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Posted: 01/19/11 by Mobile Future Team
How many times have you gone to a local bar or café to meet up with friends only to find that the venue is packed and the line is out the door? With What Spot Now -- a new service from spotlight mobile available via mobile website or as an iPhone app -- you can take a live look inside the venue before you get there.
This location viewing service allows users to watch live images of participating businesses on their smartphone, gauge how crowded they are and see what tables are available.
The trademarked “SpotCam” Wifi cameras transmit a real-time view of the venue to your smartphone to help you decide where you want to grab some food or a drink. For privacy reasons, the camera blurs out the faces of customers.
As an added bonus, the cameras also detect if business is slow in the venue and the app sends exclusive discounts directly to your mobile device. To take full advantage of more discounts available at venues in your area, another new service Bartab allows Facebook users to claim $1.00 beverage vouchers with their mobile phones at participating locations. .
If you’re looking for a new restaurant to try, Near+Now finds places based on users preferences, providing reviews and information regarding special events so users can quickly decide what spot to checkout next!
These new apps and services are sure to cause foodies and bargain hunters alike to rejoice. Bon appetite!
Posted: 01/13/11 by Mobile Future Team
Last week, the award for “Best Mobile App” at the Mashable Awards went to the creators of DriveSafe.ly, the mobile app that helps drivers be safe on the road by reading aloud e-mails and text messages. Competition in the category was tough, as many Mashable readers also voted in favor of the mobile apps eBuddy, Evernote, ScoutMob and Gravity.
As innovation in the app market continues to flourish, consumers are reaping the benefits of the amazing new technologies available at their fingertips and are greatly enjoying having an app for almost anything.
Navigating through the app store for your particular smartphone in search of the perfect app can be time-consuming, and to help guide consumers in their quest Bob Tedeschi has identified “How to Dig Through the Avalanche in App Marts” in the NYTimes.
Tedeschi comments on the expansive app market, stating:
“Apps have carried the smartphone revolution, and this year will most likely bring a wave of new mobile software that will make last year’s supply look like a ripple.”
Posted: 01/11/11 by Mobile Future Team
The spotlight is on Toyota, Ford and General Motors for their plans to release a slew of apps that connect their latest models with the power of the mobile internet.
Toyota’s new in-car system, Entune, allows drivers to access the popular websites Pandora, Bing, OpenTable and MovieTickets on their vehicles dashboard with the help of their smartphone.
SYNC Destinations, a new app from Ford, provides drivers with pertinent information before they hit the road. The app offers real-time traffic updates for selected routes, suggestions for alternate routes based on current and expected traffic conditions and turn-by-turn directions. SYNC AppLink, also from Ford, allows drivers to use various apps on their smartphone through voice commands and controls on the steering wheel. The app even reads Twitter updates to the driver!
OnStar, the General Motors car safety and communications service, now lets drivers access the system from their smartphone with the MyLink Mobile App (as featured in this commercial) and has begun to allow drivers to update their Facebook status through voice commands!
As Gartner Inc. analyst Thilo Koslowski stated in this Wall Street Journal article,
“Internet-connected autos will be among the fastest-growing segments in four years.”
Good thing, since we can't wait to experience this amazing technology for ourselves!
Posted: 01/06/11 by Mobile Future Team
A report today from market research firm Kalorama Information concludes that in 2010, a majority of U.S. physicians used a PDA or smartphone for their work, up from 35-40 percent in 2008.
That report complements a second study, issued last week, projecting that use of mobile health (or m-health) apps will triple by 2012. That study, titled “Health Check: Key Players in Healthcare,” was based on a public survey showing that 70 percent of respondents want access to m-health apps, even if they have to pay for it.
Meanwhile yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a lengthy article about the vibrancy of the m-Health app market. Reporter Anya Martin writes, “A growing number of free or cheap smartphone apps aim to help caregivers keep track of medication dosages, nutritional requirements and other daily health-care needs.” She cites one recent study showing that mobile users can choose from more than 8,700 health-related apps.
The reason for all this activity is straightforward: Mobile healthcare offers the promise of dramatically expanding healthcare coverage for those with debilitating diseases while doing so more efficiently. Patients who once had to travel to a doctor’s office for routine tests can now have them done at home, with the results automatically relayed to their provider.
Expanded coverage. Cost savings. That’s the reality of m-Health.
Posted: 01/03/11 by Mobile Future Team
For mobile users who made a new year’s resolution to be more green-friendly, here’s some good news:
Standardized mobile phone chargers are almost here! These will recharge your phone through a micro-USB connection and work with multiple phone brands. The result: less waste and hopefully consumer savings. The chargers will be available in Europe early this year. Count on them coming to the U.S. later this year.
It’s never been easier to donate your phone to a worthy cause. There’s Cellphonesforsoldiers.com and 911cellphonebank.org, which provides old phones to victim services organizations.
It’s also never been easier to get cash for your phone. Best Buy, Radio Shack and Gazelle.com all offer easy ways to get quick cash for that old handset.
As New York Times tech columnist David Pogue wrote about this issue Sunday, “There are steps you can take now, and there is some hope for longer-term change.”
Happy New Year!
Posted: 12/27/10 by Mobile Future Team
You can now use your smartphone or tablet to accept credit card payments with Square, a new service that transforms Apple and Android devices into credit card terminals. With no contract, monthly fee, or hidden costs the Square card reader is highly economical and allows even the smallest of businesses to accept credit cards using the free card reader that easily attaches to your mobile device and can be stored on your keychain for quick access. Square will even send receipts via text to your patrons! To learn more, click here.
Posted: 12/24/10 by Mobile Future Team
All of us have experienced the slight embarrassment which comes from being last to know the latest breaking news. Whether it happens in the workplace or among close pals, the feeling that you somehow missed out on a vital piece of information everyone seems to be talking about is never a good one. Luckily, smartphones are well-equipped for providing up-to-the-minute news coverage, and according to a recent study by Mashable, are the most popular medium for Americans wishing to receive updates on the latest stories.
From Mashable:
In a survey of 300,000 mobile consumers, 88% of whom owned a device running one of the five most popular smartphone operating systems, more than 30% said that mobile is the “most important medium” to access breaking news, narrowly followed by desktop web browsers (29%), television (21%) and newspapers (3%).
Instant updates such as Push Notifications allow smartphone owners to receive news the moment it’s published. From sports scores to the latest happenings on the Hill, smartphones keep us on-top of the news cycle 24/7.
To learn more about push notifications for the iPhone, click here.
Posted: 12/22/10 by Mobile Future Team
Wintertime is nothing short of magical. A fresh blanket of snow can instantly transform our immediate surroundings into a winter wonderland. But with the snowflakes and icicles comes the somewhat daunting task of dressing for the ever-changing elements. Perpetually adorned with a scarf, hat and gloves to keep us warm during these chilly months, most of us have experienced the obstacle of trying to use our smartphone with our gloves on- typically with no success.
FIVEPOINT gloves has resolved this issue with their new texting gloves that keep hands warm while typing on keys and touch screens alike. The gloves have conductive fingertips that transfer electricity from your skin to the screen, allowing us to text and tweet away even on the coldest of days.
For those who are behind in holiday shopping, they make a great gift for tech-savvy friends and family!
Posted: 12/21/10 by Mobile Future Team
If you’re the type who camps outside Best Buy to score a post-Christmas deal on a flat screen, remember your essentials: parka, boots, hand-warmers and smartphone.
The first three may be pretty obvious for anyone not living in Florida or San Diego. But as Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman write in The Wall Street Journal, the smartphone “represents a revolution in retailing… and its arrival is threatening to upend the business models of the biggest store chains in America.”
A slew of new apps allow for immediate comparison shopping across the web. Just scan the product’s barcode with your smartphone and these next-generation apps scour the web, looking for better deals and reporting back to you in seconds. The article relates how one shopper was about to pay $184 for a Garmin GPS, only to find through his mobile app that the same model was available elsewhere for only $104.
So go ahead and shop with the security that you really did get a great deal on your new flat screen. But that impulse buy of the eighth season of 24 on DVD? You might save a few bucks by shopping elsewhere.
Posted: 12/20/10 by Mobile Future Team
Let's say you're overseas and don't speak the native language. Or maybe you're in parts of Miami and don't speak Spanish. So what do you do when you come across a sign in another language?
There's no need to fumble for a dictionary. According to USA Today, just pull out your smartphone, snap and email a photo, and then with a new translation app from a company called LinguaSys, you'll have your translation emailed back to you in moments.
In a larger sense, what's especially notable is that this is one more example of exciting new apps that combine the increased computing power of today's smartphones with the mobile web. One of the perennially popular free apps on iTunes is Shazam, which uses your phone's microphone and the mobile web to help you identify songs.
Dragon dictation is another example of the benefits of computer power and the mobile Internet. Just speak into the receiver and your digitized voice is sent to Dragon's servers, which "transcribe" the sound into words that are then sent back to you.
Incidentally, if you're wondering about the title above, those are the German, Scandinavian and Chinese words for offering a toast. Always handy to have when you're overseas during the holidays!
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Tags: Consumer Awareness, Consumer Benefits, Innovation, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone