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Music Lovers’ Social Network Flowd Gets All New Mobile Apps

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:53:58 +0000

The music lover’s social network Flowd , which recently arrived stateside after its European debut, just updated its mobile applications with a boatload of new features that make them worth a look. Up until now, Flowd was only mildly interesting, as it was primarily touting its 600 or so artists and DJs who had signed up for the network – a number which, in the grand scheme things, is merely a drop in the bucket of all things music. But with the new mobile apps, Flowd is now aggregating artists’ activity from other social networks, including Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud and Last.fm, allowing users to access artist updates, bios and gig calendars, even if the artist is not on Flowd. Although in testing, this added import/aggregation functionality didn’t mean that every artist profile page was now filled with data (it was still sort of hit-or-miss), there’s certainly more information than before. Plus, it should be noted that the problem with filing out profiles through automated means could be affected by the simple fact that some artists don’t have gig info online right now. In other words, nothing to pull in. In the updated Flowd mobile apps, there are nifty Twitter-esque “follow” buttons which let you quickly build a stream of updates from your favorite bands in order to get details on new concerts and other news. In a way, the Flowd apps can serve as a Twitter client for those interested in music, without you having to…you know…actually use Twitter. Also new in today’s app updates (iOS and Android) is a feature that lets Flowd scan your device to see what music is currently being played or the last track played. It can then post that info back to Flowd and optionally cross-post it to Facebook or Twitter. It’s not as elegant as the Spotify + Facebook integration (or MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody, etc. + Facebook), but it can serve as a path for social music sharing for those old-school people who still like to purchase MP3′s from services like Amazon or iTunes instead of paying for a music subscription. (And yes, there’s a lot of those people left yet). The Flowd mobile apps are available for free on iTunes , Android and Ovi (Nokia), but the app updates are on iOS and Android only. Flowd is a portfolio company of Digia Ventures, the venture division of leading Finnish technology services firm Digia, Plc with offices in Helsinki, Finland and Santa Clara, CA.

Prototype Blade Laptops Stolen From Razer Offices

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:36:33 +0000

We’ve been eagerly awaiting more news of Razer’s Blade , a 17-inch beast that they claim is “the world’s first true gaming laptop.” Alas, we didn’t think the news would be of the troubling variety: Razer says that two of their prototypes were stolen from their Bay Area R&D lab. Razer is working closely with the authorities, as you do when something this valuable is stolen, and they urge their fans not to buy any suspiciously Blade-like laptops in back alleys or out of the backs of pickups. The state of the prototypes isn’t mentioned, but I have to guess that they’ve probably been working on nailing down driver support and custom software for the customizable keys and touchscreen. And without proper support from developers (like, say, the ability to show your ammo count, lives left, that sort of thing), the Blade is really just an ordinary expensive laptop. Sure, they can sell them for a substantial bit of cash, but there are easier ways to steal laptops. Maybe the thieves are just big Razer fans. At any rate, if you have any clues or see one of the laptops on the market, contact cult@razerzone.com.

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Prototype Blade Laptops Stolen From Razer Offices

Chegg Acquires Software Company Flux / 3D3R, SEC Filing Reveals

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:27:53 +0000

An SEC filing surfaced this morning, showing that Chegg has made a yet unannounced acquisition for at least $1.1 million worth of common stock. The company that Chegg acquired is called Flux Software Co. according to the filing, or shortly ‘Flux’. To be clear, we’ve confirmed that Chegg did not purchase enterprise software company Flux . We’ve confirmed with a Chegg spokesperson that, rather, the company snapped up a mobile app development firm called Flux Software Co. as well as a web-focused software development studio called 3D3R , although I gather these are actually two separate entities that share the same people. The founder of the companies is Ohad Eder-Pressman ( site ), also co-founder of Appsto.com . His software development and consultancy firm 3D3R has done work for a number of big companies, including Yahoo, Nokia, Current TV, Boxee, Metacafe, Badoo and Alcatel-Lucent. You can learn more about the services 3D3R provides here . In a statement, Chegg spokesperson Angela Pontarolo notes: Chegg is always striving to offer students the very best tools to save time, save money and get smarter. In that spirit, we recently acquired Flux Software Co./3D3R, which is an incredible engineering and design team focused on helping Chegg deliver the dynamic user experience students expect today. Pontarolo declined to discuss the specific terms of the acquisition and to provide more details about the reasoning behind the deal. Chegg has raised a total of $219 million to date and recently purchased Web tutoring service Student of Fortune and lecture notes and study guides service Notehall in cash-stock deals.

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Chegg Acquires Software Company Flux / 3D3R, SEC Filing Reveals

Spotify Eyes European Expansion [REPORT]

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:17:26 +0000

Reports indicate Spotify will be expanding its international footprint to Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. According to PaidContent , the subscription streaming service could hit new markets as early as next week. PaidContent has previously reported on Spotify’s plans to expand to markets including Germany, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. Spotify’s stateside competitors, including Rhapsody and Rdio, are also looking to expand internationally. The music service with the largest international footprint is actually Sony’s Music Unlimited service. As part of the Sony Entertainment Network (which includes the PlayStation Network), Music Unlimited is available across Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America. As subscription streaming services’ features, song catalogs and pricing options begin to overlap, future growth becomes increasingly tied to expansion into new markets. More About: music subscription services , spotify , subscription streaming For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Spotify Eyes European Expansion [REPORT]

3 Free Apps For Getting Things Done

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:20:35 +0000

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark . If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . Each weekend , Mashable selects startups we think are building interesting, unique or niche products. This week we’ve focused on three new apps that help complete (or even inspire) daily tasks. Any.DO is a social to-do list that’s easier to use than any other we’ve seen. Hailo makes hailing a cab a matter of checking in on an app, and photo game Onefeat inspires creative feats throughout the day. Hailo: A Network For Taxi Drivers And Passengers Quick Pitch: Hailo is a network of licensed London taxi drivers that customers can hail using an app. Genius Idea: Making it easier for customers and taxis to find each other Mashable’s Take: Hailing a cab can be a competitive sport. Taxi drivers have no way of knowing for sure where there are customers who need a ride, and customers have no way of telling them. Hailo aims to help the two parties find each other. Customers can request a ride with a free app. After their license is verified, drivers who register can use their own version of the app to accept those requests. So far the service has signed up about 2,300 of 23,000 London Black Cabs. At the end of a ride booked with Hailo, the cab driver enters the meter fee into his or her app and the customer’s credit card is charged. Hailo takes a 10% cut for making the arrangement. Founder and CEO Jay Bregman says drivers have already charged £1 million in fares through the system. Bregman hopes to expand soon into other cities. He says the company has already met with the Taxi & Limousine Commission in New York City and is actively preparing to launch in the United States. There he will have competition from Taxi Magic , which charges the user — not the driver — to pay for the ride with a credit card. Success for a taxi app is somewhat of a chicken-and-egg problem. On one hand, users won’t want to use an app to hail a cab if there aren’t enough drivers registered to respond. On the other, drivers probably won’t find much use for an app that doesn’t send them customers. Any.DO: A Social To-Do List Quick Pitch: Any.DO is a simple social to-do list. Genius Idea: A to-do list that responds to voice commands and gestures Mashable’s Take: If app stores were physical places, you’d have a hard time throwing a rock in them without hitting a to-do list app. The team behind Any.DO has already proven it can stand out in this crowded space . Their first to-do list product, an app for Android called Taskos , registered more than 1.3 million users. Those users are now invited to migrate to Any.DO. Any.DO helps users create, organize and share tasks with friends, even if those friends don’t use the app. It responds to gesture-based commands such as shaking the phone to remove completed tasks, and it can add tasks through voice recognition. Most of the app’s functionality — sharing, reminders, folders and priorities — is similar to other to-do list apps. What makes it stand out is its simple, intuitive interface. Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors recently led a $1 Million investment in Any.Do, but free apps can be hard to monetize. An Any.DO spokesperson said the business has “a few things in the pipeline” that could generate revenue, but it’s not ready to talk about them. Onefeat: A Photo Task Game Quick Pitch: Onefeat is an iPhone app that turns photo missions into a social game. Genius Idea: Photo sharing apps have taken off in the last two years, but many of them look the same. Take a photo. Add a filter. Post it to your networks. Paris-based Onefeat has added a new twist to photo sharing with its iPhone and Android apps, turning photo sharing into a game. Users earn points that can unlock trophies by completing “feats” such as “Get to the end of the world” or “Take a self portrait” that are proposed by other users. Flipping through feats is as entertaining as completing one yourself, and it’s not surprising that users from Brazil, France and the U.S. are playing regularly. Image courtesy of istockphoto, barisonal Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark , a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today . More About: Any.DO , bizspark , Hailo , Onefeat For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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3 Free Apps For Getting Things Done

Some iPod Nano Owners Could Be In for a Pleasant Surprise [RECALL]

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:52:18 +0000

Do you have an old first-generation iPod Nano lying around? If so, Apple wants to replace it for you, 5 years after you bought it. Such a deal. But watch out: There’s a slight risk of your old Nano overheating, and possibly even catching on fire because of a defective battery. Apple says if you own one of the Nanos with this problem, you should stop using it immediately. The good news is, newer iPods aren’t affected by the battery defect. Writes the company on its website: “Apple has determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the iPod nano (1st generation) may overheat and pose a safety risk. Affected iPod Nanos were sold between September 2005 and December 2006. This issue has been traced to a single battery supplier that produced batteries with a manufacturing defect. While the possibility of an incident is rare, the likelihood increases as the battery ages.” Apple’s providing a place to check your Nano’s serial numbers and order a “replacement unit.” So far, it’s unclear exactly what Apple will send you if you have the correct serial number on your old Nano. We presume the company wouldn’t dig up old iPod Nanos from the distant past, nor would it swap out the batteries in the one you have now. So if our guess is correct, you’ll be able to trade in that old beat-up and scratched-up iPod for a shiny new one. We’ve contacted the company to find out, but we can’t imagine Apple sending anything but the latest Nano : iPod Nano Comes in 7 Colors Click here to view this gallery. We’ll update this post if and when we hear from Apple. In the meantime, start digging around in those old dresser drawers — there might be an old iPod in there for you to cash in on a new one. More About: apple , ipod nano , recall

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Some iPod Nano Owners Could Be In for a Pleasant Surprise [RECALL]

Microsoft’s Former Virtualization Director To Launch PaperShare, A ‘Social Content Network’

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:35:20 +0000

In about two weeks, we will see the formal launch of PaperShare , a social content and information network for technology professionals, although you can access the site now if you wish (word about the venture actually got out a few months ago). PaperShare was started by David Greschler (co-founder of Softricity App-V, and until recently, director of virtualization and cloud strategy at Microsoft) and Doug Brown (founder of popular virtualization site DABCC ). The idea behind PaperShare is to promote the sharing of enterprise-focused content, including technical white papers, videos, case studies and whatnot. More than merely a marketing channel, PaperShare wants to be a place where industry professionals can connect through information. I’m told Citrix, Microsoft and VMware are among the first corporate members to sign up for the PaperShare community. Already, 26,600 items around the topics of cloud and virtualization have been published and share on the network, which will expand into security, database, finance and healthcare in the near future. More information about PaperShare can be found here .

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Microsoft’s Former Virtualization Director To Launch PaperShare, A ‘Social Content Network’

Recipe Search & Sharing Service Foodily Arrives On iPhone

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:55:09 +0000

Recipe search engine Foodily is arriving on mobile today, with an all-new iPhone application that will allow users to search recipes while on the go, see what recipes their friends have liked and share their own recommendations via photos snapped with the iPhone’s camera. In addition to the social features, the app provides mobile access to Foodily’s recipe search engine, so you can find the ingredients you need for a dish while you’re out and about. There’s a little bit of a Foodspotting feel to the new Foodily iPhone app, as it also lets you snap and share photos of delicious creations and share them with friends. Recipes and photos can be shared directly to Foodily’s website as well as to your wider social network via the app’s Facebook integration, which takes full advantage of the new “Open Graph” features introduced at F8. But while Foodspotting is about finding and sharing great dishes at local restaurants, Foodily’s photo-taking feature is about sharing dishes you’ve created yourself. It’s not just about bragging, though. The photos you take via Foodily are actually attached to the recipe online, so people can see how it actually turned out. There’s even a so-called “Yummify” feature that enhances mobile photos so they appear more like high-quality pics when shared on the network. (Specifically, the app increases the contrast optimizing for white point, sharpens the image and increases the color saturation, if you must know). To discover new recipes, there’s the Foodily recipe search engine which supports email, in case you need to remind yourself, a friend or family member about the ingredients you’ll need to buy later on. Although there are plenty of competitors in the recipe search space, Foodily has some momentum, having already raised $5 million from Index Ventures . The service was founded by former Yahoo’ers (Yahooligans?) Andrea Cutright and Hillary Mickell.

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Recipe Search & Sharing Service Foodily Arrives On iPhone

Review: Motorola Atrix 2

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:51:35 +0000

Short version: An attractive and comfortable phone with a great screen and solid camera. Not in fact a major update to the original Atrix, but it’s nice, despite some uncalled-for visual effects. Looking for an AT&T Android phone? This is probably your best bet right now. Features: 4.3″ qHD display 1GHz dual-core processor 8MP camera with 1080p recording Webtop accessory for lightweight computing MSRP: $99 on AT&T with new 2-year contract Pros: Bright and sharp screen Comfortable to hold, nice texture on the back Camera is quite decent, does great macro Cons: UI styling is annoying 1GHz processor may not be enough for spec fiends AT&T branded apps aren’t really attractive Full review: We’ll keep this one short. The Atrix 2 is a high-end Android phone (not to say “superphone” like the Galaxy S II) that improves on the original Atrix, adding a better display and camera, faster 4G, and a few other refinements. Hardware The body of the phone, I have to say, feels great. The 4.3″ screen is surrounded by a fairly wide bezel, giving it a sort of chubby look, but in my hand it feels very natural and comfortable. Buttons are well-placed, though they’re recessed to the point of being flush, making them occasionally hard to hit. The power button, which of course you’ll be hitting the most, feels a little too squishy but always activated promptly and without any extra effort to find or press. The chassis is stiff and strong, and didn’t creak or crack when I stressed it. The rear of the phone is a textured plastic that is very pleasant and grippy under your fingers. I much prefer this to the plain brushed or slick plastic of many other phones. I think it tends to pick up crumbs a bit more than them, though. It’s also nearly flat on the back; the camera unit sticks out just a millimeter, perhaps, not anything like the hump on other phones. The original Atrix had a fingerprint reader, which was ditched for this version, either to save on costs or because simply no one wanted it. But the Atrix 2 has gained a dedicated camera button. This doesn’t work very well as a “quick launch” solution (hitting home and touching the camera shortcut is just as fast), but it’s a welcome addition when you consider that the new camera is one of the big selling points. That camera is actually quite nice. My main criticism is that the shutter button should be a two-stage one, for setting an autofocus point. Also, it’s quite stiff, much more so than the others – to the point where it almost always moves the phone when you hit it. But I found the always-on autofocus to be fairly quick, accurate, and able to focus extremely close. Check out the clarity on these near-macro shots: Even got a little nice foreground blur there. Naturally there’s a good amount of noise, which you’ll find at full size on any small-sensor camera. The colors are definitely not very vibrant, either, but that’s something you can easily control for. There was almost no delay between pressing the button and the shot being taken, and it was ready for another withing a second or two. There’s a multi-color notification LED, which I still don’t believe isn’t standard on all phones. Removing and replacing the battery cover is easy, and the rear panel flexes just enough to make it easier, but not enough to worry you about its quality. The MicroSD card slot is accessible without removing the battery, always preferable to the alternative. Software Stock Android has been modified somewhat, but not to the extent Motorola has previously with Blur. The AT&T blue theme pervades throughout, from a slightly janky lock screen to a really out-of-place browser icon featuring their logo prominently. There is also and extremely irritating and not-subtle flashlight-shining-on-icons effect whenever you go between home screens. It loses its novelty after literally the first time you see it. The animations also seem longer than stock ones, and can only be turned off altogether (there is no way to turn off the flashlight effect). Get a grip, Motorola. Nobody wants this. Network speeds Middling. I got around 4 megabits (~500KB/s) in my apartment, where I recall the T-Mobile G2 used to get something like 8 megabits. Speedtest confirmed this (3857kbps down, 1641 up). Honestly in practice it was always quite fast enough, and few of these 4G phones really beat each other on the all-important latency. The improved wireless chipset doesn’t guarantee better speeds in every situation, but raises the ceiling. It all depends on the network conditions where you use the phone the most. In Seattle T-Mo is generally faster than AT&T, I’ve found, but elsewhere it will be the opposite. Take my informal measurements lightly. AT&T has included about 12 “bloatware” apps, depending on how you count, but they’ve also made it spectacularly easy to remove them. You go to your apps, and in the pulldown menu select “AT&T,” where they’ve kindly gathered all their apps. Little did they know how this app bucket would be used! From there you can long-press an app to delete it. No digging in menus, no waiting for app and component lists to populate. Easy peasy. The apps themselves are the usual account access and sponsored service fodder, unlikely to sway many users away from their established file, media, and doc syncing solutions. But nothing malicious. Battery life I found to be very good. I’ve had my phone unplugged since about midnight, receiving emails on a 4G network, taking pictures, sending photos to myself for this review, and so on, and it’s currently at 80% (as I’m editing this three hours later, it’s at 70%). Streaming media on 4G will naturally drain this more, but this seems to me to be an all-day phone, and it’s made it through plenty of days already. I’ve seen other reviews complain about battery, but personally I haven’t encountered anything out of the ordinary. Then there’s the webtop functionality. Unfortunately I wasn’t allocated a unit to test this out, so I’ll stay quiet on it and let you check other reviews for an opinion on this feature. Conclusion If you’re on AT&T and not an iPhone user, I’d say that this is a bargain for $99. It beats out the competition from HTC in a number of ways, and feels to me like a solid phone plain and simple. As long as you can get around that stupid flashlight effect.

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Review: Motorola Atrix 2

Don’t Believe Facebook, Spotify’s The Only Open Graph Music App Winning

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:34:23 +0000

Facebook today released some stats trying to show the success of several of the Open Graph music applications launched at f8. Most of the stats were in percentages, though, which can give a rosy impression of what is actually fairly little growth. For example, it cites that Rdio has seen a “30x increase in new user registrations from Facebook” In reality, the app itself now has grown by just 200 users to reach a tiny 4,000 daily Facebook-logged in users. While Facebook may want it to appear that all its music partners are succeeding, it’s actually a winner-takes-all scenario with Spotify far in the lead with 2.4 million daily active users. Here we’ll look at AppData ‘s stats on the absolute growth of these music apps in terms of daily and monthly Facebook-logged in users. They show that Earbits, MOG, and Rdio all have a DAU of 10,000 or less. To give you some context, the top 100 Facebook apps and games have over 500,000 DAU and over 3 million MAU. Spotify is the 21st largest app by DAU, while MOG is tied for #1356th. Facebook’s right about one thing. Several music apps that provide services other than personal listening are doing quite well. RootMusic’s BandPage has 1.4 million DAU, ReverbNation’s Band Profile has 690,000 DAU, and Vevo for Artists has 250,000 DAU. Spotify – Daily active users are up 1.33 million to 2.4 million, and Spotify monthly active users are up 3.98 million to 7.4 million. Facebook listed Spotify as growing by 4 million new users. The app is becoming a habit for many, with 32% of monthly users engaging with it each day. Spotify’s overwhelming presence in the Ticker is drowning out the rest of the apps and making it seem like you’re on it with the cool kids, or you’re listening alone in the corner. Earbits – Starting from zero, Earbits now has 1,000 DAU and 10,000 MAU. Considering the potential audience and how much Spotify has grown, these numbers are not impressive. Stickyness, or the DAU divided by MAU that indicates whether or not users are consistently coming back , is 10% which is at least better than most of the other music apps. MOG – As of f8, MOG had 3,000 DAU and 32,000 MAU. It has clawed its way up 7,000 DAU to 10,000 and 137,000 MAU to 170,0000. Stickyness is the lowest of any the apps we sample, at 5.8%. MOG could have become a serious contender, but was slow to gets its Facebook integration humming immediately allowing Spotify to surge ahead. Facebook’s quote of it 246 percent growth is misleading. Rdio – Strong out the gates, Rdio was the only app other than Spotify that I saw in my Ticker right after f8. It spiked from 3,848 DAU to 8,000 in the first two days after f8. However, it has since fallen all the way back to 4,000 DAU, an increase of less than 200 users, and only spiking as high as 6,000 DAU on weekends. MAU is up from 23,800 to 60,000, but just 6.6% of users return each day. This is a much more grim assessment than Facebook saying Rdio has had a “30x increase in new user registrations from Facebook”. Unless it has significant growth of non-Facebook users, Rdio could be out of the race. Even if it does, Rdio is missing out on the Facebook virality bonanza aiding Spotify. The massive growth of Spotify and the meager increases of the other apps reflect a peer pressure effect. Before the Facebook integration, users might have explored the different apps and found the one with the content library and features that best suited them. Now it’s hard to rationalize using MOG or Rdio while constantly bombarded with Ticker stories showing that your friends are all on Spotify. While social services can provide an outlet for self-expression, they can also lead users to be implicitly bullied into conformity by the actions of their friends. Crunchbase SPOTIFY MOG RDIO Company: Spotify Website: spotify.com Funding: €183M Spotify has created a lightweight software application that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with virtually no buffering delay. It was launched in the fall of 2008 and had approximately 10 million users by September 2010. Spotify offers streaming music from major and independent record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Users download Spotify and then log onto their service enabling the on-demand streaming of music. Music can be browsed by artist, album, record… Learn more Company: MOG Website: mog.com Launch Date: January 6, 2005 Funding: $24.9M MOG Inc. is a next-generation music media company founded in June 2005 by David Hyman, former CEO for Gracenote. MOG has one simple goal: to perfect your music listening experience. MOG’s on-demand streaming music service provides multi-platform access to a deep library of over 13 million songs from over a million albums through its award-winning mobile apps on iPhone and Android, on the Web, desktop app for Mac and soon for Windows, streaming entertainment devices such as Roku, Sonos and… Learn more Company: Rdio Website: rdio.com Funding: $17.5M Rdio is an unlimited, on-demand social music service that lets subscribers listen to music on the web and mobile devices. Rdio differentiates itself by its social design which emulates the way music has typically been shared—from person to person. Rdio subscribers build and share their online music collections from a catalogue of over 8 million songs, and can see the listening activity, collections and playlists of those they follow. Subscribers can also see what’s in heavy rotation in their network… Learn more

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Don’t Believe Facebook, Spotify’s The Only Open Graph Music App Winning