Mobile Application

SitOrSquat tells you where to go (literally) — SitOrSquat is a handy service that helps you find the nearest public bathroom. Unlike MizPee, which has been doing this since October of last year, SitOrSquat has gotten its act together enough to put out two great apps for iPhones and Blackberry phones. The key benefit of these being the inclusion of GPS, which narrows down where you are with just one click. If you're in a hurry--which is inevitable when using a service like this, this feature is immensely helpful. In addition to its GPS locating, the mobile application lets you take photos of the facilities from your... [Tags: apps, bells and whistles, blackberry, central library, deal breakers]

Fitch Ad Forecast: Online Revs Look Stable; But Some Cities Could Be Without Daily Papers By 2010 — The current ad recession could extend past 2009 and closely resemble the period during the 2001 downturn, when revenues were down 6- 9 percent in real terms, according to credit rater Fitch's latest media forecast (free registration req.) However, there is one big difference between then and now that might mask the pain somewhat. Seven years ago, when advertising revs plunged, the industry was coming off three years of annual gains ranging from 8- to 11 percent, mostly driven by the dot-com bubble. Since coming back from the dark days of '01, the industry's growth has been fairly restrained. --... [Tags: blackbe, cpm, credit rater, dark days, digit increases]

Code Share - collaborative, open-source, community code projects — Development is made so much easier when you have access to open source applications and code that you can simply download and start using. You can now do this even more easily in the Developer Force community with the launch of Code Share, a directory of open source code projects built around the Force.com platform. About Code Share Code Share is open—projects can be connected to any public code repository, like Google Code for example, where everything is available to inspect. Code Share is also a community—a community of project leaders who have created these code projects and who lead... [Tags: amazon web, android, code repository, code share, facebook]

News: Amazon Mobile iPhone app lets users search via photo — Amazon.com has released its new Amazon Mobile application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new application allows users to search and browse products offered by both Amazon and various third-party partners, access Customer Reviews, and make purchases using 1-Click Shopping. In addition, the app offers an experimental feature called “Amazon Remembers.” Users may snap a picture of an item using the iPhone’s camera, and then upload…... [Tags: amazon, customer reviews, experimental feature, iphone, mobile application]

Health Social Net DailyStrength Bought By HSW International — Health information social networking site DailyStrength has been acquired by HSW International, the digital content company which is a spinoff from HowStuffWorks.com (which later got acquired by Discovery Communications). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DailyStrength raised a seed and a first round, both from Redpoint Ventures, and the total funding range was around $7 million. The site was launched in March last year, by CEO Doug Hirsch, a former senior exec of Facebook and one of the first employees of Yahoo. It hosts about 500 communities focused on issues such as weight loss, divorce, parenting and illnesses. Hirsch... [Tags: content company, dailystrength, digital content, discovery communications, divorce parenting]

GetJar: Merry Christmas Steve Jobs — Press release speaks for itself: Merry Christmas Steve, from Everyone at GetJar Networks LONDON, December 3, 2008: GetJar Networks, the world’s most popular mobile application distribution and developer community, today thanked everyone in Apple’s marketing department for helping to put mobile applications on the map. Ilja Laurs, CEO of GetJar, said: “As a small private company we have been busy since 2005 putting mobile applications and games onto consumers’ phones. Since it is the season of goodwill we would like to show our appreciation of the work of Steve Jobs and everyone at Apple for communicating the value of mobile... [Tags: application distribution, applications development, developer community, getjar, google]

'UK Hulu' Kangaroo Ruled Anti-Competitive; Back To The Drawing Board — Project Kangaroo, a Hulu-like UK VOD JV from BBC Worldwide, ITV (LSE: ITV) and Channel 4, would reduce competition and harm consumers, Britain's anti-trust authority ruled Wednesday morning, even before the project has launched. The Competition Commission said the online unification of the UK's three leading broadcasters would see them lock up the market for wholesale and retail VOD TV supply. It's proposed either prohibiting Kangaroo, compelling the partners to fairly offer their VOD content to third parties or making changes to the way Kangaroo interacts with the broadcasters' own websites. Each of the the three broadcasters already offers free... [Tags: ashley highfield, back to the drawing board, broadcasters, competition commission, harm consumers]

ThePort Network Raises $4.1 Million Second Round Led By American City Business Journals — Social media company ThePort Network has raised $4.1 million in a second round led by American City Business Journals. Existing investors Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), Atlanta-based start-up investor Imlay Investments, and angel investor Robert Jetmundsen also participated. Co-founder and CEO Bob Cramer, who is also an angel investor, told me, "This is our first major round of investment (all the money coming at one time)." He declined to provide a total amount raised, saying the funding, until now, was angel but that some of the investors went into a first round. The company started in 1999 as an XML developer... [Tags: 1 million, angel investor, atlanta business chronicle, blackberry, business development]

Blockbuster To Stream Movies To Windows Mobile Phones via Live Mesh? [Streaming Battle] — Can you do this, Netflix, hmm? Blockbuster wants to bring its rival streaming movie service to your phone via Microsoft's Live Mesh platform. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Blockbuster (which calls the Big D home) is planning on upping the ante in its battle with Netflix by streaming its online offerings via Microsoft's broad cloud/data sync service Live Mesh—which means it could have an easier entree onto Windows Mobile, which is one of the Mesh's supported platforms along with OS X. Blockbuster's CIO also envisions using Live Mesh to sync your movie watching with multiple web-connected PCs and... [Tags: big d, blockbuster, cloud data, dallas morning news, head start]

ExtendMedia Online Video Distributor Gets $10 Million Third Round — So it is still possible for online video operators to raise money… Video distributor ExtendMedia has raised a $10 million third round from existing backers Atlas, Venrock and TVM Capital, MHT reports. ExtendMedia powers Showtime's download-to-own service, SanDisk's FanFare video downloader and Bell Canada's video store. Based in Boston with production facilities in Toronto, Extend's main product is its OpenCASE distribution system. It raised a $11 million in 2006, then a $12 million second round in 2007. Disclosure: ExtendMedia has previously been a sponsor of paidContent.org events. Related ExtendMedia Gets $12 Million Second Round Our streamlined mobile application for the... [Tags: 10 million, atlas, backers, bell canada, blackberry]

Making Action Sports Pay: NBC, MTV Try Yet Another Variation With 'Alli' — Six months after announcing an action sports joint venture built on the Action Sports Tour, divisions of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) are already revamping the concept—name and all. Meet Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, a combo of former AST events like The Dew Tour with the Maloof Money Cup, AMA Motocross Championship and King of Wake events. (Maybe they're planning a revenue stream from people searching for Alli, the diet drug.) The spin itself could be an action sport as NBC Sports and MTVN Music Group pitch the notion that "the groundbreaking" partnership is only... [Tags: action sport, action sports, air time, alliance members, ama motocross]

CNBC's Own Bad News May Be Coming, Soon, Despite "Massive" Marketing Campaign — CNBC, high on its viewership numbers right now as the markets continue to nosedive, is in for its own downturn possibly by Q1 of next, a long cover story in the latest issue of B&C says. "Despite the yuks and the huge numbers, the network is now in the process of slashing as much as 10% from its budget. People at the network, says one staffer, -are scared s---less.'...As CNBC enjoys a new level of visibility and is about to launch a massive new marketing campaign to capitalize on the momentum, it must do so while navigating through the same... [Tags: anchors, budget cuts, cnbc, downturn, execs]

Mashable open web awards: Reminder voting closes soon — fringsters the Mashable open web awards voting widget will only be available for a few more days, if you havn’t already cast your vote for your favorite mobile application why not do it today The process is very easy and takes only a few seconds of your time using the widget provided below. Cast your vote today and may the best fring win! Mashable Open Web Awards... [Tags: mobile application, open web, reminder, vote, web awards]

What Are You Listening To? (OWAs) — This article is part of the Open Web Awards, an open, international contest for the best websites and services. Our final 10 sites in the music category of the Open Web Awards feature some familiar names, such as Last.fm, Pandora, Imeem, and AmieStreet. So far though, a number of up-and-comers are also seeing plenty of votes, making this one of the more competitive categories. Vote for the site you’d like to see make it to the finals after checking out all of the nominees: 8tracks - social music networking site that lets you create 30 minutes of music, which roughly... [Tags: amie street, amiestreet, comers, favorite music, imeem]

Despite having pioneered the world of set top boxes and time shifting recordings, TiVo hasn't become the dominant business success its many hard-core fans (including me) had hoped it would. While its issues ranged from competing with monopolistic cable companies to rigid payment structures, to having being a near zero when it comes to blogs and the social Web, they have eked out the occasional update that has us hoping more is to come. Among them is their new mobile Web site, which launched just last week. (See WebWare and Gizmodo) On the road myself this week, thanks to the... [Tags: 49ers game, buffalo bills, business success, cable companies, core fans]

Chinese Video Software Site Baofeng Gets $15 Million Funding — The Chinese online video fundings are still continuing, and now seems to have graduated into more tech/backedn type of deals than consumer: Video software company Baofeng.com has received $15 million in VC funding. The round was led by Matrix Partners China and IDG, and the money will be used in developing its flagship product, the Baofeng Storm Codec. It is like the Brightcove of China, providing online video services to media companies such as Sohu.com and PPS. Some more about the company here. Our streamlined mobile application for the BlackBerry and other smart devices brings you the latest headlines quickly... [Tags: blackberry, brightcove, china, flagship product, fundings]

8 SMS gateways/aggregators — Last week in my SMS primer, I discussed the role of the SMS gateways that provide connectivity to the mobile infrastructure that makes SMS messaging possible. If you've developed a mobile application and need connectivity to the carriers, you'll need an SMS gateway.... [Tags: mobile application, mobile infrastructure, sms gateway, sms gateways]

The Crunchies 2008 Awards - Nominate your favorite app — fringsters the time has come to once again nominate your favorite mobile application for a prestigious award. Following the success of the 2007 Crunchies awards, nominations are now open for the 2008 awards. “Readers are invited to nominate their favorite product or company in each of the fifteen award categories. Readers can vote once a day until nominations end Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Midnight PST. Five finalists will be selected for each award category and popular voting will run from December 15 – January 5, 2009 Midnight PST. The winners will be announced live at the award ceremony on... [Tags: 15 january, award categories, award category, award ceremony, awards nominations]

Yes, It is Bad: Newspapers' Online Ad Revenues Down For Q3 As Well — No point in sugarcoating it: even the online ad revenues for the newspapers are in a bad shape: For the Q308 numbers released by Newspaper Association of America (via Robert MacMillan): total online ad revenues came in at about $749 million, down 3 percent from the previous quarter figures of $776.5 million in the previous quarter. This is the second straight quarter of online ad revenue decline for U.S. newspapers. Print, not surprisingly, is down a more brutal 20 percent. John Strum, the CEO of NAA, is putting up a brave face: "The continued reliance on newspaper advertising by companies,... [Tags: advice giver, bad shape, brave face, clout, mobile application]

Apparently no one told Carl Icahn this was supposed to be a slow news day ... the Yahoo director added nearly 7 million shares to his holdings in the company this week at an almost bargain-basement cost of roughly $67 million.  According to a filing with the SEC Wednesday, various Icahn entities acquired 3,697,181 shares at $9.7988 per share Monday, 2,704,780 shares at $9.9678 Tuesday, and another 376,843 shares at $9.9988 Wednesday. That brings his total stake in Yahoo to 75.6 million shares. This last batch averaged well below one-third of the $34.75 per share Icahn suggested Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)... [Tags: 30 million, 6 million, bargain basement, blackberry, carl icahn]