The National Gallery is the first ever gallery to make its paintings accessible through a downloadable iPhone application, making it possible to take a mini tour of the Gallery anywhere in the world.
The Gallery has partnered with Antenna Audio and Apple Inc. in which they have designed a new application for iPhones and iTouch devices that enables people to explore a sample of the collection while they’re on the move. Designed to appeal to art enthusiasts and fans of the Gallery, this application is the first of its kind to be released by a major gallery.
The application features 250 paintings from the collection along with around 200 minutes of audio and video content, including interviews with National Gallery Director Dr Nicholas Penny, dramatist Robin Brooks, artist Maggie Hambling and Girl with a Pearl Earring author Tracy Chevalier.
The iPhone app also boasts twelve thematic ‘galleries’, in which users can explore a greater selection of paintings grouped by popular themes or types such as portraits, cityscapes and religious paintings. The application sits alongside the Gallery’s other audio content including its audio tours and popular monthly podcast series.
You can purchase the application for Free here.
Kindo is the available in 14 languages. The family networking site has just announced that they have launched their popular network in Chinese and Arabic.
Kindo is where families get together, build their tree, and grow. With Kindo, you can build your own family tree for free, share it with the rest of your family, and learn more about who you are.
The strategy Kindo is adopting to launch into these 2 fast growing internet user bases is a good one. Since 2000 the internet userage has grown by 620% in China and 490% in the Middle East.
“Launching into Chinese and Arabic is a logical step in our truly international strategy. China is a very exciting opportunity for us, and we’re eager to expand further in Asia”, Gareth Knight, co-founder and in charge of product development strategy.
For me, Kindo is a great idea with a huge amount of potential. However, once they have launched for all languages it is hard to see where the business model will head next. The only options then would be to move on to the next startup and try to just promote Kindo as much as possible. Kindo is not going to take over the world, but it is a product that is interesting and something that is worth investing time in.
This is a picture of Jaiku’s co-founder Jyri Engestrom. He looks quite smug after he just sold his company to Google for an undisclosed amount.
But seriously is this a prime picture of what web 2.0 entrepreneurs look like these days. I thought the geeks got the girls. Im hoping the more work i do with web 2.0 and media companies doesnt make me turn into a total geek on the outside as well as the inside, because then i would just have no chance of getting laid.
However, congrats again to Jyri and im sure the people over at Pownce are kicking themselves they didnt have a chance at exiting to Google.
Google have said that the Jaiku team will be relocated to Mountain View for three months before eventually returning back to London. A Google spokesperson speaking to blognation said this acquisition was part of their strategy to counter the closed proprietary nature of Facebook and we should expect to see a few more acquisitions in this space soon.
Mike Butcher and other outlets are reporting that the 8-gigabyte iPhone will be in the UK on November 9 for 269 quid or USD $542, a considerable price increase as it leaps over the pond. O2 will be providing service and free WiFi will be available from The Cloud, a UK pay-as-you-go public WiFi provider. The WiFi music store will also appear on UK iPhones next month, allowing for on-the-go downloads from the ITMS.
O2 has been building out its EDGE network to support this launch, which is actually a downgrade of its current European 3G offerings. The move to give away free WiFi is probably an attempt to offset the poor 2.5G data coverage in Europe in general. Jobs said that 3G was not embedded into the phone due to battery concerns, which means the next iPhone will probably come attached to a car battery and it’s own handtruck. This is right in line with TC France’s discovery of the FrancoiPhone on Orange.
Via: John Biggs (Techcrunch)
