Category Archives: Facebook
AppMobi goes beta with HTML5 tool for games
Rating: Write it once and roll it out to iOS, Android and Facebook
Open mobile software specialist, appMobi, has just announced a public beta trial of its playMobi offering. This is an HTML5-based cross-platform game development, deployment, and monetisation SDK. The key advantage is that it provides HTML5 game developers with a ‘write it once’ [...]
UK retailer promotes iPhone app with AR on TV
Rating: In Your Room from CSL Sofas deploys augmented reality
It’s quite clear that retailers are switching to high technology as footfalls on the High Street continue to decline. However, CSL Sofas has really gone to town by launching an augmented reality (AR) for the iPhone app. Not only that but the company is promoting the app as part of a TV commercial campaign as well as online on its web site here. Better still, the company has also turned towards social networking with a Facebook competition for participants to win their dream sofa – worth up to £1,650. Continue reading
Win a free pass to MWC 2012 from the GSMA
Rating: Plus mPowered Brands and other conference updates
When GoMo News handed out free passes to MWC 2011 (Mobile World Congress) courtesy of RIM/BlackBerry last year they were snapped up like hot cakes. Sadly, the GSMA is apparently only giving away a single pass to MWC 2012 in a competition. You’ve got to hurry because the closing date is February 6th [2012]. This news came as the show organiser announced updates to the conference programme which includes more than 30 focused conference sessions. These cover the latest technological trends and strategies for the global mobile industry. Continue reading
Another two free BlackBerry apps trickle out
Rating: We give thumbs down to Nobex Radio Premium
The trickle of free apps from RIM as part of its ‘Thank You Gift’ programme continues. You can now download two new free apps to BlackBerry. One of them is Nobex Radio Premium from Nobex Technologies. Apparently worth $9.99, RIM says that its “free of charge for a limited time.” The other is Photo Editor Ultimate from Ice Cold Apps. That still brings the genuine total of apps been made available to nine. Even by RIM’s own deadline which mysteriously expanded to six weeks from four weeks, there’s still three apps to go. We make them two games from Gameloft – N.O.V.A. and Texas Hold’em Poker 2 ; plus iSpeech Translator Pro – from iSpeech.org. If you want to check RIM’s own statement on the subject – it’s here. So that’s nine apps released in 40 days and three left to come in two days. Bizarre. Continue reading
Vodafone 555 – the dedicated Facebook phone
Rating: Ideal for youngsters & budget users
We have always like the whole concept of having a handset which is dedicated to providing easy access to Facebook. Of all the social networks, in the UK this is very obviously the one to pick. Therefore, Vodafone has definitely found a niche in the market with its Vodafone 555 Blue handset. Whilst appreciating that the 555 is particularly aimed at pre-paid customers, GoMo News initially didn’t realise this is very obviously a handset aimed at those on a tight budget. This makes the 555 an ideal handset for developing countries, of course. We eventually managed to find the associated PC suite software as well. Continue reading
Face for BBM isn’t quite what you’d expect
Rating: It’s still a really neat BlackBerry app, though
When we first discovered Facebook Chat for BBM from msonar, GoMo News thought it had struck gold. What we thought it did was use BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) as the bearer to reach those available to chat on Facebook. Which would have made those messages were free, of course. Sadly, it doesn’t. But it is highly efficient. Facebook Chat for BBM is also one of the few applications to use the new XMPP protocol for Facebook Chat – which offers faster communications and smaller data requirements. The other good news is that this app is free. Continue reading
360 degree video kit for iPhone coming to UK
Rating: Apparently the associated app doesn’t upload from outside USA yet
We noticed this product being mentioned by the Sunday Times as a Top Gadget of the week. It’s the GoPano Micro kit for the Apple 4 or 4S. What’s it do? Simple, it enables owners of those two Apple smartphone models to shoot video in 360 degrees. GoMo News was a little puzzled because this device appears to have been on sale for some time in the USA. However, it doesn’t seem to have been available legally in the UK until this week. We suspect it has something to do with the associated app not being able to upload to the GoPano web site from outside the USA. Apparently it will be in much demand from estate agents when it does ship in the UK, because they love to show houses in a 360 degrees format. Continue reading
Social Passport uses QR & NFC for incentivised social networking
Rating: Keep all of your social networking IDs in one QR code
GoMo News has just come across the clever use of 2D/QR barcodes by a New York based start-up – Social Passport. It only launched recently but already claims to have signed up thousands of users and hundreds of merchants in NYC itself. What the technology does is to enable you to wander around with all of your social networking information stored securely in a single into a barcode or app. Additionally, the same barcode stores the user’s digital loyalty cards and e-coupons. You might think that the bottleneck is the fact that merchants would need to install a special barcode scanner in their stores. But that’s not actually a problem. Continue reading
GSMA lands Rovio for Mobile Asia Congress
Rating: Angry Birds is the No. 1 paid app of all time, after all
This is something of a scoop. The GSMA has just put out a reminder that its Mobile Asia Congress (to be held in Hong Kong) is only two weeks away. Buried away in the announcements is the fact that Rovio will be guesting at one of the show’s App Byte sessions. For those who may have missed it, Rovio is the creator of the Angry Birds app. The GSMA describes Rovio as an “industry-changing entertainment media company.” It’s probably correct given that Rovio became an international phenomenon within a year of the release of Angry Birds and it is now the number one paid app – ever. So there’s more than a little chance you might learn something about developing mobile apps by going to that session Continue reading
Claritics adds HTML5 support to its cross-Platform analytics suite
Rating: Compare user behaviours on Facebook to Android
It really does appear that HTML5 apps are finally set to grown massively. In response, Claritics has introduced a release of its Social Intelligence Suite. Significantly, it provides developers with a single analytic framework for tracking HTML5 user data across Facebook, Android, iOS and other platforms. Claritics already provides analytics solutions for social and mobile applications. As Raj Pai, CEO with Claritics, explained, “With the rising tide of HTML5 and the number of applications being written in this quickly emerging language, many of our customers were asking to use our analytics for their HTML5 apps.” Continue reading
RIM rolls over like fat dog on ice facing UK MPs
Rating: BBM’s usefulness is not RIM’s fault
Displaying its long-standing inability to manage the brand image, Blackberry manufacturer, RIM, appears to have rolled over like a fat dog on ice and accepted responsibility for something which isn’t its fault. According to recdent news reports, when facing British politicians investigating the London August riots, RIM executive, Stephen Bates, volunteered that his company would disable its popular instant messaging (IM) service, BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) if the U.K. government asked it to. Why? It’s abit like the makers of the Louisville Slugger, Hillerich & Bradsby, promising to restrict sales of its product in the UK just because that particular baseball bat is the weapon of choice amongst rioters. Insanity! Continue reading
Social media apps could be a mobile phone’s greatest asset
Rating: New research from InSites Consulting confirms Brits hooked on it
A study carried out on behalf of InSites Consulting has found that some 73 per cent of the UK’s population now use social media sites – which equates to some 37 million people. Facebook is the most popular – proving the wisdom behind Vodafone’s launching of the 555 Blue handset (see our previous story here). The findings have been linked to recent remarks made by Nikki Moore, founder of girlgeekchic.com, who suggested that the attraction of being able to access social media sites on the go has made smartphones more desirable. But emphasising support for Facebook might be the wrong tack – maybe it should be Twitter instead. While to gain an advantage over rivals, handsets shipped in the UK, handsets should have a Linked-In app built-in Continue reading
Asda entices smartphone users to print pics
Rating: Linking to your Facebook page is nice idea
As Jeremy Stacey, photo buyer with leading UK supermarket chain, Asda so succinctly puts it, “Since film cameras entered the dustbin of history most of us haven’t been making physical copies of the pictures that we take. There’s a real risk that precious memories could be lost forever.” Asda Photo has reacted to this phenomenon in a number of ways. One of them has been to cut the cost of instant in-store photo prints by nearly a third (from 35 pence per print to 25 pence). This happily coincides with the end of the UK’s Summer holidays. However, Asda has also decided to harness the power of social networking and is offering the ability to print images sent from Facebook to its in-store printing facilities. Continue reading
Facebook Messenger app only available to North Americans
Rating: Why? It works OK in the UK
The obvious success of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has cause many of the big players in the social networking market to sit up and take note. One of the providers who would feel the most threatened has got to be Facebook. So the company launched Facebook Messenger (they didn’t even bother to come up with a slightly different name) to compete against the handset vendor. It’s was only when GoMo News came to try to download the app (because we don’t just blindly publish the Press release) that we noticed that this Android app not only requires Android 2.2 (Froyo) or above to function but it is only available for download in North America. That didn’t stop us as we’ve grown accustomed to finding ways around the culture of testing apps only in the Americas. And it works perfectly well in the UK which leads us to ask, “Why?” Continue reading
Review: Poptuit puts all your eggs into one app basket
Rating: All forms of interacting with friends in one place
One of the greatest benefits to owning a smartphone is that it puts all the forms of communications you use inside a single device. The list includes social networks like Facebook and Twitter plus emails and instant messaging (IM). The one device is also a cameraphone so this means you can have all your telephone contacts, text messaging and photos in a single place, too. (You can’t do that with a PC). The only snag is that moving between all of these forms of communication can be a pain. Which is where Poptuit for Android from Apptera comes in. It pulls all the different forms of interacting you have with your friends/family/colleagues (actually the top 3 of them) into a single application. This can prove immensely powerful. You can see immediately if you have called somebody or if you last form of contact was actually a text/SMS. The only sad part is that this app is still in beta. Continue reading
