March 17, 2010
Mobile application sales to reach '$17.5bn by 2012'
A study done for Getjar, the world's second biggest app store, said the market will grow to $17.5bn in the next two years.
[via the BBC]
Scary Stephen King text message worth $175 in class action settlement
Some 60,000 cell-phone users who had signed up to receive “promotional messages” from Nextones.com in order to get a free ringtone got just such a text message on January 18, 2006 advertising a cell-phone-related Stephen King book.
This resulted in a class action that was thrown out on the grounds that plaintiffs had agreed to “terms and conditions” permitting such cell-phone advertising; moreover, the federal law prohibiting the use of an automatic telephone dialing system applied only to systems that dialed numbers randomly or sequentially, and the defendants were operating off of a list of opt-in telephone numbers.
Read full article in Overlawyered
Previously:
March 16, 2010
Could Hearst iPhone Apps Bring Backlash?
Hearst Corp. plans to churn out thousands of iPhone applications focused on niche topics within categories such as celebrities, food, hobbies, and sports. Mediapost reports.
The publisher is paying for rights to photos but not other content pulled from traditional news outlets and blogs.
If the LMK apps proliferate as planned and end up selling in measurable amounts, then it raises a question about whether content owners whose material is used in the apps will take issue with the apps or seek a piece of the App Store action. News publishers like the AP to News Corp. have long complained about sites like Google News and The Huffington Post hijacking their content.
Read full article.
Google sees mobile ad rates passing PC rates
Google Inc said that it expects the rates that companies pay for search ads on mobile phones could surpass the rates of its existing PC-based ad business thanks to the growing popularity of powerful smartphones.
[via Reuters]
40% of Blackberry users willing to trade in for an iPhone
Two in five BlackBerry owners plan to swap their current device for an iPhone when it's time to upgrade, according to market researcher firm Crowd Science.
[via arstechnica]
Paypal's updated iPhone app lets you split a bill
PayPal’s new iPhone app has a feature that lets you quickly divide a restaurant bill and send a friend the portion you owe just by bumping your iPhones together.
[via Bits]
Sprint Rolls Out Virtual Kiosk That Lets Customers Test Drive Phones Before They Buy
Sprint has launched a new feature for its web site that gives customers a way to virtually test drive new phones before taking the plunge and signing a two-year commitment.
[MocoNews]
Product Placement in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video
Idolator on the story behind the product placements in Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video.
March 15, 2010
Forbidden Fruit: Microsoft Workers Hide Their iPhones
Microsoft Corp. employees are passionate users of the latest tech toys. But there is one gadget love that many at the company dare not name: the iPhone. The WSJ reports.
... Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior Microsoft executives. That figure equals about 10% of the company's global work force.
Read full article. Via Gizmodo
BulkSMS.com recognised by Vodacom as a top achiever
BulkSMS.com has been named by Vodacom as a top achieving aggregator in the mobile messaging industry for 2009.
BulkSMS.com, a division of Celerity Systems, has been in operation since 2000 and is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. BulkSMS is a leading wireless application service provider offering bulk SMS messaging solutions to large and small businesses, public benefit organisations, and individuals. BulkSMS.com has a global market presence, including Europe, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Vodacom’s annual Top Achievers Award recognises those wireless application service providers (WASPs) in the local market who meet the following criteria: the WASP must be a top revenue performer and be in good standing with WASPA, the industry regulator.
Any Questions? Raise Your eHand
Forget the fear of raising your hand to ask a question in public, Christchurch company Texsys have released eHand, an audience response system which allows people to submit their question during a speech, lecture or similar, via text message, without speaking aloud. Scoop reports.
Read full article.
March 14, 2010
France Telecom attacks 'scary' Google database
... Mr Roverato stressed that France Telecom, which owns the Orange mobile phone network, does not believe Google is "doing anything evil" and values the company as a "key partner".
[via The Telegraph]
March 11, 2010
Is Voice-Based Bubbly the New Twitter?
A hot new social-networking service by Bubblemotion dubbed Bubbly, which is essentially a voice-based Twitter, is quickly gaining popularity among Indians. And thanks to Bollywood celebs being early adopters, Bubbly is growing virally and with virtually zero marketing spend.
[via Adage]
New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated
A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo has developed a technology that makes it possible to “physically” convey emotions from cell phone to cell phone. CrunchGear reports.
Read full article
Other emotion detecting cell phones:
-- New Panasonic phones displays calleres' emotions with colors and patterns - The new Panasonic P702iD mobile phone come with 'Hikari (Light) Drops' reflecting the ambient mood
-- EMotoPhone: MIT Project - Emotophone, a project by the MIT Speech Interface Group, adds a new dimension to cell phone interaction by allowing users to send personalized emoticons over the phone (or real pictures) to show how they are feeling, in order to augment verbal communication.
-- Cell Phone with Feeling - Siemens has launched the CX70 Emoty on the UK market, a phone that lets its owners express their emotions and communicate these feelings to friends - as an emotional MMS together with text.
-- The future of affection - The shiny, wipe-clean future we are headed for may seem like a cold and uninviting place, but if existing technology is any guide then feelings and emotions are going to play a big part in this hi-tech world.
-- SMS hugs via Mobile Phone - HugsSMS is a device designed for sending someone you care about a hug using your mobile phone.
-- 'Emotive Alerts' on cellphones - Angry on a friend who is too busy to pick up the phone? Just leave a voice message and he will take the hint through an on-screen 'emotica' - a new age technological marvel from MIT.
-- Voicemail software recognises callers' emotions - MIT's Emotive Alert's voicemail system labels messages according to the caller's tone of voice and could be helping people identify which messages are urgent.
-- SMS with feeling - BT has developed new technology that takes mobile messaging to a new level where "actual emotions can be conveyed between family and friends in a physical and tactile way".
-- Lie detectors for cellphones - The Truster plugs into a phone - cellular or land-line - or a TV and can spot deceivers, even if they speak a foreign language.
Bill to limit cell phone harassment progresses
A bill that makes it illegal to send obscene, harassing or threatening communication with a cell phone or other mobile device won approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The Herald Dispatch reports.
State law addresses harassment crimes using computers, but does not include language regarding cell phones and other mobile gadgets.
Under the bill, people would face charges if they send text messages, photos or videos on mobile devices with the intent of harassing or abusing another person.
Penalties would range from a misdemeanor and up to a $500 fine for the first offense to a felony and up to a $5,000 fine for three or more offenses.
Read full article.
Tiger Text, SMS erasing application goes international
Following the huge success in the US of the launch of TigerText, an iPhone app that enables people erase text messages after they have been sent, the app is now available Internationally: in Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and Canada. [via Samaa]
Previously: - TigerText: an iPhone app that sends SMS that won't linger
Last Call - The first interactive Movie
Last Call, is a German interactive horror film in which the main character calls a random audience member for help. Gizmodo reports.
Read full article. Watch video
Mexican Telecoms Tycoon replaces Bill Gates as 'world's richest' person
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett with a fortune estimated at $53.5 billion.
[via Cellular News]
Mobile boom fuels health work in developing countries
The explosion of mobile use in developing countries is helping transform health care. The BBC reports.
The organisation produces EpiSurveyor, which health workers use to gather information about vaccination rates and instances of HIV.
In the past, such data collection would have conducted using the slower, more cumbersome and error-prone pen and paper.
In addition, records would have to be physically taken to a central repository, rather than sent over the airwaves.
Read full article.
M-Via Lets You Transfer Money Overseas From Any Phone — at a Low Cost
Venture Beat on M-Via, a young mobile phone payment service that lets you send or receive money internationally on any type of phone — even if you and your recipients don’t have bank accounts.
... Right now, the startup is focusing on transactions between Mexico and the U.S. It operates 95 “hot spots” in California right now, and is launching new ones in Texas, Arizona, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey this year.
Eventually, it will turn its attention to India, China and the Philippines, where people receive hundreds of millions every year from family members or friends in the U.S.
Read full article
Michelle Obama launches Apps for Healthy Kids
The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is a part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.
Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging tools and games that drive children, especially “tweens” (ages 9-12) – directly or through their parents – to eat better and be more physically active.
Apps for Healthy Kids. Related AP Article.
March 10, 2010
Moviegoer stabbed for complaining about a woman on her cell phone
A man was stabbed with a meat thermometer in a movie theater in LA - of all places - after complaining to a woman about talking on her cell phone during a Saturday night screening of Shutter Island.
[via boingboing]
iPhone app icon fridge magnets
Spotted on appmodo, iPhone app icon magnets for your fridge. From Jailbreak toys.
In developed countries cell phone growth to come from seniors
Among cell phone users in developed countries, IBM is betting the market with the biggest growth potential is...people over the age of 65? Fast Company reports.
Read full article.
KDDI's Cell Phone that allows bosses to snoop on staff
The BBC reports that Japanese Researchers have produced a mobile phone that could be a boon for prying bosses wanting to keep tabs on the movements of their staff.
It works by analysing the movement of accelerometers, found in many handsets.
Activities such as walking, climbing stairs or even cleaning can be identified, the researchers say.
Read full article.
Retweet.com Sells for $250,000
retweet.com, which put itself up for sale last month, has sold for $250,000 in an online auction on Flippa. The auction saw a fair amount of interest with 45 bids in total.
[via Mashable]
All Your Apps Are Belong to Apple
The EFF obtained a copy of the highly secretive agreement between Apple and iPhone developers.
[via Publish2 Newsgroup]
Picturetweeting bathroom scale
Spotted on boingboing, Morten Skogly's Picturetweeting bathroom scale.
AT&T "Txtng & Drivng ... It Can Wait" campaign
AT&T's "Txtng & Drivng ... It Can Wait" campaign features parents of young texting-and-driving victims and the final text messages the young drivers received just before they died. The campaign's theme: "No text is worth dying over."
AT&T, which serves about 85 million wireless customers, is the second communications company to enter the fray against texting while driving. Verizon Wireless launched its national "Don't Text and Drive" campaign last year.
[via USA Today]
Video Installation Encourages Homeless Activism In New York City
Using the latest technology, a traveling installation in New York City reminds passerby about the challenges facing the city's homeless population and empowers viewers to take action. The Huffington Post reports.
The video shows the homeless man entering a home to show viewers the impact they've made. After they've completed the action, a reply message asks users to make a donation (via a second text message) to Pathways to Housing, a New York-based nonprofit organization that provides housing and mental health services for the homeless.
The Pathways to Housing Facebook page provides updates of where the video installation can be found as it moves around the city.
March 9, 2010
German publisher in row with Apple over pin-ups in iPhone app
According to The Guardian, Springer-owned tabloid Bild's "Shake the Bild Girl" app allows iPhone users to undress a model. Each time the user shakes the phone, the girl strips an item of her clothing. While "Shake the Bild Girl features naked women daily in its pages, Apple ruled that the girls in its iPhone app should wear bikinis.
The Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) asked The International Federation of the Periodical Press last week to approach Apple over the conflict, sparking debate about online censorship and Apple's control over the software platform.
According to Spiegel, the feature was to be the main attraction in Bild's iPhone package, which went on the market in December of last year and has since been downloaded some 100,000 times.
Read full article.
Rapid Rise of Children With Cellphones
[via The New York Times]
Allergic to cell phones
At least 250,000 people in Sweden are allergic to the radio waves that are emitted when someone makes a call with a cellular mobile phone, according to a new report. [via ZDNet]
Related:
-- Electrosmog in the clear with scientists
-- Cellphone side effects may be all in your head
-- EHS sufferer has to view a computer through binoculars
-- Scientists serious about 'electricity sickness' claims
-- I have to switch the mains off to get to sleep'
-- Mobiles, computers can cause "electrosensitivity"
-- Mobile mast effects to be studied
-- Mobiles, computers can cause "electrosensitivity"
-- Dutch study claims the next generation of mobile phone services can cause headaches and nausea
March 8, 2010
Saudi Arabia to regulate BlackBerry Messenger for ‘security’
The Saudi Arabia's Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) wants to monitor messages on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for ‘security' reasons, reports ITP.net.
It was recently reported by Arab press that the CITC asked Canada-based Research in Motion to allow them to monitor messages on the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) network and threatened to shut down the service for non-compliance.
[via Cellular News]
March 7, 2010
Twitter's Shorty Award Winnders
The second annual “Shorty Awards” were announced Wednesday night honoring the best producers of “short real-time content” on Twitter. Cyberjournalist reports.
Other winners: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, popular app TweetDeck and fictional Betty Draper.
