Loopt Mix
New Loopt App Helps You With Random Hookups … Now
BY Chris DannenTue Oct 20, 2009 at 2:12 PM
The iPhone has been a dating tool for a while, but Loopt’s putting their technology to more… immediate uses with a new app called Loopt Mix. Warning: Finding love the Loopt way may involves waking at 7 a.m. in a strange bed, pulling on last night’s clothes and taking the proverbial walk of shame.
via FastCompany
The Telecom Council held its CTIA Wireless 2009 Debrief on October 13th, in Sunnyvale. The event was a recap of the annual CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Conference. Not a whole lot of schmoozing to be done, with only 12 in attendance in the morning session (one of two sessions). However, the debrief itself was fascinating.
Attendance at CTIA San Diego was said to be 15 thousand! Despite the draw, I got the distinct impression that CTIA doesn’t appear to be focusing much energy on the global perspective.
FCC Chairman Julius Genechowski was reported to be among the presenters. We learned that he spoke of plans to push back on municipalities that block new cell towers, by forcing faster responses to infrastructure proposals. Everybody wants an improved network, right? But who wants a tower in their backyard? Unless of course, it’s one of those neighborhood enhancing fake trees. On a somewhat related note, AdMob reported that 40% of wireless web traffic nationwide is iPhone related. OK that’s not helping my service reliability. Oh wait, I’m on Verizon…never mind.
Skype over 3G? Now that’s a quandary for carriers. This is an entertaining situation, as I understand it. For example, Skype is blocked on iPhone and Blackberry (at least until very recently). If AT&T allows it, they could sell more data plans needed to support it; plus it would make them look more open. The downside for AT&T is that they would lose long distance revenue; and Skype would burden AT&T’s already stressed network. What’s a leading carrier to do? Meanwhile, the Skype app for iPhone is reportedly very stable with its latest release. Crazy right? It’s a good time to by Skype! JaJah, mig33, Truphone and Fring valuations aren’t looking too shabby either. I’m sensing continued 3G/4G network issues on the horizon. Smart WiFi anyone?
In a strange twist, Verizon will offer Andriod phones, swallowing it’s hatred of Google, in order to compete with Apple and AT&T. As I edit this post, Verizon has hinted at the release of a new Driod phone, in a campaign that goes after the iPhone. Guess what? The app space is about to get hotter.
Not that Microsoft needs help losing market share, but the industry is convinced that Android will put some serious hurt on Windows Mobile (now known as Windows Phone). What else can I say about Microsoft, that is potentially exciting? I’ll have to get back to you on that.
Widgets appear to be one of the next big things in mobile phones, having found a place on both smart phones and feature phones. They’re giving carriers an opportunity to recapture the content platform, but are also expected to be the next area of fragmentation in mobile development. Despite all the ongoing excitement over app stores and widgets, SMS apps are being seen as the place to go if your in the mobile development space for business. Much of this interest has been fueled by, what a surprise, Twitter. Some in the industry even see SMS is more important than the Jesus Phone…I mean the iPhone.
And the question we always pose is, where does Less Networks fit in? We’re exploring ways to bring new mobile content, application and widgetry awareness to Smart WiFi users and WiFi users at large. This we hope will be a boon to users and developers alike. And did I mention that issue of overtaxed 3G networks–the one where smart phones seek refuge in WiFi?
~r
Chyngle: Mobile Venue Networks
In September, we witnessed Chyngle‘s DemoPit winning pitch at TechCrunch50 and were impressed with their efforts to socially-mobilize and monetize the hyper-local venue. They’ve decided to focus on stadiums. We kinda like the idea of ordering junk from our seats–very convenient! Would be nice if we could figure out a way to text the loud-mouth jerk behind us and ask him to shut up and sit down.
In August, we ran into Billing Revolution at the VC Task Force event “Mobile Monetization: Real Cash or Virtual Bucks.” Other panelists were Hill Ferguson, VP Product Zong ; John Loschky, VP Product, Billing Revolution; Russell Tillitt, CEO, Embee Mobile; Fabio Sisinni, Director, Go to Market Mobile. Paypal. We were very impressed with the quality of this panel–probably one of the best-qualified panels we’ve seen in a while. Indeed, a very smart bunch of guys. Hats off to VC Task Force. Billing Revolution is trying to make a go of mobile billing by by-passing the carriers and keeping the money. Unfortunately, this requires consumers to set up an account with them in advance. PayPal obviously fought the same battle years before, but had a first move advantage. Some would argue that it was a first move disadvantage. Whatever the case, it seems that PayPal’s requirement to create an account is still a point of friction for many consumers and merchants. It will be interesting to see how and if Billing Revolution can avoid these pitfalls. Can’t really remember what Embee and Zong are up to, but that Russell Tillitt sure seemed smart.
It seems Chyngle and Billing Revolution made an appearance this month at the CTIA FundFest where they pitched a panel of 3 judges. The judges picked Chyngle with Billing Revolution not quite snagging 2nd place. Read Mike Demler‘s coverage of the contest here.
Texas Wireless Summit
[If you decide to attend this event, please send me a note and we'll be sure to put you on the VIP list for an invitation-only reception -- rich at lessnetworks dot com]
The Austin Wireless Alliance and UT’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) invite you to attend the seventh annual Texas Wireless Summit (www.twsummit.com) on November 5th at the AT&T Conference Center in Austin, TX. The Summit is the premiere wireless event in the central US and routinely attracts C-level participants and speakers from many of the industries leading companies. This year’s theme is “Data Everywhere: Wireless throughout industry, government and society.” There is a relentless expansion of wireless data networks which is allowing new industries to adopt wireless technologies. These industries will deploy new data-driven solutions in smart grid, healthcare, telematics, consumer electronics, and software applications, resulting in unforeseen innovations. There will be deep dives into understanding which wireless technologies are appropriate for which applications, security, and infrastructure and application deployment and management.
SPEAKERS
*********We are announcing the addition of John Stupka, President STS; Chief of Staff for the President and CEO of AT&T Mobility as the Infrastructure Keynote*********
The keynote speakers include
Panel speakers from AT&T, Motion Computing, Austin Energy, Austin Heart Hospital, Dell, Motive, Movera, VMWare and many other leading industry players will provide a deeper dive into the implications for security, infrastructure and application deployment and management, and which wireless technologies are best for which applications.
REGISTRATION
Early bird registration will end October 31st. To register, go to http://www.twsummit.com/index.php/registration.
SPONSORS
AT&T, Qualcomm, The Austin Chamber of Commerce, The City of Austin, UK Trade & Investment, ATI Wireless, C Faulkner Engineering, Tengo Networks
MEDIA PARTNERS
Portner Novelli, RCR Wireless, MobileMonday, Wi-Fi Alliance, CommNexus, WCA
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bart Bohn, Texas Wireless Summit Chair at bbohn@ati.utexas.edu. For media inquiries, please contact Laura Benold at lbenold@ati.utexas.edu.
Thank you,
Bart Bohn
Austin Technology Incubator
Director, Wireless and IT Incubators
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin Wireless Alliance
Executive Director
www.austinwirelessalliance.org
Office – 512 305 0046
Mobile – 832 524 3908
@bartbohn
Laya's augmented reality
If you’re still at a loss as to the significance of augmented reality, Layar’s own explanation from inside the app explains it well: “Layar is a tool to browse the world. It enables exploration, more informed decisions, serendipity and fun. [...] While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale popular bars and shops, touristic information of the area, play a live game, etcetera.”
Layar aggregates all those little niggly bits of extra information you often wish you knew when visiting a certain new place–the best way to the train station from the point you’re standing on, where the best cafe is, and so on–and overlays it on the real world as viewed through your phone’s camera. And there is a whole lot more functionality that’s waiting to be realized. Layar’s code lets developers create their own informational overlays for the real world. As the Layar release notes, gaming is a significant potential exploit of the code, with everything from advanced geocaching treasure hunts to virtual shooters being obvious possibilities. There are all sorts of social networking uses too.
via Fast Company
SF Mobile and Orange Labs teamed up for another great event last month–Everything Android.
Speakers included: Erick Tseng (Google), Olivier Ricordel (Qipit), Sean Galligan (Flurry), Brett Butterfield (Pixelpipe), and Mary Ann Cotter (Cooking Capsules), Tom Conrad (Pandora), Bhasker Roy (Qik) and Mark Hamblin (Touch Revolution).
There was talk of Google’s work on text to speech, but we saw a demo for something more exciting in Google’s quick search box. This feature scans everything on your “phonetop” and web search history. They call it speed dialing for life. It reminds me of Mac’s desktop spotlight, and appears to be an emerging trend in the phonetop experience.
Android was showcased as having applications that go well beyond phones. For instance, the development community at large has been looking at Android applications in automotive and elsewhere. Touch Revolution, one of the evenings presenters gave us a few examples of this, showing and telling about tablet based applications that appear to be in healthy demand.
Qipit demoed is a big idea, mobile copies. I realize that this might sound weird, possibly even useless, but trust me. This is a cool app. The 4 minute presentation limit wasn’t, in my opinion, enough time for Qpit to give its product a proper demonstration. Fortunately, I am familiar with them, having seen them present at another recent event. I actually wondered if Android wasn’t as over-the-top exciting for Qpit, as it seemed to be for other presenters.
The Flurry demo was one of the evenings most interesting points. The service is a mobile apps analytics that enables tracking of user navigation within apps. It supports multiple platforms and boasts an easy setup 5-30 minutes. Flurry sees great user engagement within Android apps, speaking to the stickiness of some mobile apps.
As Butterfield presented PixelPipe, a platform that enables users to populate and update any social network from any device that uploads photos, I was left wanting to hear more. This app was also victim to condensed 4-minute presentation time. It looks cool and allows users to make geo-relevant posts.
Cooking Capsules (recipient of accolades from Wired and Time), showed us that cooking can be turned into a mobile app. They don’t have many recipes yet, but are looking to showcase sponsored recipes. Should be interesting to watch their endeavors into creating revenue.
Pandora was one of the evenings highlights. Conrad entertained us with Pandora’s venture into Android, and confessed that he’d received death threats from Android enthusiasts who have been eagerly awaiting Pandora’s arrival. (Crazy Android people.) We also heard about his experience working with Verizon. Can you say odyssey?
Touch Revolution finished things off with a presentation on everything Adroid that’s not a phone. This company creates and white labels touch screen devices. Interestingly, the founder comes from the Apple touch technology team. When asked if his company found their space limited by Apple’s patents on touch technology, Hamblin informed us that he was involved in the creation of those patents, and that no, it wasn’t an issue for his company. For Touch Revolution, important factors with Android are that it’s seen as a great touch platform, it’s customizable, it’s build for cloud computing and it’s free!
So what did I learn about the significance and importance of Android? It offers multi device support, the Android marketplace offers a new market channel, and it has developed momentum on cell phones and tablets. I wonder if it might also appear much more exciting for new developers, as the iPhone app store has become immensely overcrowded, so much so that it’s now being seen as a source of little more than beer money for many developers. Maybe Android will save some mobile app garage developers from having to hang on those pesky day jobs. To Apple’s credit, it would appear that they are trying to create new ways for developers to make money, as noted in this WSJ blog post.
Less Networks holds strong interest in the Android landscape, as 3G traffic continues to flourish and grow.
~r
