RunKeeper has raced past its original concept as a mobile app to track runs to become a health platform that ties together all manner of fitness data. Now, it’s raising $10 million to fuel its transformation to become a sort of Facebook for fitness. Read more »
Windows Phone owners may want to connect their device to a computer and check for updates. I just did and found a software release that added the long-awaited Internet sharing feature for my HD7 handset. So now the question becomes: MiFi or handset as personal hotspot? Read more »
A new PwC survey shows more than half of the polled smartphone owners use their handsets for three activities each day: basic communication, accessing news, weather or sports and social network usage. By 2013, more than 40 percent expect their activities to expand to other apps. Read more »
Hotel Tonight, the app that lets you book last minute hotel rooms for discounted rates, is currently raising a $9.1 million funding round, according to documents filed with the SEC Wednesday. The company has raised $8.65 million in the round so far, the filings show. Read more »
Tablets began outselling netbooks earlier this year, but the small laptops still have their fans. One person created a list of 101 things a netbook can do and it’s a great read. But I’d argue that most consumers are moving away from such traditional computing activities. Read more »
Get Satisfaction, the company that makes online customer support tools, has finally gone mobile. On Wednesday, the company announced the public beta launch of its first customer-facing mobile app, built with HTML5 and running entirely on the mobile web browser. Read more »
Google has re-introduced its native iOS Gmail app to the App Store, with a new version number and instructions to delete the old version if you managed to grab it before it was pulled prior to installing this one. Besides bug fixes, little has changed. Read more »
Daily deal aggregator Yipit is finally available on mobile with a new iPhone app. The app provides users with a mobile version of Yipit’s My Deals feature, which personalizes deal recommendations from its base of more than 800 providers and serves up the top offers. Read more »
PogoPlug continues to pivot from simple hardware for remote file access to true web storage. The new PogoPlug Cloud blends locally stored files and online content for easy streaming, sharing and storage. Think Dropbox, but with added access to a home hard-drive with near-limitless capacity. Read more »
WhatsApp is now delivering more than 1 billion messages a day on six different mobile platforms, which it claims puts ahead of any other independent messaging apps. It’s built its success despite charging for its app, avoiding publicity and somewhat reluctantly accepting VC money. Read more »
Foodily, the website that lets you find recipes and share them with your Facebook friends, has launched a superslick offering for the iPhone. A big benefit that’s new to the iPhone app is that users can post personal photos of their latest culinary creations. Read more »
Google’s Android platform already powers phones and tablets, and now it runs on a wrist too: WIMM Labs started shipping its WIMM One wearable computer to developers for $299 on Wednesday. The color display works smartphones but thanks to apps, can be a standalone device too. Read more »
Redbeacon, the web marketplace that connects people with professional home service providers such as plumbers, painters, and yard workers, has launched its first native app for the iPhone. The company, which lets you search for, get bids from, and ultimately book jobs with background-checked and licensed […] Read more »
Walmart is ramping up its mobile strategy and releasing a new iPhone app that provides new smart shopping lists, a budgeting tool and access to manufacturers coupons. It comes on the heels of Walmart’s first iPad app released late last month. Read more »
Griffin and Dijit jointly announced Android software support for the Beacon remote on Tuesday, allowing any Android tablet or smartphone to become a universal remote control for home theater equipment via the Beacon Universal Remote Control System. The app is free, but the Beacon costs $69.99. Read more »
AT&T is launching a new mobile app that allows its smartphone users to make international calls via VoIP. The new AT&T Call International will allow users to make calls overseas at cheap rates like 4 cents a minute to China, Germany, France and the UK. Read more »
Even with all the expert and amateur reviews available on the web today, people still like to get recommendations the old-fashioned way: asking their friends for advice — aka, polling the “lazy web.” That’s where a brand new iPhone app called Wikets wants to help. Read more »
Urban Airship, a push notification and mobile development service provider, is enjoying a huge lift from the growth in mobile and has now pulled in $15.1 million in a Series C Round led by Salesforce.com and Verizon. It’s looking to become a one-stop mobile engagement platform. Read more »
Siri went down on Thursday for its first extended outage — around five hours, according to most counts. Five hours is hardly three days (like another noteworthy recent mobile service blackout), but the reaction of media and users show Apple’s personal assistant is making its presence felt. Read more »
Iddiction, a new startup led by Outfit7′s founding CEO Andrej Nabergoj, has secured $3.5 million in a seed round of funding. Details on what exactly Iddiction will do are scarce, since Nabergoj says the company is currently in stealth mode, but it already has big-name backers. Read more »
The latest health monitor hitting the market comes from Jawbone, a company that’s made its name by designing wireless headsets for phones. Called the Jawbone Up, the wrist-worn device launches on Nov. 6 for $99; it measures activity, sleep and nutrition through a complementary iPhone app. Read more »
Nielsen’s third-quarter metrics show that 62 percent of the 25-to-34-year-old U.S. population has a smartphone. But the fastest-growing age group adopting smartphones last quarter is a surprise: It’s the 55-to-64-year-olds. That means mobile app developers have an opportunity right now. Read more »
Meshin, a Xerox-funded incubator project at PARC, updated its beta Android application that hopes to “bring order to communication chaos.” The free app unifies Gmail, phone calls, text messages and social network streams into a centralized application, helping to separate important information from noise. Read more »
Google released a native Gmail client for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices, but quickly pulled the software from the iTunes App Store due to some app errors. As a long-time Android user, I like what I see in the client, but it needs work. Read more »
Research indicates that 88 percent of people who own tablets use them while watching TV. Yahoo is primed to take advantage of that trend by launching an iPad version of its social TV mobile app IntoNow, with new social media features to complement TV content. Read more »
Microsoft is launching Bing for Mobile Hybrid Apps this week that are built on HTML5 and take the best of native apps and blend with them with a robust mobile web experience, providing faster updates, more consistency between platforms and added search functions. Read more »
Viber Media, provider of iPhone and Android apps that let users talk and text for free over 3G and Wi-Fi networks, is built upon a foundation of the MongoDB NoSQL database running atop the Amazon Web Services cloud. Read more »
Appcelerator, which helps developers build native and HTML5 mobile apps, has been on a tear in the last year, going from 5,000 apps to 30,000 apps built off its Titanium platform. And it’s now raised $15 million in funding for its Series C round. Read more »
Plex, the media center solution of choice for many home theater PC fans, just received a massive update this weekend that makes it easier to access your and your friends’ media collection on your Android or iOS handset. The app is now also available for Windows. Read more »
Smartphones are packing more sensors these days, and application developers continue to find new ways to gain additional value from the sensors. Popular exercise app RunKeeper is the latest. Its software for iPhone and Android handsets includes an auto-pause function and new heart rate zone targeting. Read more »
With almost 1 million mobile apps available, trying to get noticed by users today is a difficult proposition. Mobile app analytics company Flurry is launching the AppCircle Re-Engagement tool to help app makers get users to keep going back to the apps they’ve already downloaded. Read more »
After 4.5 million downloads of MyTown, Booyah is back with MyTown 2, a new take on gaming that incorporates more of a CityVille approach while still using the real world as a game board. The app extends Booyah’s work in location-based gaming. Read more »
You’ve heard of the digital divide, but how about the app gap? A new study found there is a growing rift between the children from wealthier families who spend more time involved in mobile apps designed for children and lower income children who watch more TV. Read more »
Amid the updated hardware specifications of Apple’s iPhone 4S, a beta application is poised to be the breakout star. Siri is helpful now, but imagine what it, or a similar solution, could do for interfacing with many connected devices in the coming “Internet of things” age. Read more »
Buzz around voice recognition technology is louder than ever, thanks to the debut earlier this month Apple’s iPhone 4S with Siri. But Apple isn’t alone in the space. Voice recognition startup SoundHound says it has seen impressive user growth over the past year. Read more »
Long-time GPS hardware maker, Garmin, released its first fitness app for $0.99 in the iTunes App Store and Android Market. Gone are the days when companies can focus on single-purpose hardware; thanks to smartphones, sensors and connectivity, software is where the real action is at. Read more »
With Android gobbling up market share, it was just a matter of time before it took the lead in app downloads from Apple’s iOS. That’s what happened in Q2 with Android commanding 44 percent of overall app downloads compared to 31 percent for iOS. Read more »
Nokia Maps, arguably one of the company’s best software products, now supports offline maps in Google Android and Apple iOS browsers, thanks to HTML5. The “neighborhood maps” are fairly small in geographical size but can help save money for those on limited mobile broadband plans. Read more »
For years, owners of Android phones have generally gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to having great apps. But venture capital firms are finally starting to realize that the Android market should be much more than just an afterthought. Read more »
One of the most popular third-party web browsers for Android devices, Dolphin, gained support for cloud-based synchronization on Wednesday. The updated software syncs browsing preferences, bookmarks and even on-screen gestures over the web to other Android devices running Dolphin and the Webzine feature shows improved controls. Read more »
