Gogii, the maker of popular messaging app TextPlus, is launching a service called TextPlus Free Calls that enables a host of devices, even Wi-Fi-only devices, to make and receive phone calls for free or very cheaply. Free Calls joins a growing number of IP-based communications competitors. Read more »
Fiksu, a Boston-based start-up that helps developers obtain loyal app users, is training its sights on helping drive paid downloads with a new product called FreeMyApps. The service incentivizes iOS users to try traditional paid apps that have been made free. Read more »
A study suggests that apps downloaded through incentives are largely abandoned or uninstalled, providing little long-term benefit to the app developers who use these app distribution campaigns. According to a Harris online survey, only 3 percent of apps downloaded through incentivized install campaigns are used frequently. Read more »
Fast Society, a group messaging app that competed against the likes of GroupMe, WhatsApp, Kik and others, has announced it will end its messaging service on Wednesday but has plans to launch a new product called Cameo early in the new year. Read more »
PlaceIQ, a Boulder Colo. location startup, just raised $4.2 million to build up its index of location profiles that can be used to better anonymously target ads to mobile users.The company is relocating to New York City, to be closer to customers and partners. Read more »
British supermarket chain Asda conducted a survey and found parents were increasingly using technology as a form of in-home intercom with their kids, calling them to dinner or telling them to do homework. One in five used gadgets to communicate with children inside the home. Read more »
Isis, the near field communication mobile wallet venture from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, took another step forward with the announcement that it has selected SIM card maker and digital security specialist Gemalto as its trusted service manager for its mobile wallet. Read more »
While the Kindle Fire has its share of hardware and software shortcomings, a bigger concern is emerging for parents who are thinking of buying the Kindle Fire: it has almost no restrictions to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content or buying whatever they like. Read more »
Spotify is relaunching its Spotify Radio feature, enabling unlimited channels and skipping and more targeted channels in a bid to better take on Pandora. The improvements are limited to the desktop for now, but a mobile version is coming soon. Read more »
Companies are realizing that gamification, or the use of key game concepts to engage users and solve problems, can be a powerful way to create happiness and innovation and spur on results and education among their workforce, said Gabe Zichermann, CEO of Gamification.Co. Read more »
Jawbone’s UP wristband endured some glitches and bugs that have marred its launch and prompted some reviewers to withhold their full blessing. Now, the company is addressing those concerns by identifying the problems, pausing production while it fixes them and offering a money back guarantee to consumers. Read more »
Freelancers, consultants and other independent workers account for 16 million people in the country now and will become a majority by 2020, predicts Gene Zaino, CEO of MBO Partners. The company projects there will be 65 to 70 million independent workers in the next decade Read more »
Ansca Mobile, maker of the Corona cross-platform app development tool, released a new Corona SDK today that supports the Kindle Fire and Nook Color separately. Ansca says it makes sense to treat those devices as their own opportunities because they represent separate platforms with sufficient differences. Read more »
After its successful showing during LA’s Carmageddon, Waze, a crowdsourced traffic data app, is now launching a broadcast partner program to allow local TV stations to tap into its data and leverage the app to engage consumers. It is a validation of crowdsourced data and reporting. Read more »
New transmedia publishing company Chafie Creative Group is trying to breathe life into fiction novels with a new iPad app called Immersedition, which will showcase the written word and storytelling while enhancing it with an array of interactive elements like maps, character profiles and videos. Read more »
Evernote is launching two new iPhone apps called Evernote Hello and Evernote Food that help users remember who they’e met and what they’ve eaten. The apps tap into the movement to create digital journals out of our lives, turning encounters and actions into an accessible diary. Read more »
Twilio, a cloud communication platform powering a wide array of apps, is capping off a huge year of growth with $17 million in Series funding from existing investors Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Ventures. The new money will be used to continue Twilio’s worldwide expansion. Read more »
Tribogenics, which spun out of DARPA-backed physics project at UCLA, announced today it has raised $2.5 million from Flywheel Ventures and other angels to build X-Ray machines the size of thick iPhones. The company is using a new technology to create X-Rays from static electricity. Read more »
After launching a little over three years ago, Android Market has caught fire with downloads, hitting 10 billion over the weekend. Google’s mobile application store is now up to 1 billion downloads a month, and growth is accelerating as the number of Android devices sold soars. Read more »
A report confirming that the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon won’t support Google Wallet is just a reminder of where we stand in the NFC race. Isis, the competing digital wallet from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, will likely have to launch before the carriers support Google Wallet. Read more »
Grady Booch, IBM’s chief scientist, has launched a Kickstarter project for a multi-media documentary series called Computing: the Human Experience. The project looks to shed a light on computing much like Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series made learning about the universe exciting. Read more »
Amazon’s Kindle Fire has only been on the market for a few weeks but developers saying it’s providing a very significant lift in app sales because of its easy buying process. It’s giving Android tablet developers reason for a lot of optimism. Read more »
Gowalla has had a good run in the location-based check-in market, taking on Foursquare before getting lapped by its New York rival. Now, Facebook is confirming it has bought the team behind Austin-based Gowalla to bolster its new Timeline feature. Read more »
MFoundry has emerged as a leader in mobile banking, providing its Software-as-a-Service model to almost 600 banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. Now it’s raising $18 million from MasterCard, Intel Capital and others to expand its mobile banking business into mobile payments. Read more »
Pontiflex, a New York start-up with a mobile sign-up ad platform that allows consumers to pick what kind of ads and offers they want to see, is releasing an international SDK that allows developers to place country-specific ads in local languages. Read more »
IOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 have collectively hit 991,524 apps available in their stores with the big million unit milestone set to be reached in the next day, said an analytics firm. It’s a reminder of just how big this modern app market is. Read more »
Research In Motion announced on Friday it was writing down the value of its BlackBerry PlayBooks, taking a mostly noncash charge of $485 million of $360 million after taxes, due to lower-than-expected sales of its tablet. The company also lowered its guidance and outlook. Read more »
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, said the social network and Google are nothing alike. Sandberg, a former Google VP, laid out some of the differences at a conference on Thursday, noting the focus and priorities of the two companies and how they go about developing products. Read more »
Smule, the successful iOS music app start-up behind Ocarina, Magic Piano and I am T-Pain, is buying fellow social music start-up Khush, of Songify fame, in a bid to take command of what it believes will be a fast-growing mobile musical expression market. Read more »
MasterCard and mFoundry are poised to help banks launch potentially hundreds of NFC-based mobile wallets with a new partnership that will allow banks that use mFoundry for mobile banking apps to add support for contactless PayPass payments, turning those mobile banking apps into digital wallets. Read more »
WalmartLabs, the new commerce research lab created out of Walmart’s acquisition of Kosmix, is formally launching its first product, a gift-finding Facebook app called Shopycat. The app enables users to take the likes, shares and interests of friends and turn them into intelligent gift recommendations. Read more »
Spotify is opening up its service to developers to create free applications inside its desktop app. The company is now enabling much more robust integration of apps inside its desktop client, allowing developers to tap into Spotify’s 15 million songs and fast growing user base. Read more »
LiveIntent, a New York City-based start-up is announcing today the release of LiveIntent for Publishers, a self-serve tool that allows companies that send out email newsletters, notifications and other communications to place ads that are served up in real-time like online display ads. Read more »
A Nielsen study found among smartphone users who downloaded an app in the last 30 days, 83 percent used an iPhone or Android devices. That app advantage will help keep those two at the top ahead of other smartphone challengers. Read more »
Google is adding indoor mapping to Google Maps 6.0 for Android, which brings much of the power of its mapping product into large indoor public spaces. Users will be able to locate themselves on a map, which can identify which floor a user is on. Read more »
Michael Rizkalla, the former senior director of webOS application development at HP, has just started at Xobni, where he will be its senior director of mobile applications. It’s the latest exodus from the webOS team as HP contemplates what to do with the mobile operating system. Read more »
If you can’t beat iOS and Android devices in the market, you might as well secure them. That seems to be the stance of RIM, which is launching a device-management and security service for IT departments called Mobile Fusion that builds off its BlackBerry Enterprise Servers. Read more »
Amazon did some big Black Friday business with its Kindle devices, recording a 4x increase over the previous year, the company crowed today. The numbers show that Amazon is still accelerating its Kindle business and the Kindle Fire is likely contributing to the sales growth. Read more »
One of the interesting shopping trends this year the emergence of mobile devices helping front-load more online holiday sales, as shoppers aren’t waiting for those two days to kick off their spending. It’s another way in which mobile is redefining holiday shopping. Read more »
Apple and Microsoft are reportedly poised to support NFC next year in their handsets, according to a report from Digitimes. Apple’s support of NFC could be especially helpful for the nascent technology, helping expose it to a mainstream audience. Read more »
