Multitasking.
I’ve been reading coverage of Palm’s new device, Pre, which is being presented at CES this morning, trying to figure out whether this thing can be a real iPhone competitor (or killer).
Because, you know, it’s not about the hardware anymore; or perhaps even the feature set. Every decent smartphone nowadays has WiFi and 3G connectivity, a GPS chip and a lot of memory. You can’t beat the iPhone in this area, at least not by a lot. Furthermore, when it comes to features, you can have a great notes and calendar application or a fantastic browser, but it’s hard to top the iPhone’s applications because they already work so well (better, in many cases, than those of its competitors).
But the way you can switch between applications on the Pre caught my eye. It might be a tad too early to tell, because no one has a real, in-depth review yet, but switching between apps seems fast and seamless; all the applications can work in the background and even notify you of important events while you’re working in another app. Palm’s buzzword for this is Synergy; but marketingese talk aside, it really is a step forward towards having a real mobile computer that can handle many tasks at the same time.
The iPhone can do all that; theoretically. But right now, it doesn’t. The Pre seems to be way better with this regard.
Add to this the fact that Pre’s interface seems to be even faster, fluid and responsive than the iPhone’s, and you have a very interesting device and platform.
However, whether Palm will be able to motivate developers to start creating applications for Pre’s platform, dubbed WebOS, (and under what terms; we all remember Apple’s restrictive policies towards developers) remains to be seen. If they do, Pre will be one of the most interesting mobile devices of 2009.
[image credits: NYtimes.com]
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When people think of the BlackBerry, they tend to think of it only in terms of enterprise users. Over the past few years it has become much more than that; a device that is easily accessible to anyone for any number of uses. One of the biggest trends on the device has been easing communication.
Be it in the form of Instant messaging or social networking, there are plenty of free tools out there for you to use to stay in touch with anyone from anywhere. Use these 15 free tools to turn your BlackBerry into a communications powerhouse.
What are some of your favorite ways to communicate on the BlackBerry?
Instant Messengers
AIM - The old guard instant messenger of AIM is available for various models of BlackBerry and includes picture messaging inside of chat, avatars, emoticons, instant login and more.
Google Talk - Google brings their popular instant messenger to the BlackBerry with features such as changing your status, chat logging just like the desktop version, buddy pictures and everything else you could hope for.
ICQ - A favorite of the technical elite for years, ICQ for the BlackBerry gives you the ability to run several chats at once, near real-time updates on which friends are online auto-login and several other features.
Windows Live Messenger - Windows Live Messenger for the BlackBerry allows you to add, delete and block contacts, customize your status message, participate in multiple chats and a bevy of other features.
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo’s entry into the BlackBerry instant messaging market allows you to view your current contacts list, add avatars, use emoticons and the usual line-up of features.
Social Networking
Facebook - Facebook for the BlackBerry gives you easy photo sharing for models of the phone with a camera, updates on your mail and wall messages. Also send pokes and a heck of a lot more.
Flickr - The perfect application for models of the BlackBerry with a camera, Flickr will allow you to directly upload your photos, resize, tag and even geotag the image if your unit has GPS.
MySpace - The BlackBerry MySpace application allows you to read email and bulletins, change your mood, add comments, post photos and an assortment of other features.
Miscellaneous
Cellity - Cellity is an app that allows you to make calls at cheaper rates, offers reduced fees for text messages, microblogging and more.
iSkoot - iSkoot is a third-party application that gives you full control over your Skype account. You can chat with your contacts, make Skype-to-Skype calls, and even use Skype Out to call international phone numbers, all via your BlackBerry.
LogicMail - LogicMail bring IMAP and POP email support to the BlackBerry. You can also send email via SMTP and view images in mail. Provides support for IMAP folders and a whole lot more.
ShoZu - ShoZu allows you to interact with numerous sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, LiveJournal, Blogger and a whole slew more. Available features vary by service.
Twitterberry - How could you talk about communications on any device without bringing up the ubiquitous Twitter? Enter new messages, get replies, send direct messages, check the timeline and more.
Vlingo - While not a communication app in and of itself, Vlingo is a voice command app that will allow you to speak your text messages instead of having to type them off. Also allows you to voice control other selected applications.
YouMail - While not exactly an application, YouMail is a third-party service that allows you to get new services in your voicemail such as the ability to download, forward, look up missed calls and several other features.
Interested in more BlackBerry Resources?
- “20 BlackBerry Mobile Apps for Organization and Productivity”
- “7 Great Resources for BlackBerry Applications”
- “BlackBerry Toolbox: Themes for Your BlackBerry“
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Free iPhone Apps!
Even if you didn’t make a resolution to lose weight this year, you probably have some fitness goals you would like to achieve in the new year. To help, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 free iPhone apps to help you lose weight and get into shape.
From calorie trackers to fitness tutorials, you can find pretty much anything you could ever want for managing your diet, weight, and fitness goals — best of all, they’re all free. Now you have no more excuses. Download one or more of these apps and get going. Here’s to staying motivated in 2009!
Tell us about your favorites in the comments.
Calorie Tracker
Calorie conscious? Calorie Tracker is an incredibly handy free app from LIVESTRONG.com, Lance Armstrong’s health and fitness website. Users can look up and track daily caloric, fat, carbohydrate, and protein intake.
The app pulls from LIVESTRONG.com’s Daily Plate nutritional database with over 450,000 food and restaurant items. And if you want your physical activity to factor into the mix, just use the app to calculate burned calories for a variety of exercises. Users can also use the app in conjunction with the website for support groups, forums, and Q&A. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
Lose It!
Set goals, create a daily calorie budget, record food and exercise, and view graphs of progress with this full-featured weight management app. After you enter your stats, you can create a custom plan, with an end date in mind, based on how much weight you want to lose per week. So for my weight loss goal, should I stick to my 1279 daily calorie budget, my loss should be realized by April 17 of this year.
Since the app is incredibly easy to use and approaches weight loss in an easy way for me to manage, I think I’m going to stick with this one until I reach my goal; I’ll let you know how that goes. (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars)
40·30·30
Calorie trackers are great, but how do you make sure that you’re getting the right nutritional balance? The 40·30·30 app is a one trick pony that will really come in handy if you need to quickly calculate the percentage of carbs, protein, and fats in your meal.
Just scroll through the weight (in grams) options for each nutritional element to view your ratio. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
iPump Free Workout
Created by Exercise Physiologist, Declan Condron, this free alternative to iPump, has two full body workouts targeting major muscle groups, as well as sample exercises from each of the other iPump apps.
Each workout is designed specifically for maximum results, and lets users listen to music, watch video demonstrations for each exercise, and record activity to a workout log as they go. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
StepTrackLite
When logging activity just doesn’t cut it, use StepTrackLite as a simple pedometer to measure and track physical activity while strolling, walking, or running.
The app works whether your iPhone is in your pocket, on your belt, or even in your backpack, and you can listen to music as you get your workout on. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
iMapMyRun
iMapMyRun utilizes the iPhone’s GPS technology for real-time distance, time, pace, and speed tracking. It even integrates with Twitter, should you want a quick way to advertise your fitness regime.
Once you setup your account (you can use an existing MapMyRun.com account), you can save your runs, bike rides, and walks to a training log, with maps, for future reference. Additional features include the ability to sync with the website and use voice feedback to coach you as you go. Note: as with all apps like this, you do need to leave the app open for the entirety of the workout. (App Store Rating: 3 stars)
iSPINNING
Mountain and road biking fanatics listen up, iSPINNING is powerful app that lets you design workouts to see and track heart rate, time in target zones, calories burned, cadence, speed, distance, and power.
The app is compatible with a variety of fitness sensors, and lets you customize your workout dashboard metrics for each ride. You will need additional hardware, like the SMHEART LINK, for creating a wireless bridge between your iPhone and your fitness sensor. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
Pret-a-Yoga Lite
Pret-a-Yoga Lite is the perfect app for yoga beginners who might be threatened by the gym environment, or advanced yogis looking to take their routine on the go.
Pret-a-Yoga Lite is like having your own personal yoga instructor, minus the slightly awkward touching, to guide you through each breathe and pose with both images and audio instructions. (App Store Rating: 3 stars)
2Fat
If all you need is to calculate your body fat percentage and BMI, then the 2Fat app might be just the right fit.
The scroll wheels make it incredibly simple and fast to use. All you need to do is select your sex, weight, and waist measurement and wait for the bad news. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
Heartbeat
If you need to take a quick heart rate census during or after a tough workout, use Heartbeat to help you manually track your heart beats per minute (bpm).
To calculate your heart’s bpm, just tap the heart on the screen every time your heart beats — it’s that easy. The app would be incredibly cool if it could automatically calculate your heart rate, but it still is a handy tool for heart rate monitoring on the run. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)
Interested in more resources? Check these out:
- “Lose the Blogger 15: 25+ Web Apps for Dieting and Getting in Shape”
- “40+ Free iPhone Music Apps”
- “50+ iPhone Apps to Enhance Your Photo and Video Experience”
- “15+ Free iPhone Apps to Navigate Your World”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, evirgen
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Friendfeed already has its own optimized interface for iPhone and iPod Touch, but so far hasn’t released its own native application. A third-party developer has beaten them to the punch, launching Webfeedr, available for 99c in the app store.
Webfeedr is just about everything you’d expect from a native FriendFeed app, allowing you to move between your own page, your friend’s updates, the “everyone” view, or the rooms you belong to. You can also comment or like items directly from the application. Additionally, you can post a new message to FriendFeed by clicking the “share” link.
The only major thing seemingly missing is that if you’d like to see a user’s profile, it opens it up in the browser as opposed to the application. You also can’t see comments and likes from within the app, though, I prefer the streamlined view on mobile - perhaps an additional option to see likes and comments on specific items would be nice to have.
While Webfeedr is a fairly thorough FriendFeed app for iPhone, its life might be a short one. FriendFeed will presumably launch its own native app for iPhone at some point – and that point may be very soon according to this thread. Nonetheless, if you’re a FriendFeed addict, Webfeedr is well-worth the 99c download for now.
[via everythingiCafe]
Additional FriendFeed Resources From Mashable
- Top 10 Web Applications for Friendfeed
- HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Friendfeed
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One trend that I highlighted in my 2009 predictions was the continued rise of startup incubators of the YCombinator and TechStars variety. Sure enough, today sees the launch of a new fund focused on apps for iPhone, Twitter, and several other platforms, named appropriately enough: The New Platforms Fund.
The investments are small, ranging from $1,000-$3,000. While that won’t provide you with enough money to quit your day job, in the realm of low-cost ideas like platform apps, it should be enough to at least cover a few loose ends, like hosting or paying a designer to make your app look pretty.
The fund is being launched by Herman Blackbook, a New York-based consulting firm, so on top of the startup capital, participating companies can expect advice on strategy, marketing, and development as well. Other platforms that the fund is targeting include Boxee, AppNexus, and Trulia.
As for how much of a stake Herman Blackbook takes in your company for $1,000-$3,000, founder Darren Herman says it ranges, and some investments might take the form of convertible notes. For comparison’s sake, YCombinator makes investments of $5,000 + $5,000 per founder for what they say is on average a 6% stake.
The beauty of businesses running off existing platforms is that they typically aren’t very expensive to get off the ground, not to mention the benefits of a built-in userbase. Nonetheless, if a fund like Herman Blackbook makes you an offer, you’ll want to do the math and compare it to other comparable options to make sure you’re getting a reasonable deal.
The application form for The Platforms Fund is available here.
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So it’s almost the new year, and you want to start being more organized and productive, right? Well we’ve put together a list of great iPhone apps to help you manage your tasks, track your time, store passwords, and stay organized.
With these 30 apps you can create to do lists, invoice for contract work, access your computer remotely, manage all your online accounts in one place, print files to your phone, and more. We’re hoping that these handy apps can make 2009 the most productive year for you and your mobile lifestyle.
Your productivity on the go is important to us. Which apps make your life a little easier? Let us know what you think of these apps, and any we may have missed, in the comments.
Tasks, Lists, and Notes [Free]
Jott - (App store rating: 2.5 stars) - As a mobile note taking tool, the Jott app transcribes your voice notes to text. Your notes are automatically synced to Jott.com and the Jott desktop app. Now that both texting and talking on your mobile while driving are illegal in California, I just might start regularly using my Jott account. While testing the Jott iPhone app, though, I did notice the voice-to-text conversion still needs a little work. I said, “Make sure to finish Mashable post on iPhone productivity apps.” Jott got, “Make sure to finish Maxible post on iPhone productivity up.” Not bad, but not great.
Remember the Milk - (App store rating 2.5 stars) - Remember the Milk users can download this app for full-featured task management on the go. Bonus features include the ability to swipe to complete tasks quickly, and sort task by priority, due date, or task name. While the download is free, you must have a RTM Pro account.
Evernote - (App store rating: 3 stars) - The ever popular and free Evernote app is perfect for taking quick, geo-aware, voice, text, and image notes to use later. The app can also sync with Evernote’s desktop and web versions, and Pelotonics, a web-based group collaboration solution similar to Basecamp. Pelotonics users will love the ability to save voice notes as messages or tasks, which can be shared or assigned to project resources.
reQall - (App store rating 2.5 stars) - Make to-do lists, set appointments, and manage shopping lists with voice or text notes from the reQall iPhone app. reQall will remind you of your tasks via text message, IM, email, calendar alert, or voice. You’ll need to call the reQall service to create your account, but once you do, you can add smart voice notes—reQall recognizes time, date, and other keywords—right from the app.
EasyTask Manager - (App store rating: 2.5 stars) - This app follows the GTD method and gives users the ability to easily add and sort tasks with context.
YouNote - (App store rating: 3 stars) - YouNote is pretty unique and makes it easy to take and tag notes of all variety. Of course the standards are covered–audio, text, and image notes—but YouNote also adds in the ability to draw notes and bookmark web pages with notes.
Tasks, Lists, and Notes [Paid]
OmniFocus - (App store rating 3.5 stars) - This $19.99 iPhone app, which syncs with OmniFocus v1.5 for Mac, brings sophisticated task management to your phone. The app supports text, image, and voice tasks, creates a custom list of nearby tasks to complete, and keeps track of tasks by project, place, person, or date.
Things - (App store rating: 3.5 stars) - Manage to-dos, notes, due dates, and projects for about 10 bucks. Things is perfect for GTD types because it lets users sort tasks into either the inbox, today, next, scheduled, or someday folders. Unfortunately, Things does lack the ability to sync to iCal or Outlook, and only Mac users can sync to a desktop version of Things.
Checklist - (App store rating: 3 stars) - For 99 cents, Checklist doesn’t offer much—just a single list—but it’s an extremely simple alternative for managing a to-do list.
Time Trackers
Timewerks - (App store rating 4 stars) - With a robust feature set including data export, multiple active stopwatches, customizable rates per task type, sales tax calculations, and HTML-formatted invoices, Timewerks is an essential app for independent contractors.
iTimeSheetLite - (App store rating 2.5 stars) - Use this free and limited feature app to manage times per task. Just open up the calendar, select a date, add a task, select if the task is billable, set task start time, end time, or total duration, add notes, and save. For a more sophisticated and advanced approach to tracking time, try the $5.99 version.
TimeLogger - (App store rating: 3.5 stars) - Perfect for anyone who needs to track their time, TimeLogger, which costs $2.99, works even while other programs are running. You can also start multiple timers, adjust times, associate tasks with clients and categories, and create custom text or CSV reports of your logged time.
Account and Password Management
A Personal Assistant - (App store rating: 2.5 stars) - Access and manage all your online accounts in one place with the free A Personal Assistant app. Once you add your accounts (like bank accounts, social networks, and online shopping accounts), you can continue to manage those accounts password-free from the app. The app also provides users with a master itinerary, and financial overview complete with transactions and balances. For security purposes, the company behind the app, Pageonce, uses 128 bit SSL encryption, and users can remotely disable access should the iPhone get lost.
eWallet - (App store rating 3.5 stars) - For $9.99, eWallet, from Illium Software, offers password management with 256-bit AES encryption, and the ability to sync information to a PC. Store passwords, PIN numbers, user names, bank accounts, travel clubs, calling cards, health info, and travel club info.
LockBox - (App store rating: 3 stars) - A free alternative to eWallet, LockBox lets users store and protect private notes, passwords, credit card numbers, and PIN numbers. User data is encrypted and protected by an additional custom-created secret code.
File & Computer Resources
Mocha VNC Lite - (App store rating: 3 stars) - Control your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer from your iPhone with this handy app. If you’re like me, you’ll need to use the setup wizard to get started, but once you’re server connection is setup you’re good to go. This app is 100% free, ridiculously cool (just play around with your comp while the app is running, you can watch it update in real-time), useful, and a new personal favorite. The $5.99 version, which doesn’t seem necessary, comes with a few additional keys, as well as support for right-click, hover, and mouse wheel maneuvers.
FileMagnet - (App store rating: 3.5 stores) - This $4.99 app lets you copy files from your PC or Mac onto the iPhone, making it easy to use your iPhone as a portable drive. You can also transfer files wirelessly with FileMagnet Uploader, an additional (but free) download.
MobileFiles - (no reviews) - At $9.99 the MobileFiles app doesn’t come cheap, but it does come with the ability to access, view, and manage Office (you can even edit Excel docs), iWork, and PDF files right from your phone.
ACTPrinter - (App store rating: 3 stars) - Print from your Mac to your iPhone? At $1.99, this app, in conjunction with the companion software, gives Mac users the ability to “print” documents for easy iPhone access. As a nice bonus, all bar codes from documents can be scanned right from the iPhone’s screen, making it more convenient than printing physical copies of boarding passes or electronic tickets.
Search
Cooliris - (App store rating: 3 stars) - This is a really neat little free app that lets you search and discover images (or YouTube videos), across sites like Flickr and SmugMug, via a beautiful 3D wall.
Google Mobile App - (App store rating: 3.5 stars) - Along with the myriad of other things you can do, the Google Mobile App lets you search Google with your voice. Just open the app, select the Search tab at the bottom, lift the phone to your ear and speak very clearly. Make sure you really enunciate those voice queries, though, because the voice recognition software can be tempermental.
YPMobile - (App store rating: 3 stars) - For the yellow pages enthusiast, YPMobile takes the heavy lifting and time-suck out of searching. With a plethora of features like nearby business and event search, the ability to create custom plans, add favorites, and share with friends, YPMobile is a much handier resource than its hard copy older sibling.
Reading Online and Off
Instapaper - (App store rating: 3 stars) - Instapaper lets users create offline versions of web articles for easy access and viewing when the web is just out of reach. You’ll need to visit the Instapaper website to create an account and get the Read Later bookmark, but once that’s done you can use the app to view your bookmarked pages. The pro version costs $9.99 but adds position-saving, tilt scrolling, and adjustable fonts.
BookShelf - (App store rating: 3 stars) - A multi-format eBook reader that supports text, HTML, Palm, and FB2 formats. This $9.99 app also enables users to save bookmarks with names, and customize font and color schemes. Books are downloaded using the ShelfServer application from iphonebookshelf.com.
Read Demon - (App store rating: 3 stars) - You’d probably be more productive if you could read faster, right? Read Demon, at $4.99, has speed reader lessons with adjustable reading speeds, customizable text size, and a words per minute counter, to help you master speed reading.
If You Jailbreak
Search - (rating: 4 stars) - Install Search (not to be confused with Searcher) to do just that—search. You can search your phone and the web for pretty much anything; search through your mail, SMS, notes, and contacts. Available via Installer and Cydia.
Insomnia - (rating: 3 stars) - This app will prevent the iPhone from sleeping, allowing background apps and WiFi to continue running even when the screen is switched off. It’s especially handy if you’re using one of the many IM apps and still want to continue receiving messages, or make yourself appear available.
iPhoneNotes (NA) - Mac users will need to install the OpenSSH app from Cydia or Installer, and the iPhone notes Mac desktop app, but the end result is a simple notes application that you can access from your phone. iPhoneNotes just enhances the standard Notes app by adding colorization, and the convenience of being able to edit notes from your phone or desktop.
Kate (rating: 3 stars) - Kate offers a package of tools that you can install separately. It’s pricey ($22.50 sale price for an unlimited license), and a little bit more complicated to install, but Kate offers Smart Dialer for faster calling options, FaceLift for screen customization, uCalendar for a quick Calendar view, Reminder for audio or silent reminders of missed calls or messages, System Font to change fonts, and Privacy to turn off certain notifications.
i2Reader - (rating 3 stars) - An eBook reader for FB2 and TXT formats. The trial period, just 3 days, lets you test out i2Reader and cool features like full FB2 support (for annotations and hyperlinks), auto-scroll, book grouping, dictionary support, and themes. Should you choose to buy, be ready to spend $35.
Interested in more resources? Check these out:
- “100+ More Ways to Organize Your Life”
- “100+ iPhone Games That Use the Accelerometer”
- “Beyond YouTube: 10 Top iPhone Video Apps”
- “11 iPhone Apps That Will Clean Out Your Junk Drawer”
- “11 Great Tools for Making VoIP Calls on the iPhone”
- “HOW TO: Convert Videos for Your iPhone”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59
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Even though it’s not a new concept, sending voice message blasts to a group of people appears to be a service on the rise. We’ve decided to break down four sites with distinct offerings in the hopes that you can easily find your preferred option for sending rapid voice messages to groups.
From freemium to premium, and simple to robust, you’ve definitely got options should you opt in favor of voice message broadcasting.
We’re really curious how many people are actually using these services and for what purposes. We’d love to hear your thoughts about each service, your personal experiences, what you love or hate about group messaging, and whether or not you’d want to receive one of these messages. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
ShoutNow
ShoutNow is the newest, and simplest, addition to the space. The service, which was launched over the course of Indianapolis Startup Weekend in December, uses a pay-per-message model to let users send voice messages to a group of recipients. All you have to do is visit the website, enter your phone number, record your message, enter the phone numbers of recipients, pay your tab, and you’re done.
At 99 cents for a 1 minute message to up to 10 contacts, ShoutNow offers a relatively cheap, but professional alternative to other freemium plans that include advertisements. The site doesn’t appear to offer much in the way of additional features, like creating groups of contacts, but we can assume that is just a side effect to being brand new.
Phonevite
Phonevite, an older and more robust service (that even offers an iGoogle gadget), tackles the voice-message-to-many challenge slightly differently. You’ll need to create an account and verify your phone number, but once you do you can import contacts, or add them manually, to create groups. Once you’re all setup, you can take advantage of the free account that lets you create up to 25 calls, each with an ad promoting Phonevite (premium services are available starting at $25 and remove ads from calls).
To create a message just select to record via web (requires download) or phone, say your message, add contacts, and customize options like sending the message via email as well. Your message will be delivered with caller ID, and should you opt to include RSVP options for events, each recipient will be given the opportunity to select 1 for yes, 2 for no, or 3 for maybe, as well as record a response to the sender.
Tatango
Tatango is a multitasking service that takes on both voice and text group messages, and is a perfect option when 140 characters just doesn’t cut it. Like Phonevite, Tatango offers users a free plan with advertisements tacked on to messages.
With Tatango, users create groups and use the group name to quickly alert a group of people with a text or audio message. Groups can also be promoted across social sites, like FriendFeed and Facebook, making it easy for event organizers and group coordinators to get an opt-in list of interested parties. Tatango’s additional features include the ability to review sent messages, customize settings per group, send group invites, create a flash widget, and automatically syndicate updates from an RSS feed.
When you’re ready to create your audio message from your phone, just text VOICE to 68398 and Tatango will call you so you can record your message. For members with more than one group, Tatango will text you back, before calling, with selection options.
Tatango’s smooth interface, dual service, group customization options, and social site promotion options, make this site a joy to use and an incredibly useful option for organizer types.
Pingercast
Positioned more towards artists and celebrities with a large audience, Pingercast, by Pinger, lets you broadcast your voice message to anyone who wants to hear it for free. Once you sign up, you’ll be walked through the process of creating a subscription widget for your website. Once you’re done with that you can upload an audio recording, or create one via web or phone. You can also customize the SMS message users will receive once they subscribe to your voice updates.
Even though we originally thought the service was voicemail spam, I can immediately see a value in subscription-based voice messaging. As a group organizer, I can add this widget to the group site and members can subscribe to updates (should they choose to do so), and I can start recording informational messages on dates, times, events, and locations for group meetups. This particular option would save me some time and it’s completely opt-in, so I wouldn’t feel like I was harassing anyone.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, acilo
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It’s that time: predictions for the year ahead and a look back at how we did in the year past.
Several of last year’s predictions proved highly accurate, as many of the topics we devote attention to – social networking, startups, and increasingly mobile apps – evolved according to plan. Looking ahead, we think next year is going to be defined largely by how companies and the entrepreneurs and developers behind them adjust to the more macro issues facing all of us, most notably the economy. Our forecast is largely based on this premise.
Below, a report card and continued outlook for last year’s predictions, as well as a fresh batch of prognostications for the New Year.
2008 Predictions: How’d We Do?
The Good
Hulu Gets Popular: The site most people initially wanted to hate has done well for itself, becoming the 6th most popular video destination in the US this year.
’09 Outlook: There’s no reason to think Hulu’s growth will slow down as NBC and News Corp are likely to continue to put more content online, as well as work to open up the gates to international viewers (their CEO says as much in an interview today with MediaPost)
Mobile Social Networking Takes Off … Sort Of: Indeed, it was a very big year for mobile, fueled by the launch of the iPhone 3G and the App Store. Facebook recently noted that their number of active mobile users has grown from 5 to 15 million this year.
’09 Outlook: As more consumers switch to iPhone, more handsets launch with Android, and Blackberry launches an app store of its own, the growth of mobile apps will continue. For entrepreneurs and developers, it’s perhaps the biggest opportunity since broadband.
Blogs Become Hot Acquisition Targets: It was a good year for a few blogs on the acquisition front. Most notably, Ars Technica got scooped up by Conde Nast, while PaidContent was sold to The Guardian. Several others major blogs, like The Huffington Post, raised big rounds of venture capital instead.
’09 Outlook: Old media still needs significant changes to its business models; blogs could be stretched by the economy and slumping ad sales. These two forces should lead to more deals this year.
Facebook Truly Goes Mainstream: Facebook grew rapidly in ’08, passing MySpace worldwide in terms of traffic and set to eclipse it in the US early next year. It’s also won the battle for mindshare, stealing the title of “it” social network in popular culture.
’09 Outlook: It’s hard to see any significant threats to Facebook’s growth on the horizon, although, that’s what most people said about MySpace just a couple years ago. Personally, I see Facebook continuing to grow big in ’09, far surpassing all competitors by year’s end.
Startup Consolidation: Last year, I wrote that “there are too many companies chasing too many of the same ideas.” That certainly proved to be the case, as numerous startups either folded or combined with others. For example: Six Apart and Pownce, Live Universe and PageFlakes + Revver, Buzznet and Qloud, Automattic and PollDaddy + IntenseDebate, and many others.
’09 Outlook: This trend will only accelerate next year as startups fail to raise more venture capital and are forced to either fold or combine forces with someone else.
Email Doesn’t Die: As ’08 draws to a close, my inbox has nearly 17,000 unread emails. Enough said.
’09 Outlook: Email will only get more relevant as Google and Yahoo push the concept of email as an application platform.
The Bad
Microsoft Finally Buys Yahoo: Too bad I didn’t phrase this one slightly differently. Microsoft certainly tried its best to acquire Yahoo, and the story dominated the headlines for the early part of this year. But Yahoo refused, saw its stock fall to historic lows, and CEO Jerry Yang resigned.
’09 Outlook: Steve Ballmer has said he’s no longer interested in Yahoo, but, given the slowdown in ad spending, Yahoo could get desperate and become too cheap for Microsoft to pass up. I’ll give it a 30/70 shot of happening next year.
News Corp Monetizes MySpace … By Selling It: This one wasn’t actually that far off – in the midst of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal falling apart, rumor had it that News Corp was putting together a bid that involved swapping MySpace for part ownership of Yahoo. But, it didn’t happen.
’09 Outlook: Like most media companies, the value of News Corp has taken a sharp hit this year, in-step with the overall economy. I’d expect them to hold tight and continue to expand MySpace internationally, on mobile handsets, and across the Web through MySpaceID.
The Ugly
Gmail Removes Beta Status: Nope.
’09 Outlook: Much like the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google’s homepage, I’m pretty sure the “Beta” tag on Gmail is here to stay, mainly for nostalgia.
LinkedIn Files to Go Public, Then Withdraws, Then Changes Business Model: LinkedIn stayed the course in ’08, raised a lot of venture capital, and by most accounts, continued to grow nicely.
’09 Outlook: There is absolutely no market for IPOs right now, so I’d expect LinkedIn to remain a private company. As users scramble to find jobs and opportunities in a bad economy, the site could actually have a great year.
2009 Predictions: What’s Next?
Facebook and MySpace Become Aggressive Acquirers: As startup consolidation continues, look for the two biggest social networks to become aggressive acquirers. The reason? Both have ambitions as not only media companies (side bet: look for Facebook to buy or take a stake in a big music app), but as identity providers. One sure-fire way to gain market share as an identity provider is to buy up popular but profitless sites and make their own identity system the standard. This is exactly what Google and Yahoo have done with properties they’ve acquired through the years (see: Flickr, Del.icio.us, Blogger, FeedBurner, etc.).
The eBay Break-Up: eBay has essentially become the Internet’s biggest holding company. As the owner of several businesses that don’t really fit together and facing a decline in popularity for its original auction service, the time has come for eBay to dismantle into several leaner, more tightly focused companies. Skype and PayPal are both still growing nicely – look for at least one of them to be sold or spun-off in 2009, with Google and/or Amazon as likely buyers.
A Big Year for Amazon: This past weekend’s Wall Street Journal noted how dire things are about to get for brick and mortar stores, with massive closings expected across the board. Who is that good for? Amazon, who already reported that its holiday sales were actually up this year. Amazon’s developing data business could also see gains as more Web companies look to trim infrastructure costs.
Google Chrome Gains Meaningful Market Share: One of the few products that launched this year that I actively evangelize with everyone that asks me about it is Google Chrome. For most people, it’s simply a faster and better browsing experience than IE or Firefox offers. Already out of beta, expect Google to market Chrome aggressively, signing distribution deals with PC manufacturers, bundling it with other software, and devoting unsold ad inventory to the browser.
At Least One Big Newspaper Goes All Digital: The Christian Science Monitor already did it, and I expect more to follow in 2009. More specifically, I expect at least one large daily newspaper in the US to announce plans to eliminate a print edition. No more trucks and no more dead trees. And, while it might not happen until 2010, I expect them to have great success with it.
Comments Become the New Blogs: People are commenting everywhere, whether it’s on Twitter, Friendfeed, or actual news sites and blogs. A new platform will emerge where users can truly take ownership of their comments in a blog-like format. We’re already starting to see this with Disqus, and Movable Type’s announced Motion product might go in this direction too. This will become a popular alternative to the traditional personal homepage or blog, because it’s so much easier to update.
Startup Incubators Flourish: Venture capital might be dead for the time being, but the biggest opportunities right now, as I see it, are concepts that require very little up-front investment. Red hot areas like mobile applications, services that leverage data portability, and micropublishing are all low-cost businesses to enter. With investors shying away from big bets and re-upping in bloated, unprofitable startups, look for many more funds of the YCombinator and TechStars ilk to emerge.
Twitter Doesn’t Go Mainstream: Twitter will keep growing, but I don’t see it going “mainstream” as us bloggers like to say. I see it evolving much more like personal blogging: it will keep growing, but eventually it will hit a plateau. Ask people outside of your work life about Twitter and the response will likely be “why would anyone care what I’m doing or thinking?” Sure, they’ll passively consume Tweets as the service continues to be integrated into media, but the number of active Twitter users will not come close to matching what you see on Facebook or MySpace. The value proposition simply isn’t as strong.
How’d We Do?
It’s nice to see so many of our stories from 2008 ended up intersecting with the various predictions we made at the end of last year. What do you think of our forecast for ’09? For that matter, what subjects would you like to see us devote more or less time to on Mashable? Let us know what you think of all of the above in the comments.
We look forward to bringing you continuous coverage of our ever-changing social media landscape in 2009.
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iPhone this, G1 that, where is all of the love for the BlackBerry? Like the forgotten child in the orphanage, it seems no one talks about the still popular RIM smartphone anymore. Well, it’s still out there going strong, and long before the iPhone and G1, BlackBerry had apps before apps were cool.
From better instant messaging to full Office document editing, there is something for all business-minded BlackBerry owners in this list of 20 great organization and productivity applications.
What are some of your favorite BlackBerry organization and productivity apps?
Communication
BBSmart - Allows you to see your emails as HTML so no more annoying links in place of pictures. Costs $29.95.
Google Talk - A full version of the popular Google Talk IM client for your BlackBerry. Can do everything with your desktop client, even save chats to your account.
IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger - Allows you to IM with your contacts on AIM, GTalk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace IM and Yahoo. Cost is a rather hefty $49.95.
IM+ for Skype - Gives you the ability to chat with your Skype contacts, see who is online and use your Skype Out account all from your mobile phone with no need for a computer or Wi-Fi. Costs $29.95.
TwitterBerry - While it is arguable if this will actually increase your productivity, it is still nice to have access to your full Twitter account while away from the office or on the road.
Document Productivity
BlackBerry Database Viewer Plus - Allows you to view MS Access, Excel, FoxPro, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL databases directly on your BlackBerry. Costs $19.95.
eOffice - A Microsoft Office compatible suite of applications that allows you to view and edit documents, spreadsheets, PDFs and everything else you could hope for an office application to do. Costs $29.95.
eSpell - eSpell is a spell checker that works on documents, emails and SMS text messages on your BlackBerry. Costs $19.95.
MSDict Concise Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus - The Oxford dictionary and thesaurus comes to the BlackBerry with over 180,000 entries in the dictionary and more than 350,000 synonyms and antonyms in the Thesaurus. Costs $39.95.
Miscellaneous
Berry Locator - While not exactly about productivity, Berry Locator is an essential app for anyone on the go. If you lose your beloved phone, you can send an email to this app that will be displayed on the screen telling whoever finds it how to get it back to you, and if you have GPS enabled, you will see a map showing you where it is. Costs $6.95.
Personal Productivity Assistant - Allows you to keep an eye on all sorts of accounts while you are on the go. You can keep an eye on your credit card statements, stock broking accounts, cell phone minutes and even monitor your Netflix account from this handy app. Costs $4.95 a month or a one time fee of $29.95.
Pocket Express - Pocket Express gives you flight status, weather, stock reports, a mobile concierge service and more. Costs $9.99 a month, or $99 a year.
RDM+: Remote Desktop for Mobiles - A remote desktop access system for your phone that will give you full control of your chosen computer. Costs $49.95.
Organization
Agendus - A Personal Information Manager that doesn’t overwrite your existing built-in applications, but instead stores its data in the same locations as your phone so all information is available to both apps. Aims to cut the number of button clicks needed to do tasks. Costs $39.95.
e-Mobile Today Professional Edition - Significantly overhauls your homepage so it shows more information such as appointments for the day, missed calls, quick access to contacts and a whole lot more. Costs $29.95.
Google Sync - This free app will synchronize your Google Calendar and contacts with the built-in applications in your BlackBerry.
Remember The Milk - MilkSync is a bi-directional synchronization tool for the built-in Tasks app in your phone. They offer a free 15-day trial, but after that it is only available to Pro account subscribers.
Travel Planning & Booking
Travel+ USA - Gives you information on bus, flights and train schedules, ability to look up hotels, sort results by price and more. Costs $19.95.
Travel Mate For BlackBerry - This app allows you to save all of the information about your trip, track expenses, convert currency, look up facts on your destination and more. Costs $25.99.
WorldMate Live - WorldMate Live is the perfect travel companion. It allows you to book hotels on the go, check weather, convert currencies and more. If you pay for the paid version, you also receive real time flight status and alerts.
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We know you’re obsessed with your iPhone, and chances are you’ve been taking a lot more photos - perhaps even recording videos - over the holidays. To satisfy aspiring iPhone photographers and videographers, we’ve assembled a collection of more than 50 iPhone and iPod Touch apps to enhance your photo and video experience.
We’ve included fan favorites, lesser known names, apps for photo editing, apps for video enjoyment, and many more.
Did we leave your favorite photo or video app off the list? Let us know what you love and why in the comments.
Photo Sharing
PixelPipe - Media Gallery - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) PixelPipe is a free and fully loaded photo sharing app that lets users easily send and geotag their photos to any of 50 supported destination sites including Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Seesmic, Facebook, FriendFeed, Tumblr, WordPress, and FTP sites. One downside to PixelPipe is that you do have to manually add each destination site, which could take hyper-socialites like myself a substantial amount of time.
AroundShare - (App Store Rating: 1.5 stars) AroundShare supports sharing your photos, with location and description, to Flickr, Twitter, Google Maps, and WordPress blogs. One nice bonus is that users can subscribe to any AroundShare RSS feed to import full resolution images into iPhoto. One flaw is that your photos are shared publicly to the AroundShare website.
Twitxr - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) Twitxr, a competitor to Twitpic, has a dead simple free iPhone app that, once configured online (you do have to create an account), will post your photos to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa.
Rotzy Photo Sharing - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) Rotzy is similar to Twitxr, but there’s a little bit more baked into this free app. You do have to create an account, and should you use it like a photo-sharing social network instead of just a photo sharing utility, you can upload your photos, view your friends’ photos in a Twitter-like timeline view, comment on photos with either text or photos, and auto-post to Facebook and Tumblr.
Photo Apps for Tweets
Twittelator - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) With both free and pro versions available, Twittelator has something for everyone. When it comes to photo-sharing, your photos are posted to Twitpic, and photo-viewing happens right inside the app.
Twinkle - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) With Twinkle, you can share and view photos via this location-aware iPhone app. Just note that uploaded photos are posted to a custom Twinkle URL that doesn’t support comments.
Twitterific - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) Twitterific is a simple Twitter app with a mini-browser that supports photo uploads from the app.
Twitfire - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) Twitfire is a free Twitter app that’s especially handy for web browsing and inserting links, it also supports photo uploads to TwitPic.
Tweetie - (App Store Rating: 4 stars) Quickly becoming the hottest Twitter app, Tweetie offers full features and an iChat-like UI for $2.99. Especially of note is the inline Twitpic image viewer.
One Site Wonders [Photos]
Kyte Producer - (App Store Rating 2.5 stars) Even though Kyte is video-centric, the iPhone app is a video workaround where users can create slide shows from the iPhone’s photo gallery, add polls, and chat with their Kyte audience in real-time.
Facebook - (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars) - This social networking app supports photo uploads with captions, posts to Friends’ walls, photo sharing, viewing, and tagging.
MySpace Mobile - (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars) - MySpace Mobile gives MySpace addicts the photo features they want including the ability to post comments on friends’ photos, and the ability to share uploaded photos.
SmugShot - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - SmugShot is a handy mobile app for the SmugMug aficionado. The app is free and adds geotagged photos, as you shoot them, to your SmugMug galleries.
Mobile Fotos - (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars) - Mobile Fotos is for Flickr users looking for a simple way to browse and upload photos. For 99 cents, users can swipe through their Flickr photos, contacts’ photos, favorites, groups, sets, and interesting photos. There’s also a nearby search option for finding photos taken near your location. If Flickr isn’t enough, you can also opt to send notifications of photo uploads to Twitter.
Photobucket for iPhone - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - Photobucket users will appreciate this free app, which originally cost $4.99 at launch, that lets you upload your photos to your Photobucket account, as well as browse other online photos. It’s simple, effective, and just for Photobucket users.
Snaplog (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - If you’re a Snaplog Photo Blogger then you’ll like the free Snaplog app that automatically uploads photos to Snaplog.com. Users can crop photos, add effects, tags, captions, and post to Twitteriffic.
ImageShack - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - ImageShack’s free app has exactly the same feature set as the Photobucket app, but its audience is existing ImageShack users.
Frivolous Photos
Tattoo Shop - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - Instead of branding yourself for life, why not just add digital tattoos to your photos with Tattoo Shop? The app offers a collection of real-life looking tattoos and text options that you can place on your photos and resize as desired.
Toy Camera - (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars) - For $1.99, Toy Camera automatically applies several random effects to the photos you take.
GothPix - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - Make your photos look creepy with GothPix. The $1.99 app replaces your image with its darker cousin by randomly adding in splatter, sprays, texture, and high contrast black and white tones.
Shakin’ Faces Morph123 Lite - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - Blend together pictures of people, animals, or inanimate objects to see them morph into one strange photo. It’s not the most intuitive app to use, but it might be just what the 12 year-old in you is looking for. The Lite version is free, but for a few bucks the fully featured version lets you export your creations in QuickTime movie format.
FAIL Maker - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - FAIL Maker is a dead simple app that lets you take or select a photo, drag and drop a few common FAIL expressions, and save it for future mockery.
Photo Enhancement
Colorator - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - For 99 cents, Colorator users can color cast their photos by either selecting spots in photos to cast them in black and white, or by changing the entire photo to black and white and then selecting single areas for color popping effects.
EdgePix - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - This 99 cent app is perfect for the person looking to select from a variety of frames and edges to add to their photos. The app supports multiple borders and boasts 14 different borders and edges.
Photogene - (App Store Rating: 4 stars) - Photogene brings Photoshop-like image editing attributes to your photo library. This $2.99 app lets you rotate, mirror, crop, sharpen, adjust coloring and saturation, and add special effects. Your professional works of art can then be saved to your library for sharing or importing to iPhoto.
Magic Touch - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - If you’re looking for more photo retouching options and have $1.99 to spare, you might like Magic Touch. The app lets you use your finger to touch up photographs and adjust anything from cosmetic changes like teeth whitening to night vision enhancements.
Photo Lab 1600 - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - Yet another photo enhancement app with 20+ image effect filters and cropping functionality. Photo Lab 1600 is normally priced at $2.99, but is available now for 99 cents.
Photonasis 2.0 Lite - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - Photonasis 2.0 Lite is a free alternative to Photogenie, offering users 32 photo effects including histogram equalization, gray scale, sepia, dilate (light enhancing), erode (darkness enhancing), emboss, smoothing, motion blur, contour, and cartoon effects. The app, however, only supports adding one filter and is pretty prone to crashing depending your system memory. There is a 99 cent version available, but it’s unclear what the added cost does to enhance the free version.
Pano - (App Store Rating: 4 stars) - Ever wished you could take panoramic photos on your iPhone? Pano, which is a bargain at $2.99, is a simple app with a huge effect. Pano guides users as they take up to six photos that are automatically merged into one panoramic shot. To check out some of the amazing shots that Pano has played a part in creating, make sure to visit the Flickr Pano for iPhone: Panoramas group.
SteadyCam - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - SteadyCam attempts to tackle a common problem—blurry photos—making those photos you do share pretty and pristine. Once you press the shutter button the app waits until your hand is steady before snapping the photo. The premium version, with fullscreen shutter touch, is also available for an additional 99 cents.
Night Camera - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - This 99 cent app aims to help you take better photos at night or in low light conditions. Like SteadyCam, the app uses the accelerometer to trigger the shutter when it detects that the camera is stable.
FLEX Photo Lab - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - Another free option for photo enhancement is FLEX Photo Lab, brought to you by Ford as a tie-in with their Ford FLEX campaign. The app, which is incredibly easy to use, has 6 different touch-oriented filters that you can add to your photo.
Polarock - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - Polarock is a simple app that applies the Polaroid effect to your photos. At 99 cents, this app also lets you add in additional styles and captions.
SodaSnap Postcards - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - Make cute postcards from your photos that you can email to friends and family. With SodaSnap, just snap or select a photo, enter a message, and select from your contacts to share and send a postcard with your personalized message.
Seeframe and CEIVA Snap - (App Store Rating: NA (no reviews)) - These apps all have one simple purpose - to let you showcase your iPhone photos on digital picture frames. Seeframe enables users to send their photos to a connected Seeframe digital photo frame. You’ll want to visit the Seeframe website for instructions on how to configure your frame and for information on how to pull in additional online photos via RSS. CEIVA Snap supports sending photos to CEIVA frames and online albums, organizational options, and geotagging.
One Site Wonders [Video]
Qik - To livestream your own video content, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone, but it might be worth it to stream video via the Qik iPhone app, which also makes it easy for you to view comments from your viewers’ reactions on the fly. I originally jailbroke my iPhone just for Qik, and although I loved the app, I’ve since restored my phone. I’ll just keep hoping that Qik will show up in the App store in the near future.
Flixwagon - a Qik competitor, also supports a mobile livestreaming iPhone app for jailbroken phones.
12seconds.tv - (App Store Rating: 4 stars) - If you’re not quite ready to jailbreak, you might consider 12seconds.tv. You can create and post 12second slide shows from your iPhone with this brand new app. Just take or select 3 photos, record 12 seconds of audio, and post your new video to the site. It’s a nice video workaround that doesn’t require jailbreaking your phone.
Animoto - (App Store Rating: 4 stars) - This brand new app adds music to your photo library. Just choose between 8 and 16 images, select from 9 different musical genres, preview different song selections, and the final result is a really nice musically-enhanced video that you can embed and share. Check out my little creation from the UCLA vs. Wynoming basketball game at Pauly Pavillion (UCLA won 113 - 62).
For Your Video Watching Pleasure
Television - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - It is what it is. For $2.99 you can watch 61 television shows from 33 channels on demand on Television. Channels include CNN, CBS, VH1, MTV, and Digg.TV.
Movies - (App Store Rating: 3.5 stars) - Brought to you by Flixster, Movies is the perfect free app for viewing movie trailers, finding show times near your zip code, and browsing top rated and upcoming releases.
Joost - (App Store Rating: 2 stars) - With the Joost app you can choose from over 46,000 available titles to watch music videos, television, and movies on your iPhone or iPod touch. Although the viewing experience is great, the app would definitely benefit from a few additional features, like being able to save and view personal favorites. There’s also still a few kinks that need to be worked out.
i.TV - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - i.TV is a TV and movie guide with a selection of media to watch on your phone, the ability to browse television previews, movie trailers, and listings, and the option to add content to your Netflix queue. There’s also integration with Tivo, making it possible to set your DVR recordings from your phone.
Truveo Video Search - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - AOL’s Truveo is a pretty nifty free app for searching and viewing videos from various sources. Users can search by category or keywords, check out featured content from sources like CNN, and watch what’s hot.
Howcast How-To Videos - (App Store Rating: 3 stars) - Search and watch how-to videos on origami, recipes, cocktails, car repair, and a plethora of other subject matters. With Howcast, you can view your history, save your favorites, and send them to friends via email.
AppVee - (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars) - If you ever wanted to watch video reviews of iPhone apps, then you’re in luck. AppVee is a free app that has in-depth reviews on hundreds of different apps.
Video Streaming Viewing for Work or Play
iRa Pro - (App Store Rating: 4 stars (1 rating)) - If you’ve got $899.99 to spare, IT know-how, and a predilection for surveillance, then you might want to check out iRa Pro. The app, inspired by the high-end security industry, enables users to view live video feeds from cameras or video management servers. Users can even control pan-tilt-zoom cameras right from their iPhon