Mobile barcodes play their part in the charity game

Recent disasters have proven just how good a channel the mobile is for charitable donations. Problem is, millions of calls have a tendency to jam networks. Often, during the moment of greatest public awareness of a disaster, givers are turned away because the process is so difficult. We’ve seen how effective SMS can be for getting around that (see our report here), and now Canadian company MobioID is seeing what it can do with 2d barcodes and television.

Mobile voice star Vlingo releases serious update to iPhone app - but you gotta pay

One of the features I’m happiest with on my N1 is the voice translation. On occasion, when I’m too lazy to use my thumbs, I will just speak an SMS into my phone and away it goes. But being a nativeGoogle feature, it’s limited to Android devices. Vlingo provides the same service (and more) for BlackBerry smartphones, Nokia S60 phones, the iPhone and certain WinMo devices. And the iPhone app has gotten a major useability boost today.

easy-forex wants full Forex mobile trading on iPhone, Blackberry and Android

easy-forex is an on-line service that runs a service for traders who want to check foreign exchange information and trade currencies over the web. It recently announced an iPhone app to access certain of the easy-forex functions over the smartphone - but is now pushing for a multi-platform release of its app that would allow full trading.

AdMob’s stats show keenest and most infrequent mobile app downloaders

Rating: Step forward iPod Touch and Palm owners

In January 2010, AdMob ran an opt-in survey of nearly 1,000 software consumers. The range of devices included the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Palm’s webOS. Each month on average iPod Touch users downloaded 12 apps while Palm webOS users only managed just under six apps.

Babelgum scores film start video content

Rating: Reverse Shot to provide its [ahem] curate content

Fast becoming a giant in the provision of video content for the mobile sector, Babelgum has scored another impressive tie up – this time with online film criticism site – Reverse Shot. These gys are so trendy that the verb they use for creation – ‘curated’ - isn’t even in the dictionary yet.

iPhone app social network goes international

Rating: Some users of Chorus actually spend their money

With the estimated number of iPhone apps being anywhere between 130,000-150,000, envIO Networks reckons it has found the answer with its Chorus service.

An iPhone apps social network with a difference. This one claims its users have spent over $1 million on paid apps to date, with the average user recommending 75 friends to join the community.

Partnering with operators beats app stores says Telmap

Rating: Going completely against perceived wisdom, then

Here’s an unusual one. A mobile app developer simultaneously singing the praises of mobile operators and boasting about the volume of its iPhone app downloads. Somehow, Telmap has managed to do this.

woZZon goes Android for event search

strong>Rating: from Nokia hero to Android champion in 2 months

Having won a top prize from Nokia for its clever use of Ovi Maps (see here ), woZZon has shown its gratitude to the Finnish handset vendor by taking its location based events app onto Android.

The Beeb criticises device fragmentation

Rating: Ovum’s Cripps warns of the dangers
While GoMo News poked fun at the BBC for the wisdom of launching a mobile app aimed at soccer fans first on Apple iPhones (not exactly the handset of choice for footie afficionados), it seems that the broadcaster isn’t as thick-skinned as some might assume.
The Beeb [BBC] launched an [...]

Calling all Digital Nomads! WorkSnug is a mobile application that will really appeal to you.

I absolutely love WorkSnug - but then again I would, because it’s directly aimed at people like me. I’m what some people call a Digital Nomad. All I need to do my job is a laptop, a plug and an Internet connection. I can work from the street, from a cafe, or from your kitchen. I’m a homeless office-worker, suffering from complete location independence. And WorkSung is an app that is directly designed to make my life easier.

BBC’s first iPhone sports app from Mobile IQ

Rating: Mobile IQ says, “Hey Beeb gizajob, we can do iPhone”
In a competitive pitch involving over 20 mobile application vendors, Mobile IQ was chosen to create the first official sports/events iPhone apps for the BBC. This will be particularly good news for Formula One loving iPhone owners.
Mobile IQ says that the Beeb’s selection criteria hinged [...]

Evolving avatars - the next phone craze

Rating: Charge the phone or the fish gets it

Forget ringtones and wallpapers, the latest fad for mobile phone is evolving avatars. Or so Bluestreak Technology and Cellfish Media would have us believe. The first two avatars are Pilou the Hamster and Surimi the Fish.

Cloud development the key says FeedHenry

Rating: Write all your mobile apps in one cloud

Rating: Write all your mobile apps in one cloud

A ‘Hosted Development Environment’ is developers’ Heaven says FeedHenry. Its cloud-based platform allows them to build and run apps across multiple mobile platform including, iPhone, Android, Symbian and Blackberry. Plus they can also run across social media sites such as Facebook or MySpace.

MWC in Soft Focus: are mobile phones going biodegradable? Not really…

Two companies I’ve met so far at Mobile World Congress have been touting eco-friendly, biodegradable products for mobile phones. The first is an Irish iPhone-accessory company called Jivo Technology, and the second was UK-based Santok.

MWC: Flirtomatic keeps it clean for US networks, isn’t all that impressed with the iPhone

I’ve always been interested in Flirtomatic. It’s one of those mobile services that pops up again and again when people talk about success stories in the mobile industry. But my interest has always been from afar. But today I got to sit down with Gary Cohen, Head of Flirtomatic for North America, and we got talk about some of the specifics for the service - like what it needs to do to stay sweet with operators, and where intends to go from here. I’ve always wanted to know more about the nitty gritty of how Flirtomatic actually works, and Gary answered all of my questions.

Mobile News for Leaders