We received a tip this morning that Aloqa.com will be announcing a new CEO tomorrow and it will be Sanjeev Agrawal (former Head of Google Product Marketing). The appointment will be announced at MobileBeat and it will state that Sanjeev is the new CEO as well as an Aloqa series A funding and limited Android beta.
Aloqa’s context-aware application has solved two problems for mobile users: 1) it takes away the need to type search terms into browsers or other mobile applications to find something, 2) it proactively pushes out recommendations about social network friends nearby and interesting local opportunities to users on the go. Wherever they are, users can simply glance at their phones and see which friends, favorite businesses, events like music concerts, local offers and other interesting places are close by, without having to launch a browser or search application. Aloqa takes into account the user’s location, preferences and social relationships to make these recommendations in real time.
There are quickly becoming more and more companies entering the Application development space. Some examples are Tapulous and GClue. Today Gclue have announced a new iphone application that is the next musical instrument to hit the app store, the iHarp. The iHarp is of course a harp for the iphone and ipod touch. This new application has a clean UI and various functions such as an octave and half range or half tones controls.
iHarp allows users to record and play your music. There are also built-in songs so that if you dont know how to play a harp, you can learn.
Main functions:
12 tones from Fa(F) to Do(C) and half tones
Sparkle effect (Playing each string will generate a sparkle)
Switch tones (2 ways)
Record and play (unlimited file size)
Skin selection (select your favorite theme)
Background selection (select pictures from your Photo gallery)
Android devices seem to be the next big thing and are hotting up the market pretty quick with Google being the main warrior. However recently, there have been rumours that the old Finnish mobile giant Nokia were planning to jump into the Android platform and abandon its Symbian platform which the company actually owns.
The company bigwigs decided enough was enough and flat out denied any rumors that they would be releasing an Android phone onto the market at the Nokia World event in Germany this coming September. A report stating these predictions in The Guardian has been responded to by Nokia. “There is no truth to this story whatsoever. It is a well known fact that Symbian is our platform of choice for smartphones”, said Nokia in a statement to TechRadar.
For a company to make such bold statements about its own future in the mass media it’s almost a sure thing that Nokia won’t be using the Android platform anytime in the near (or distant) future, preferring to stick to its own developments. As for the meantime, Nokia are continuing in their development of a new platform of their own called Maemo OS for their internet tablets. Outsourcing is not one of Nokia’s favourite habits.
Skype have been a busy bunch recently in this dead summer heat; buzzing around releasing this and that.
A few months ago, Skype 4.0 graced our desktops throwing new updates our way. These included a new, more attractive interface and better interactivity. However, they held back. Basic features such as the contacts list and calling functions were upgraded but they decided to leave the fuzzy warm extras for later when we had all begun to forget their previous efforts.
Now Skype have made two great leaps in the world of Windows. Firstly, they have updated Skype for computers by allowing you to access multiple contact lists in applications and e-mail providers such as Outlook, AOL, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. They have also added ‘Screen Sharing’ which allows you to share a portion or all of what’s on your screen to the person you’re chatting with. They have also released a fresh Skype for Windows Mobile OS allowing you to chat for free on devices such as the Samsung i900.
Then, they marched right on over to Apple, booted in the front door and were asked to wait while the Apple big boys took a look at Skype 1.1 on the iPhone. Much to the relief of the Skype boys sitting in reception getting rather bored with the long wait, Skype was eventually approved for the iPhone and is now available to download as an app.
Now, you can access your Skype voicemail on your iPhone and sent SMS from Skype. The program was also spruced up considerably to be a easier on the eye and boasts multilingual capabilities ranging from French to Polish to Traditional Chinese.
I can’t wait to see what those worker bees at Skype will release next; with any luck they’ll take advantage of growing 3G video capabilities.
…perhaps not entirely true, we’re on our way to making this a reality thanks to the mobile app Trapster. From time to time many of us find ourselves hurrying from one place to another. Crenk does not support breaking the law, but if you find yourself going over the speed limit, knowing where the speed traps are can really save you some dollars and grief.
Naturally all of the speed traps must be reported by other users. With a click of a button or a phone call to the number given, everyone’s app can be updated within a matter of minutes all will be notified of where the speed trap is and avoid or adjust speed if necessary.
I’d really love to hear if this app has saved you from getting a ticket, or what your thoughts are if you have used it. Be sure to let us know!
One of the most anticipated features in the recent release of iPhone OS 3.0 was the inclusion of push notifications. Apple’s comprimise to not allowing background apps, I think most, myself included, were skeptical at how this would turn out. Well a few days after the OS was officially launched applications started appearing having been updated to take advantage of this new feature.
Tap Tap Revenge was first, however I want to skip past that and move on to 2 apps which will possibly benefit the most from push notifications. AIM andBeeJiveIM.
AIM
Now with Push Notification, AIM® lets you stay even more connected with the people you care about right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Communicate whenever you want, wherever you are. Connect with friends and family and keep track of status, location, and presence updates in real time
AIM comes in two different flavours: the free, ad support version and the paid, ad free version for $9.99. Now i’m not a big AIM user so I tool the free version for a test drive and with the notable lack of landscape mode in the free version, there wasn’t much of a difference the sponsor ads never got in the way as is often found in ad supported apps which totally winds me up!
The main issue with AIM is the user interface, it just felt a bit small?! It was hard to read the messages and the navigational menus weren’t asintuitive as they really should have been, but on the flip side the push notifications did exactly what they said on the tin! AIM keeps you signed in forupto 24 hours after exiting the app (you can set the timeout in the prefs , if you can find them!). Should you receive an IM whilst out of the program you get the nice little pop up similar to the text message alert. Although it did show a preview of the IM which I couldn’t find a way of switching off unlike you can with text messages.
Unfortunately for me I know one person who actually uses AIM so after a few messages to them I was bored, now I’m not sure how popular AIM really is for me MSN/Live messenger has always been the IM of choice, which brings us very nicely onto the next app!
BeeJiveIM
Stay connected to all your instant messaging buddies anywhere you go! BeejiveIM (pronounced \bē-hīv\ IM) keeps you in touch with your friends on AIM®/MobileMe®, MSN®/Windows Live®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, Facebook, MySpace, ICQ® and Jabber… all at the same time, all on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for! And I have to say this is worth every penny! For only $9.99 this app really does do it’s developers proud. With support for multiple IM protocols and multiple simultaneous accounts this was one of the most impressive things I have seen come out of the App Store since iPint (haha).
It has a really lovely UI fully in keeping with the iPhone OS and has full support for landscape mode which is nice, the chat screen is similar to the iPhone own messaging app although feels like you have a bit more space. I was moving around town shopping and the app seemed to cope rather well dipping from 3G to EDGE to public WiFi and when it did loose connection a handy popup on the screen told me about it.
This I would say is definitely the app to go for if you are looking for a comprehensive IM client for iPhone, and the push notifications seem to be really working! The true test will be if the Apple systems can cope with millions of pointless apps all using push notifcations in the future. The only thing I did notice was a slight decrease in battery life which I mention, but am not entirely sure if is related.
Conclusion?
Is there really one? Push notifications work there is no doubt, but going past IM clients what else can be done with them? I’m holding out for a better push email system, yeah I like my mobile me account but I want push on all my mail! Let’s have a nice Blackberry App for iPhone! Then we will really see what push on the iPhone really can do!
All of us with an iPhone or iTouch know the addiction of downloading applications. For those of us with the 1-click purchase mode have probably found ourselves just clicking away before we realize we’ve spent some major money on what we think are useful applications.
For the rest of us that don’t have that luxury and are happy to play with free apps, perhaps this site is for you. AppGiveaway is a site that offers you promo codes to get iPhone apps for free or at deeply discounted prices. This is a great site to be introduced to apps that perhaps don’t get a lot of press, or get lost in the shuffle. The site introduces its readers to unique games, productivity apps, financial apps, etc.
Give the site a try and explore what they offer. I won’t say every app they offer promos for are worth it, but it’s a matter of introduction and taste, what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.
Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film star born in 1890. Despite his devotion to the stage one of his most famous quotes was “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read!” Well, he was right up until dBelement decided to release the ‘Reader’ for the iPhone.
This app allows you to read books ranging from new releases to some of the all time classics such as Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. DBelement say “Discover new books, re-read some of the classics, and enjoy the convenience of having Reader’s Public Library at your fingertips”. Reader has a one touch page turning option allowing easy usability and a good, simple interface that allows you to browse through your titles and download more to add to your digital literary collection.
It also has an arsenal of helpful features such as a search facility so you can find that book you always wanted and digital bookmarks so you can stop reading and come back to it another time. DBelement have described their latest app as a “revolutionary application” that “will inspire a new generation of readers”. They may be slightly exaggerating with the whole new ‘generation of readers’ thing, but at least I guess now you can red inside a dog with that powerful iPhone backlight.
Bing has been receiving a huge amount of press and slowly even seem to be gaining marketshare on Google. Bing is now in the process of developing mobile versions of their search engine in which here are concepts.
I’ve been a big fan of Behance products offline, for my meetings, site sketches, and to-do list from time to time. Now they are tackling productivity online with their new online app and comparable mobile app to always stay on top of the things that you need to do daily.
Action Method was introduced this year as the premiere application to manage your projects, tasks, planning, and meetings. The application allows you to create projects, create tasks, assign tasks, and manage a calendar. If tasks are falling behind you can nudge the people to whom you assigned them to in order to remind them of deadlines. Color coding is a big winner for this app as it’s easy to find what you’re looking for with alternating colors.
Have an iPhone or iTouch? No problem, your web application syncs with your mobile app so your to-do list is never far away. Incredibly useful and sure to improve with future updates, the app is free to download, and free for up to 50 tasks, premium service for unlimited tasks comes in at $12/month or $99/year.
For a long time now I have been a Tweetdeck user since it was first released. However, in the last few months I have been using Seesmic Desktop because it seems to integrate multiple accounts in a more streamless way. Seesmic just released their 0.3 software and I upgaded to give it a try, but I think it was a step backwards for Seesmic, so now Tweetdeck has announced a new release which might be worth my time.
Tweetdeck has upgraded their service and also released a new iPhone application. The iPhone application includes:
Column based friend groups (like TweetDeck desktop)
TweetDeck desktop syncing (make a change on the iphone and it’s reflected back on the PC)
We received a tip this morning that Aloqa.com will be announcing a new CEO tomorrow and it will be Sanjeev Agrawal (former Head of Google Product Marketing). The appointment will be announced at MobileBeat and it will state that Sanjeev is the new CEO as well as an Aloqa series A funding and limited Android beta.
One of the most anticipated features in the recent release of iPhone OS 3.0 was the inclusion of push notifications. Apple’s comprimise to not allowing background apps, I think most, myself included, were skeptical at how this would turn out. Well a few days after the OS was officially launched applications started appearing having been updated to take advantage of this new feature.
Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film star born in 1890. Despite his devotion to the stage one of his most famous quotes was “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read!” Well, he was right up until dBelement decided to release the ‘
