Texts From Last Night collects drunken text messages

Something I missed. Two friends actually opened a website last February called Texts From Last Night (TFLN), that collect drunken text messages.

[via TrendHunter]

Related:

-- LG’s Cellphone Prevents Drunk Dialing

-- Trying To stop Drunken calls

-- «Intexicated»: Texting under the influence

Japanese pig mask for Swine flu

Not related to cell phones - just fun. Spotted on <3Yen, a Japanese pig mask offers protection against the Swine flu. Made by Get- well- soon- masks.

iBags app

iBags is another app after a woman's hearts by Mobile App Studio, allowing to browse over 20,000 handbags from ShopStyle.com.

You can browse iBags at random to keep up with the latest styles or search by brand or shape to find the perfect one.

When you see a bag you like, click on "retailer" and it will take you to retailer's Website where you can find out details, pricing and make a purchase. The Bottega bag I clicked on was $ 3,680 at Saks' so I didn't actually go through with the purchase, but you can.

This app follows the launch of iShoes, reviewed a couple of weeks ago.

iSuperCart app

iSuperCart is a challenging game to control your cart to carry more bricks, you don't need touch anything, just tilt your iPhone or iPod touch left or right to steer your cart.

The object of the game is to gather as many bricks in the cart as you can and the longer the distance you carry the bricks, the higher the score.

On the top of the screen, you can check your distance and actual score.

Twitter users don't stick around

More than 60 per cent of Twitter users stop using the micro-blogging service a month after joining, according to Nielsen Online research, reports Reuters.

... "Let there be no doubt: Twitter has grown exponentially in the past few months with no small thanks to celebrity exposure,'' he said in a reference to new users such as US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and promoters such as actor Ashton Kutcher.

"People are signing up in droves, and Twitter's unique audience is up over 100 per cent in March,'' David Martin, Nielsen Online's vice president for primary research said.

"But despite the hockey-stick growth chart, Twitter faces an uphill battle in making sure these flocks of new users are enticed to return to the nest,'' he said.

... Martin said that when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter their retention rates were twice as high and they now have retention rates of nearly 70 per cent.

Zillow iPhone app tells you how much that house you just passed costs

Zillow iPhone app allows you to view real estate information on every home around you — as you move.

Walk or drive through a neighborhood and see estimated home values, homes for sale, recently sold homes.

GPS technology pinpoints your location and then displays real-time real estate information and data as you go. You can also search any neighborhood, regardless of your location.

Zillow has at least some data on 95 percent of the homes in the country, including photos and contact information for 3.4 million for-sale listings.

Watch the video demo and read The New York Times's review.

AppStoreReviewer.com YouTube Channel

I just picked up on AppStoreReviewer.com's YouTube Channel. Another great place to check out new apps.

Swine Flu updates by SMS

With the recent pandemic of Swine Flu going around, and the ensuing need to know how you’re affected, US based CellPhones.org has created a new service for cell phone users:

Text PIGFLU to 41411 and we will send updates as news develops about the Swine Flu. The only cost is your cost for receiving regular text messages, and there will be no other billing. We are providing this service in the public interest.

Daily Updates will include:

-- CDC/WHO Updates
-- Information about New OutBreaks
-- Information From Health Authorities

We aim to send out info between 1-3 times daily, with urgent information such as new outbreak information, messages from health authorities and travel warnings as they develop.

Image from CBC.ca

What’s Your iPhone App Attention Span?

Greystripe, an ad network for mobile applications and games, has a new report showing how consumers are using free iPhone applications. WSJ Digits reports.

Among the interesting findings:

-- People use free apps an average of 20 times before getting bored and looking for something else.

-- The average time they spend using/playing with the apps is 9.6 minutes.

-- So-called “tailgate” ads, which are short flash videos or games users interact with before an app launches, are keeping people’s attention for about 22 seconds — a positive development in the fledgling mobile ad space.

BlackBerry releasing 10 yellow phones for Selfridges' birthday

Smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry has partnered with London's Selfridges, to celebrate the department store's 100th birthday by releasing ten bright yellow BlackBerry Bolds with redesigned number keys.

The handsets will be individually numbered one to ten, and should go on sale at Selfridges in London today for £1,000 each.

[via TechDigest]

WatchOut iPhone App: Search for Registered Sex Offenders

Searching for registered sex offenders. There's even an app for that.

The WatchOut! app is a tool to help you stay safe by helping you be aware of these individuals in your community.

Features:

-- Know who is around you by searching for registered sex offenders by zip code

-- Be sure an individual is not an offender by searching for their name in the database

-- Find out where the highest concentrations of offenders live by plotting them on a map

-- Tag selected individuals to access them quickly and easily

[via Phones Review]

Design The Mobile Phone Of The Future LG Contest

LG Mobile Phones, Autodesk and crowdSPRING are partnering to sponsor the Design The Future competition searching for the mobile phone of the future. InventorSpot reports.

What should a mobile phone look like in 2, 5, or 10 years? Autodesk will give you the SketchBook Pro for free for 15 days, and you can design it using this very intuitive software... or not.

LG wants your ideas more than proof of your ability to use a design program. In fact, you can render your drawings by hand, and that will not affect the judging process. You can also submit as many entries as you like. The sponsors provide many tips and guides, even one on 'how to innovate,' that will inspire you and make the atmosphere nice and friendly for a newbie.

emily | 1:27 PM | permalink

The European Union Twitter Elections

Following the successful example of Barack Obama's bid for the White House, widely credited for its effective use of internet resources, many current and prospective Members of the European Parliament are turning to new technologies for their own campaigns, including using Twitter. The European News Source reports.

According to the website Europatweet, a website monitoring and cataloguing the current and/or prospective MEPs on twitter, there are currently 76 current or prospective Members of the European Parliament on Twitter.

The Telephone Car

Spotted on Gizmodo, The Telephone Car created by business owner Howard Davis as a way to promote his telephone company Datel Communications.

Howard Davis is also a phone collector, pictured below are some of is 4000 telephone artifacts.

World Newspapers app

The World Newspapers app is directory of almost 4000 newspapers with online editions in well over 100 countries around the world.

You can browse by country and region, then view, zoom, and follow newspaper links.

Checking out Geneva papers, I clicked on "Europe", "Switzerland" the "Geneva", and it comes up with only two answers.

We're a small town, New York is obviously better served. Advertising Age, New York Daily News, New York Post, WSJ, Newsday, The Village Voice...

Publishers Seize on iPhone as Great White Digital Hope for Print

How magazines and newspapers are cashing in with iPhone apps. Adage reports.

Condé Nast Digital's Style.com app, which plays video of Fashion Week runway shows has been downloaded 230,000 times since its introduction last August And it represents the first way publishers are making money from apps: by selling ads or sponsorships on them. The Style app, free to consumers, served 2 million ad impressions for marketers such as H&M in the first quarter of the year.

About 90,000 people have downloaded the free Lucky at Your Service app which helps users find nearby stores with certain shoes or bags in stock since its debut just two months ago. It's a brilliant brand extension, another way publishers want apps to further their business.

... But many publishers would also like to turn iTunes into a virtual newsstand and subscription hub.

The Wall Street Journal, for example, plans to start charging for some of the content people get from its free app, which it upgraded earlier this month. But that app pulls news content from the web. Selling digital editions of print issues, certainly magazines' chief asset, has had limited prospects until now.

"The digital edition as it currently exists, as a replica, has great value for some percentage of the population -- a small percentage," said Cimarron Buser, senior VP-marketing and business development at Texterity.

Read full article.

Tinnitus Relief

Most medical apps offer information, study tools, ranking (how depressed are you), search capabilities for a specific issue (clinical trials), advice (how to reduce your bood pressure) but this is the first app I've come across that claims to actually alleviate symptoms.

In their own words: Tinnitus can help reduce symptoms of Tinnitus ringing in your ears from mild to extreme.

Tinnitus Reliever has been designed using scientific methods to actually relieve tinnitus rather than just mask it as is often the case with other audible treatments.

It has been proven to be an effective temporary relief for many tinnitus suffers. It also produced great results during our inhouse testing.

How does it work? A low-pitched sound, the researchers discovered, applied through headphones suppressed and provided temporary relief from the high-pitch ringing tone associated with the disorder.

We have presented this audible treatment in a variety of frequencies so you can find the one that best suits you.

Simply put your standard issue Apple headphones in your ears and choose the tone that works best for you. It only takes 90 seconds to show results but more use could be more effective depending on the nature of your symptoms.

Re-entry visa now through SMS

Residents of the Saudi Arabia may t rocess their re-entry visas through a new SMS service, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Great strides have been made by the Passports Department in introducing new technologies in passport services. 70 percent the administration now carries its services electronically.

3D iphone skins

Spotted on iLounge, DomeSkin's 3D iphone skins.

iFootsteps

The iFootsteps app contains 21 different sound of footsteps. Walking on the beach, runing, stomping, walking in heels... Made by a Jack Foley fan?

From Lost and Found Sound: A Brooklynite of humble origins, Jack Foley makes for a rather odd Hollywood hero. His face was never seen on the silver screen, nor was his name ever up in lights. Yet Foley's legacy breathes life into every film and television program you see. It is there every time you hear a footstep, a slap, or the rustling of clothes.

Foley perfected a method of projecting a film and adding all these sound effects in sync with the moving picture, slamming a door when a heroine stormed out of the room, clanking swords when gladiators fought.

Bump: The app that made it 1 billion

An app called Bump was the 1 billionth iPhone app downloaded. It was downloaded by Connor Mulcahey, age 13 who became the one billionth App Store customer.

It makes swapping contact information as simple as bumping two phones together. Because that is exactly what you do:

1. Open Bump on both phones
2. While holding the phones, gently bump your hands together
3. Confirm the exchange

[via AppScout]

Trader reports seditious SMS, not realising it was sent by daughter

Police arrested a teenager who forwarded an SMS to her father about a purported racial riot in Pontian. The Star of Malaysia reports.

The father, a businessman, received the SMS on Monday, not knowing his daughter was the sender. The next day, he lodged a report with the police. It was only at dinner with his family that realised the text message had been sent by his daughter.

On Wednesday, the father and daughter went to the police station to try retract his complaint.

Police arrested the teenager then released her on bail.

In Malaysia, police action is taken against anyone involved in spreading rumours.

Related:

-- Malaysia: Stiff penalties for people using SMS to stir up unrest

-- China warns: SMS Rumors Will Lead To Imprisonment

-- India: Barring SMS to stem rumors

Woman app developer launches the Animalizer

The Animalizer is a fun app that let's you morph a friend or family's face in an animal.

You can choose from over 25 animal pics, add a message and send it by e-mail.

What's so unusual about this app? It was developed by a woman, Heather Lipner. My feeling is there aren't many out there. Heather is the first I've come across. Yay!

Apple's App Store hits a billion downloads

[via engadget:mobile]

Heroes actor makes iPhone app

Actor Greg Grunberg (who plays mind reader Matt Parkman on Heroes) has created an iPhone/iPod touch app called yowza!! allowing you to find coupons for stores where you live. [via Digital Media Online]

Features:

-- Deals negotiated specifically for Yowza!! users
-- Instant results based on your current location
-- City and zip code based coupon searches
-- Favorite your coupons for easy retrieval at the register
-- Keep track of how much you've saved
-- Cashier scans barcodes right off your device
-- New deals and stores added daily
-- ...

Heidi Klum cell phone fashionista for LG Eelectronics

LG Electronics has partnered with Heidi Klum to promote their handsets, reports MediaPost News.

The promotion is tied to LG's Rumor2 handset, for which users can design personalized back plates. The company has enlisted Klum as its "Ambassador of Style" and is making available five back plates that she designed for the phone.

To highlight Klum's designs -- and consumers' ability to create their own designs -- LG has created a print advertising campaign that depicts Klum painted in butterflies, just like one of her back plate designs. The ad will appear in weekly magazines as well as fashion monthlies. The company has also created an online banner ad of the same image.

Brooklyn novelist Peter Brett writes cell phone novel in F Train

Brooklyn author Peter Brett's first novel, "The Warded Man," was tapped out on his smartphone on while commuting to work on the F train. The Daily News reports via Switched.

"I had about 45 minutes each way, and everyone who takes the F knows that 45 minutes can turn into an hour and a half." I wrote over 100,000 words on the train" over two years of commutes, he said.

The 400-page novel, has sold 2,500 copies since Del Rey Books released it in the U.S. five weeks ago.

It has hit best seller lists in Poland and England, where it was released late last year.

After selling the book, Brett left his job - and the daily commutes - in October 2007 to pursue writing full time.

Related:

-- The first Swiss phone novel

-- Text message novel published in Finland

-- Harlequin's Mobile Novels

-- CellScript.com offers cell phone novels to US mobile subscribers

-- Next hot trend for cell phones: Reading?

-- An SMS Romance in 1008 Chinese Characters

-- India's first SMS novel

-- Novels delivered to your phone

-- China cell phone novel launched on Friday

-- Rushkoff to write SMS novel

-- First bilingual short story book written in SMS-shorthand

-- Coming to a cellphone near you: A novel

-- Mobile fiction micropublishing

Movie trailers on your iPhone

Great, great great. The Trailers International app is available to non US viewers and offers trailers of some of the latest or not yet released movies. Click on the flag of your country to see relevant movie listing, subbed, dubbed or in your language. For each movie you can watch a trailer (sometimes 2 trailers), click on "S" to read a synopsis, or click on the link to Imdb or recommend the clip by e-mail to a friend.

For Swiss-Romand viewers like myself, to avoid the movies dubbed in German, - because in this part of Switzerland we speak French - just click on the UK flag (for all movies in English) or French flag (for all movies translated into French). Often websites use German as a default language for Switzerland, as Swiss Germans are the majority.

You can even download the trailer by clicking on the arrow pointing downwards. Watch video demo here.

There is an app for US viewers, Trailers for $1.99 or a free version, Trailers Lite.

The apps were developed by xTEO software.

[via AppCraver]

Baby Shaker app gets critics riled up

It was an application bound to rattle. Baby Shaker, the $0.99 app that went on sale at the App store Monday, made iPhones emit the sound of a crying baby, while showing a charcoal drawing of a kid. The only way to make the noise stop was to shake the iPhone violently, until red X marks appeared over the baby's eyes. From The LA Times Blog:

On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don’t want them to be! They’re always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it," the app's introduction read.

That the Baby Shaker app made it to the Apple store is surprising: Apple has rejected a number of apps, including one that showed a picture of a knife and emitted screaming sounds, and a game that let people pretend to be drug dealers, according to developer Peter Hosey.

... As of Wednesday afternoon, Apple appears to have pulled the app from the store.

Texting Record: 217,000 SMS sent in one month

Two Pennsylvania pals, 29-year-old Nick Andes and 30-year-old Doug Klinger, set a text-messaging record with 217,000 text messages sent in one month. That's 7,000 SMS a day, or 583 SMS an hour. The Post Chronicle reports.

Nick and Doug were surprised by a whopping $26,000 phone bill because they were relying on their "unlimited texting' plan. T-Mobile is reportedly investigating the charges.