Posts Tagged ‘Personal Device’

The real scoop on Google’s Nexus One

January 6th, 2010

As I’m sure everyone has seen, Google has entered the mobile phone business.  While the Silicon Valley giant has historically resided in the mobile operating system or applications space, their launch earlier this week of the Google Nexus One moves them into a very real player in the mobile personal devices marketplace.

Many technology pundits have hinted for some time that Google may have Apple envy and the launch of the Google Nexus One seems to prove it.

How deep does this envy go?  Check out this video:

All kidding aside, the early reports on the Google Nexus One are quite positive.  Not only does the hardware capabilities surpass those of the iPhone, but the Android operating system and Google applications are really impressive.  That said, creating a huge application marketplace and ecosystem that Apple has done may be out of reach for the Mountain View Googlers.

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Apple approves video recording app for iPhone 2G and 3G

December 15th, 2009

ivideorecorderApple announced today on their official blog that they will enable its 2G and 3G handsets to record video by admitting the new iVideoCamera (iTunes link) app to the iTunes store.  This now means that users can now legitimately record, share and save videos without having to hack their handsets via ‘jailbreak‘.  The app will be released for 99 cents in the US store and will have similar entry-level pricing in other iTunes stores around the world.

By adding this new application to an iPhone 2G or 3G handset, Apple has made their older users quite happy and has eliminated one of the big incentives to upgrade to the 3GS model.  Interesting move by Apple.

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Shoot live video with your phone and share in real-time with Qik-in-Touch

December 14th, 2009

qikintouchQik, the mobile live video sharing startup, has launched their new invitation-only beta service called Qik-in-Touch.  It’s been an active two weeks for the Redwood City, CA-based startup with last week’s iPhone app announcement and this week’s Qik-in-Touch beta launch.  The new Qik-in-Touch service brings the Qik live video sharing experience to your desktop and makes it really easy to share video clips with your friends in real-time.  Check out the Qik-in-Touch concept below courtesy of the company’s blog.

Qik-in-Touch is in private beta, but you can request an invite by going to http://qik.com/qntbeta.

qikhow

Qik-in-Touch is an Adobe Air application, so it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. The Adobe Air app runs behind the scenes when you go “live” on you account so your friends can watch and chat instantly as you’re recording the event.

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Posted in Mobile, Startups

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No smartphone? No worries. HipLogic brings smartphone functionality to the masses.

December 2nd, 2009

hiplogiclogo_200x135HipLogic announced today they have have closed a $7 million in Series B round from Benchmark Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, Bay Partners, and Accrue Sports and Entertainment Ventures to bring smartphone intelligence to mass market phones.  Don’t have an iPhone, Droid, Blackberry or Palm – no worries.  HipLogic’s platform enables smartphone-like applications to work on non-smartphone’s.  With all the attention on the many rich applications hitting the smartphone market, its important to note that smartphones are still the global minority when it comes to cell phone usage.  HipLogic’s solution targets that large mass market segment, bring cool apps to the masses.

This new round of financing follows a Series A round the company raised back in 2008 when it was called Numobiq.  With new round, HipLogic is looking to accelerate their rollout of their easy-to-use application platform for lightweight mass market phones.

hiplogphone

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Posted in Mobile, Startups

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RunKeeper raises seed round, social mobile fitness ready for primetime

November 30th, 2009

runkeeperFitnessKeeper, the Boston startup behind the GPS-based RunKeeper iPhone application, announced today a seed round of $400,000 from a group of local angel and venture investors.  While a $400k investment is small news by venture capital standards, this investment may have a bit more meaning behind it.  This funding marks the evolution of what I’m calling “social mobile fitness”.

runscreen

The mobile RunKeeper app gives fitness buffs the ability to train socially.  By using RunKeeper on your iPhone you can track your workouts – running, walking or cycling, build and communicate with your “Street Team”, and seamless update your progress by clean and simple integration with Facebook and Twitter.  This really brings a new level to not only iPhone training applications, but also potentially all mobile fitness applications.  Full integration with social networking applications really expands and enriches the fitness experience.

runshare

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Posted in Apple, Facebook, Mobile, Startups, Twitter

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Google runs Droid ad on homepage

November 6th, 2009

Google, the undisputed king of internet advertising, has always maintained a clean ad-free homepage – until now.  Under the famous Google-themed logo and search function is the “New! The Droid is on sale now.  Learn more.” link.

google

This link takes you to a landing page where you can learn more about Google’s Droid features as well as order your Droid phone directly from Verizon.

google2Not a big deal for a little link on the homepage right?  It really wouldn’t be other than the fact that Google has quite famously declared in the past that the Google homepage would remain ad free, compared to other portals.  Google has run promotions in the past on their homepage, for instance in October, 2008, Google promoted the T-Mobile G1 — the first Android-based phone on the homepage.  Plus, the release of the Droid is a big play against the Apple iPhone.

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Google Maps new killer app for Android phones

October 28th, 2009

Google announced today a really cool new feature for its Google Maps mobile platform called Google Maps Navigation (beta) for Android 2.0 devices.  Don’t fret that the application is still in beta mode – GMail was in beta for roughly 5 years.  The application will be available for free on phones with the Google Android 2.0 operating system.  Check out the demo of the new mobile map and navigation application below:

Some of the features the new mobile application has include, courtesy of Google’s Official Blog:

The most recent map and business data
 When you use Google Maps Navigation, your phone automatically gets the most up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps — you never need to buy map upgrades or update your device. And this data is continuously improving, thanks to users who report maps issues and businesses who activate their listings with Google Local Business Center.

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Hello Humans: Droid arrives Nov 6

October 28th, 2009

Announced earlier today, the Droid by Motorola will be available on November 6.  The joint project between Google, Verizon and Motorola promises to deliver the nations best high-speed web browsiDroidng, voice-activated search, customizable large screen device with access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the US.  More importantly, the release of the Droid looks to be the first real threat to the Apple iPhone in the rich mobile computing world – sorry Blackberry and Palm.

The next generation mobile computing device and environment produced by these big three players brings consumers better hardware, better software and a better 3G network than any other device on the market today.  Are the days of iPhone and its growing application dominance numbered?  I doubt it, but this does finally bring a really competitor to the table which should drive innovation and price points in a favorable direction for consumers.

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Posted in Google, Mobile

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NetFlix to offer streaming media on PlayStation 3

October 26th, 2009

NetFlix, the Los Gatos, CA-based media distribution company, announced today that they will be offering their members the ability to stream their media content to the Sony PlayStation3 computer entertainment system.  NetFlix plans to unveil the service next month just in time for the holidays.

NextFlixPS3StreamingThis recent announcement clearly marks another step in NetFlix’s strategy to move away from the DVD/Blu-Ray shipping and distribution business.  The PlayStation3 will join the list of devices that support Netflix’s video streaming service. Last year, Microsoft and NetFlix announced a partnership that brought their service to the XBOX 360.

How does the new service work?  Initially, users need to request an Instant Streaming Blu-ray disc from NetFlix for their PlayStation3 entertainment consoles – plus you’ll obviously need to have a high-speed internet connection as well.  Once you have that in place, you’ll be able to access your instant queues or browse through the titles on the custom interface.

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Have you Bumped your friends yet? Bump Technologies gets funded.

October 25th, 2009

Bump Technologies, the Mountain View, CA-based startup, has some added fuel in their tank after the recent investment led by Sequoia Capital.  Details of the funding round have not yet been disclosed.  Known for their rather simple, but incredibly useful Apple iPhone app called Bump – this marks what could be the beginning of a new form of ‘Friend Connection’.  The app is very simple to use – check out the video demo below:

As you can see by the clip – this app is a must have for any iPhone user out there.  The current functionality for information sharing is clean and elegant – contact information, your entire contact card or even other files you may have stored on your iPhone.

bump

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Posted in Apple, Mobile, Startups

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