Archive for the ‘LBS’ Category

Chyngle and Billing Revolution on the Move

Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Chyngle: Mobile Venue Networks

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.

Posted in LBS, Mobile, Social Media, Wireless | No Comments »

Layar: a tool to browse the world

Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Layas augmented reality

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

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LBS Apps for 2010 & Beyond

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

WCA LogoThis month I attended my second WCA event, “On Deck–LBS Apps for 2010 & Beyond,” presented by the LBS SIG (Location Based Services Special Interest Group). For a biz dev guy, this event rated way higher than the first one I attended, Mobile SIG’s “Mobile Display Technology,” which was apparently a sweet event for the über techies of the mobile handset world.

LBS Apps for 2010 showcased some very cool apps for LBS enabled devices. Among the presenters were TourSpot, UrbanMapping, MotionMaps, DialPlus, Gokivo Navigator, zhiing, Aha, B4UGo, myGeoDiary, MADMaps, Google Latitude and geomob. NAVTEQ’s Laura Diaz moderated the event from the famed PARC auditorium, which is apparently one big concrete bunker. I got bupkis for a signal on my Blackberry, while inside the auditorium. Nifty way to keep the phones quite during a presentation.

Interesting side note concerning PARC–I learned that in 2002, PARC was established as an independent company. After decades of giving away the coolest of technologies, PARC now seeks strategic partners to commercially monetize its innovations.

But PARC was by far the minor attraction. The presenters wowed the audience with impressive LBS smartphone gadgetry. Aha and B4UGO actually showed their products for the first time ever to the public. I found UrbanMapping, arguably one of the least sexy apps, to be among the most fascinating. What did I find so fascinating? The app can show parking data, including useful parking info for 3500 US and Canadian parking facilities–data collection at it’s finest. MotionMaps was much more the technical marvel, showing 3D maps that you can pan across and zoom in on with a mere twist of your wrist, using your device camera as a motion sensor. I should also give props to DialPlus, which brings contextually relevant caller data to your handset.

An interesting thing I’m reminded of, as I peruse the presenter websites, is that not everyone has ignored the Blackberry. In fact, I’ve seen far fewer than expected iPhones in the hands of developers at these WCA events. Perhaps the iPhone is as much (or more) an accessory as it is a truly good phone, from an LBS developer’s perspective.

This event enlightened me to the latest in LBS apps, while my last WCA event educated me to the struggles of maintaining acceptable battery life with ever increasing demands on mobile handset displays. As for WCA sponsored events, I’m looking forward to continued exploration and attendance. Obviously, LBS is highly relevant to Less Networks since we’re all about mashing up WiFi hotspots with social and LBS apps.

~roberto

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Posted in LBS, Mobile, Schmoozing | No Comments »