Want to Break the Ice? Use These Apps...

by Mike Reiber

App developers swarmed Austin in an effort to catch the eyes and ears of technology lovers and VC's attending SXSW, the Austin Texas-based technology, music and film conference. For these developers, SXSW is THE PLACE to get feedback from a highly concentrated crowd of early adopters.

The most intriguing apps are those that enable users to find friends and friends of friends when they are nearby. Better yet, the apps are merging two features into a single service that helps users meet someone they should know. In effect, smart phones have become the new icebreaker/introduction tool for users. Below are some interesting apps that merit a look see.

Kismet helps users meet friends through friends by creating spontaneous pop-up events. The app also enables them options of passive sharing and check-ins.

Glomper is a new app that allows users to get pertinent details about an event with photos, conversations, and interactions. The interface feels like Pinterest (a personal favorite of mine) with streaming photos from events aligning down the center of the page.  Users click on an event to see full details -- pictures, attendees and comments.  Users can "heart" something by clicking the outline of a heart.

Glancee looks for people nearby who have friends in common with you and who share the same interests. The app features a new diary feature which enables users to record past connections and log them in diaries for future reference.

Banjo has developed one of the most robust location technologies that integrates with key social networks to provide an on the ground view of what's happening anyplace, anytime.

Highlight allows users to bookmark people they met and automatically reminds them of the interaction the next time they meet.

Ask.com the search engine, launched a new mobile polling app for iOS called Poll Roll. The app allows users to create polls and ask people nearby for their opinions. Poll Roll also lets users create visual polls in which they can attach their own pictures to their questions. It provides the ability to filter responses and leave comments about a poll.

So how do you harness these apps for your business challenges? Privacy issues aside, these apps offer intriguing possibilities. For example, customized messaging in retail environments targeted at the users who've signed up for the app and other persons who share common interests and friends.

Newspapers Are Happily "App-ing"

by Mike Reiber

The newspaper business has been bleeding red ink for many years. Is it on it last breath? I think not. Adversity has unleashed long-needed innovations in the newspaper business. Innovations which can be harnessed to create consideration, preference and purchase in addition to basic awareness.

Consider this. According to the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper websites averaged more than 111 million unique visitors in Q4 2011. This represents an increase of 6 million compared to the same period in 2010. The association reports that 63% of adult internet users visit newspaper websites. Reach among the key 18-34 demographic remained at or above 60 percent. Lastly, seventy percent of households with income above $60,000 are reached by websites. This number climbs to 75 percent for households with incomes above $100,000.

These are just a few reasons why newspapers underpin many of our successful marketing and sales campaigns. The real question is how to harness the new innovations which are predominately app-focused. Whether it's fashion, gaming, ticket sales or even cause-related, these days it's the Wild West for apps.

Below are a few questions to ask yourself, your team and your agency partners:

1.) What apps are under development by your local daily newspaper?
2.) How can you creatively partner with the newspaper team while the apps are in beta test mode?
3.) What non-traditional resources can you bring to the partnership that will bring a unique twist to the app launch?
4.) What's happening in other countries where newspapers are under siege?

Will Quora Hit Another Growth Spurt?

It's been quite a while since the Q&A site Quora was making headlines. After becoming a media darling in late 2010, the site saw a massive spike in new users.

But then things got quiet for Quora.

In a classic "middle child" scenario, Quora struggled to steal attention away from the successful older brother (Facebook) and the new baby sister (Google Plus). The latter two continued to horde the social media spotlight in 2011, with launches and updates throughout the spring and summer.

Quora's look-at-me moment came last week with the release of an official iOS app. The app itself has been received quite well actually, taking full advantage of a new "shuffle" feature that pulls up random questions from the site.

It's a great StumbleUpon-like time waster, and should lead to a lot more time spent on the site...if users can find it.

Not only was the feature itself not heavily promoted on Quora's end, but they buried it far down on the bottom of both their app and their website. Hopefully they can remedy this soon to avoid losing momentum.

Regardless, its good to see the site making strides and trying to stand out in the ever-growing social media family.

Rumors of Amazon's Tablet: A Student's Perspective

It seems as though you can't go a day without hearing about how great tablets are. There are commercials galore, not to mention all the personal testimonies from owners of tablets. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just stating a fact. Tablets deserve all the hype they get because they are just that great. We have two iPads here in the office and it is always a treat when you get a chance to use one!

As a college student these moments can be bittersweet, however, because I know it will be a very long time until an iPad fits into my budget. Tuition, books, and rent tend to take over. Not that it isn't tempting to try and swing such a big purchase, trying to validate buying an iPad with the fact that my laptop is on its last leg.

With these thoughts running through my mind, I was excited when I read rumors of Amazon releasing a tablet that directly competes with the iPad, but at half the cost! Along with the tablet, Amazon is also creating an app for students that will allow students to buy and sell books, electronics, and other helpful things. The app includes a barcode scanner, making it simple to find exactly the correct product you're looking to buy or sell.

After my initial excitement cleared I thought about such a purchase more rationally. Would I really need a tablet instead of another laptop? Is a tablet going to fill all of my computer needs? Will it be fast enough and as easy to navigate? These are just some of the questions that come to my mind. Yes, it is prettier, smaller, lighter, and easier to bring to the library. But does it fill my needs as a student? That is debatable.

I am a Communication major and Economics minor. Most of my assignments are writing papers. I can type quickly on a keyboard, but when it comes to a touchscreen keyboard typing is slow. Obviously I could find a keyboard that I could connect to the tablet, but that negates the easy portability that draws me to the product in the first place.

There is no need to come to a decision yet. Amazon's tablet release is still only rumors. For now I'll just be crossing my fingers that my laptop makes it through my senior year. As for Amazon's app, that would be incredibly useful right now as I am ordering my books for the semester. The app would take a lot of the guess work and searching out of the book-buying process. I think the rumored tablet has the potential to attract many students, but their new app is most appealing.

Cat Food Company Feeds Your Cat's App Envy

Cats have been a staple of cheesy Internet fame for years and years. Cat food on the other hand flies much lower on the radar.

Obviously people want to talk more about their furry felines than what they're feeding them. This poses quite the dilemma for the cat food companies looking to get noticed in a social media space that isn't too interested in them so much as the animals they cater to.

Friskies has carved (or clawed in this case) a niche with their out-of-the-box thinking. It started back in 2009 when they launched the Scratchington Post, a mock site that featured a collection of cat-related articles and pictures.

This time around, the cat food company has released a new app...for your cat.

That's right. Friskies released an app featuring three games that are meant to played by your fuzzy friends. To be honest, all three games are essentially the same and feature something floating around the screen that react to the touch of a hand (or paw). You can check out a video of the app here.

While the app isn't for everyone, it's good to see companies that are usually forced to keep a low profile branch out and try to snag their share of the attention.

Adobe Photoshop Pictures a Future in Tablets

Adobe Photoshop has been a part of every designer or photographer's tool belt for years now. In fact, programs like Photoshop are the main reason I still keep my laptop close by (in case of a photo-editing emergency).

But as tablets become more and more commonplace, there's a noticeable lack of quality touch-friendly photo editing programs.

Sure, you have Photoshop Express or more niche programs like Instagram, but neither have the performance or utility to make it appealing in a more professional design setting.

Adobe is hoping to remedy that with their 4 latest releases. The first three are the trio of iOS apps that Adobe has released for the iPad and iPad 2. All three apps are meant to interact with the desktop version of Photoshop.

Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop lets you mix custom colors and swatches that instantly transfer to the desktop. Adobe Eazel for Photoshop is a paint-like programs that lets you "paint" on the iPad and transfer it to the desktop. Lastly, Adobe Nav for Photoshop is more of an organizational tool for heavy Photoshop users that lets you browse and keep track of up to 200 open Photoshop files as well as customize the Photoshop toolbar.

The fourth release is the launch of the Photoshop Touch SDK, allowing developers to create touch-based Photoshop apps for all platforms. This is great news for PC-based Android users that have the large developer community that they do, because this means we should start to see Android versions of these apps before long.

The most interesting part about all of this is the role that Adobe sees tablets playing. They seem to see tablets as complimentary devices to laptops or desktop computers rather than a replacement. It's a smart move, and could be the selling point to a tech-savvy designer community that likely has both types of devices.

Facebook Friday: Facebook Finds Tablets App-etizing

For those who don't follow the ever-changing stream of tablet news, I'm here to help. When it comes to existing social networks/websites releasing tablet-optimized apps, there's a definite pattern.

1. First, the social network/service creates an Apple app meant only for the iPhone and iPad.
2. Third-party developers create unofficial apps for the Android platform because there is nothing being offered by the social network itself.
3. Depending on the success of the iOS app, the social network will release an official Android app a few months later.

Yes there are exceptions, but by and large that's the dance that we inevitably see from most social media channels. 

However, Facebook is taking the road less travelled and developing an official app optimized for tablets across operating systems.

This upcoming app could further cement Facebook's online dominance, and more importantly could be a big feather in the cap of the often-debated HTML5 (which should allow easier coding for developers across platforms).

Amazon's Next Step Towards Online-Buying Dominance

It's no longer a secret that iTunes is slowly losing ground to Amazon's mp3 music-buying service. I've used both services myself, and to be honest they both have their merits.

But Amazon doesn't seem content sticking to music downloads, given rumors of their upcoming Android app store. And while it will obviously be competing with the Android Market, it's still a huge vote of confidence for the Android platform since Amazon obviously believes it's a viable financial option.

The big difference between the two app markets seems to be the vetting process. Google has taken a very hands-off approach, which doesn't take any action against buggy or questionable apps until they are flagged by users. Amazon plans to spend a week or so vetting potential apps before releasing them.

Amazon seems to be doing the right things to gain a foothold in the Android app market, but until their app store actually launches we're all left to simply speculate on what app the future will hold.

Do-It-Yourself Developer Dilemma

Mobile apps have been wildly successful these days, with Android and Apple jockeying for position in what is basically a two-horse race. This has been great for programmers and developers, because this emerging market has created huge opportunities for them to innovate.

However, Google recently introduced a program that could be a game-changer in the app developing industry. The program is called App Inventor and allows anyone to build an Android app with "blocks," eliminating the need for coding.

The reason why this program could have an enormous impact on the developing industry is that businesses who would normally consider hiring a programmer to create an app may choose to do it themselves through App Inventor.

But let's face it...the amateur apps from App Inventor won't be nearly as high a quality as professionally programmed ones.

It's very similar to using Blogger over Wordpress. Blogger, Google's blog creator, uses set layouts with very simple gadgets and text boxes arranged in blocks (just like App Inventor) that anyone can use to create a blog. Wordpress on the other hand, uses a bit more coding and is more difficult to use, but has a lot more room for customization.

Hopefully this move by Google won't alienate programmers, because App Inventor has the potential to hurt those developers by releasing a program that may make some people think twice before contracting them.

What do you think? Is this the future of apps? Or is this a case of just-because-you-can-doesn't-mean-you-should?

Microsoft: Notify Your Next Of Kin

While Verizon's recent price drop on the Microsoft Kin isn't necessarily the nail in the coffin for the social media-focused phone, it does signal that the handset may be in critical condition.

The Kin's struggle doesn't really surprise me, and there are 3 reasons why it's time for Microsoft to start the grieving process.

1. Not very app-ealing.

Even though the phone itself is aimed at the social media savvy, it has no apps. The problem is that apps have become the new mobile phone staple. App development is becoming a legitimate industry in its own right, and the Kin wasn't able to capitalize.

2. Cheap phone, steep plan.

You would think that a phone without smartphone capabilities would at least be able to cut down on service costs, right? Unfortunately not, with the $30 phone requiring a $7o monthly data plan. And although I really like the design of the Kin (especially the turtle-like Kin 1), the price was just too much for a phone without apps.

3. No Android? No iOS? No thanks.

Apps are important in a mobile phone, but the operating system is even more important. Right now, anything that doesn't run on the Android or iPhone operating systems is going to have a very difficult time gaining ground in this market.

Maybe that will change when Microsoft launches their Windows Phone 7 OS in a few months, but for now they might as well say their goodbyes to devices like the Kin.

Facebook Gives Twitter An App-Kicking

The story that broke yesterday about Twitter's Facebook app (which allows you to automatically follow your Facebook friends) didn't take long to dominate the social media news headlines.

It also didn't take Facebook long to slap the idea down.

Many social media junkies, myself included, were looking forward to seeing some real integration between the two social networking giants. However, the move by Facebook shows that this power couple is not going to happen anytime soon.

Twitter has yet to issue any sort of response, but my guess is that they won't be pleased with Mr. Zuckerberg. More importantly, we could see Twitter making more efforts to integrate other smaller social networks to offer some real competition between the two.

Feeding Your App-etite

Foursquare, Gowalla and Yelp are by far the big dogs in the location-based yard, with Foursquare being the obvious alpha male out of the group.

And while all three have been picking up some partnerships with big name clients over the past few months, the business side of location-based marketing is still being tweaked as marketers and programmers jockey for position in this fast-growing network.

A majority of this tweaking has been in the restaurant and food industry, as more and more eateries have been offering promotions and discounts to customers using these services.

But the new Snapfinger app for the iPhone and Android may be a legitimate location-based competitor, mostly because of the niche it has carved out for itself.

While Foursquare and Yelp provide information and reviews for restaurants and fast food joints, Snapfinger allows you to order take out from your phone as well.

The big news though is that the company just recieved $7 million in investments to broaden the number of franchises they work with (which already includes Applebee's, Subway and Outback Steakhouse) to include independent eateries.

So will Snapfinger overtake Foursquare? No, since it's a different type of location-based service with a different purpose. However, this new investment and more partnerships could push Snapfinger towards the forefront of this emerging market.

Helping Frenimies Connect

At the core of social media, the goal has always been to connect. MySpace began as a way for emerging bands to connect with fans, Facebook connected college classmates and Twitter connects, well, everyone.

It was only a matter of time before someone realized that all this connecting might have us too close to those we’d rather not be so close with. Meet the anti-social media platform Avoidr.

It’s exactly what you think it is. According to the site, it utilizes Foursquare to “keep your friends close and your enemies at that bar down the street.” Which raises the question as to why your enemies would be connected with you on Foursquare in the first place, but for those who friend anyone and everyone—you know who you are—this might actually be a useful tool.

So how does it work? Link it up with your Foursquare account and decide exactly who you don’t want to run into. For this test I singled out my coworker, @slopato. Specifically, I called her a phony.

The site should let me know where she checked in so I know to avoid it, but so far the only message I’ve seen is something along the lines of, “All clear! You've got the run of the town.”

Has the site been working for you or is giving you a false sense of security like I’m getting? Or if you haven’t tried it yet, do you think there’s a need for this type of platform? Do you feel the need to connect with your frenimies?

Cell Phone Radiation? There's An App For That

Ever since the very first brick-like cell phone hit market decades ago, consumers and scientists alike have questioned whether or not the radiation from using the devices will lead to serious medical issues.

In fact, this issue had gained so much traction that a massive, 10-year international study of 13,000 participants was done to help answer this conundrum once and for all.

And with the results of the decade-long study being released today, the concerned masses were on the edge of their seats waiting to hear their cell phone fate...only to hear that the results were "inconclusive."

Obviously this means that some people will continue to use their cell phones without a second thought, while others will continue to live in fear of their iPhones or Droids.

But if you're worried about how much Blackberry use is too much: there's an app for that.

The $9.99 Blackberry app from Tawkon measures/predicts when and where your phone is giving off more radiation and gives you warnings accordingly.

The accuracy and necessity of the app is being debated, but both sides have acknowledged that newer operating systems have led to less radiation. And with cell phone technology constantly being advanced, I do question the app's long-term value.

The bottom line is that this app is great for those who have serious concern over radiation, but the $10 price tag will most likely discourage most other Blackberry users from trying it out.

Garden Apps in Full Bloom

Now that spring is finally here, gardeners around the country are looking forward to spending their days planting, weeding and tending their favorite flowers, fruits or vegetables.

And instead of picking up shovels or spades, some gardeners will start by reaching for their smartphones.

That's because there are actually a ton of smartphone apps out there that are geared specifically for gardeners, including things like growing requirements, planting and bloom times.

For instance, the Garden Pilot app for the iPhone has over 14,000 plants in its directories, covering plant diseases, fertilizers and chemicals, organic gardening and eco-friendly ideas, and shows which plants are available for purchase at local app-participating retailers.

The iPhone also has the Gardens app, which is a collection of short, informative videos about different gardening topics. There's even a Bugs & Insects app that provides info on 900 different pests.

But Apple doesn't have the garden app market cornered, because there are several Android apps for green thumbs out there, including Botanica, which pairs plants with hardiness zones, provides space for photos and journal entries, and issues alerts telling you when it's time to water.

But what I'm wondering is, how many of you actually garden with your phones on you enough to take advantage of these apps? And would you actually consult apps like these?