July 2010
Apple expands iAd platform to iPhone developers →
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched iAd for Developers, enabling the iPhone application development community to promote their software inside of other apps. Details on iAd for Developers are scarce—on…
Malicious Android wallpaper app downloaded by... →
Millions of Android smartphone users have downloaded a malicious wallpaper application that collects their personal data and sends it to a mysterious Chinese website, according to data uncovered by…
Mobile apps hit the field at New Meadowlands... →
The new home of the NFL’s New York Jets and New York Giants will enrich the fan experience by introducing mobile applications that work exclusively within the stadium’s confines. Article
AT&T taps NewBay to power Mobile Share cloud... →
Digital lifestyle services provider NewBay Software announced its LifeCache rich media solutions suite will power AT&T’s new Mobile Share media management initiative. LifeCache—which offers…
Amazon targets mass market with cheaper Kindle →
Online retail giant Amazon.com released the latest version of its Kindle ereader device, touting a new electronic-ink screen with 50 percent better contrast than rival units, a 21 percent smaller…
This post is by Polly Kriesman, the self-described “editrix” of theloopny.com and mind behind InvestigateNY.com. The sites are trying to help define new journalism, and are grassroots efforts. We asked Polly to tell us more about her adventures.
- Steve
I am an obsessive journalist the way some people kayak or collect star trek trinkets. I can’t help seeing the world the way I believe it should...
Today is guest day. As always, we invite you to send in your ideas for a post. Ideally, we would like the post to be topical. And both of today’s entries are right on the mark. First up is an interview, via email, with Maria Grineva. She is one of the minds behind the excellent web service Twitter Tim.es, which looks at links your friends are tweeting and turns them into a virtual newspaper.
...
Mobile entertainment company BuzzCity ships a lot of mobile games, mostly through its gaming app subsidiary Djuzz. Based on the strength of the downloads over the last few months, BuzzCity has declared that mobile gaming is now mainstream, with 90% of mobile owners downloading and playing games.
What’s the story?
BuzzCity has released the results from its Mobile Gaming Survey study. The survey...
Vodafone has used the occasion of the massive British delegation to India to announce the launch of the VF 247 solar-powered handset.
The VF 247 is targeted at India’s massive rural market, where lackluster infrastructure leaves residents with a power supply that is unreliable or even nonexistent. Rather than be dependent on this most undependable grid, users of the VF 247 can use the power of...
The Smaato Mobile Advertising Awards are fast approaching – and Smaato has revealed a sneak-peak at the nominees and VC partners who will be there. This is the big leagues, and the nominees reflect the best of the mobile industry.
What’s the story? Smaato is one of the biggest mobile advertisers in the world, and its SOMA platform aggregates over 40 advertising networks to 6,000 publishing...
NewBay, the leader in digital lifestyle services, today announced that AT&T has chosen NewBay LifeCache to help bring to market a new media management service. The service, called AT&T Mobile Share, lets customers easily upload, manage, store and share user generated videos and photos across multiple screens. Users can easily send media to contact lists, personal computers, an online-based...
Mobile entertainment firm Buongiorno has today announced it is investing in a coupon company called Glamoo. Part of a growing trend of “minimum participant” deals (explained more fully below), Glamoo offers daily deals to shoppers through mobile coupons.
What are “minimum participant” deals?
Glamoo harnesses the power of group shopping. Every day, it hosts a new deal on its website that it has...
Deutsche Bank announced today that it has begun tracking the performance of mobile content provider Motricity. It started the company with a “Buy” rating – meaning Deutsche Bank thinks new investors should buy Motricity shares, and existing investors should by more shares.
What’s the story?
Motricity handles mobile content – it manages and delivers content through white label portals. It’s also...
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room: Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring — The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. — The company is called Recorded Future …
Disney is now home to more than just the Magical Kingdom. It’s now home to social gaming juggernaut “Playdom,” which has been formally acquired by Disney for a whopping $763 million.
According to a joint press release, Disney agreed to buy Playdom as a way of advancing its goal of bringing consumers its well-known stories, characters and brands in ever more engaging ways.
To be sure, it isn’t an...
UPS, Verizon, Cisco tap Borders WiFi to run... →
Brand advertisers such as UPS, Verizon and Cisco’s WebEx are running location-based ad campaigns via Borders’ in-store WiFi.
Entertainment vertical leads the pack in mobile ad... →
Millennial Media’s Smart report for the month of June shines a light on the tremendous growth and diversification of the entertainment vertical’s use of mobile advertising.
Vans Warped Tour connects with fans via daily... →
The 2010 Vans Warped Tour is connecting fans with mobile video blog updates from every stop of the 43-city tour.
Apple encourages developers to advertise apps... →
Apple has launched a new iAd for Developers Program, letting members of the iPhone developer community advertise their own applications to millions of users across the iAd Network.
Calvin Klein activates billboards with QR codes... →
Calvin Klein incorporated QR codes on select billboards throughout New York and Los Angeles as part of an advertising campaign promoting the brand’s jeans.
Chili’s distributes location-based mobile coupons... →
Mobile Commerce Daily today - Chili’s distributes location-based mobile coupons to drive foot traffic; Mobile loyalty card aggregator CardStar integrates LBS via Foursquare.
Why location-based mobile advertising is the next... →
By Chris Rothey How do we connect with increasingly crazed mobile consumers who consume much differently than they did even five years ago in a way that makes everybody happy?
More iPhone than Android apps can access sensitive... →
Applications developed for iPhone are more likely than those on the Android platform to access sensitive information on mobile devices, according to mobile security company Lookout.
Ben Patterson / Yahoo! News: Libraries top Netflix, Redbox when it comes to loaning DVDs — Sure, Netflix and Redbox may rule the U.S. DVD rental market, but it turns out that the nation’s public libraries are loaning more DVDs each day than Netflix rents to its by-mail subscribers. — So says a new survey …
Liz Gannes / GigaOM: Facebook Goes (Very) Public With Questions Product — Facebook is beta-launching its expected Q&A product today. It’s a way to ask friends, and friends of friends, for advice and recommendations on any topic. What’s surprising about this product is it’s entirely public …
Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider: Here’s Everything We Know So Far About Apple’s New “iAd For Developers” Program — Apple’s iAd mobile advertising program continues its rollout: The newest feature, iAd for Developers, will allow iPhone developers to buy iAds to promote their apps within other apps.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Android wallpaper app that steals your data was downloaded by millions — A questionable Android mobile wallpaper app that collects your personal data and sends it to a mysterious site in China, has been downloaded millions of times, according to data unearthed by mobile security firm Lookout.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post: White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity — The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.
Kim Hart / The Politico: Facebook CEO talks privacy on Hill — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made his first visit to Washington Wednesday, meeting privately with members of Congress about online privacy and other technology issues. — Zuckerberg, the site’s 26-year-old CEO, has received plenty of attention lately …
Greg Kumparak / MobileCrunch: RIM Buys “BlackPad.com”, Presumably As A Home For The BlackBerry Tablet — Unless someone at Research In Motion is taking the time to screw with all of us, it looks like we might have an official name for their long-rumored BlackBerry tablet project: BlackPad.
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica: “Leaked” data of 100M Facebook users came from public info — Much has been made of a recent Facebook “leak” which allegedly disclosed information on over 100 million Facebook users. What some reports have failed to highlight, however, is that the information was already public to begin with.
Here’s the latest mobile marketing and advertising roundup from GoMo News. Motorola is taking pot-shots at Apple; Google is responding to pot-shots taken by Microsoft; FoneGigs launches an “ugliest phone” competition; and more…
Motorola can’t resist mocking iPhone 4
We thought that the negative advertising campaigns in mobile had finished with AT&T and Verizon. But now Motorola has taken...
A questionable Android mobile wallpaper app that collects your personal data and sends it to a mysterious site in China, has been downloaded millions of times, according to data unearthed by mobile security firm Lookout.
That means that apps that seem good but are really stealing your personal information are a big risk at a time when mobile apps are exploding on smartphones, said John Hering,...
It was reported today that Facebook is likely in late-stage negotiations with “social activity” service Hot Potato for an acquisition.
Hot Potato allows users to share what they’re doing using a dead simple Web interface, or through its iPhone app. User’s can instantly share what they’re listening to, watching or reading, and even check-in to venues to let friends know where they’re at. This...
QR codes are slowly making themselves known in mainstream applications, with a prime example being its use in a massive campaign centered around Gulf relief.
Activist group Women of the Storm is rallying public support around Gulf restoration through its celebrity-backed Be the One campaign to get signatures for their petition, which states: “I demand that a plan to restore America’s Gulf be...
Sprint Nextel Corp announced its second-quarter results today, and the brightest spot on the third-largest U.S. cellular provider’s quarterly report emanated from the EVO. Thanks to the smart phone built by HTC, the company posted fewer contract losses than expected–and, analysts and the company say, that means Sprint could seriously take on the AT&T/iPhone juggernaut.
“The supply issues on...
Scott Moritz / TheStreet.com: Apple Grapples With White iPhone Light Leak — NEW YORK (TheStreet) — There is new light on Apple’s(AAPL) white iPhone 4 delay mystery. Apparently, the back light from the iPhone display screen is leaking out around the edges of the glass and seeping through the back of the white phone …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch: Facebook Q&A Service ‘Questions’ Begins Rolling Out, Could Be Massive — Facebook’s worst-kept secret is finally ready for its closeup: the company is starting to roll out Facebook Questions, a Q&A service that allows users to poll all of Facebook. Facebook has been inviting users to apply …
Brier Dudley / The Seattle Times: Video: Amazon’s Kindle boss demos new model — Here’s a video of Ian Freed, vice president of Kindle at Amazon.com, demonstrating the new version of the e-reader the company’s announcing Thursday. He showed it yesterday at the company’s new South Lake Union headquarters.
James Nixon / THINQ.co.uk: 100 million Facebook pages leaked on torrent site — A directory containing personal details about more than 100 million Facebook users has surfaced on an Internet file-sharing site. The 2.8GB torrent was compiled by hacker Ron Bowes of Skull Security, who created a web crawler program …
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits: Apple Probes Complaints About iOS4 on iPhone 3G — Apple is investigating reports that the latest iPhone operating system causes problems for users of the iPhone 3G, after a series of complaints on Apple support forums and technology blogs. Apple is aware of the reports and is looking into the matter, a spokeswoman told Digits.
Amir Efrati / Digits: Eric Schmidt on Google’s Next Tricks — Google has long been cast by Wall Street analysts and some tech executives as a “one-trick pony” because it earns nearly all revenue from one source-online ads. When asked for his response to that, Schmidt said in an interview: “I think that’s probably true.”
Ben Parr / Mashable!: Facebook Questions Officially Launches — Facebook has begun the rollout of a new feature, Facebook Questions, which will allow users to get answers to their queries from the entire Facebook community. — Similar in concept to Yahoo! Answers, Quora and Mahalo, Facebook Questions gives users …
MG Siegler / TechCrunch: Twitter Begins User Streams Testing. Realtime Tech Should Help Ease API Strain — For some time now, Twitter has been working on a new API: the Twitter Streaming API. The idea behind it is to allow third-party Twitter clients to receive continuous tweet updates in realtime.
Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology: What Weeks Of Real Usage Tells About New iPhone — When I reviewed Apple’s new iPhone 4 last month, I said that, overall, it was still the best of the super-smartphones. But I warned that, in my tests, its performance in making voice calls on AT&T’s network in the U.S. was decidedly mixed.
Nicole Mordant / Reuters: RIM seen unveiling “iPhone killer” next week — British Columbia (Reuters) - Shares of BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) jumped early on Wednesday on speculation it is set to unveil a long-awaited touchscreen handset designed to battle Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) popular iPhone.
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent: Facebook-Backer DST May Go Public Next Year — Will Facebook backer Digital Sky Technologies go public before Facebook? The Russian internet investment group, which has accumulated a five percent stake in the social network, has hired Goldman Sachs, along with two other investment firms …
Blake Ross / Facebook Blog: Searching for Answers? Ask Facebook Questions — Millions of people ask their friends questions on Facebook every day. What new music should I listen to? Where’s the best sushi place in town? How do I learn to play the piano? — Today we’re introducing Facebook Questions …
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal: Kindle to Go ‘Mass Market’ — Amazon Digs in Heels by Introducing New, Cheaper Version of E-Book Reader — Amazon.com Inc. plans to release a cheaper Kindle e-reader next month, said Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, laying out a strategy to go “mass market” with an inexpensive gadget designed …
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK — Let’s be honest — you saw this one coming, didn’t you? Today Amazon is introducing a new reading device for e-book aficionados dubbed simply… the Kindle.