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Foursquare Outgrows Mobile, Wants To Be Your City Guide

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:40:11 +0000

How many times have you checked in to Foursquare via the web? If you’re like me and I’m willing to bet most people, the answer to that question is “None.” Foursquare, who is likely well aware of this, has just pushed the latest in the series of #New4sq updates , in an effort to improve (and not solely to garner data from) the lives of its web users. One million daily unique visitors is a terrible thing to waste. The Foursquare.com site redesign is the third major product development that aspires to move Foursquare beyond the check in; The company recently launched Explore to derive value from all the checkin data it has accumulated over the past three years, then Radar which allowed users to take advantage of that data with minimum effort. Users visiting Foursquare.com from a computer or a tablet (through the magic of HTML5) will now see a Google map of emblazoned with Icons for all the places of note around them, populated by explore data. Hover over the icons and you get even more data. On your right you can view ever-changing list of Suggested places, which is contingent on time of day. Foursquare is also taking its newly launched Lists feature one step further, allowing you to search, view and follow recommended Lists via web, which will in turn buzz on Radar when you turn it on on your phone. Other changes include the fact that you can now can now comment and view comments directly from the web interface, view photos in a larger, more crisp format, see other people’s Foursquare points on their profiles. There’s also a “Brands on Foursquare” section in the bottom right, just because. Foursquare is making a concerted effort be more than just an app for checkins, as we and every other person who covers this stuff has noted before. The difference here is the mobile-first startup is expanding its horizons way beyond its iOS roots in order to become a location-based city guide and recommendation service, sort of moving towards Yelp while Yelp ironically moves towards Foursquare. And it just might succeed too, with the wealth of more than a billion checkins from which to draw conclusions about the destination predilections of its ten million users, “[We want to do whatever] we can do with this data to make people more aware of the world around them in real-time and geographically relevant way,” Foursquare Head of Product Alex Rainert said as he gave me a tour of the site earlier. Already I’ve learned about two different places in my neighborhood that I never even knew existed.

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Foursquare Outgrows Mobile, Wants To Be Your City Guide

Velti Buys Marketing Company Mobile Interactive Group For As Much As $60M

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:39:02 +0000

Mobile marketing agency Velti has acquired Mobile Interactive Group (‘MIG’), the UK’s largest mobile marketing company. Velti will pay $25 million plus as much as $34 million over time by 2013, for a total of $59 million. MIG offers mobile marketing, mobile commerce and mobile billing services in 44 countries and has operations in the UK, US, Netherlands, Belgium and Australia. The company’s technology platform is used by more than 300 enterprise customers including Skype, Vodafone, O2, PepsiCo, ITV, FIVE, Fremantle, BBC, Sony, Barclaycard, Marks & Spencer and NewLook. MIG’s mobile interactive technology is used by broadcasters in Europe and Asia Pacific for real-time social media interactions through the mobile platform. MIG saw more then $100 million in gross billings and more than $20 million in net revenues in 2010. The company also recently bought mobile payments startup ZayPay. Velti, which is a public company on the London Stock Exchange, offers a SaaS technology platform that allows agencies and brands to plan, manage, and optimize mobile advertising and marketing campaigns in real time.

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Velti Buys Marketing Company Mobile Interactive Group For As Much As $60M

Google Launches 24×7 Phone Support To ‘Apps For Business’ Customers (Hooray For Humans!)

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:48:49 +0000

Google has long been known as a company that favors algorithms and automation — which scale nicely to millions of people — over human-powered services, which don’t. That works well enough for them most of the time, but it’s led to one key issue: if something goes wrong with a Google product, it’s remarkably hard to get an actual human on the phone. It’s hard to get too upset over this when you’re using Google’s free products, but it can be immensely frustrating when you’re forking over money every month to use Google’s Apps for Business suite, which allow business to take advantage of features like custom domains and admin tools. These premium Apps users have historically had some options when things went wrong — Google’s support site includes various automated troubleshooters, and email support. But phone support was limited, so if the issue wasn’t critical, you probably weren’t going to have much luck talking to anyone. Which is a problem when your business is relying heavily on Google Apps. Now that’s changing: during the keynote at its Enterprise-focused Atmosphere event, Google has announced that it’s launching 24×7 phone support to business customers for all issues affecting its core services, which include things like Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and the other key apps. That’s a big deal — plenty of businesses want the peace of mind of being able to talk to someone, and this will doubtless help convince some companies that were on the fence to ‘Go Google’. Google has posted about the news on its Enterprise Blog, which briefly discusses Google’s support satisfaction (80% of small businesses are satisfied, as are 90% of large businesses — Google is shooting for 95%). Since we launched Google Apps for Business in 2007, we’ve been working hard to build a global support offering that’s responsive to the needs of our business customers. In the early days, our customers reached us mainly through email, and our 24 x 7 phone support was limited to critical issues. To improve the experience of our customers, we now provide 24 x 7 phone support to small, medium, and large Google Apps for Business customers for all issues affecting the core services. Our customers may also receive support through our web-based support portal, online help forms, and online help center. All support cases are handled directly by trained Google Apps experts. A support metric that we’re especially passionate about is customer satisfaction. We measure customer satisfaction by asking for feedback on a seven point scale at the time we close a support case. As measured on this scale, 80% of our business customers and 90% of our large business customers indicate that they’re more than satisfied with their support experience. While we’re proud of these ratings, we want to do even better. Our goal is to achieve an overall satisfaction rating of 95%. Image via Epiclectic on Flickr

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Google Launches 24×7 Phone Support To ‘Apps For Business’ Customers (Hooray For Humans!)

This DIY Nixie Clock Uses No More Components Than Necessary

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:15:29 +0000

If you want to recreate what it was like for hobbyists before the advent of the integrated circuit, this clock is for you. This thing uses “215 discrete transistors, 518 diodes, 472 resistors and 101 capacitors on a massive 10″ x 14″ printed circuit board” to recreate something that 1960s-era James Bond would shut down at exactly the 007 mark to prevent the world from blowing up. You can pick this kit up for $239 with the Nixie tubes and $199 with standard LEDs. You can also purchase a handsome plaque, suitable for wall placement in your electronics den. Warning: Don’t buy this if you’re a fly-by-night solderer. As the creator notes: This kit is for advanced, experienced builders. You need to have an oscilloscope, a voltmeter, and an inquisitive mind tempered with patience. Product Page via retrothing

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This DIY Nixie Clock Uses No More Components Than Necessary

How Google, eBay, And PayPal Are Gearing Up For A Very Mobile Holiday Shopping Season

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:30:41 +0000

Online holiday shopping reached record levels in 2010. And e-commerce spending is up this year. All signs point to consumers spending even more online this holiday season. I sat down with executives from Google, eBay, PayPal and ShopKick to discuss the trends that are expected to emerge in the e-commerce space over the next few months. They center around mobile, tablets, and deals. PayPal has more than doubled its mobile payments volume since the 2010 holiday shopping season, and we haven’t even hit the thick of this year’s rush. eBay is projecting $5 billion in mobile payments volume in 2010 and this number could increase in the next few months. And Google projects that 15 percent of total search on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving and one of the biggest shopping days of the year) will come from mobile devices. Tablet devices are now a part of the online shopping experience and retailers are taking note. Clearly, all signs point to the fact that this could be the breakout year for mobile shopping. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile All of the companies I spoke to unanimously agreed that this would be the year of mobile for the holiday shopping season. Steve Yankovich, head of eBay’s mobile business operations and development, says he expects this to be the biggest year for mobile sales for eBay yet. eBay has said that the company expects to see $5 billion in gross merchandise volume in 2011, and this will be partly buoyed by a strong mobile presence in November and December. PayPal’s Senior Director for Mobile, Laura Chambers, echoes Yankovich’s forecasts and says that merchants are even preparing for the onslaught of traffic to their mobile sites. A number of big retailers, such as Armani Exchange, Guess and The Limited have recently put PayPal’s mobile express checkout as an option for payments on their mobile sites as a way to help the conversion process. “We are seeing strong investments by online retailers for mobile shopping this year,” she says. Chambers says that last year, the peak day for mobile payments for PayPal was December 12, with $4.7 million in mobile payments volume. Now PayPal is seeing $10 million in mobile payments per day, and we haven’t even officially hit the holiday shopping period. Clearly, the mobile payments numbers could even triple from last year to this year. While many consumers may shop on mobile for their holiday purchases, the usage of product search, barcode scanning, and other informative apps will also play a big part in this year’s mobile shopping. eBay’s RedLaser barcode scanning apps have seen scans go up 50 percent over the past year. If you aren’t familiar with how it works, RedLaser will scan the barcode of a physical product and show you where you can buy it on eBay’s properties and where it is available in local store locations around you (via Milo) and for how much. The app has been updated with PayPal functionality so that users can actually buy the product directly from the app. Another shopping app developer who has high hopes for mobile this holiday season is ShopKick. Co-founder Cyriac Roeding says that this year will be the year of mobile for physical shopping. For background, Shopkick automatically recognizes when someone with the free Android or iPhone app on their phone walks into a store. Once a Shopkick Signal is detected, the app delivers reward points called “kickbucks” to the user for walking into a retail store, trying on clothes, scanning a barcode and other actions. Kickbucks can then be redeemed across all partner stores for gift card rewards or for Facebook Credits. User can also receive special discounts on specific products at partners stores like Macy’s, Best Buy or Target. Roeding explains that the cell phone is the only interactive platform you carry with you in a physical store, and retailers are looking to use the platform to help drive transactions. Clearly, a mobile rewards app that offers in-store discounts can help do this. “The internet has caused brick and mortar retailers more trouble than benefit over the past fifteen years. Now retailers are catching on to how the internet can help retailers—that’s where mobile comes in.” Sameer Samat, VP of Product Management for Google Commerce, tells me that the search giant is seeing a growing number of users are making buying decisions using their mobile phone. “We are definitely seeing m-commerce conversions growing and becoming bigger over time,” he says. “But users are also using their mobile phone to search for products and find local availability.” Samat says that Google has seen a 200 percent growth in mobile product search usage and Google Shopper app downloads over the past year. Shopper, which is available for iOS and Android, allows you to find product prices, reviews, specs, local inventory of products at nearby stores, and more. As we mentioned above, Google is forecasting that 15 percent of total search on Black Friday. will come from mobile. “There’s no doubt that users are now making buying decisions using their mobile phone,” says Samat. “And we are seeing m-commerce conversions growing and becoming bigger over time.” Tablets As tablets have grown to be the go-to browsing device, the iPad, and other devices are also becoming a way to shop. And retailers are catching on to this trend. According to a National Retail Federation study, 20 percent of retailers have invested in tablet device apps this holiday season. With this in mind, Google debuted Catalogs in August, an app for tablet devices that includes 200 catalogs from major brands including Anthropologie, Bare Escentuals, Bergdorf Goodman, Crate and Barrel, L.L. Bean, Lands’ End, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Sundance, Tea Collection, Urban Outfitters and Williams-Sonoma. The app is more than just a browsing experience. When consumers find an item they’d like to purchase, they can tap to find it in a store nearby or tap “Buy on Website” to visit the merchant online. Google’s Samat says that “the tablet is the ultimate leanback experience and we see that playing a big role in holiday shopping as a replacement for the mail order catalogs you used to browse through.” PayPal calls it ‘couch commerce’ and believes that tablet commerce will have a record year. PayPal recently reported that consumers who own both a tablet and a smartphone are significantly more likely (63%) to indicate increased overall spending on mobile purchases, versus owners of smartphones only (29%). Owners of both a tablet and a smartphone buy nearly twice as often as those who only have smartphones and more than 40% of dual owners made more than 20 mobile purchases over the past year, compared to only 12% of smartphone-only owners. Forrester just released a report predicting a 15 percent increase in online shopping sales this year to nearly $60 billion, partly due to the increase in consumer-use of tablet computers for shopping. Beyond Black Friday And Cyber Monday Black Friday and Cyber Monday are historically the top-high-grossing online shopping days during the holiday season. But execs expect to see high volumes of online shopping on other days thanks to an increase in mobile shopping and deals. Yankovitch tells me that eBay expects revenue numbers to be well over numbers that eBay saw last year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but expects to see more activity at times when people aren’t traditionally shopping. The day of Thanksgiving is one of those days, says Chambers. Because people will have their phone everywhere (including at the table), consumers are expected to make purchases on the fly, especially on Thanksgiving evening. In fact, PayPal is predicting that after dinner on Thanksgiving Day will be the first mobile shopping spike this holiday season. Another popular day has been the second Sunday in December, which is one of the last days where people feel confident that items will be shipped in times for the holiday. And Chambers says across the board, Sunday is the biggest day for mobile shopping generally. Deals There’s no doubt that deals, coupons and discounts will be a large part of the online holiday shopping experience, especially with the current state of the economy. According to the recent Forrester report, 58 percent of Americans say they are more price-conscious today than they were a year ago and nearly half believe they find better values online. “I really expect consumers to be deal hunting this season,” explains Chambers. She says that PayPal, which has historically offered special deals for the holiday shopping season, will be bulking up on more consumer deals this holiday season. Samat says that Google has always seen a spike for queries like deals, coupons, and sales during the holiday time and fully expects to see an increase this year. “The consumer desire for a better deal will help give certain product decision tools a big bump,” he explains. “People may take more time this year to find the best possible price.” Deals could also include lucrative holiday shipping offers. In 2010, 45 of the top 50 online retailers offered some sort of promotional deal between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, most of which were a type of shipping promotion. And in 2011, Shop.org anticipates that a record 92.5% of online retailers will offer free shipping and not just as a Cyber Monday promotion. Clearly, there’s plenty of optimism from retailers, and tech companies regarding online spending and shopping this holiday season. And this holiday season is somewhat unique considering the big bet that retailers are making on newer technologies, such as mobile, geo-location, tablets, local product search and more. The big question is how consumers will react to and engage with these technologies over the next several weeks. It could be a very mobile Christmas.

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How Google, eBay, And PayPal Are Gearing Up For A Very Mobile Holiday Shopping Season

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

Smartphone Etiquette for the Classic Dinner Date [Infographic]

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:31:06 +0000

Date night is coming up, so it’s the perfect time to brush up on your mobile phone etiquette. Here’s a comprehensive infographic packed with helpful hints, just in time for Saturday night. Rather than simply overwhelm you with tons of unfocused tips, man-about-town and Forbes contributor Michael T. Mathews concentrates on social media and smartphone etiquette for the classic dinner date, including activities before, during and after the encounter. To gather this treasure trove, he interviewed social media marketers in New York City, combined those tips with his own experience, and tossed in a dash of common sense, resulting in an infographic that rings true to us. Of course, we’re sure Mashable readers — all of whom are socially adept, refined, civilized and good-looking — won’t need this list, but it could certainly be handy for those friends and acquaintances of yours who are not quite so well-versed in the rules of the genteel. Feel free to pass this along to those unfortunate souls. In the meantime, we’d like to hear from you: Do you have additional tips to add to Mike’s list? What’s the worst breach of smartphone and social media etiquette you’ve ever seen on a dinner date? Special thanks to Mike Matthews (Twitter: @MobileMatthews ) and Forbes for this infographic. More About: etiquette , infographics , smartphones

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Smartphone Etiquette for the Classic Dinner Date [Infographic]

iPhone 5 existed as a prototype?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:44:40 +0000

When the iPhone 4S was launched a few months ago, a lot of people were disappointed when it was released with the same old design as the iPhone 4. Especially since there were countless leaks, reports, and even cases showing off the phone’s tapered edges and teardrop shape. People were wondering, what happened to that iPhone? According to the latest reports online , if they are to be believed; the redesigned iPhone 5 had existed as a prototype but it was cancelled a few months before the 4S was released. As to why the phone wasn’t released, there were rumors about Steve Jobs unhappy with the idea of the phone having a bigger screen which “fragmented” the iPhone. Well if that’s the case, does that mean Apple will never release an iPhone with a larger screen? Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until next year to see what the fate of the iPhone 5 has become. What did you think of the teardrop shaped iPhone 5 that was rumored about, months before the 4S? iPhone 5 existed as a prototype? , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Galaxy S2 Review ,

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iPhone 5 existed as a prototype?

Adobe blames Apple for the death of Flash Player for mobile

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:44:14 +0000

Earlier this week, Adobe announced that it would be killing off Flash for mobile browsers , but it didn’t give a reason to why it was doing so. And for those of you who are curious, Mike Chambers, the Principal Product manager for the Flash Platform at Adobe has finally spoken up, confirming pretty much what we’ve suspected all along. The death of Flash Player for mobile browsers was mainly because of Apple’s refusal to adopt the player in iOS. Chambers wrote on his blog : (more…) Adobe blames Apple for the death of Flash Player for mobile , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Galaxy S2 Review ,

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Adobe blames Apple for the death of Flash Player for mobile

iTunes Match libraries to be wiped, launch coming up?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:47:42 +0000

In addition to the Google Music announcement earlier , it looks like we’re one step closer towards the launch of Apple’s iTunes Match service as well. The company has started sending out emails, letting them know that they will be deleting all current iCloud libraries on Saturday, November 12 th at 10am PST. iTunes Match was supposed to be launched by the end of October, and with that date missed, who knows when Apple will be giving it the green light? However, the wiping of Match libraries in preparation for the launch can only be a good sign. How many of you folks are eagerly waiting to use iTunes Match, and those of you who have been testing it: how is it so far? iTunes Match libraries to be wiped, launch coming up? , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : iPhone 4S Review ,

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iTunes Match libraries to be wiped, launch coming up?