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Archive for the ‘mobile’ Category

Geo-based mobile apps skip check-in, go for direct rewards

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

By Galen Moore

Has location-based advertising gotten over the check-in? Startups like Foursquare and Gowalla broke the big-brother barrier by convincing users to treat location as a game, volunteering up their location in exchange for points accumulated with check-ins at favorite haunts.

While the two media darlings continue to generate buzz around their location-based coupon and loyalty programs, a cluster of New England startups is quietly wrapping up big-name customers and partners.

CardStar Inc. (formerly based in Canton, Conn.) today announced a partnership with another Boston startup, Peekaboo Mobile, to use Peekaboo’s geo-location mobile application to deliver restaurant and retail coupons. Peekaboo, owned by a two-man startup called Byte Ventures LLC, launched in March. OK, you haven’t heard of any of these companies, but two weeks ago CardStar took a $400,000 strategic investment from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

“There’s a big thing around this whole check-in thing,” said Ben Dolgoff, who co-founded Peekaboo with fellow Suffolk University graduate Mike Fruzzetti. “You can go into Foursquare, check in four or five times and be the mayor, and get a coupon. Or you can just go to Peekaboo and get coupons right away.”

The day before the Verizon-Cardstar investment story leaked out, Belmont startup SaveWave Inc. announced its spinoff from Sallie Mae Corp. (NYSE: Sallie Mae) property Upromise, with $2.3 million in a Series A funding from Boston VCs Flybridge Capital Partners and Philadelphia firm First Round Capital. The company is turning the platform for Upromise’s digital grocery coupons into a white-label web and mobile program for other brands.

Grocery mobile coupon developer Pushpins moved back to Boston for the MassChallenge incubator program this month – a short while after winning the California grocery chain Safeway Inc. as a customer, along with instant activation in 1,500 stores on the West Coast.

Last but not least, Scvngr Inc., also of Boston, launched a rewards program Tuesday for its mobile scavenger hunt games in Boston. Last December, Scvngr received a $4 million round of financing led by Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) venture arm Google Ventures.

Tags: Foursquare, location-based advertising, mobile, Scvngr
Posted in Software, mobile | No Comments »

Ironic Scvngr, Zipcar deal could benefit from third partner

Friday, August 27th, 2010

By Rodney Brown

The world of “not necessarily the best idea” has a new resident in the team up of Scvngr Inc. of Boston with Cambridge-based Zipcar Inc. That’s right, a company whose entire business model is based on cell phone text messages or mobile web apps has picked as its latest partner a company providing short-term, on-demand car rentals.

Now, first, let’s be clear that we are big fans of both Zipcar and Scvngr. Mass High Tech was one of the first to write about both companies and has watched both of them grow since those first mentions. And it seems as though some thought went into making sure that the Scvngr challenges that can be done for Zipcar are done outside the car, and not while behind the wheel – things like, take a picture with you next to the car and earn three points toward a future Zipcar reward.

But here’s a suggestion for both Seth at Scvngr and Scott at Zipcar – talk to Dan at Illume Software about a three-way partnership. Illume makes the iZup smartphone application that prevents the phone from being used for anything other than emergency calls as long as it senses it is moving. Illume added Dan Ross as CEO earlier this year, and even though the Bay State has passed a law that makes it a crime to text and drive, companies like Illume and their iZup app are still needed, perhaps more than ever as the rate of smartphone adoption soars.

While the perception of a partnership between a phone apps-based company and a car rental company seems a bit cavalier considering the texting-while-driving problem, the reality is that the partnership is a smart move by Scvngr and Zipcar, both of whom are known for smart moves. But perception often IS reality, and that could create what may be the first real marketing problem for both companies. It might not be a bad idea for them to figure out a way to turn that negative impression into a positive one, even if it is all just perception. Showing that they get the irony inherent in the partnership between the two companies by incorporating iZup into the mix might just do that.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, mobile | No Comments »

Microsoft Kin phones have a familiar feature

Monday, April 12th, 2010

By Rodney H. Brown

Rodney Brown Today Microsoft Corp. announced the names and functions of their long-anticipated (for good or ill) mobile phones that had previously only been known as Project: Pink. The two flavors of Microsoft Kin phones — in an unintentional nod to Massachusetts’ Theodor Geisel, Kin One and Kin Two — were rolled out in a flashy show on the West Coast, and the Redmond titan made it clear the phones were aimed at a younger, socially connected audience.

The Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two

One of the features the new phones will have is something called Kin Spot. That is a little green button that sits at the bottom of the main screen of the phone and allows the user to drag items such as links or pictures into a cloud-based repository that can then be associated with a friend in the contacts database and posted to their Facebook page, sent via media messaging service, tweeted out or shared in any other social media way the user might like.

Sound familiar?

Last week, I wrote about Clearway Technology Partners Inc. of Medfield, which is about to launch this summer Clearway Insight. That product is a cloud-based way to store items of interest to you — links, pictures, etc. — and then share with your friends also using Insight. You do so by simply dragging a link, picture or document to a spot … er, diamond … that sits at the bottom … sorry, top … of the computer screen.

Now, Insight also allows you to make multiple connections between not only a stored item and another connected user, but also between any number of stored items themselves. And because of all of the connections, it makes searching for data you may have dropped into Insight significantly easier and faster than using the search feature on Windows, or Spotlight on a Mac. So it is planned to be much more robust that Microsoft’s phone OS-based Spot, but the similarity is surprising.

Clearway, for its part, moved up the planned launch of the beta version of Insight to last Friday, the day our coverage hit the web. The company is restricting the beta to 100,000 users (a hopeful restriction, that) so if you want to get in on the action, visit their website and sign up.

Who knows, perhaps the Kin phones will train a whole generation of users on how to store data the Clearway Insight way. At least, that is the way Clearway would like to see it, I bet.

Tags: Clearway Technology Partners, Dr. Seuss, Kin, Microsoft
Posted in Internet, mobile | No Comments »

iPad gets a first atop Mt. Washington

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Scvngr founder Seth Priebatsch scavenges for a WiFi signal on what could be the first iPad on Mt. Washington.

By Rodney H. Brown

Rodney Brown In a news world filled with endless stories about Apple Inc.’s new iPad tablet device, here’s one you probably haven’t heard – the alleged first use of an iPad at the top of New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington.

Seth Priebatsch, founder and ‘chief ninja’ of the location-based gaming technology platform company Scvngr Inc., sent in a picture of the chief ninja himself sitting on the top of Mt. Washington this weekend with his iPad in hand. Always prepared, Priebatsch knew he wouldn’t get a WiFi signal up there – and the 3G cellular versions of the iPad aren’t out yet – so he brought along a Sprint Overdrive mobile hotspot so his iPad could also arguably be the first to surf the web on the tallest mountain in New England.

After getting on some post-hiking web surfing (and knowing him, some Scvngr work), Priebatsch then “skied down Tuckermans Ravine with the skis on my feet and the iPad in my backpack. I’ve got some scratches, but the iPad is flawless.”

So what does this tell us? The iPad doesn’t get altitude sickness. Being at the top of the tallest mountain on the Eastern Seaboard, which has just about every type of radio tower on it, gets you at least five bars on your cell device. Preibatsch is fit (have you hiked up Tucks – and past it to the summit – recently?). And geeks never want to be far from their latest toy.

No word, though, on whether or not Priebatsch was actually running a scavenger hunt while up there. Probably not – trying to stop and search for clues while schussing down Tucks can be hazardous to your health.

Tags: Apple, iPad, Scvngr, Seth Priebatsch
Posted in Hardware, Internet, New Hampshire, mobile | 3 Comments »

Maine bill looks to label cell phones as cancer dangers

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Today in the hallowed halls of the state government in Augusta, Maine, legislators are holding hearings on a first-in-the-nation bill that proposes putting warning labels about potential brain cancer on all cell phones sold in the state. Labels that even contain pictures.

The bill in question is LD 1706, somewhat redundantly called “An Act to Create the Children’s Wireless Protection Act.” The Maine state legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee is holding the hearings today, on a bill that has already created national news for the Pine Tree State.

HP120701 An Act To Create the Children’s Wireless Protection Act

Sponsoring the bill is Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford. The bill calls for these exact words on every cell phone and all related packaging: “Warning, this device emits electromagnetic radiation, exposure to which may cause brain cancer. Users, especially children and pregnant women, should keep this device away from the head and body.”

Even more astounding is that the bill would require the label to have art, after a fashion. Boland’s bill wants to put on every cell phone a “color graphic of ‘Brain of 5-year-old’” from a 1996 study published by the IEEE of the effect of cell phone microwave emissions on the neck and head.

The onus of the bill would land squarely on the shoulders of the phone manufacturers, as the bill contains this proviso: “The requirements of this subsection may not result in a cost to the retailer or distributor of cellular telephones.” And the summary states that “This bill provides that a manufacturer may not sell at retail in this State…” any cell phone not carrying the warning.

The technology industry trade group TechAmerica today released a statement about the bill, saying that it “substitutes political judgment for the collective scientific judgment of experts around the world.” The National Cancer Institute, on the other hand, is hedging its bets. That organization has said that while “research has not consistently demonstrated a link between cellular telephone use and cancer, scientists still caution that further surveillance is needed before conclusions can be drawn” on its website.

What do you think? Are we at risk of brain cancer from our cell phones and do we need to be warned about it? Or is Maine making a call to Big Brother government?

Tags: Andrea Boland, Maine
Posted in Legislation, Maine, mobile | No Comments »

Boston software and hardware firms show off new tech at Mobile World Congress

Monday, February 15th, 2010

By Rodney Brown

Rodney Brown While Microsoft Corp. is apparently giving away peeks at its new Windows Phone 7 operating system and phones based on that platform by not weighing down the banners covering up its giant promo material (see the Engadget breaking story from earlier today with cool upskirt pics), local companies are making announcements as well at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

Let’s start with Nuance Communications Inc. of Burlington. Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) announced an enhanced version of its handwriting technology for touch screens called Nuance T9 Write. The technology can also be used for pen-based devices and features multi-touch gesture and on-top writing capabilities — a feature that lets you write one word or letter right on top of the previous one, reducing the screen real estate needed. Nuance T9 Write also mixes handwriting input with Nuance XT9 predictive text technology to “enhance the recognition of naturally shaped letters, numbers, symbols and punctuation in more than 40 languages — predicting words as you write them.”

Coming out of Marlborough is Bitstream Inc. and the latest version of its mobile web browser, Bolt. The 1.7 release of Bolt adds new features such as direct Twitter integration, Spanish and Russian language support, an enhanced download manager, increased streaming video features and the ability to run widgets, according to Bitstream (Nasdaq: BITS) officials. The widgets will be available through a Bolt Widget Gallery and are written to comply with W3C widgets standards.

On the hardware side of things, Skyworks Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: SWKS) of Woburn is announcing a handful of new chips to be used in mobile devices. Among those are several highly integrated multimode power amplifier modules for 3G smart phones and data cards using high speed packet access (HSPA).

Stay tuned for more information throughout the day and let us know what new things you want to see announced in Barcelona.

Update, 11:44 a.m.: Red Bend Software Inc. is ironically announcing its vRapid Mobile Software Management Client, which allows carriers to centrally manage software and apps on smartphones that use open operating systems, with the first OS supported being Google Inc.’s Android. The irony comes from the fact that Waltham’s Red Bend sued Google in October of 2009 over a feature of Google’s Chrome browser. Allegedly, a function of Chrome that allows it to receive compressed software updates infringes one of the Waltham company’s patents on a method allowing wireless carriers to efficiently push out updates to mobile phone firmware — the basis of the vRapid suite of products. The new vRapid client is designed to work with any mobile OS under the Software Component Management Object (SCOMO) model. For now it only works with Android, but will soon support others under the SCOMO model, including Brew Mobile Platform, LiMo and Symbian.

Tags: Bitstream, Microsoft, Mobile World Congress, Nuance, Skyworks
Posted in Hardware, Software, mobile | No Comments »

Apple hyped over iPad; question is, are others?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Apple Inc. is in the process of spilling the beans on what the online buzz would have us believe is the greatest tablet since the ones Moses brought down from the mountain: the new Apple iPad. If you want to get your inner Apple fanboy fix, below are some of the places online you can find the buzz on iPad in full swing:

Engadget is blogging live from the release event in San Francisco, assuming you can keep the site open long enough to get an update.

Gizmodo seems to be able to keep its site up longer, but maybe that is because its updates seem to be less frequent.

Even the venerable news source CNN is reporting live from the iPad uber-hype, through a live blog on its CNN Money site. CNN may have the best summation in its live coverage so far: “This is nothing we haven’t seen before on computers. I guess you have to have the device in hand to be impressed.”

And of course, Twitter is all, well, atwitter about the iPad, where you can read some of the funniest comments out there by following the hashtags #iPad, #AppleLive and our favorite: #Namefail.

According to a release just sent out by Irish bookies Paddy Power (real name, no joke), the odds have been set for how many iPads Apple will sell in 2010. Best odds are 5-to-2 for between 3 million and 4 million. Over 6 million is right behind it at 3-to-1 odds. The longshot is less then 1 million at 8-to-1.

Let us know what you think of the latest “revolutionary” technology from Steve Jobs and the folks in Cupertino.

Posted in mobile | No Comments »

Raytheon develops battlefield iPhone app

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Raytheon's iPhone app Bulletflight might take the cake, but Raytheon’s One Force Tracker would certainly be in the running for least likely iPhone app.

The New York Times reports the Waltham-based defense giant is developing two iPhone apps: One for situational awareness in a battlefield, and one for air traffic control. One Force Tracker maps the positions of enemies and friends in real-time, and allows for secure communication including photo and video transmission. The app could also be used by police, firefighters and other first responders.

The air traffic control app would be used to train air traffic conrollers.

Raytheon announced the app at the 2009 Intelligence Warfighting Summit conference in Tucson yesterday.

Tags: iPhone, Raytheon
Posted in Defense, Internet, Massachusetts, mobile | 1 Comment »

The E-Reader Race: There Might Be Only One

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

by Anthony Duignan-Cabrera, for Portfolio.com

Is there an e-reader on your gift list this year? It wouldn’t be a surprise—the technology press touts that the 2009 holiday shopping season (actually, all of 2010) will see the ascent of the e-reader as the ultimate mobile accessory, delivering novels and newspapers to a public clamoring for convenience

Once a boutique, almost novelty device, the e-reader market is steadily filling up. According to an August report from the Association of American Publishers, electronic-book sales increased 177 percent, to $96.6 million, over 2008 numbers.

Industry pioneer Sony and its upstart rival Amazon, with its Kindle series of devices (this year, the company is believed to have sold three million units), must now battle for market share against iRex Technologies’ iRex DR800SG, the soon-to-be released Alex from Spring Design, and offerings from Barnes & Noble. (more…)

Tags: Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, e-readers, iPhone, iRex, Plastic Logic, Spring Design
Posted in Hardware, Internet, Massachusetts, Software, mobile | 2 Comments »

Sounds like gibberish, but it isn’t: Pranav Mistry demos SixthSense hand camera; paper laptops

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

The MIT Media Lab’s Pranav Mistry recounted the history of his SixthSense project at TED India this week. SixthSense started when Mistry took the rollers out of two computer mice (mouses?), attached some pulleys, and made a glove-like hand-gesture interface. Moving through SixthSense’s evolution, Mistry talks about some Internet-synced sticky notes, pens that draw in three dimensions, Google maps that interact with physical objects, and other things that, if said by anyone else, would just be crazy talk.

From there, he explains how he inverted the process, in an effort to “paint the physical world with that digital information.” He started with a projector mounted on his bike helmet that would project pixels onto the physical world. He added a camera and the system eventually shrank down to the pendant we recognize as the current incarnation of SixthSense.

In the video, Mistry demonstrates the system by casually doing things that shouldn’t make any sense: Digitally painting on a physical wall, taking a photo of the Boston skyline by framing it with his index fingers and thumbs, dialing a phone number on numbers projected on his palm, watching video of President Obama’s MIT speech on a print newspaper; reading a tag cloud — “comedian,” “geek,” etc. — that appears on comedian/blogger Baratunde Thurston’s shirt when Mistry meets him; playing a video game on a piece of paper; and copying text and charts from the regular kind of paper and pasting them to his crazy, digital paper, just by picking it up and moving it.

Tags: MIT Media Lab, Pranav Mistry, SixthSense, TED
Posted in Education & Training, Hardware, IT, Internet, Massachusetts, Software, mobile | No Comments »

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