is nearly absent from the email besides stating “hardware manufacturers” (read: HP is done) will be able to continue to “contribute” webOS. The TouchPad was likely the last of the HP-branded hardware — unless of course the open source community turns webOS into a magnificent creation worthy of new hardware.
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| HP To Keep webOS Alive By Making It Open Source Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:39 AM PST  Well, there we have it. After weeks of deliberation, HP CEO Meg Whitman has just announced to all of the company’s employees that HP will make webOS’s underlying code available under an open-source license. Before I go any further, I’d like to take this chance to applaud HP on making the right decision: they managed to make some lemonade after all. According to a company-wide email from Whitman, making webOS open source “is the best way to ensure the benefits of webOS are accessible to the largest possible ecosystem.” A new release from the company goes into slightly more detail: HP will help “accelerate the open development of the webOS platform,” and “will be an active participant and investor in the project.” The rest is up to webOS developers, who are now able to pick up where the personal computing giant left off. While the news will certainly be welcomed by webOS enthusiasts (myself included), let’s not forget that HP sunk over $3 billion dollars into the webOS experiment before ultimately giving it away for free. Still, I’m sure HP has picked up some much-needed brownie points from webOS users whose devices have suddenly been given a new lease on life. Of course, with that shift toward open source, drastic changes will almost definitely be made to the company’s existing webOS team. AllThingsD reports that no official word has yet been handed down about staff rearrangements, but webOS’s smaller role in the company’s future means less manpower will be devoted to it. Meanwhile, HP has remained quiet on the hardware front. After former CEO Leo Apotheker give standalone webOS hardware the axe, it was widely rumored that HP would find a home for the wayward operating system on their scores of printers. It’ll be interesting to see if the landscape shifts now that third-party hardware vendors have access to yet another open source OS, but for now we can rest assured that webOS will indeed live on in one form or another. And hey, now you should feel a bit more comfortable about picking up some of the $99 TouchPads HP is throwing on eBay this Sunday — they should have a bright future after all.
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| Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:19 AM PST  The new Path app has been out on the iPhone for about a week, and it’s been getting good reviews among the early-adopter set. In this episode of Fly or Die, John Biggs and I go through the pros and cons. Pros: The app’s design is gorgeous, with elegant little flourishes like the various status updates pop up in a quarter circle on the lower left of the screen when you hit the “+” button or the timestamp clock that hovers over each item as you scroll through your feed. The app has moved beyond photo-sharing to broadcast where you are, who you are with, what music you are listening to, status updates/thoughts, and even if you are awake or asleep. “It has all the best features of all the best apps that I use,” gushes John. Cons: It’s still a mostly-private network, although you can share specific photos and other updates to Twitter, Facebook, or Foursquare on an individual basis. The private default could also be a pro in that you feel more comfortable sharing things to a small circle that you wouldn’t otherwise. But many people will still encounter the empty-room problem of not knowing too many other people on Path yet. The other con is that it might be trying to do too much (photos, videos, location, music, status updates, sleeping patterns), and is competing for mindspace with some other already-dominant apps like Instagram and Foursquare to soem extent. Overall, this is a very well-designed app with a lot of promise. They’ve built it. Now, will users come?
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| Samsung Galaxy S II Ad Both Targets And Mocks Apple Fanbois Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:13 AM PST  Sure, I’ve been terrified by the HTC Rhyme commercial, absolutely baffled by a 30-second Motorola Droid Bionic ad featuring two seconds of the Droid Bionic, and I’ve been amused by Sprint’s Evo 3D spots. But no phone commercial has ever made me laugh out loud quite like this latest one from Samsung. Apple and Samsung are the fiercest of rivals, whether that manifests itself in their worldwide legal battle or their neck-and-neck sales numbers. Either way, it’s a nice change of pace to see the battle play out on TV. What I don’t quite understand is how Samsung plans to convert Apple loyalists (you know, the demographic Samsung is clearly trying to tap into) by making fun of them. The latest in the series of TV spots aired today, and focuses on the media platforms provided by Samsung’s GS II and the iPhone. But mostly, it just makes fun of fanbois. Rather than transcribe the entire commercial and butcher all the jokes along the way, please enjoy watching for yourself. [via HuffPo]
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| Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:10 AM PST  The Meizu MX is an odd duck. A Chinese-only smartphone that may (or may not) be reaching our shores, it’s hard not treating it like an oddity washed up on the beach rather than a shipping device. It is a 1.4GHz phone with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and has an 8-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi support, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/HSPA+ built-in. It also has a micro SIM slot (which is putting a damper on my testing right now) and micro USB port. It will cost about $450 in Asia when it’s launched January 1st. That it arrived at my home in a DHL box straight outta Hong Kong, however, suggests that there will be some US availability. This should be pleasing to folks who want a powerhouse Android phone that looks strikingly unlike any of these huge-screened, battery-hogging RAZRs, Galaxies, and LTE devices that are currently littering the phone landscape. The obvious comparisons are, well, obvious, so I won’t go into them here. In short, this phone looks strikingly similar to another well-known cellphone until you turn it on. The screen is pixel-dense – 960 x 640 of them, to be exact – and beautiful and Meizu has a patented indicator system that changes the two “buttons” below the screen based on phone state. For example, when the left button is supposed to send you back, it turns into an arrow while at the home screen it is a sigle, simple dot. The phone will get an Ice Cream Sandwich update in the next few weeks (at least according to Meizu) and the current os, a modified Android 2.3.5 called Flyme, is a strange departure from the standard experience. For example, there is no clear “apps” screen and instead apps appear on the “desktop,” much like another phone we all know and love. In the Darwinian world of Android phones, the Meizu MX is a highly-evolved device that should make Android fans’ mouths water. I’ll take a closer look over the next few days and report back and here’s hoping it hits our shores this year. Click to view slideshow.
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| You Can Now “Check In” To Video Games With Playd Posted: 09 Dec 2011 09:50 AM PST  Playd is a new mobile application that lets you check in to games the way Foursquare users check in to venues. Actually, the app is more akin to something like Miso, GetGlue or IntoNow - apps which extend the check-in metaphor to other activities, like watching TV or seeing a movie. The company is one of the first to launch from the NewMe Accelerator, the startup accelerator whose focus is on giving black founders a leg up in Silicon Valley. It was also featured in CNN's documentary on race and tech entrepreneurship – yep, that one – but lets not hold that against Playd, OK? The concept behind Playd is familiar: users check in to the game they're playing to alert their social network of fellow gamers of the activity. But Playd is different from other entertainment-focused check-in apps because it verifies that users have access to the game in question. The app currently supports check-ins for any game, old or new, through the use of a UPC barcode scanning feature. Alternately, gamers can also connect their online accounts for Xbox LIVE, PSN or Steam, in order to authenticate their activity. (Steam, however, will be removed in the next update due to its recent security issues. Playd will bring it back when Steam fixes its problems, we’re told). This verification process is useful for Playd's potential partners – retailers, game developers and advertisers – because it will allow them to authenticate the game's users and specifically target a niche group with offers or rewards. Currently, gamers collect these rewards in the form of tokens, which are now being redeemed for badges and free Playd gear. In the future, partners could also dole out things like discounts, free merchandise, exclusive downloadable content and more. For example, a partner could choose to reward gamers who scanned the barcode of a newly released title on launch day. Or publishers could reward a game's most active users. While the company doesn't have any partners to announce publicly just yet, Co-founder Anthony Frasier says they're in talks with several and hope to be able to announce the first soon. In the meantime, gamers can try out the Playd experience by downloading the app here on iTunes or here on the Android Market. Since NewMe didn’t offer funding, Playd will be looking to raise a seed round in early 2012.
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| Meet ePawn Arena: The Screen That Wants To Make Gaming Personal Again Posted: 09 Dec 2011 09:10 AM PST  At the risk of sounding a little old-fashioned, ePawn CEO Christophe Duteil thinks that there’s something missing with the way people play games these days. Modern gaming lacks “conviviality” — the sensation of revelling with good company. His vision of gaming aims to bring people into the same physical space once again, an experience that has become less relevant thanks to fat data pipes and networked consoles. To that end, Duteil and his team at ePawn are slaving away on the ePawn Arena: a Microsoft Surface-esque screen that aims to bring gamers back into the same room by adding a modern twist to an classic idea. In essence, the ePawn Arena is a big screen that is capable of interacting with the physical pieces that sit on top of it. Up for a rousing game of air hockey? Break out the ePawn-compatible paddles and have at it. Or how about a little fantasy-RPG action? There are parts for those too. Curiously, the screen itself doesn’t have computing components in it — rather, it relies on the horsepower from the smartphone (or computer) you connect it to. According to CTO Valentin Lefevre, the Arena employs a sub-LCD tracking layer that is capable of detecting the ePawn tags attached to their game pieces. ePawn is planning on reaching out to big-name game development studios like Ubisoft, but doesn’t want to leave the little guys out too: iOS and Android SDKs are in the works, so developers of all stripes will soon to able to make ePawn-friendly apps. If the concept sounds a little familiar, that’s because they’re not the first to explore the nexus between physical parts and software. Microsoft’s Surface is a prominent example, but Disney Mobile has recently released AppMates, a multimedia play experience that allows players to explore some of Disney’s worlds by manipulating a physical piece on top of the screen. I referred to it as an “interactive playmat,” but with the screen measuring only 10 inches diagonal, calling it a “mat” may have been a bit of a stretch. Duteil certainly agrees with me here — according to him, that sort of setup isn’t ideal for the avid gamer. It’s too small, too constraining for multiple people to enjoy. That’s why ePawn has decided to go big with the display — the way they see it, bigger displays mean room for more people. The current prototype kicking around ePawn’s Paris headquarters comes in at 23 inches across (which made a splash at this year’s E3), but Duteil tells me that the production model is even bigger at 26 inches. What’s even more impressive is the price point they’re aiming to launch at: $400. The company hopes to pick up more steam at CES 2012, and aims to launch soon afterward. While chatting with Duteil and Lefevre, they kept repeating the same phrase over and over: the ePawn system is “designed by gamers, for gamers.” While it easily has potential as a nascent marketing mantra, these guys really seemed to mean it. For them, ePawn is a labor of love — it may well stay just that too, because the jury is still out on whether or not a market for something like this exists. While much cheaper than a device like Microsoft and Samsung’s new Surface display table, $400 is a non-trivial amount for most gamers, and I’d imagine that most of them would rather spend it on something a little less flash-in-the-pan. ePawn’s own website describes the the Arena as an “investment,” and Duteil tells me that while the Arena could certainly find use in the business sector (think “digital whiteboards” for collaborative training), it’s primarily targetted at tech-savvy families. So, in TechCrunch parlance, will it fly or die? As a hardcore board game nerd, there’s something strangely appealing about the marriage of old and new as seen in the Arena. There’s definitely potential for the Arena to go far, but it’s very early in the game for ePawn: they’ll need developers to make compatible games, and enough buyers to make the whole endeavor worthwhile. Still, if Duteil and his team play things right, it could be a big win for both them and fans of playing games in person.
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| T-Mobile To YouMail: We Told You About This A Month Ago Posted: 09 Dec 2011 08:49 AM PST  Yesterday something strange happened. YouMail, a visual voicemail app with millions of downloads, was pulled from the Android Market. Confused, YouMail reached out to Google about what the dealio was, only to hear that T-Mobile had requested that the app be pulled. T-Mobile complained to Google of “adverse network disruption,” which was blamed squarely on YouMail. According to YouMail’s blog post, the company hadn’t heard anything from T-Mobile concerning the issue. But GigaOm is reporting that they’ve received a statement from T-Mobile that paints a different picture.
So here we are in the midst of a lovely little “he said, she said” argument. The good news is T-Mo and YouMail are already in talks according to the pink carrier so this should be resolved soon. We’ll keep you in the loop once we know more.
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| Logostream Groups Apps By Brands For Easier Discovery Posted: 09 Dec 2011 07:51 AM PST  App discovery company AppsFire is debuting a new iOS application today called Logostream, which offers a curated view of the iTunes application store. The app provides users with an easy way to find new apps to try, through the use of high-level categories and app icons you can flip through with your finger as they stream by. It’s a simplified alternative to what can sometimes be the overwhelming experience of browsing through the iTunes App Store itself. According to AppsFire co-founder Ouriel Ohayon, the idea for Logostream was born out of the company’s previous attempt at app discovery called Appstream. Like the older version, both apps involve streams of icons, but Appstream offered a busier user interface with lots of icons. What Ohayon found was that people tended to tap on the apps of brands they were already familiar with instead of the unknown new icons for brands they had never seen. To serve this demographic, the company created Logostream. Here, apps are sorted by category. When you switch to any section, the logos automatically stream by. You can also flip through them using your finger to move more quickly. Tap any logo to see all the apps under that brand. So, for example, if you tap the Microsoft app, you’ll see apps for Bing, Xbox, OneNote, MSN, Photosynth, and more. Tap on LinkedIn and you’ll find both LinkedIn and CardMunch (a 2011 acquisition). You get the idea. There are just a few categories for now: Tech, Sport, Fashion, TV & Music, Celebrities, and Every Day. But it’s a good start. However, since mainstream users tends to gravitate towards brands they already know, I’m not sure how they’ll ever find Logostream. Oh well. Maybe you can install it for your app-deprived friends? Logostream is a Universal app and is available in iTunes here.
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| Apple Loses Big Against Motorola In Germany (Update) Posted: 09 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST  Apple has lost a preliminary injunction filed by Motorola Mobility over a wireless-related patent. That’s not something we’re hearing a lot of these days, but it seems to be the case over in Germany, where a judge in the Mannheim Regional Court has ruled that the iPhone and iPad (3G versions) infringe European Patent 1010336, covering a “method for performing countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system.” By now all this patent litigation has likely become tiresome to you, as it has most of us, but this is actually a pretty substantial win for Motorola, and an equally substantial loss for Apple. The loss means that an injunction on all the old iPhones, (probably the 4S, as well) and 3G-capable iPads is preliminarily enforceable against Apple Sales International, which is Apple’s Ireland-based subsidiary. Motorola has already secured a similar ruling before, but it neglected to give Apple the chance to present its case. This ruling, however, came after both Apple and Motorola presented their full arguments. That said, Apple has very few options to stop the ban. They will likely try to get a stay to appeal the ruling, but it’s unclear whether or not that suspension will be granted. The ruling also allows for Apple to remove the allegedly infringing technology from its products, but that seems impossible. The patent in question covers technology that seems to be crucial to the functionality of the phone. Even if it wasn’t, it’s probably not commercially viable for Apple to remove it. But it gets trickier than that. For one thing, enforcing this injunction is a bit of a risk for Motorola. The judge has allowed for Apple to receive a €100 million bond, which would go toward damages sustained during the injunction, should Cupertino find a way to overturn this ruling down the road. Then there’s the matter of FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) licensing, which comes into play here since the patent in suit falls under the GPRS data standard. But Germany deals with FRAND issues a little differently. Basically, if a company is found to be using FRAND-style patented technology in its products, the court can only allow that company a FRAND defense if it’s made “an irrevocable, binding offer” to license the patents on FRAND terms and also post a bond for ongoing royalties, reports FOSS Patents. Apple did make an offer, to license all of Motorola’s FRAND-pledged patents, but threw in a clause that drifts away from the idea of “irrevocable” and “binding.” The issue is that Apple wants to argue the validity of the patent in question, which would mean those royalty payments would fly out the window. The court in Germany agreed with Motorola when it argued that the offer Apple made to license the patents was shy of what is needed to cover damages. That said, Motorola can license these patents to Apple moving forward, but Apple will have to cough up the dough for past infringement. Update: Apple has responded, saying it will indeed appeal the court’s decision. Here’s the official word:
Here’s a full copy of today’s ruling (but brush up on your German first):
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| Local Recommendations App Alfred Gets A Whole New Look For Its Android Debut Posted: 09 Dec 2011 06:55 AM PST  Amid talks of a Groupon acquisition, the smart local recommendations app Alfred has arrived on Android. Alfred serves up personalized suggestions for nearby restaurants, coffee shops, bars and nightclubs using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms to develop personal “taste graphs” for its users. Previously an iOS-only app, the big news for Alfred’s second platform launch is not just the expanded reach, but also how the team at Clever Sense has approached the Android port. Instead of simply reproducing the familiar Alfred interface using different code, Clever Sense created a second native app specifically designed to take advantage of features and interactions found on the Android platform. On Android, Alfred looks totally different. Immediately after the app’s installation and launch, a screen asks you if you want to save the app to your homescreen. Having used Android for over a year myself, I’m surprised more Android apps don’t do this. (Android apps are hidden away by default in most cases, allowing users to customize multiple homescreens with their own selection of apps and widgets.) After launching Alfred, the app walks you through the “getting to know you” quiz which asks you to teach it about some of your preferences. You can opt out of the quiz, but that wouldn’t be a great idea. Alfred’s algorithms get better the more you train them, so it’s worthwhile to give the app’s smarts a kickstart via the quiz. When you arrive on Alfred’s main screen, this is where you’ll see the most startling departure from the iOS user interface. Instead of thumbnail photos you tap (e.g., lunch, dinner, etc.) to swipe through place recommendations, there are colored circles for “Ideas,” “Profile” and “Teach.” The Ideas circle, when tapped, take you through a list you scroll through up and down to choose the category. And when you’re in a category (e.g. “coffee and tea”), there’s a toolbar at the bottom that lets you view the recommendations as cards like on iOS, on a map or as a list. It allows you to apply filters to the recommendations. The end result is a bit more of a geeky take on Alfred, which, frankly, is perfect for the Android user base. Android users are often interested in things like tweaks, customizations, and heavy personalization, thanks to the platform’s openness. There’s an enjoyment of apps, in many cases, as tools that help you get the job done, instead of “experiences” like on iOS. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, but it’s different. To date, Alfred has served up 21 million recommendations to users, up from 7 million in October. And users have liked 4.6 million places, up from 2 million. But the company won’t disclose the actual user base numbers at this time. Clever Sense had previously said that restaurants and the like was just the first step for the use of Alfred’s technology. It was looking into delivering personalized deal recommendations from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial in its next phase. That would explain Groupon’s interest in the matter. But while that would be likely be a nice exit for the company, it would be a shame for Alfred’s happy users to lose this app, especially now that it came to Android. Alfred is live on the Android Market here.
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| KOBOT: Japanese Company Shows Transformable, Smartphone-Controlled E-Cars (Video) Posted: 09 Dec 2011 06:30 AM PST  Japan-based Kowa Tmsuk may just be ten months old and just have five employees (it’s a joint venture between two larger companies), but it seems the company is set to build cool things. Their electric vehicle concept, dubbed KOBOT, looks very promising – especially for a first product. The KOBOT is essentially a mix between a robot and an electric mini car that can make itself smaller than it already is with the push of a button (a feature that obviously comes in handy when it’s time to park the vehicle, for example). What’s cool is that the cars can be connected to smartphones: they actually start folding after owners push the button on their handsets. Kowa Tmsuk has built three prototypes (see below) to showcase at the Tokyo Motor Show 2011 (which currently takes place).
This video from Diginfo TV provides more insight (try to focus on the cars):
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| Nokia Starts Shipping Lumia 710 To Asia, Russia; Priced 270 Euros Without Taxes Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:11 AM PST  Nokia this morning announced that it has started shipping its stylish, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango-powered smartphone Lumia 710 to customers in Taiwan (where it is sold alongside the Lumia 800). Over the next week, the phone will hit shelves across Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Russia – no other global roll-out details were announced for the time being. The estimated retail price is 270 euros, excluding taxes and subsidies. From our original coverage when the Lumia phones were announced:
On a sidenote: I’ve been using Nokia’s Lumia 800 for a week now, and it’s pretty bad-ass. More on that later, hopefully this weekend.
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